Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora do Rosário da Fátima) is one of the best-known Marian apparitions in the world.

Controversy around the Third Secret

The Vatican kept the third secret under wraps 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'll be more clearly understood." 1960 passed without any such announcement, which led to immense speculation over the content of the secret.

Related Topics:
Vatican - Third secret - Easter - 2000 - 1940 - 1960

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There is some controversy that the third part of the secret revealed in the year 2000 was not the real secret, or at least not the full secret. The main reason for this is 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 is not reflected by the version released by the Vatican on June 26, 2000.

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Another argument for this revolves around the decision to release the secret much later than as 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").

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The fate of the three children

Lúcia reporting seeing the Virgin again in 1925 at the Dorothean convent at Pontevedra, Spain, and was asked to convey the message of the First Saturday Devotions. A subsequent vision of the Christ Child Himself reiterated this request.

Related Topics:
Lúcia - 1925 - Dorothean - Pontevedra - Spain - First Saturday Devotions

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Lúcia was transferred to another convent in Tuy, Spain in 1928. In 1929, Lúcia reported that Mary returned and repeated her request for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

Related Topics:
Tuy - 1928 - 1929 - Russia - Immaculate Heart

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

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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. The date may have significance to Fatima devotees, since most of the major events of this vision series took place on the 13th day of the month. After her death, the Vatican, specifically Joseph Cardinal 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.

Related Topics:
1947 - Carmelite - Coimbra - February 13 - 2005 - Vatican - Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger - Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - Canonization

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

Related Topics:
Francisco - 1908 - 1919 - Jacinta Marto - 1910 - 1920 - Spanish Flu

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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.

Related Topics:
13 May - 1989 - 2000 - Canonization

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Interestingly, during the second apparition on June 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary predicted the deaths of two of the children. Previously, she'd told them they would all eventually go to heaven. On June 13, Lúcia asked the Virgin to take them to heaven soon. Mary replied, "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." The younger children were ecstatic to hear that they'd be going to Heaven "soon" and did not keep this information secret. Family, friends and curious tourists all report Jacinta and Francisco joyfully and serenely predicting their deaths. Jacinta, in fact, accurately predicted the exact hour and detailed circumstances of her death, according to accounts by her own mother, by Lúcia, and by hospital staff.

Related Topics:
June 13 - 1917

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Exhumed in 1935 and again in 1951, Jacinta's body was found incorrupt. Francisco's had decomposed.

Related Topics:
1935 - 1951

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