Apparitions of Fatima

 The apparitions of Fatima were a cycle of Marian apparitions that occurred during the year 1917 in the town of Fatima, Portugal, beginning on May 13, 1917, when three children, Lúcia dos Santos (10 years old), San Francisco Marto (9 years old) and Saint Jacinta Marto (7 years old), spotted "... a lady more brilliant than the Sun" over a small yard of a meter or more when they were feeding a small herd in the Cova da Iria, near the village of Aljustrel. Lúcia saw, listened and spoke with the apparition, Jacinta saw and heard and Francisco saw but it did not hear. The apparition of the Virgin Mary was repeated over the next five months and brought an important message to the world. The 13 of October of 1917, the apparition appeared to them like being "the Lady of the Rosary". In addition to these apparitions, other phenomena occurred, events that were reported and written by the seer Lúcia from 1935, in four manuscripts known as Memórias I, II, III and IV.

Apparition of Our Lady in Lucia's memories:

"Day 13 of May 1917 - Playing with Jacinta and Francisco, at the top of the slope of Iria's Cave, making a wall around a bush, we suddenly saw a lightning bolt.

"We'd better go home" I said to my cousins, "there are lightning bolts; it may be thunderstorm."

- Yes.

And we started going down the slope, touching the sheep toward the road. When we arrived, about halfway up the slope, almost next to a large holm-oak that was there, we saw another lightning and, after a few steps further on, we saw, on a Kermes Oak, a Lady, dressed all in white, brighter than the Sun, spreading light, clearer and more intense than a crystal glass, filled with crystalline water, pierced by the sun's rays fiery We were startled by the apparition. We were so close that we were in the light that surrounded her or that She was spreading, maybe five feet away, more or less.

Then Our Lady told us:

- Do not be afraid. I do not hurt you.

"Where are you from?" I asked her.

- I'm from Heaven.

"And what do you want me to do?"

"I have come to ask you to come here for six months straight, on the thirteenth day at this very hour." Then I'll tell you who I am and what I want. Then I'll come back here a seventh time.

"Am I going to heaven, too?"

- Yes, you will.

- What about Jacinta?

- Also.

- What about Francisco?

"Also, but you have to pray many rosaries.

I then remembered to ask about two girls who had just died. They were my friends and were in my house learning weavers with my older sister.

"Is Maria das Neves already in Heaven?"

- Yes, it is.

It seems to me that she must be about 16 years old.

"What about Amelia?"

"You will be in purgatory until the end of the world."

It seems to me that she should be 18 to 20 years old.

- Do You want to offer yourself to God to endure all the sufferings that He wants to send you in an act of reparation for the sinners with whom He is offended and supplication for the conversion of sinners?

- Yes we want.

"You must therefore have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.

It was in uttering these last words (the grace of God, etc.) that she opened his hands for the first time, communicating to us a light so intense, as a reflection that exiled them, that penetrated us in the chest and in the inmost soul , making us see ourselves in God, who was this light, more clearly than we see ourselves in the best of mirrors. Then, by an intimate impulse also communicated, we fell on our knees and repeated intimately:

"O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You. My God, my God, I love You in the Blessed Sacrament.

After the first moments, Our Lady added:

- Pray the full rosary every day, to achieve peace for the world and the end of the war.

Then it began to rise serenely, rising toward the source, until it disappeared in the immensity of the distance.

The light that surrounded her was like opening a path in the mass of the stars, that is why we have said sometimes that we have seen heaven open.

It seems to me that I have already expounded, in the writing about Jacinta or in a letter, that the fear we felt was not properly of Our Lady, but of the thunderstorm we were supposed to come; and from it, from the thunderstorm, we wanted to escape. The apparitions of Our Lady do not infuse fear or awe, but rather surprise. When they asked me if I had felt it and said yes, I was referring to the fear I had of the lightning and thunder I thought it was coming; and this was what we wanted to escape, for we were accustomed to seeing lightning only when it thundered.

Lightning also was not lightning itself, but rather the reflection of a coming light. Because we saw this light, we sometimes said that we saw Our Lady coming; but, properly speaking, Our Lady only distinguished her in that light when she was already on the holm oak. The fact that we did not know how to explain and want to avoid questions was what gave way to sometimes saying that we saw it coming, some that we did not. When we said yes, we saw her come, we were referring to the approach of this light that, after all, it was She. And when we said that we did not see, we meant that, properly Our Lady, we only saw her when she was already on the holm oak. "

Apparitions of the angel in Lucia's memory:

"From what I can more or less calculate, it seems to me that it was in 1915 that this first appearance of what I judged to be the Angel took place, that it did not dare at that time to manifest itself at all. By the time aspect it should have been in the months of April until October - 1915..

