As on the other occasions, the seers, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta,
first saw a bright light, and then they saw Our Lady over the holm oak.
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I wish to tell you that I want a chapel
built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray
the rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will
soon return to their homes.
Lucia: I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners...
Our Lady: Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins.
Becoming sadder, she added, “Let them offend Our Lord no more for He is already much offended.”
Newpaper article about the Miracle of the Sun
Then, opening her hands, Our Lady shone the light issuing from them
onto the sun, and as she rose, her own radiance continued to be cast
onto the sun.
At that moment, Lucia cried, "Look at the sun!"
Once Our Lady had disappeared in the expanse of the firmament, three
scenes followed in succession, symbolizing first the joyful mysteries of
the rosary, then the sorrowful mysteries, and, finally, the glorious
mysteries. Lucia alone saw the three scenes; Francisco and Jacinta saw
only the first.
The first scene:
Saint Joseph appeared beside the sun with the Child Jesus and Our
Lady of the Rosary. It was the Holy Family. The Virgin was dressed in
white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph was also dressed in white, and
the Child Jesus in light red. Saint Joseph blessed the crowd, making the
Sign of the Cross three times. The Child Jesus did the same.
The second scene:
A vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, without the sword in her breast, and of Our Lord overwhelmed with sorrow on the way to Calvary.
Our Lord made the Sign of the Cross to bless the people.
Lucia could only see the upper part of Our Lord's body.
The third scene:
Finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, crowned queen of heaven and earth,
appeared in a glorious vision holding the Child Jesus near her heart.
While these scenes took place, the great throng of 70,000 spectators witnessed the miracle of the sun.
Photos of the witnesses of the Miracle of the Sun
It had rained all during the apparition. At the end of the
conversation between Our Lady and Lucia – when the Blessed Virgin rose
and Lucia shouted, "Look at the sun!" – the clouds parted, revealing the
sun as an immense silver disk shining with an intensity never before
seen – though not blinding.
This lasted only an instant. Then the immense disk began to "dance."
The sun spun rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped
momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously again. Its rim became
scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky.
Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes,
and on the faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant
hues and changing colors.
After performing this bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire
seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the
terrified crowd.
All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to
its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining
with its normal brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended.
Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried.
The miracle of the sun was also seen by numerous witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the place of the apparition.
A crowd estimated at 20,000 observed atmospheric phenomena similar to
those of the previous apparitions: the sudden cooling of the air, a
dimming of the sun to the point where the stars could be seen, and a
rain resembling iridescent petals or snowflakes that disappeared before
touching the ground.
Jacinta being carried away from Cova da Iria after one of the apparitions
This time, a luminous globe was noticed which moved slowly and
majestically through the sky from east to west and, at the end of the
apparition, in the opposite direction. The seers saw a light, and,
immediately following this, they saw Our Lady over the holm oak.
Our Lady: Continue to pray the Rosary to obtain the
end of the war. In October, Our Lord will also come, as well as Our Lady
of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Saint Joseph with the
Child Jesus, to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices,
but He does not want you to sleep with the ropes; wear them only during
the day. (The children were wearing ropes around their waists as a
sacrifice for sinners.)
Lucia: They have requested me to ask you for many things, for the cure of some sick persons, of a deaf-mute.
Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some, others not. In October, I will perform a miracle for all to believe.
And rising, she disappeared in the same manner as before.
On August 19, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, Lucia was with
Francisco and another cousin at Valinhos, a property belonging to one of
her uncles, when the atmospheric changes that preceded the apparitions
of Our Lady at Cova da Iria began to occur: a sudden cooling of the
temperature and a waning of the sun.
Feeling that something supernatural was approaching and enveloping
them, Lucia sent for Jacinta, who arrived in time to see Our Lady appear
– heralded as before by a bright light – over a holm oak slightly
larger than the one at Cova da Iria.
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I want you to continue to go to Cova da
Iria on the thirteenth of each month and to continue to pray the Rosary
every day. On the last month, I will perform the miracle for all to
believe.
The place near the village of Aljustrel where Our Lady appeared on August 19, 1917
Then Our Lady’s face became more serious, and even upset.
Our Lady: If they had not taken you to Ourém, the miracle would have been even greater.
Lucia: What does Your Grace want done with the money that the people leave at Cova da Iria?
Our Lady: Have two portable stands made. You and
Jacinta with two other girls dressed in white carry one of them, and let
Francisco carry the other one with three other boys. The portable
stands are for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The money that is
left over should be contributed to the chapel that they shall build.
