During the night
of 12-13 October it had rained throughout, soaking the ground and the pilgrims
who make their way to Fátima from all directions by the thousands. By foot, by
cart and even by car they came, entering the bowl of the Cova from the
Fátima-Leiria road, which today still passes in front of the large square of the
Basilica. From there they made their way down the gently slope to the place
where a trestle had been erected over the little holm oak of the apparitions.
Today on the site is the modern glass and steel Capelhina (little chapel),
enclosing the first chapel built there and the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary
of Fátima where the holm oak had stood.

As for the children, they made their way
to the Cova amid the adulation and skepticism which had followed them since May.
When they arrived they found critics who questioned their veracity and the
punctuality of the Lady, who had promised to arrive at noon. It was well passed
noon by the official time of the country. However, when the sun arrived at its
zenith the Lady appeared as she had said she would.

Video
“What do you want
of me?”
I want a chapel built here in my honor. I want you to continue saying the
Rosary every day. The war will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their
homes.
“Yes. Yes.”
“Will you tell me your name?”
I am the Lady of the Rosary.
“I have many petitions from many people. Will you grant them? ”
Some I shall grant, and others I must deny. People must amend their lives
and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is
already too much offended!
“And is that all you have to ask?”
There is nothing more.

As the Lady of the Rosary rises toward the east she turns the palms of her
hands toward the dark sky. While the rain had stopped, dark clouds continued to
obscure the sun, which suddenly bursts through them and is seen to be a soft
spinning disk of silver.

“Look at the sun!”

From this point two distinct apparitions were seen, that of
the phenomenon of the sun seen by the 70,000 or so spectators and that beheld by
the children alone. Lucia describes the latter in her memoirs.

After our Lady had disappeared into the
immense distance of the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and
Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the
Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross
with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our
Lord and Our lady; it seemed to me to that it was Our Lady of Sorrows (Dolors).
Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done.
This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time
resembling Our Lady of Carmel. [Only Lucia would see the later, presaging her
entrance into Carmel some years later.]

This would be the last of the apparitions
of Fátima for Jacinta and Francisco. However, for Lucia Our Lady would return a
seventh time, in 1920, as she had promised the previous May. At that time Lucia
would be praying in the Cova before leaving Fátima for a girls boarding school.
The Lady would come to urge her to dedicate herself wholly to
God.

As the children viewed the various
apparitions of Jesus, Mary and Joseph the crowd witnessed a different prodigy,
the now famous miracle of the sun. Among the witnesses there were the
following:

O Seculo (a pro-government, anti-clerical, Lisbon paper):
From the road, where the vehicles were parked and where hundreds of people
who had not dared to brave the mud were congregated, one could see the immense
multitude turn toward the sun, which appeared free from clouds and in its
zenith. It looked like a plaque of dull silver, and it was possible to look at
it without the least discomfort. It might have been an eclipse which was taking
place. But at that moment a great shout went up, and one could hear the
spectators nearest at hand shouting: “A miracle! A miracle!
Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they
stood bareheaded, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden
incredible movements outside all cosmic laws—the sun “danced” according to the
typical expression of the people.
Standing at the step of an omnibus was an old man. With his face turned to
the sun, he recited the Credo in a loud voice. I asked who he was and was told
Senhor Joao da Cunha Vasconcelos. I saw him afterwards going up to those around
him who still had their hats on, and vehemently imploring them to uncover before
such an extraordinary demonstration of the existence of God.
Identical scenes were repeated elsewhere, and in one place a woman cried out:
“How terrible! There are even men who do not uncover before such a stupendous
miracle!”
People then began to ask each other what they had seen. The great majority
admitted to having seen the trembling and the dancing of the sun; others
affirmed that they saw the face of the Blessed Virgin; others, again, swore that
the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel and that it lowered
itself to the earth as if to burn it in its rays. Some said they saw it change
colors successively….

---

O Dia (another Lisbon daily, edition of 17 October 1917):
“At one o’clock in the afternoon, midday by the sun, the rain stopped. The
sky, pearly grey in colour, illuminated the vast arid landscape with a strange
light. The sun had a transparent gauzy veil so that the eyes could easily be
fixed upon it. The grey mother-of-pearl tone turned into a sheet of silver which
broke up as the clouds were torn apart and the silver sun, enveloped in the same
gauzy grey light, was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds. A
cry went up from every mouth and people fell on their knees on the muddy
ground….
The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the
stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who
knelt with outstretched hands. The blue faded slowly, and then the light seemed
to pass through yellow glass. Yellow stains fell against white handkerchiefs,
against the dark skirts of the women. They were repeated on the trees, on the
stones and on the serra. People wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the
presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid
were they.

---

Ti Marto (father of Jacinta and Francisco)
We looked easily at the sun, which for some reason did not blind us. It
seemed to flicker on and off, first one way, then another. It cast its rays in
many directions and painted everything in different colors— the trees, the
people, the air and the ground. But what was most extraordinary, I thought, was
that the sun did not hurt our eyes. Everything was still and quiet, and everyone
was looking up. Then at a certain moment, the sun appeared to stop spinning. It
then began to move and to dance in the sky until it seemed to detach itself from
its place and fall upon us. It was a terrible moment.

---

Maria de Capelinha (one of the earliest believers):
The sun turned everything to different colours—yellow, blue and white. Then
it shook and trembled. It looked like a wheel of fire that was going to fall on
the people. They began to cry out, “We shall all be killed!” Others called to
our Lady to save them. They recited acts of contrition. One woman began to
confess her sins aloud, advertising that she had done this and that…. When at
last the sun stopped leaping and moving, we all breathed our relief. We were
still alive, and the miracle which the children had foretold, had been seen by
everyone.

