Our Lady of Fatima (pron. IPA : Portuguese: Nossa Senhora do Rosário da Fátima) is the title given to the Virgin Mary by Catholics and others who believe that she appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal, in 1917.

History

Between May and October of 1917, three shepherd children, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto reported visions of the Virgin Mary in the Cova da Iria fields outside the village of Aljustrel, very close to Fatima, Portugal. They had this experience on the 13th day of each month at approximately the same hour.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York Lúcia described seeing Mary as "more brilliant than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun."John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York

According to Lúcia's account, Mary confided to the children three secrets, known as the Three Secrets of Fatima.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York She exhorted the children to do penance and to make sacrifices to save sinners.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York The children wore tight cords around their waists to cause pain, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York Most important, Lúcia said Mary asked them to say the Rosary every day, reiterating many times that the Rosary was the key to personal and world peace. Many young Portuguese men, including relatives of the visionaries, were then fighting in World War I.

Thousands of people flocked to Fatima and Aljustrel in the ensuing months, drawn by reports of visions and miracles.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York On August 13, 1917, the provincial administrator Arturo SantosStanley Jaki God and the Sun at Fatima (1999) Real View Books, Michigan, p15 (no relation), believing that the events were politically disruptive, intercepted and jailed the children before they could reach the Cova da Iría that day.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York Prisoners held with them in the provincial jail later testified that the children, while upset, were consoled by the inmates, and then led the inmates in saying the Rosary.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York Administrator Santos interrogated the children primarily about the alleged secrets, but was unsuccessful in his attempt to discover what those secrets were.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York Santos went so far as to feign the preparation of a pot of boiling oil, and then removed the children one by one from his interrogation room, claiming that each removed child had been boiled to death in the oil, and urging the remaining child to divulge the secret so as to avoid a similar fate.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York That month, instead of the usual apparition in the Cova da Iría on the 13th of the month, the children reported that they saw Mary on the 19th of August at nearby Valinhos.John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York

On October 13, 1917, the final in the series of the apparitions of 1917, a crowd of 70,000 people, including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered at the Cova da Iría in a torrential rainstorm in response to reports of the children's prior claims that on that day a miracle would occur "so that all may believe".John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York Countless observers reported that the clouds broke, revealing the sun as an opaque disk spinning in the sky and radiating various colors of light upon the surroundings, then appearing to detach itself from the sky and plunge itself towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, finally returning to its normal place, and leaving the people's once wet clothing now completely dry. The event is known as the ""Miracle of the Sun".Journal of Meteorology, Vol. 14, no. 142, October 1988, and virtually all publications which deal with the event.

Columnist Avelino de Almeida of O Século (Portugal's most influential newspaper, which was pro-government in policy and avowedly anti-clerical)John De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York, reported the following "Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical

No movement or other phenomenon of the sun was registered by scientists at the time.John De Marchi (1952) The Immaculate Heart Farrar, Straus and Young, New York According to contemporary reports from poet Afonso Lopes Vieira and schoolteacher Delfina Lopes with her students and other witnesses in the town of Alburita, the solar phenomena were visible from up to forty kilometers away.John De Marchi (1952) The Immaculate Heart Farrar, Straus and Young, New York The three shepherd children, in addition to reporting seeing the actions of the sun that dayJohn De Marchi (1952) The True Story of Fatima Catechetical Guild Educational Society, St. Paul Minnesota, pp. 207-210, also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the peopleJohn De Marchi The Immaculate Heart (1952) Farrar, Straus and Young, New York.

The first two secrets

The first secret was a vision of Hell, which Lucia describes in her Third Memoir, written in 1942, as follows:

"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror."Fatima In Lucia's Own words, Lucia de Jesus (1995), The Ravengate Press, pp101,104

The second secret included Mary's instructions on how to save souls from Hell and reconvert the world to Christianity:

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world." Fatima In Lucia's Own words, Lucia de Jesus (1995), The Ravengate Press, pp104

The fate of the three children

Lúcia reporting seeing the Virgin again in 1925 at the Dorothean convent at Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain). This time, she said she was asked to convey the message of the First Saturday Devotions. A subsequent vision of the Christ Child Himself reiterated this request, by her account.