Lucia: I would like to ask you for the healing of some sick persons.
Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some during the year.
Becoming sadder, she recommended anew the practice of mortification,
saying lastly, 'Pray, pray much, and sacrifice for sinners, for many
souls go to hell because there is no one to sacrifice and pray for
them.'
As usual, she then began to rise toward the east. The seers cut
boughs off the tree over which Our Lady had appeared to them and took
them home. The boughs gave off a uniquely sweet fragrance.
On August 13, the day the fourth apparition was to take place, the seers were not at Cova da Iria.
They had been abducted by the mayor of Vila Nova de Ourém, who
attempted to force from them the secret revealed in the apparition of
July 13. The children held fast despite the mayor imprisoning them, and
threatening to plunge them in boiling oil.
Attribution: A.F.Phillips
At Cova da Iria, thunder, followed by lightning, was heard at the usual time.
The spectators noticed a small white cloud that hovered over the holm
oak for a few minutes. Phenomena of coloration were observed on the
faces of the people, the clothing, the trees, and the ground.
Our Lady had certainly come, but she had not found the seers.
Mr. Marto, father of Jacinta and Francisco, noticed that when the
third apparition began, a small grayish cloud hovered over the holm oak,
the sunlight diminished, and a cool breeze blew over the mountain
range, despite it being the height of summer. He also heard something
like flies inside an empty jug. The seers saw the customary glare, and
then Our Lady over the holm oak.
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth
of next month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of
Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the
end of the war, for she alone can be of any avail.
Lucia: I would like to ask you to tell us who you are and to perform a miracle so everyone will believe that Your Grace appears to us.
Our Lady: Continue to come here every month. In
October, I will tell you who I am and what I wish, and I will perform a
miracle that everyone shall see so as to believe.
Lucia then made a number of requests for conversions, cures, and
other graces. Our Lady recommended the constant recitation of the
rosary; thus they would obtain those graces during the year.
Then Our Lady went on: "Sacrifice yourselves for
sinners and say many times, especially when you make a sacrifice, 'O
Jesus, this is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in
reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of
Mary.'"
The first part—The vision of hell
Lucia writes, “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.”
This
photo was taken shortly after the Third Apparition of Our Lady of
Fatima. The children's stunned and sober faces speak volumes about what
they witnessed in the vision of Hell.
The second part—The warning of the chastisement and how to avoid it
The children then looked up at Our Lady, who said to them so kindly and so sadly:
“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 [World War I] is going to end: but if people do not
cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate
of Pius XI [World War II]. 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
[World War II], 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 [Communism], 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. In
Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc.”
Then, Our Lady again spoke:
“Do not tell this to anyone. But you may tell Francisco about it.
“When you say the Rosary, after each mystery, pray: ‘O my
Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all
souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.' "
An instant of silence followed, and I asked, “Is there nothing else you wish of me?”
“No. Today I want nothing else of you.”
And, as usual, she began to rise toward the east until she disappeared in the vast distance of the firmament.
[Words in brackets are ours]
The Third Secret
The first part of the secret of Fatima is the vision of Hell shown by
Our Lady to the three children in the July apparition. The second part
is Our Lady’s warning of a chastisement to come if her requests are not
fulfilled. However, over the decades popular usage has been to refer to
the first part (the vision of Hell) as the First secret, and Our Lady’s
admonishing as the Second secret. Both parts or secrets were revealed by
Sister Lucia in 1941. In addition to the first and second parts of the
secret of Fatima, there is a third one, commonly called the Third
secret, which the seer omitted in her Memoirs.
She only wrote this third part or Third secret, in January 1944, at
the request of the Bishop of Leiria, Dom José Alves Correia da Silva. On
June 26, 2000, in accordance with specific instructions from His
Holiness, Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith released the text of the Third Secret.
This is the Vatican’s official English translation of the text of the Third Secret as published on the Vatican website:
J.M.J.
The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fátima, on 13 July 1917.
I
write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his
Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and
mine.
After the two parts which I have already explained, at the
left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming
sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as
though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact
with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right
hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a
loud voice: 'Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense
light that is God: 'something similar to how people appear in a mirror
when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White 'we had the
impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and
women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there
was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark;
before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in
ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and
sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having
reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big
Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows
at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other
Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of
different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there
were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which
they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the
souls that were making their way to God. Tuy, 3-1-1944
Preceding the second apparition, the seers, Lucia, Francisco and
Jacinta, once again saw a great brilliance, which they called lightning.