---

I was looking at the place of the apparitions, in a serene, if cold,
expectation of something happening, and with diminishing curiosity, because a
long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. Then I heard a
shout from thousands of voices and saw the multitude suddenly turn its back and
shoulders away from the point toward which up to now it had directed its
attention, and turn to look at the sky on the opposite side.
It must have been nearly two o’clock by the legal time, and about midday by
the sun. The sun, a few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of
clouds which hid it, and shone clearly and intensely. I veered to the magnet
which seemed to be drawing all eyes, and saw it as a disc with a clean-cut rim,
luminous and shining, but which did not hurt the eyes. I do not agree with the
comparison which I have heard made in Fatima—that of a dull silver disc. It
was a clearer, richer, brighter colour, having something of the luster of a
pearl. It did not in the least resemble the moon on a clear night because one
saw it and felt it to be a living body. It was not spheric like the moon, nor
did it have the same colour, tone, or shading. It looked like a glazed wheel
made of mother-of-pearl. It could not be confused, either, with the sun seen
through fog (for there was no fog at the time), because it was not opaque,
diffused or veiled. In Fatima it gave light and heat and appeared clear-cut with
a well-defined rim.
The sky was mottled with light cirrus clouds with the blue coming through
here and there, but sometimes the sun stood out in patches of clear sky. The
clouds passed from west to east and did not obscure the light of the sun, giving
the impression of passing behind it, though sometimes these flecks of white took
on tones of pink or diaphanous blue as they passed before the sun.
It was a remarkable fact that one could fix one’s eyes on this brazier of
heat and light without any pain in the eyes or blinding of the retina. The
phenomenon, except for two interruptions when the sun seemed to send out rays of
refulgent heat which obliged us to look away, must have lasted about ten
minutes.
The sun’s disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a,
heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl. Then, suddenly, one
heard a clamour, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun,
whirling wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance
threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight.
The sensation during those moments was terrible.
During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described in detail, there
were changes of colour in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that
everything around was becoming darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects
and then extended my glance further afield as far as the horizon. I saw
everything an amethyst colour. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere,
were of the same colour. An oak tree nearby threw a shadow of this colour on the
ground.
Fearing that I was suffering from an affection of the retina, an improbable
explanation because in that case one could not see things purple-colored, I
turned away and shut my eyes, keeping my hands before them to intercept the
light. With my back still turned, I opened my eyes and saw that the landscape
was the same purple colour as before.
The impression was not that of an eclipse, and while looking at the sun I
noticed that the atmosphere had cleared. Soon after I heard a peasant who was
near me shout out in tones of astonishment: “Look, that lady is all yellow!”
And in fact everything, both near and far, had changed, taking on the colour
of old yellow damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice, and
I recall a sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive.
My own hand was the same colour. All the phenomena which I have described were
observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind, and without any emotional
disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them.

---

Dr. Almeida Garrett, PhD (Coimbra University):
I was looking at the place of the apparitions, in a serene, if cold,
expectation of something happening, and with diminishing curiosity, because a
long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. Then I heard a
shout from thousands of voices and saw the multitude suddenly turn its back and
shoulders away from the point toward which up to now it had directed its
attention, and turn to look at the sky on the opposite side.
It must have been nearly two o’clock by the legal time, and about midday by
the sun. The sun, a few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of
clouds which hid it, and shone clearly and intensely. I veered to the magnet
which seemed to be drawing all eyes, and saw it as a disc with a clean-cut rim,
luminous and shining, but which did not hurt the eyes. I do not agree with the
comparison which I have heard made in Fátima—that of a dull silver disc. It
was a clearer, richer, brighter color, having something of the luster of a
pearl. It did not in the least resemble the moon on a clear night because one
saw it and felt it to be a living body. It was not spheric like the moon, nor
did it have the same color, tone, or shading. It looked like a glazed wheel made
of mother-of-pearl. It could not be confused, either, with the sun seen through
fog (for there was no fog at the time), because it was not opaque, diffused or
veiled. In Fátima it gave light and heat and appeared clear-cut with a
well-defined rim.
The sky was mottled with light cirrus clouds with the blue coming through
here and there, but sometimes the sun stood out in patches of clear sky. The
clouds passed from west to east and did not obscure the light of the sun, giving
the impression of passing behind it, though sometimes these flecks of white took
on tones of pink or diaphanous blue as they passed before the sun.
It was a remarkable fact that one could fix one’s eyes on this brazier of
heat and light without any pain in the eyes or blinding of the retina. The
phenomenon, except for two interruptions when the sun seemed to send out rays of
refulgent heat which obliged us to look away, must have lasted about ten
minutes.
The sun’s disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a,
heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad whirl. Then, suddenly, one
heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling
wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly
upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight. The sensation
during those moments was terrible.
During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described in detail, there
were changes of color in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that
everything around was becoming darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects
and then extended my glance further afield as far as the horizon. I saw
everything an amethyst color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere,
were of the same color. An oak tree nearby threw a shadow of this color on the
ground.
Fearing that I was suffering from an affection of the retina, an improbable
explanation because in that case one could not see things purple-colored, I
turned away and shut my eyes, keeping my hands before them to intercept the
light. With my back still turned, I opened my eyes and saw that the landscape
was the same purple color as before.
The impression was not that of an eclipse, and while looking at the sun I
noticed that the atmosphere had cleared. Soon after I heard a peasant who was
near me shout out in tones of astonishment: “Look, that lady is all yellow!”
And in fact everything, both near and far, had changed, taking on the color
of old yellow damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice, and
I recall a sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive.
My own hand was the same color. All the phenomena which I have described were
observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind, and without any emotional
disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them.

---

Dr. Domingos Coelho (reported in the newspaper Ordem):
The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in
yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceedingly fast and whirling
movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching
the earth, strongly radiating heat.

---

Fr. Manuel Pereira da Silva (in a letter to a
friend)
The sun appeared with its circumference well defined.
It came down as if to the height of the clouds and began to whirl giddily upon
itself like a captive ball of fire. With some interruptions, this lasted about
eight minutes. The atmosphere darkened and the features of each became yellow.
Everyone knelt even in the mud….

---

Senhor Alfredo da Silva Santos
(Lisbon):
We made our arrangements, and went in three motor
cars on the early morning of the 13th. There was a thick mist, and the car which
went in front mistook the way so that we were all lost for a time and only
arrived at the Cova da Iria at midday by the sun. It was absolutely full of
people, but for my part I felt devoid of any religious feeling. When Lucia
called out: “Look at the sun!” the whole multitude repeated: “Attention to the
sun!” It was a day of incessant drizzle but a few moments before the miracle it
stopped raining. I can hardly find words to describe what followed. The sun
began to move, and at a certain moment appeared to be detached from the sky and
about to hurtle upon us like a wheel of flame. My wife—we had been married
only a short time- — fainted, and I was too upset to attend to her, and my
brother-in- law, Joao Vassalo, supported her on his arm. I fell on my knees,
oblivious of everything, and when I got up I don’t know what I said. I think I
began to cry out like the others. An old man with a white beard began to attack
the atheists aloud and challenged them to say whether or not something
supernatural had occurred.

---

There may have been many former atheists in Fátima
that day, but there were plenty in Portugal, nonetheless, to charge
hallucination. For those the Lady provided
witnesses who were not at the scene and could not have been subject to
collective suggestion.

Alfonso Lopes Vieira (observed the display from a distance of nearly
25 miles):
On that day of October 13, 1917,  without remembering the predictions of the
children, I was enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had
never seen before. I saw it from this veranda….