Lúcia was transferred to another convent in Tui

Lúcia reportedly saw Mary in private visions off and on throughout her life. Most significant was the apparition in Rianxo, Galicia in 1931, in which Sister Lúcia said that Jesus visited her, taught her two prayers, and delivered a message to give to the hierarchy of the Church.

In 1947, Sister Lúcia left the Dorothean order and joined the Carmelite order in a convent in Coimbra, Portugal. Lúcia died on February 13, 2005, at the age of 97. After her death, the Vatican, specifically Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at that time, still head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) ordered her cell sealed off. It is believed this was because Sister Lúcia had continued to receive more revelations, and they wished to censor them, or perhaps simply to examine them in the course of proceedings for Lúcia's canonization.

Lúcia's cousins, the siblings Francisco (1908–1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910–1920), were both victims of the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919.

Francisco and Jacinta were declared "venerable" by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony at Fatima on 13 May1989. John Paul returned there on 13 May 2000, to declare them "blessed" (one step from sainthood - see Canonization for more on that process). Jacinta is the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

During the second apparition on June 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary predicted the deaths of two of the children, although Lucia did not tell anybody about these predictions until 1941. According to the 1941 account, on June 13, Lúcia asked the Virgin if the three children would go to heaven when they died. She heard Mary reply, "Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart."ref>John De Marchi (1952) The Immaculate Heart Farrar, Straus and Young, New York, p62 Jacinta, in fact, accurately predicted the time and detailed circumstances of her death, according to Lúcia and hospital staff.

Exhumed in 1935 and again in 1951, Jacinta's body was found incorrupt.John De Marchi (1952) The Immaculate Heart Farrar, Straus and Young, New York, p219 Francisco's had decomposed.

The consecration of Russia

According to Sister Lucy, The Virgin Mary promised that the Consecration of Russia would lead to Russia's conversion and an era of peace.John De Marchi (1952) The Immaculate Heart Farrar, Straus and Young, New York

Many believe Pope John Paul II fulfilled this request in 1984 by giving a blessing over the world, including Russia, before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Some believe that Lucia Santos verified that this ceremony fulfilled the requests of the Virgin Mary. However, in the Blue Army's Spanish magazine, Sol de Fatima, in the September 1985 issue, Sister Lúcia said that the ceremony did not fulfill the Virgin Mary's request, as there was no specific mention of Russia, and "many bishops attached no importance to it".

In 2001, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone issued a statement, claiming that he had met with Sister Lúcia, who reportedly told him, "I have already said that the consecration desired by Our Lady was made in 1984, and has been accepted in Heaven." Sister Lúcia died on February 13 (same day as the apparitions), 2005, without making any public statement of her own to settle the issue.

Controversy around the Third Secret

The Vatican kept the third secret secret until Easter 2000 – despite Lúcia's declaration that it could be released to the public after 1940. Several sources, including Canon Barthas and Cardinal Ottaviani, said that Sr. Lúcia insisted to them it must be released by 1960, saying, "by that time, it will be more clearly understood." 1960 passed without any such announcement, which led to immense speculation over the content of the secret.

Some sources claim that the third part of the secret revealed in the year 2000 was not the real secret, or at least not the full secret. This was long suspected because it was known that the third part of the Secret began with the words, "In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc." Sister Lúcia revealed this in her Fourth Memoir. These words and even this theme were not reflected by the version released by the Vatican on June 26, 2000.

Another argument for this revolved around the decision to release the secret much later than when specified by Sister Lúcia. It was thought that the secret might contain condemnatory remarks about the last pope (who obviously wouldn't have wanted to release it), or that it might contain inflammatory remarks about Russia. Instead, the third part of the secret as revealed was by far the most unspecific and ambiguous part (compared to earlier parts which said that if unconsecrated, "Russia will spread its errors around the world").

Cardinal Ratzinger said in November 1984 that the Secret would cause "sensationalism" and dealt with the "end times". This comment could not be understood if the Secret referred to the assassination attempt in 1981.

