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.

History

Between May and October 1917, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children—Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto—in the fields outside the village of Aljustrel, very close to Fatima, Portugal. She would come and speak to them on the 13th of every month. Lúcia later described her vision of her 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."

Related Topics:
1917 - Virgin Mary - Lúcia dos Santos - Jacinta and Francisco Marto - Fatima, Portugal

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According to Lúcia's account, Mary exhorted the children to do penance and sacrifices to save sinners. They wore tight cords around their waists to cause pain, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and other works of penance. Most important, she said she asked them to say the Rosary every day. She said she reiterated 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.

Related Topics:
Penance - Rosary - Portuguese - World War I

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On what believers call her last visit, a crowd of 70,000 people, including reporters from newspapers, gathered in a torrential rainstorm. Many people in the crowd said that the sun changed colours, began spinning in the sky and went completely dark for several minutes before seeming to plunge toward the earth, then returning to its proper place, an event believers call the great Solar Miracle of Fatima. Reporter Avelino de Almeida, who had been skeptical of Fatima in previous articles, saw and reported the phenomena, while his photographer saw nothing but shot pictures of the mesmerized crowd looking up.

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There is no independent verification of the solar phenomenon, and no movement or other phenomenon of the sun was registered by scientists at the time. It was reportedly witnessed from up to 25 miles away, but these people did not know what to make of it. Not everyone in the crowd saw the "sun dance", including the children, who reported seeing Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph blessing the people. Some people only saw the radiant colors. Others saw nothing at all.

Related Topics:
Jesus - Virgin Mary - Saint Joseph

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The three secrets of Fatima

Main article: Three Secrets of Fatima

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Most of the interest in Fatima, however, revolves around the famous three-part secret of Fatima, which includes remarkable visions of the future. Lúcia only wrote down the secrets in 1941, when she was asked to compose memoirs about Fatima and her cousins so their canonization proceedings could begin.

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The first part described a horrific vision of Hell, while the second foretold the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II and called for the "Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary".

Related Topics:
Hell - World War I - World War II - Russia - Immaculate Heart of Mary

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The officially released text of the third part of the secret was symbolic in nature and open to various interpretations. The Church's interpretation was that the subject of the prophecy was the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Ağca in Saint Peter's Square, Rome. The shooting occurred on May 13, the date of the first of the reported Fatima visions. The Pope had reportedly stooped to hug a little girl wearing a Lady of Fatima badge when the assailant fired, and the bullets struck him in the abdomen rather than in the head as planned.

Related Topics:
1981 - Assassination - Pope John Paul II - Mehmet Ali Ağca - Saint Peter's Square - Rome - May 13

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John Paul credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life. He said more than once that he plainly saw her actively intervening to deflect the gunman's arm. He said he maintained consciousness on the ride to the hospital by keeping his mind focused on her.

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