---

Fr. Ignacio Lorenco (Alburitel, 11 miles away):
I was only nine years old at this time, and I went to the local village
school. At about midday we were surprised by the shouts and cries of some men
and women who were passing in the street in front of the school. The teacher, a
good, pious woman, though nervous and impressionable, was the first to run into
the road, with the children after her.
Outside, the people were shouting and weeping and pointing to the sun,
ignoring the agitated questions of the schoolmistress. It was the great Miracle,
which one could see quite distinctly from the top of the hill where my village
was situated—the Miracle of the sun, accompanied by all its extraordinary
phenomena.
I feel incapable of describing what I saw and felt. I looked fixedly at the
sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt the eyes. Looking like a ball of snow
revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zigzag, menacing the
earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself among the people, who were weeping and
expecting the end of the world at any moment.
Near us was an unbeliever who had spent the morning mocking at the simpletons
who had gone off to Fátima just to see an ordinary girl. He now seemed to be
paralyzed, his eyes fixed on the sun. Afterwards he trembled from head to foot
and lifting up his arms fell on his knees in the mud, crying out to our
Lady.
Meanwhile the people continued to cry out and to weep, asking God to pardon
their sins. We all ran to the two chapels in the village, which were soon filled
to overflowing. During those long moments of the solar prodigy, objects around
us turned all the colors of the rainbow. We saw ourselves blue, yellow, red,
etc. All these strange phenomena increased the fears of the people. After about
ten minutes the sun, now dull and pallid, returned to its place. When the people
realized that the danger was over, there was an explosion of joy, and everyone
joined in thanksgiving and praise to our Lady.

---

Rev. Dr. Formigao’s

Francisco’s brother John, still living, indicated to me that Francisco risked scoldings when he had a mind to carry out some practical joke. Like the time John was sleeping with his mouth open near the stove, and Francisco dropped a chip of wood into it.

His father recalled that once or twice he refused to say his prayers because he was in a rebellious mood. He was strongly corrected. His father saw him defending his interest with a strong will. Both Lucia and his father agree on certain basic things.

According to his father he had a gentle nature, he was affectionate, obedient and seldom disturbed the family peace. Lucia said, “He would play with all the children without showing preference.” When Lucia was overbearing with him, he would obey and then she would be sorry for her impatience and go to him, “and he would always be as friendly as if nothing had happened.”

We can detect here a spirit of vivaciousness and basic humility with a bit of self-will. If tempered and open to the Holy Spirit this will give us one who indeed has a spirit of contemplation.

It has always been a point of interest that Francisco never heard the angel or Our Blessed Mother speak but he saw them. One time he said to Lucia: “You spoke to the angel; what did he say?” His question surprised Lucia. “Didn’t you hear the angel speak then?” she asked. “No, I saw that he spoke to you. I heard what you said but I didn’t hear what he said.”

Both Lucia and Jacinta felt so awed and lacking in strength that they refused to speak about the angel until some days later when their strength returned. When Lucia finally told Francisco all that the angel had said, he could not understand everything. He had to ask her questions to explain what “Almighty” meant and answer his question, “And what is the meaning of the saying, ‘The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications’?”

What we have here is the making of a very young contemplative saint. Now the strength of Francisco was drained too with the experience of the angel but he said “What does it matter? The angel is more important than anything. Let us think about him!”

During the final angelic apparition the angel gave Lucia the Host and her two younger cousins the chalice to drink from. After this apparition Francisco questioned again: “Oh, Lucia, the angel gave you Holy Communion, but what was it he gave Jacinta and me?” It was Jacinta who answered his question. “It was the same,” she said. “It was Holy Communion. Didn’t you see that it was the Blood that fell from the Host?”

Although he was in deep meditation, and it was difficult to speak, he said, “I felt that God was in me, but I did not understand in what way.” The three little shepherds knelt down and remained that way for a long time saying the prayer to the Holy Trinity. They were physically very weak each time after the angel appeared and wanted to keep silence and meditate on God. It was after this encounter that the friendship between Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco became very close and greatly spiritual.

Recall how, when Our Lady first appeared, Francisco did not immediately see her. He knew that Lucia and Jacinta were seeing something very special. Our Lady then told Lucia to tell Francisco to say the Rosary and he would see the beautiful Lady from heaven.

He took out his rosary and had said about five or six Hail Marys when he could see the beautiful heavenly Lady bathed in brilliant light, brighter than the sun. Was not Our Lady in this incident again leading Francisco to become more of the contemplative? He must think, inquire, pray.

When Lucia asked if Francisco would go to heaven too, Our Lady said, “Yes, but first he must say many Rosaries.” Learning this, Francisco cried out excitedly: “Oh, Our Lady, I will say all the Rosaries you wish!” Note “Our” Lady. We must not act as if she is only “My” Lady. She is the Mother of us all; Mother of the Church.

Rejoice if others are drawing people to Jesus through Mary. Rejoice if the work of others seems to bear even more fruit than your own hard efforts which may go unnoticed.

I once asked John Marto, Francisco’s brother, if he thought Francisco was holier than himself when he was a boy. He answered, “No. Not until I noticed he was always saying the Rosary. Then I would go and hide from him so that I didn’t have to see him always praying that Rosary.”

Francisco the contemplative had no problem keeping to himself the appearance of the beautiful Lady from heaven. Remember Lucia’s strong admonitions. They must keep all quiet lest the roof cave in. She had an experience a couple years earlier with several girls when they saw the vague appearance of an angel and the other girls talked and got into trouble. So Lucia cautioned especially Jacinta. How disgusted Francisco was with his younger sister. “Oh, Lucia, Jacinta went and told everybody at home what happened.”

Sometimes when Lucia and Jacinta would be at play, Francisco would go off by himself to pray the Rosary. One time when Lucia found him atop a rock and asked what he had been doing up there all this time, he answered: “I was thinking about God, who is so offended by the innumerable sins committed. What would I not give to be able to console Him.” Francisco was very taken up with the desire to console God, so offended by sin. The spirit of contemplation sank more deeply into his being. Pressed by his sister and cousin to come play, he would hold up his rosary beads. He would say “Afterwards! Don’t you remember that I must say many Rosaries before I can go to heaven?”

The contemplative Francisco was also very logical. When Lucia had been convinced that maybe the apparitions were a trick of the devil and that she was not going to return to the Cova da Iria on July 13, Francisco said, “It is a pity. Why do you think like that about the matter? Don’t you see that it can’t be the demon? God, Our Lord, is already so hurt by the sins committed. If you do not go He will become sadder still. Decide once for all! . . . Courage! Didn’t Our Lady say that we would have much to suffer in reparation for the numerous sins committed against Our Lord and her Immaculate Heart which hurt so much? And you are going about so sad, when you could offer up this suffering in reparation. We should be pleased.” Quite a contemplative.