On the slope of the Cabeço toward the South, at the time of praying the rosary in the company of three companions, named Teresa Matias, Maria Rosa Matias, her sister and Maria Justino, from the place of the Old House, I saw that on the grove of the the valley that stretched at our feet hung like a cloud, whiter than snow, something transparent, with a human form. My roommates asked me what it was. I said I did not know. In different days, was repeated two more times.

This apparition left in my mind a certain impression that I can not explain. Little by little, this impression faded; and I believe that, if it is not the facts that followed, in time it would completely forget her.

The dates I can not need them for sure, because at that time I did not know how to count the years, nor the months, nor the days of the week. It seems to me, however, that it must have been in the spring of 1916 that the Angel appeared to us the first time in our Loca do Cabeço.

I have already said in Jacinta's writing how we climbed the slope in search of a shelter, and how it was, after having eaten and prayed, that we began to see, some distance away, from the trees that stretched toward the East, a light whiter than snow, in the form of a young, transparent, brighter than a crystal pierced by the rays of the sun. As we approached, we would distinguish his features. We were surprised and half absorbed. We did not say a word.

When he came to us, he said:

"Do not be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.

And kneeling on the ground, he bowed his forehead to the ground. Driven by a supernatural movement, we imitated it and repeated the words we heard him say:

"My God, I believe, I love, I hope and I love You. I ask you to forgive those who do not believe, do not worship, do not hope and do not love you.

After repeating this three times, he stood up and said,

- Pray like that. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.

And disappeared.

The atmosphere of the supernatural that enveloped us was so intense that we scarcely realized our existence for a long time, remaining in the position where it had left us, always repeating the same prayer. The presence of God felt so intense and intimate that even among us we dared not speak. The next day, we felt the spirit still engulfed by this atmosphere that only very slowly was disappearing.

In this apparition, no one thought of speaking or recommending the secret. She imposed it on herself. It was so intimate that it was not easy to pronounce the least word on her. It has made us, perhaps, also, a greater impression, for being the first one thus manifested.

The second was to be at the pin of the summer, on those hottest days when we would flock to the house in the middle of the morning to open them again only in the evening.

We went, therefore, to spend the hours of the siesta in the shade of the trees that surrounded the well several times mentioned. Suddenly we saw the same Angel next to us.

- What are you doing? Pray! Pray a lot! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have mercy on you. Constantly offer the Most High prayers and sacrifices.

"How can we sacrifice ourselves?" I asked.

- Of all that you can, offer a sacrifice in reparation for the sins with which He is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners. I have thus drawn upon your homeland, peace. I am the Angel of your guard, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and bear with submission the suffering that the Lord sends you.

These words of the Angel were engraved in our spirit, as a light that made us understand who God was, how He loved us and wanted to be loved, the value of the sacrifice and how it was pleasing to Him, how, for his attention, sinners were converted. So from that moment we began to offer to the Lord everything that mortified us, but without looking for other mortifications or penances, except that we would spend hours at a time prostrate by the earth, repeating the prayer that the Angel had taught us.

The third apparition seems to me to be in October or late September, because we were no longer going to spend the siesta hours at home.

As I said in the letter about Jacinta, we went from Prégueira (a small olive grove belonging to my parents) to Lapa, going around the hillside on the side of Aljustrel and Casa Velha. We prayed the rosary and the prayer which, at the first apparition, had taught us. When he was there, he appeared for the third time, holding in his hand a chalice and upon it a Host, from which a few drops of blood fell in the chalice. Leaving the chalice and the Host suspended in the air, prostrated himself to earth and repeated three times the prayer:

- Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I adore You deeply and offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences with which He Himself is offended. And for the infinite merits of His Most Holy Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I ask you to convert poor sinners.

Then, rising up, he took the chalice and the Host again in his hand and he gave me the Host and the one containing the chalice gave Jacinta and Francisco a drink, saying at the same time:

- Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God.

Again he prostrated himself on the ground and repeated with us three times the same prayer:

- Holy Trinity ... etc.

And disappeared.

Driven by the power of the supernatural that enveloped us, we imitated the Angel in everything, that is, prostrating ourselves as He did and repeating the prayers He said. The force of God's presence was so intense that it absorbed and annihilated us almost completely.

