by Columbia Staff
THE MESSAGE OF THE VIRGIN MARY TO THREE SHEPHERD CHILDREN IN 1917 POINTS TO GOD AS THE SOURCE OF PEACE IN THE WORLD
A statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried May 12, 2016, through the crowd of pilgrims gathered at the Marian shrine of Fatima, Portugal. CNS photo/Rafael Marchante, Reuters
Between May and October 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal. Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, received Mary’s words with simple trust and faithfully put them into practice.
Our Lady’s message was one of prayer, penance, and conversion at a time of international crisis, as World War I intensified in Europe and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia loomed on the horizon.
During the deadly flu pandemic that began months later, young Francisco and Jacinta suffered immensely, and they showed great spiritual maturity and holiness despite their young age. Francisco died in 1919 at age 10, and Jacinta died a year later at age 9.
Lucia, who became a Sister of St. Dorothy and eventually received permission to join the Carmelites, wrote of the Fatima events in a series of memoirs and obediently shared what came to be called the “secret of Fatima.”
Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta on the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, 2000. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at age 97, and three years later, Pope Benedict XVI waived the five-year waiting period for her cause for canonization.
In March 2017, Pope Francis formally recognized a second miracle attributed to the intercession of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta, and to celebrate the centennial of the apparitions he will visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal May 12-13.
As summarized in the pages that follow, the story of Fatima, which unfolded over many decades, is a call to deeper prayer and conversion, and it is intertwined with the Church’s experience throughout the tumultuous 20th century.
APPARITIONS AND MIRACLES
On May 13, 1917, 10-year-old Lucia was herding sheep in the Cova da Iria, near Fatima, with her cousins Francisco, 9, and Jacinta, 7, when the children shared a supernatural vision: A woman “clothed in white and brighter than the sun” spoke to them and asked them to meet her in the same place on the 13th day for the next five months.
Though cautioned by Lucia to remain silent about the event, Jacinta could not contain her joy and told her mother, who gave the claim little credence. Lucia’s mother accused her own daughter of lying, even blaspheming. As word spread through the community, the children faced increasing questions and threats from the local authorities while ever larger crowds gathered each month.
Sister Lucia later revealed in her memoirs that the remarkable events of Fatima actually began a year before Mary’s first appearance. The children had previously been visited three times in the spring of 1916 by the Angel of Portugal, who taught them prayers and called them to deeper love of the Eucharist.
Jacinta and Francisco Marto are pictured with their cousin Lucia dos Santos (left) around the time of the 1917 apparitions. Pope Francis recently approved the recognition of a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta, thus paving the way for their canonization. CNS file photo
MESSAGE AND PRACTICE
Mary’s message to the children at Fatima was essentially a summons to conversion, faith, prayer, penance and hope. Repeatedly, Our Lady instructed them to “pray the rosary every day” to bring peace to the world and an end to war. She also said to “make sacrifices for sinners” and “in reparation” for offenses against God and her Immaculate Heart. On the last day, she said, “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins.”
The Fatima message inspired spiritual practices that have become part of popular Catholic devotion in many parts of the world. This includes devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and First Saturday Communions of reparation, much like the First Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart inspired by visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century.