Our Divine Lord took up his Cross to redeem us with interior joy and wanted to share his joy with us. Joy, even in suffering was the way of Jesus Christ and the way to discover the deeper secrets of spirituality.

One day Lucia asked Francisco which he liked best, to console Our Lord or to convert sinners to prevent more souls from going to hell. Francisco did not have to hesitate to answer that question. “I prefer to console Our Lord. Don’t you remember last month how Our Lady became so sad when she asked us not to offend Our Lord who was already so offended? I want to console Our Lord, and then to convert sinners so that they won’t offend Him any more.”

One day when Jacinta and Lucia came into his room, he asked them not to talk much as he had a bad headache. Jacinta told him not to forget to offer it up for sinners. He answered: “Yes, but first of all I am offering it up to console Our Lord and Our Lady, then for sinners and the Holy Father.”

All three children received the same messages from heaven. Yet, each of them had a special part of it they stressed, while not forgetting the other parts. Jacinta’s main desire was to convert sinners and save souls from going to hell, where they suffer so much and forever. Francisco preferred to think mostly of consoling Our Lord and Our Lady, both of whom seemed so sad at sin. His great reverence for God was seen in asking one of the men prisoners to take his hat off when they prayed. Of the threat of boiling oil the boy said: “If they kill us, as they say they intend doing, we will be in heaven in a few minutes’ time! How lucky we are! I do not mind anything. I hope Jacinta is not afraid! . . .”

When his parents began to send him to the Boleiros school, he knew that he would go to heaven soon anyway. Very often therefore, instead of going to school, he’d go only as far as the Fatima church. He would say to Lucia: “You go on to school while I stay here in the church. It is not worth my while learning to read, as I will soon be going to heaven. Call for me on your return.”

Francisco would remain in church the entire school day. He’d go right up to the altar, immediately before the Hidden Jesus in the tabernacle. He would place his arms on the altar. Kneeling, he would adore his Lord and God there present. There he would console his God.

On December 23, 1918, Francisco developed bronchial pneumonia. He said he would go to heaven soon and added: “Oh, when I am there I will console Jesus and Our Lady a great deal!”

People felt an experience of being in the presence of God when they came near him, especially in his last days. They experienced something of the supernatural and said that to enter his room was like entering a church.

After meticulously examining his conscience and making a good confession, Francisco, near death, received Holy Communion from the priest who came to his home. After receiving the Hidden Jesus he lay for a long time with his eyes shut, making a good thanksgiving. “Today,” he said to Jacinta, suffering from the same illness, “I am happier than you are, for I have the Hidden Jesus in my heart!” The evening before he died Lucia came to see him for a last farewell. She said, “Good-bye, Francisco. If you die during the night, do not forget me up there!”

“You may rest assured, I will never forget you,” and he took hold of her hand and looked at Lucia for a long time with tears in his eyes. “Good-bye then, Francisco, until we meet in heaven.”

What faith, what love, what depths even children are capable of in the spiritual life. We must never fail in offering children the fullness of true faith or hinder the workings of God in their tender souls. And to us in the Apostolate, we can hear Jesus say, “Unless you change, and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Fatima message was given to the children for the whole world. Who were the first to respond to it. The answer is obvious: the three children of Fatima. Had they not responded to it within their own hearts, the message would not be credible to the rest of us. If we hope to be apostles of the message, we must first live the message within our own hearts. ]]> http://www.fatimafamily.org/the-spirituality-of-francisco-marto/feed/ 0 http://www.fatimafamily.org/fatima-doctrine-of-faith/ http://www.fatimafamily.org/fatima-doctrine-of-faith/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:45:19 +0000 admin http://fatimafamily.org/?p=175 CONGREGATION
FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
THE MESSAGE
OF
FATIMA

