Our Lady of Fátima
Our Lady of Fatima is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria, in Fatima, Portugal. The three children were Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
The lady asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray the Rosary every day; prayer would end the Great War then still raging. She also showed them a vision of hell and entrusted them with three secrets.
The children's visions drew thousands of visitors and upset the political balance in the country, with a young, anticlerical republic fighting off a strong conservative reaction. The children were even briefly jailed and variously ordered to reveal the secrets or admit that they had lied. The local administrator even threatened that he would boil them one by one in a pot of oil.
At the Virgin's last appearance, many of them up to 100,000 visitors reported a 'Miracle of the Sun': multicolored light and erratic movement from the sun. Others saw nothing out of the ordinary.
As predicted by the Virgin, Francisco and Jacinta died soon afterward, in the Spanish Flu pandemic that started in 1918. Lucia became a nun, and sporadically saw the Virgin again later in life, as well as Jesus. Lucia said that the Lady emphasized Acts of Reparation and prayers to console Jesus for the sins of the world. Lucia said that Mary's words were, "When you make some sacrifice, say 'O Jesus, it is for your love, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.'" She died in 2005, aged 97.
Bishop Jose Alves Correia da Silva declared the events worthy of belief on 13 October 1930.
Already in the first few years after the events, Fatima attracted millions of visitors. Our Lady of Fatima was popular among anticommunist and traditionalist Catholics. Pope John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life in the attempt on his life of 13 May 1981 – the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. The Pope donated the bullet that wounded him to the Sanctuary at Fatima. Fatima currently is one of the world's most popular centers of pilgrimage.
No comments