On 11 November 1984, as reported in the Pauline Catholic magazine Jesus, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that he had "read the text of the Third Secret." When asked why he had not revealed it, he replied that "in the judgment of previous Popes, it adds nothing to what Christians must know respecting what is stated in the Book of Revelations."

This followed the report in the October 1981 issue of the German Catholic magazine Stimme des Glaubens of a discussion at Fulda in November 1980 when Pope John-Paul II had stated to a select group of German Catholics, in response to the question why he had not revealed the Third Secret of Fatima, "If you read that the oceans will inundate continents, and millions of people will die suddenly in a few minutes, once this is known, then in reality it is not necessary to insist on the publication of this Secret."

However, in another interview, John Paul indicated that the entire secret of Fatima could be summarized in the idea that prayer, especially the Rosary, is the remedy against all manner of evil.

Controversies of Fatima

Fatima is not without controversy. The alleged apparitions occurred during a period when Freemasons had gained influence in Portugal and attempted to limit the power of the Catholic Church following the republican revolution of October 5th, 1910. Many Catholics felt persecuted, leading to a polarization of Portuguese society between the largely urban liberals and the largely rural and more conservative Catholics. Secularists may have viewed the apparitions as an attempt by the Church to reassert political control. The detention of the children by the provincial administrator reflects this concern.

Following the rise of the counter-revolutionaries in the military revolution of 1928, under General Óscar Carmona, the newly re-established government, and especially that of Prof. António de Oliveira Salazar, made devotion to Our Lady of Fatima one of the three elements of popular Portuguese nationalism: "Fado, Fatima, and Football" (commonly referred to as "the three F's").

There have been accusations of a campaign to cover up the message of Fatima by ecclesiastical authorities within the Catholic Church, including imposing an order of silence against Sister Lúcia. As Lúcia was already under orders of silence as a Carmelite sister, giving no interviews or statements to the public without permission, and since Lúcia continued to write private diaries and personal letters up until her death, this claim seems doubtful.

In the years prior to the alleged revelation of the Third Secret in 2000, many tabloids published articles claiming the Third Secret was a vision of the end of the world, or "earth changes" similar to those predicted by Edgar Cayce, which would come to pass in the very near future. Lúcia, when asked about these articles, allegedly denied that the third secret was anything like that, although in Catholic publications she referred enquirers to Chapters 8 to 13 in the Book of Revelation.

Influence of the apparitions

Political aspects

Conservative Catholics take the anti-Communist character of Lúcia dos Santos' messages very much to heart. The Blue Army of Our Lady is made up of Catholics and non-Catholics who believe that by dedicating themselves to daily prayer (specifically, of the Rosary) they can help to achieve world peace and an end to the error of communism. In 1952, a feature film, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, was released. Critics held that the film overplayed the role of socialist and Communist elements in Portuguese government as the "adversaries" of the visions. They state that since the government was controlled not by socialists but by Freemasons at the time, most government opposition to the visions would have been motivated by concern for separation of church and state, not by atheistic or Communistic ideology. Other critics have stated that only the enemies of the message propose such a belief.

Official position of the Catholic Church

As with other modern miracles, Catholics are not required to believe in a miraculous origin for the events at Fatima, however the events at Fatima were officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church on 13 October 1930.Joseph Pelletier "The Sun Danced at Fatima", Doubleday, New York (1983), p147

Interesting facts

Although it has been used previously, Fátima has become a more common name for Portuguese females. The name of the city derives from a local Muslim princess named Fatima who, following her capture by Christian forces during the Moorish occupation of Portugal, was betrothed to the Count of Ourem, converted to Catholicism, and was baptised before marrying the Count in 1158. Her baptismal name was Oureana. The name of the town Ourém derives from Oureana.

Our Lady Fatima Parish is one of the divisions of mainland Macau, a former Portuguese colony, now part of a special administration region of China.

The Lady of Fatima story is a key reference in the Tom Robbins novel Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000).

References

See also

• The "Miracle of the Sun"
• The Three Secrets of Fatima
• Mary, the mother of Jesus\
• Marian apparition
• Bernadette Soubirous
• Catherine Labouré
• Garabandal
• Our Lady of Kazan
• Fatima

Onze Lieve Vrouw van Fátima Santuário de Fátima