INTRODUCTION
As the second millennium gives way to the third, Pope John Paul II
has decided to publish the text of the third part of the “secret of
Fatima”.
The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human
history, with its tragic and cruel events culminating in the assassination
attempt on the “sweet Christ on earth”. Now a veil is drawn back on a series of
events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective
alien to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism.
Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and
signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of
believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history.
These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must
therefore have their focus in the core of Christ’s proclamation: the Father’s
love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to
abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima
which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of
the Gospel.
Fatima is undoubtedly the most prophetic of modern apparitions.
The first and second parts of the “secret”—which are here published in sequence
so as to complete the documentation—refer especially to the frightening vision
of hell, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Second World War, and
finally the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by
abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism.
In 1917 no one could have imagined all this: the three
pastorinhos of Fatima see, listen and remember, and Lucia, the surviving
witness, commits it all to paper when ordered to do so by the Bishop of Leiria
and with Our Lady’s permission.
For the account of the first two parts of the “secret”, which have
already been published and are therefore known, we have chosen the text written
by Sister Lucia in the Third Memoir of 31 August 1941; some annotations were
added in the Fourth Memoir of 8 December 1941.
The third part of the “secret” was written “by order of His
Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother …” on 3 January
1944.
There is only one manuscript, which is here reproduced
photostatically. The sealed envelope was initially in the custody of the Bishop
of Leiria. To ensure better protection for the “secret” the envelope was placed
in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office on 4 April 1957. The Bishop of Leiria
informed Sister Lucia of this.
According to the records of the Archives, the Commissary of the
Holy Office, Father Pierre Paul Philippe, OP, with the agreement of Cardinal
Alfredo Ottaviani, brought the envelopecontaining the third part of the “secret
of Fatima” to Pope John XXIII on 17 August 1959. “After some hesitation”, His
Holiness said: “We shall wait. I shall pray. I shall let you know what I
decide”.⁽¹⁾
In fact Pope John XXIII decided to return the sealed envelope to
the Holy Office and not to reveal the third part of the “secret”.
Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo
Dell’Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and returned the envelope to the Archives of the
Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text.
John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the
third part of the “secret” following the assassination attempt on 13 May 1981.
On 18 July 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the Congregation, gave two
envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the Secretariat
of State: one white envelope, containing Sister Lucia’s original text in
Portuguese; the other orange, with the Italian translation of the “secret”. On
the following 11 August, Archbishop Martínez returned the two envelopes to the
Archives of the Holy Office.⁽²⁾
As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of
consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and he himself composed a
prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was to be celebrated in
the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the
day chosen to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of
Constantinople and the 1550th anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. Since the
Pope was unable to be present, his recorded Address was broadcast. The following
is the part which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment:
“Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their
sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart you feel all the struggles between
good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world: accept the
plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace
with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this
embrace, and also those whose act of entrustment you too await in a
particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human family,
which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for
everyone the time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of
hope”.⁽³⁾
In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the
Holy Father desired to make more explicit during the Holy Year of the Redemption
the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been repeated in Fatima on 13
May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter’s Square, while recalling the
fiat uttered by Mary at the Annunciation, the Holy Father, in spiritual
union with the Bishops of the world, who had been “convoked” beforehand,
entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in
terms which recalled the heartfelt words spoken in 1981:
“O Mother of all men and women, and of all peoples, you who
know all their sufferings and their hopes, you who have a mother’s awareness of
all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, which
afflict the modern world, accept the cry which we, moved by the Holy Spirit,
address directly to your Heart. Embrace with the love of the
Mother and Handmaid of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and
consecrate to you, for we are full of concern for the earthly and eternal
destiny of individuals and peoples.
In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those
individuals and nations which particularly need to be thus entrusted and
consecrated.
‘We have recourse to your protection, holy Mother of God!’
Despise not our petitions in our necessities”.
The Pope then continued more forcefully and with more specific
references, as though commenting on the Message of Fatima in its sorrowful
fulfilment:
“Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your
Immaculate Heart, we desire, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves
with the consecration which, for love of us, your Son made of himself to the
Father: ‘For their sake’, he said, ‘I consecrate myself that they also may be
consecrated in the truth’ (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our
Redeemer in this his consecration for the world and for the human race, which,
in his divine Heart, has the power to obtain pardon and to secure
reparation.
The power of this consecrationlasts for all time and
embraces all individuals, peoples and nations. It overcomes every evil that the
spirit of darkness is able to awaken, and has in fact awakened in our times, in
the heart of man and in his history.
How deeply we feel the need for the consecration of humanity and
the world—our modern world—in union with Christ himself! For the redeeming work
of Christ must be shared in by the world through the Church.
The present Year of the Redemption shows this: the special Jubilee
of the whole Church.
Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid
of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed the divine call!
Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming
consecration of your Son!
Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths
of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration
and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the truth of the
consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.
In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and
peoples, we also entrust to you this very consecration of the
world, placing it in your motherly Heart.
Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so
easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable
effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths
towards the future!
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every
kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against the life of man from its very beginning,
deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children
of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national
and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver
us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God,
deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver
us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver
us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the
sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings
of whole societies.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin:
individual sin and the ‘sin of the world’, sin in all its manifestations.
Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the
infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May
it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart
reveal for all the light of Hope!”.⁽⁴⁾
Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal
act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita,
tal como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it
has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8 November
1989). Hence any further discussion or request is without basis.
In the documentation presented here four other texts have been
added to the manuscripts of Sister Lucia: 1) the Holy Father’s letter of 19
April 2000 to Sister Lucia; 2) an account of the conversation of 27 April 2000
with Sister Lucia; 3) the statement which the Holy Father appointed Cardinal
Angelo Sodano, Secretary of State, to read on 13 May 2000; 4) the theological
commentary by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.
Sister Lucia had already given an indication for interpreting the
third part of the “secret” in a letter to the Holy Father, dated 12 May
1982:
“The third part of the secret refers to Our Lady’s words: ‘If
not [Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, 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’ (13-VII-1917).
The third part of the secret is a symbolic revelation,
referring to this part of the Message, conditioned by whether we accept or not
what the Message itself asks of us: ‘If my requests are heeded, Russia will be
converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors
throughout the world, etc.’.
Since we did not heed this appeal of the Message, we see that
it has been fulfilled, Russia has invaded the world with her errors. And if we
have not yet seen the complete fulfilment of the final part of this prophecy, we
are going towards it little by little with great strides. If we do not reject
the path of sin, hatred, revenge, injustice, violations of the rights of the
human person, immorality and violence, etc.
And let us not say that it is God who is punishing us in this
way; on the contrary it is people themselves who are preparing their own
punishment. In his kindness God warns us and calls us to the right path, while
respecting the freedom he has given us; hence people are
responsible”.⁽⁵⁾
The decision of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to make public the
third part of the “secret” of Fatima brings to an end a period of history marked
by tragic human lust for power and evil, yet pervaded by the merciful love of
God and the watchful care of the Mother of Jesus and of the Church.
The action of God, the Lord of history, and the co-responsibility
of man in the drama of his creative freedom, are the two pillars upon which
human history is built.
Our Lady, who appeared at Fatima, recalls these forgotten values.
She reminds us that man’s future is in God, and that we are active and
responsible partners in creating that future.
Tarcisio Bertone, SDB
Archbishop Emeritus of
Vercelli
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

THE “SECRET” OF FATIMA
FIRST AND SECOND PART OF THE “SECRET”
ACCORDING TO THE VERSION PRESENTED BY SISTER LUCIA
IN THE
“THIRD MEMOIR” OF 31 AUGUST 1941 FOR THE BISHOP OF LEIRIA-FATIMA
(original text)


(translation) ⁽⁶⁾
… This will entail my speaking about the secret, and thus
answering the first question.
What is the secret? It seems to me that I can reveal it, since I
already have permission from Heaven to do so. God’s representatives on earth
have authorized me to do this several times and in various letters, one of
which, I believe, is in your keeping. This letter is from Father José Bernardo
Gonçalves, and in it he advises me to write to the Holy Father, suggesting,
among other things, that I should reveal the secret. I did say something about
it. But in order not to make my letter too long, since I was told to keep it
short, I confined myself to the essentials, leaving it to God to provide another
more favourable opportunity.
In my second account I have already described in detail the doubt
which tormented me from 13 June until 13 July, and how it disappeared completely

during the Apparition on that day.
Well, the secret is made up of three distinct parts, two of which
I am now going to reveal.
The first part is the vision of hell.
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.
We then looked up at Our Lady, who said to us 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 is going to end: but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will
break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. 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, 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, 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”.⁽⁷⁾
 
THIRD PART OF THE “SECRET”
(original text)




 
(translation) ⁽⁸⁾
 
“J.M.J.
The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima,
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”.
 