It seemed to deprive us even of the use of the bodily senses for a great amount of time. In these days, we did the material actions as if carried by that same supernatural being that impelled us to do so. The peace and happiness we felt was great, but only intimate, completely concentrated the soul in God. The physical dejection, which prostrated us, was also great. "

Apparition of 13 of October of 1917, day of the miracle of the Sun:

Due to the fact that the shepherds revealed that the Virgin Mary was going to perform a miracle on this day for all to believe, about 50,000 people were present in the Cova da Iria, according to the reports of the time. It rained heavily, and the crowd waited for the three children in the muddy grounds of the mountain. Lúcia describes these events in Memory IV: "We left home quite early, counting on the delays of the road, the people were in mass, the rain was torrential, and my mother, fearing that it was the last day of my life, with the heart shattered by the uncertainty of what was going to happen, she wanted to accompany me, on the way, the scenes of the last month, more numerous and touching, nor the lameness of the ways prevented these people from kneeling in the most humble and supplicating attitude. Arriving at Cova da Iria, next to the kermes oak, led by an interior movement, I asked the people to close the umbrellas and pray the rosary. A soon after we saw the reflection of the light and then Our Lady on the kermes oak.

Lucia: What do you want me to do?

Our Lady: - I want you to make a chapel here in My honor, that I am the Lady of the Rosary, to continue to pray the Rosary every day. The war will be over and the military will soon be back home. - I had many things to ask Her: if she could heal the sick and bring back the sinners, etc. "Some, yes; others I do not. They need to be amended, to ask for forgiveness of their sins. And taking a sadder look: - Do not offend God our Lord who is already greatly offended. And opening her hands, she made them reflect in the Sun. And as she rose, the reflection of Her own light continued to protrude into the Sun.

At this moment, Lucia tells the crowd to look at the sun, carried by an inner movement that has driven it. "Missing Our Lady, in the immense distance of the firmament, we saw, next to the Sun, St. Joseph with the Child and Our Lady dressed in white, with a blue mantle." It was the Holy Family. "St. Joseph and the Child seemed to bless the World with a gesture that they did with the hand in the form of a cross. A little later, this apparition vanished, I saw our Lord, suffering from pain on the way to Calvary and Our Lady, who gave me the idea of be Our Lady of Sorrows. "

Lúcia saw only the upper body of Our Lord and Our Lady did not have the sword in the chest. "Our Lord seemed to bless the World in the same way as St. Joseph. This apparition faded and I still seemed to see Our Lady in similar way to Our Lady of Carmo, with the Baby Jesus on her lap."

While the three little shepherds were graced with these visions (only Lucia saw the three pictures, Jacinta and Francisco saw only the first), most of the present crowd observed the so-called Miracle of the Sun. The rain that fell ceased, letting himself see the sun, resembling a frosted silver disk, could look without difficulty without blinding. The immense ball began to spin dizzyingly over itself like a fire wheel. Then it edges became scarlet and it slid in the sky like a whirlwind, sprinkling red flames of fire. This light was reflected in the soil, in the trees, on the faces of the people themselves and on the clothes, taking on bright shades and different colors. Three times excited by a mad movement, the fireball seemed to tremble, to shake itself, and to zigzag through the terrified crowd. It all lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the Sun returned zigzag back to its place and was again calm and bright. Many people noticed that their clothes, soaked in the rain, had dried suddenly. This phenomenon was witnessed by thousands of people, even by others who were miles from the place of the apparitions. The report was published in the press by several journalists who went there and who were also witnesses to the event.

Our Lady of Ortiga (urtiga means nettle)

Another very early apparition, Our Lady appeared in the eighteenth century to a mute girl, where the Marian sanctuary is located in Ortiga, in the parish of Fátima, Ourém municipality, in Portugal. Our Lady asked for a sheep from the flock that she kept. The girl felt her tongue gain new life, and she had replied that she could not say yes without her father's permission.

Her father was astonished to hear his daughter speak, and told her to give that lady everything she wanted. Our Lady asked the girl to erect a chapel on the site, which happened sometime before 1758, according to oral tradition may have been built in 1604. When she went to the place where her daughter said that everything happened, she found a image of Our Lady, among nettles.

In 1801, the chapel received the jubilee of the Pope Pio VII, beginning at that time the pilgrimages. Even today, the chapel, which is two kilometers from the main church of Fátima, receives hundreds of pilgrims in July. He also granted a plenary indulgence at the close of the Jubilee Year of 1800 to all the pilgrims who visit the said Marian shrine on the first Sunday in July and on the following two days, and the faithful should observe the prescribed conditions: to have previously confessed , having received Holy Communion being in a state of grace and praying for the Supreme Pontiff. This indulgence could be profitable every year.

The feast in honor of Our Lady of Ortiga is held annually on the first Sunday in July. Since the 18th century, the Ortiga Chapel is a place of pilgrimage. The population of the parish of Fátima shares a communal meal and attends religious ceremonies in honor of Our Lady of the Ortiga. The place had many traditions that said people visited the place to start dating.

Schedules of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Ortiga: Winter 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Summer 7:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.