Some people in the group of fifty spectators noticed that the light of
the sunlight dimmed during the first few minutes of the conversation.
Others said that the top of the budding holm oak bent down, as if under
the weight of something. During Our Lady's conversation with the seers,
some of the bystanders heard a whispering, like the humming of a bee.
Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I want you to come here on the thirteenth
of next month, to pray the rosary every day, and to learn to read. I
shall later say what I want.
(Lucia asked for the healing of a sick person.)
Our Lady: If he converts, he will be healed within the year.
Lucia: I would like to ask you to take us to heaven.
Our Lady: Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco
soon, but you will remain here for some time yet. Jesus wishes to use
you in order to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish devotion
to my Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who
embrace it; and these souls will be beloved of God like flowers arranged
by me to adorn His throne.
Lucia: Will I stay here alone?
Attribution: A.F.Phillips
Our Lady: No, daughter. Does that make you suffer
much? Do not be dismayed. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart
shall be your refuge and the road that shall lead you to God.
Lucia writes, ”Upon saying these last words, she opened her hands,
and for the second time she communicated to us the reflection of that
intense light. We could see ourselves in it, as if immersed in God.
Jacinta and Francisco seemed to be in the part of this light that went
up toward heaven, and I in the part that was cast toward the ground. In
front of Our Lady's right hand there was a heart encircled by thorns
that seemed to pierce it. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, insulted by the sins of humanity and which desires
reparation."
When this vision ceased, the Lady, still surrounded by the light that
she radiated, rose from the little tree and glided toward the east
until she disappeared completely. Several persons who were closer
noticed that the buds at the top of the holm oak were bent in the same
direction, as if they had been drawn by the Lady's clothes. They
returned to their usual position only some hours later.
On May 13, 1917, Lucia dos Santos, Francisco, and Jacinta Marto were,
respectively, ten, nine, and seven years old. The three children lived
in Aljustrel, a hamlet of the township of Fatima.
After three apparitions of the Angel of Portugal in 1916, the
children began to receive visits from a luminous Lady who later
identified herself as “The Lady of the Rosary.” In Catholic language,
“Our Lady of the Rosary” is the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God made
man.
The apparitions took place on a small property belonging to Lucia's
parents called Cova da Iria, about a mile and a half from Fatima.
First Apparition of Our Lady
May 13, 1917
The three children were playing at Cova da Iria on May 13, 1917 when
they saw two flashes like lightning, after which they saw the Mother of
God above a holm oak. She was, according to the description of Lucia, "a
Lady dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun…" Her face,
indescribably beautiful, was "neither sad nor happy, but serious," with
an air of mild reproach. Her hands, joined together as if she were
praying, were resting at her breast and pointing upward. A rosary hung
from her right hand.
"Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war."
The seers were so close to Our Lady – about a yard and a half away – that they stood within the light that radiated from her.
The conversation developed in the following manner:
Our Lady: Do not be afraid; I will not harm you.
Lucia: Where is Your Grace from?
Our Lady: I am from heaven–pointing to the sky.
Lucia: And what does Your Grace wish of me?
Our Lady: I have come to ask you to come here for
six months in succession on the thirteenth day of each month at this
same hour. Later I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterward, I
will return here a seventh time.
Lucia: And will I go to heaven, too?
Our Lady: Yes, you will.
Lucia: And Jacinta?
Our Lady: Also.
Lucia: And Francisco?
Our Lady: Also, but he must say many rosaries.
Lucia: Is Maria das Neves already in heaven?
Our Lady: Yes, she is.
Lucia: And Amélia?
Our Lady: She will be in purgatory until the end of
the world. Do you wish to offer yourselves to God to endure all the
sufferings that He may be pleased to send you, as both an act of
reparation for the sins with which He is offended and an act of
supplication for the conversion of sinners?
Lucia: Yes, we do.
Our Lady: Well then, you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort.
"It was upon saying these last words, 'the grace of God...' that for
the first time she opened her hands, which emitted a most intense light
that penetrated our breasts, reaching the innermost part of our souls
and making us see ourselves in God, Who was that light, more clearly
than we can see ourselves in the best of mirrors.
Then, driven by a deep inspiration, we knelt down and repeated
inwardly: 'O Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love
Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament.'”
"A moment later, Our Lady added, 'Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.'
She immediately began to rise serenely toward the east until she disappeared far into the distance.
The light that surrounded her was, so to speak, opening her way through the starry firmament."
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