INTERPRETATION OF THE “SECRET”
 
LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO SISTER
LUCIA
(original text)


 
(translation)
To the Reverend Sister
Maria Lucia
of the Convent of
Coimbra
In the great joy of Easter, I greet you with the words the Risen
Jesus spoke to the disciples: “Peace be with you”!
I will be happy to be able to meet you on the long-awaited day of
the Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, which, please God, I will celebrate
on 13 May of this year.
Since on that day there will be time only for a brief greeting and
not a conversation, I am sending His Excellency Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone,
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to speak with you.
This is the Congregation which works most closely with the Pope in defending the
true Catholic faith, and which since 1957, as you know, has kept your
hand-written letter containing the third part of the “secret” revealed on 13
July 1917 at Cova da Iria, Fatima.
Archbishop Bertone, accompanied by the Bishop of Leiria, His
Excellency Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, will come in my name to ask
certain questions about the interpretation of “the third part of the
secret”.
Sister Maria Lucia, you may speak openly and candidly to
Archbishop Bertone, who will report your answers directly to me.
I pray fervently to the Mother of the Risen Lord for you, Reverend
Sister, for the Community of Coimbra and for the whole Church. May Mary, Mother
of pilgrim humanity, keep us always united to Jesus, her beloved Son and our
brother, the Lord of life and glory.
With my special Apostolic Blessing.
IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
From the Vatican, 19 April 2000.
 
CONVERSATION
WITH SISTER MARIA LUCIA OF JESUS
AND THE
IMMACULATE HEART
The meeting between Sister Lucia, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone,
Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, sent by the Holy
Father, and Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva, Bishop of Leiria-Fatima,
took place on Thursday, 27 April 2000, in the Carmel of Saint Teresa in
Coimbra.
Sister Lucia was lucid and at ease; she was very happy that the
Holy Father was going to Fatima for the Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta,
something she had looked forward to for a long time.
The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima read the autograph letter of the Holy
Father, which explained the reasons for the visit. Sister Lucia felt honoured by
this and reread the letter herself, contemplating it in own her hands. She said
that she was prepared to answer all questions frankly.
At this point, Archbishop Bertone presented two envelopes to her:
the first containing the second, which held the third part of the “secret” of
Fatima. Immediately, touching it with her fingers, she said: “This is my
letter”, and then while reading it: “This is my writing”.
The original text, in Portuguese, was read and interpreted with
the help of the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima. Sister Lucia agreed with the
interpretation that the third part of the “secret” was a prophetic vision,
similar to those in sacred history. She repeated her conviction that the vision
of Fatima concerns above all the struggle of atheistic Communism against the
Church and against Christians, and describes the terrible sufferings of the
victims of the faith in the twentieth century.
When asked: “Is the principal figure in the vision the Pope?”,
Sister Lucia replied at once that it was. She recalled that the three children
were very sad about the suffering of the Pope, and that Jacinta kept saying:
“Coitadinho do Santo Padre, tenho muita pena dos pecadores!” (“Poor Holy
Father, I am very sad for sinners!”). Sister Lucia continued: “We did not know
the name of the Pope; Our Lady did not tell us the name of the Pope; we did not
know whether it was Benedict XV or Pius XII or Paul VI or John Paul II; but it
was the Pope who was suffering and that made us suffer too”.
As regards the passage about the Bishop dressed in white, that is,
the Holy Father—as the children immediately realized during the “vision”—who is
struck dead and falls to the ground, Sister Lucia was in full agreement with the
Pope’s claim that “it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path and in
his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II,
Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, 13 May
1994).
Before giving the sealed envelope containing the third part of the
“secret” to the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Sister Lucia wrote on the outside
envelope that it could be opened only after 1960, either by the Patriarch of
Lisbon or the Bishop of Leiria. Archbishop Bertone therefore asked: “Why only
after 1960? Was it Our Lady who fixed that date?” Sister Lucia replied: “It was
not Our Lady. I fixed the date because I had the intuition that before 1960 it
would not be understood, but that only later would it be understood. Now it can
be better understood. I wrote down what I saw; however it was not for me to
interpret it, but for the Pope.
Finally, mention was made of the unpublished manuscript which
Sister Lucia has prepared as a reply to the many letters that come from Marian
devotees and from pilgrims. The work is called Os apelos da Mensagem de
Fatima, and it gathers together in the style of catechesis and exhortation
thoughts and reflections which express Sister Lucia’s feelings and her clear and
unaffected spirituality. She was asked if she would be happy to have it
published, and she replied: “If the Holy Father agrees, then I am happy,
otherwise I obey whatever the Holy Father decides”. Sister Lucia wants to
present the text for ecclesiastical approval, and she hopes that what she has
written will help to guide men and women of good will along the path that leads
to God, the final goal of every human longing.The conversation ends with an
exchange of rosaries. Sister Lucia is given a rosary sent by the Holy Father,
and she in turn offers a number of rosaries made by herself.
The meeting concludes with the blessing imparted in the name of
the Holy Father.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT MADE BY CARDINAL ANGELO SODANO
SECRETARY OF
STATE
At the end of the Mass presided over by the Holy Father at
Fatima, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State, made this announcement
in Portuguese, which is given here in English translation:
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord!
At the conclusion of this solemn celebration, I feel bound to
offer our beloved Holy Father Pope John Paul II, on behalf of all present,
heartfelt good wishes for his approaching 80th Birthday and to thank him for his
vital pastoral ministry for the good of all God’s Holy Church; we present the
heartfelt wishes of the whole Church.
On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has
directed me to make an announcement to you. As you know, the purpose of his
visit to Fatima has been to beatify the two “little shepherds”. Nevertheless he
also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for
her protection during these years of his papacy. This protection seems also to
be linked to the so-called third part of the “secret” of Fatima.
That text contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in
Sacred Scripture, which do not describe photographically the details of future
events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts which
extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration. As a result, the
text must be interpreted in a symbolic key.
The vision of Fatima concerns above all the war waged by atheistic
systems against the Church and Christians, and it describes the immense
suffering endured by the witnesses of the faith in the last century of the
second millennium. It is an interminable Way of the Cross led by the
Popes of the twentieth century.
According to the interpretation of the “little shepherds”, which
was also confirmed recently by Sister Lucia, “the Bishop clothed in white” who
prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with great
difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred
(Bishops, priests, men and women Religious and many lay people), he too falls to
the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of gunfire.
After the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, it appeared
evident that it was “a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path”, enabling
“the Pope in his throes” to halt “at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II,
Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops,
Insegnamenti, XVII, 1 [1994], 1061). On the occasion of a visit to Rome
by the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, the Pope decided to give him the bullet
which had remained in the jeep after the assassination attempt, so that it might
be kept in the shrine. By the Bishop’s decision, the bullet was later set in the
crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in
a number of countries of Eastern Europe, to the fall of the Communist regimes
which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers heartfelt thanks to the
Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the
Church and against Christians, with the burden of suffering they bring,
tragically continue. Even if the events to which the third part of the “secret”
of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady’s call to conversion and
penance, issued at the start of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgent
today. “The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times—the signs
of our time—with special insight… The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy
to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate
of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness” (Pope John Paul II,
Message for the 1997 World Day of the Sick, No. 1, Insegnamenti,
XIX, 2 [1996], 561).
In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our
Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith with making public the third part of the “secret”, after the preparation
of an appropriate commentary.
Brothers and sisters, let us thank Our Lady of Fatima for her
protection. To her maternal intercession let us entrust the Church of the Third
Millennium.
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix! Intercede
pro Ecclesia. Intercede pro Papa nostro Ioanne Paulo II. Amen.
Fatima, 13 May 2000
 
THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY
A careful reading of the text of the so-called third “secret” of
Fatima, published here in its entirety long after the fact and by decision of
the Holy Father, will probably prove disappointing or surprising after all the
speculation it has stirred. No great mystery is revealed; nor is the future
unveiled. We see the Church of the martyrs of the century which has just passed
represented in a scene described in a language which is symbolic and not easy to
decipher. Is this what the Mother of the Lord wished to communicate to
Christianity and to humanity at a time of great difficulty and distress? Is it
of any help to us at the beginning of the new millennium? Or are these only
projections of the inner world of children, brought up in a climate of profound
piety but shaken at the same time by the tempests which threatened their own
time? How should we understand the vision? What are we to make of it?
Public Revelation and private revelations – their theological
status
Before attempting an interpretation, the main lines of which can
be found in the statement read by Cardinal Sodano on 13 May of this year at the
end of the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in Fatima, there is a need for
some basic clarification of the way in which, according to Church teaching,
phenomena such as Fatima are to be understood within the life of faith. The
teaching of the Church distinguishes between “public Revelation” and “private
revelations”. The two realities differ not only in degree but also in essence.
The term “public Revelation” refers to the revealing action of God directed to
humanity as a whole and which finds its literary expression in the two parts of
the Bible: the Old and New Testaments. It is called “Revelation” because in it
God gradually made himself known to men, to the point of becoming man himself,
in order to draw to himself the whole world and unite it with himself through
his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. It is not a matter therefore of intellectual
communication, but of a life-giving process in which God comes to meet man. At
the same time this process naturally produces data pertaining to the mind and to
the understanding of the mystery of God. It is a process which involves man in
his entirety and therefore reason as well, but not reason alone. Because God is
one, history, which he shares with humanity, is also one. It is valid for all
time, and it has reached its fulfilment in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has said everything, that is, he has revealed
himself completely, and therefore Revelation came to an end with the fulfilment
of the mystery of Christ as enunciated in the New Testament. To explain the
finality and completeness of Revelation, the Catechism of the Catholic
Church quotes a text of Saint John of the Cross: “In giving us his Son, his
only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this
sole Word—and he has no more to say… because what he spoke before to the
prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His
Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be
guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing
his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other
novelty” (No. 65; Saint John of the Cross,The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II,
22).
Because the single Revelation of God addressed to all peoples
comes to completion with Christ and the witness borne to him in the books of the
New Testament, the Church is tied to this unique event of sacred history and to
the word of the Bible, which guarantees and interprets it. But this does not
mean that the Church can now look only to the past and that she is condemned to
sterile repetition. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in this
regard: “…even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made fully
explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full
significance over the course of the centuries” (No. 66). The way in which the
Church is bound to both the uniqueness of the event and progress in
understanding it is very well illustrated in the farewell discourse of the Lord
when, taking leave of his disciples, he says: “I have yet many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide
you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority… He will
glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn
16:12-14). On the one hand, the Spirit acts as a guide who discloses a knowledge
previously unreachable because the premise was missing—this is the boundless
breadth and depth of Christian faith. On the other hand, to be guided by the
Spirit is also “to draw from” the riches of Jesus Christ himself, the
inexhaustible depths of which appear in the way the Spirit leads. In this
regard, the Catechism cites profound words of Pope Gregory the Great:
“The sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them” (No. 94; Gregory the
Great,Homilia in Ezechielem I, 7, 8). The Second Vatican Council notes
three essential ways in which the Spirit guides in the Church, and therefore
three ways in which “the word grows”: through the meditation and study of the
faithful, through the deep understanding which comes from spiritual experience,
and through the preaching of “those who, in the succession of the episcopate,
have received the sure charism of truth” (Dei Verbum, 8).
In this context, it now becomes possible to understand rightly the
concept of “private revelation”, which refers to all the visions and revelations
which have taken place since the completion of the New Testament. This is the
category to which we must assign the message of Fatima. In this respect, let us
listen once again to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Throughout
the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have
been recognized by the authority of the Church… It is not their role to
complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a
certain period of history” (No. 67). This clarifies two things:
1. The authority of private revelations is essentially different
from that of the definitive public Revelation. The latter demands faith; in it
in fact God himself speaks to us through human words and the mediation of the
living community of the Church. Faith in God and in his word is different from
any other human faith, trust or opinion. The certainty that it is God who is
speaking gives me the assurance that I am in touch with truth itself. It gives
me a certitude which is beyond verification by any human way of knowing. It is
the certitude upon which I build my life and to which I entrust myself in
dying.
2. Private revelation is a help to this faith, and shows its
credibility precisely by leading me back to the definitive public Revelation. In
this regard, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV, says in
his classic treatise, which later became normative for beatifications and
canonizations: “An assent of Catholic faith is not due to revelations approved
in this way; it is not even possible. These revelations seek rather an assent of
human faith in keeping with the requirements of prudence, which puts them before
us as probable and credible to piety”. The Flemish theologian E. Dhanis, an
eminent scholar in this field, states succinctly that ecclesiastical approval of
a private revelation has three elements: the message contains nothing contrary
to faith or morals; it is lawful to make it public; and the faithful are
authorized to accept it with prudence (E. Dhanis,Sguardo su Fatima e bilancio
di una discussione, in La Civiltà Cattolica 104 [1953], II, 392-406,
in particular 397). Such a message can be a genuine help in understanding the
Gospel and living it better at a particular moment in time; therefore it should
not be disregarded. It is a help which is offered, but which one is not obliged
to use.
The criterion for the truth and value of a private revelation is
therefore its orientation to Christ himself. When it leads us away from him,
when it becomes independent of him or even presents itself as another and better
plan of salvation, more important than the Gospel, then it certainly does not
come from the Holy Spirit, who guides us more deeply into the Gospel and not
away from it. This does not mean that a private revelation will not offer new
emphases or give rise to new devotional forms, or deepen and spread older forms.
But in all of this there must be a nurturing of faith, hope and love, which are
the unchanging path to salvation for everyone. We might add that private
revelations often spring from popular piety and leave their stamp on it, giving
it a new impulse and opening the way for new forms of it. Nor does this exclude
that they will have an effect even on the liturgy, as we see for instance in the
feasts of Corpus Christi and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From one point
of view, the relationship between Revelation and private revelations appears in
the relationship between the liturgy and popular piety: the liturgy is the
criterion, it is the living form of the Church as a whole, fed directly by the
Gospel. Popular piety is a sign that the faith is spreading its roots into the
heart of a people in such a way that it reaches into daily life. Popular
religiosity is the first and fundamental mode of “inculturation” of the faith.
While it must always take its lead and direction from the liturgy, it in turn
enriches the faith by involving the heart.
We have thus moved from the somewhat negative clarifications,
initially needed, to a positive definition of private revelations. How can they
be classified correctly in relation to Scripture? To which theological category
do they belong? The oldest letter of Saint Paul which has been preserved,
perhaps the oldest of the New Testament texts, the First Letter to the
Thessalonians, seems to me to point the way. The Apostle says: “Do not quench
the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything, holding fast to
what is good” (5:19-21). In every age the Church has received the charism of
prophecy, which must be scrutinized but not scorned. On this point, it should be
kept in mind that prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean to predict the
future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show the
right path to take for the future. A person who foretells what is going to
happen responds to the curiosity of the mind, which wants to draw back the veil
on the future. The prophet speaks to the blindness of will and of reason, and
declares the will of God as an indication and demand for the present time. In
this case, prediction of the future is of secondary importance. What is
essential is the actualization of the definitive Revelation, which concerns me
at the deepest level. The prophetic word is a warning or a consolation, or both
together. In this sense there is a link between the charism of prophecy and the
category of “the signs of the times”, which Vatican II brought to light anew:
“You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; why then do you not
know how to interpret the present time?” (Lk 12:56). In this saying of
Jesus, the “signs of the times” must be understood as the path he was taking,
indeed it must be understood as Jesus himself. To interpret the signs of the
times in the light of faith means to recognize the presence of Christ in every
age. In the private revelations approved by the Church—and therefore also in
Fatima—this is the point: they help us to understand the signs of the times and
to respond to them rightly in faith.
The anthropological structure of private revelations
In these reflections we have sought so far to identify the
theological status of private revelations. Before undertaking an interpretation
of the message of Fatima, we must still attempt briefly to offer some
clarification of their anthropological (psychological) character. In this field,
theological anthropology distinguishes three forms of perception or “vision”:
vision with the senses, and hence exterior bodily perception, interior
perception, and spiritual vision (visio sensibilis – imaginativa -
intellectualis). It is clear that in the visions of Lourdes, Fatima and
other places it is not a question of normal exterior perception of the senses:
the images and forms which are seen are not located spatially, as is the case
for example with a tree or a house. This is perfectly obvious, for instance, as
regards the vision of hell (described in the first part of the Fatima “secret”)
or even the vision described in the third part of the “secret”. But the same can
be very easily shown with regard to other visions, especially since not
everybody present saw them, but only the “visionaries”. It is also clear that it
is not a matter of a “vision” in the mind, without images, as occurs at the
higher levels of mysticism. Therefore we are dealing with the middle category,
interior perception. For the visionary, this perception certainly has the force
of a presence, equivalent for that person to an external manifestation to the
senses.
Interior vision does not mean fantasy, which would be no more than
an expression of the subjective imagination. It means rather that the soul is
touched by something real, even if beyond the senses. It is rendered capable of
seeing that which is beyond the senses, that which cannot be seen—seeing by
means of the “interior senses”. It involves true “objects”, which touch the
soul, even if these “objects” do not belong to our habitual sensory world. This
is why there is a need for an interior vigilance of the heart, which is usually
precluded by the intense pressure of external reality and of the images and
thoughts which fill the soul. The person is led beyond pure exteriority and is
touched by deeper dimensions of reality, which become visible to him. Perhaps
this explains why children tend to be the ones to receive these apparitions:
their souls are as yet little disturbed, their interior powers of perception are
still not impaired. “On the lips of children and of babes you have found
praise”, replies Jesus with a phrase of Psalm 8 (v. 3) to the criticism of the
High Priests and elders, who had judged the children’s cries of “hosanna”
inappropriate (cf. Mt 21:16).
“Interior vision” is not fantasy but, as we have said, a true and
valid means of verification. But it also has its limitations. Even in exterior
vision the subjective element is always present. We do not see the pure object,
but it comes to us through the filter of our senses, which carry out a work of
translation. This is still more evident in the case of interior vision,
especially when it involves realities which in themselves transcend our horizon.
The subject, the visionary, is still more powerfully involved. He sees insofar
as he is able, in the modes of representation and consciousness available to
him. In the case of interior vision, the process of translation is even more
extensive than in exterior vision, for the subject shares in an essential way in
the formation of the image of what appears. He can arrive at the image only
within the bounds of his capacities and possibilities. Such visions therefore
are never simple “photographs” of the other world, but are influenced by the
potentialities and limitations of the perceiving subject.
This can be demonstrated in all the great visions of the saints;
and naturally it is also true of the visions of the children at Fatima. The
images described by them are by no means a simple expression of their fantasy,
but the result of a real perception of a higher and interior origin. But neither
should they be thought of as if for a moment the veil of the other world were
drawn back, with heaven appearing in its pure essence, as one day we hope to see
it in our definitive union with God. Rather the images are, in a manner of
speaking, a synthesis of the impulse coming from on high and the capacity to
receive this impulse in the visionaries, that is, the children. For this reason,
the figurative language of the visions is symbolic. In this regard, Cardinal
Sodano stated: “[they] do not describe photographically the details of future
events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts which
extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration”. This compression
of time and place in a single image is typical of such visions, which for the
most part can be deciphered only in retrospect. Not every element of the vision
has to have a specific historical sense. It is the vision as a whole that
matters, and the details must be understood on the basis of the images taken in
their entirety. The central element of the image is revealed where it coincides
with what is the focal point of Christian “prophecy” itself: the centre is found
where the vision becomes a summons and a guide to the will of God.
An attempt to interpret the “secret” of Fatima
The first and second parts of the “secret” of Fatima have already
been so amply discussed in the relative literature that there is no need to deal
with them again here. I would just like to recall briefly the most significant
point. For one terrible moment, the children were given a vision of hell. They
saw the fall of “the souls of poor sinners”. And now they are told why they have
been exposed to this moment: “in order to save souls”—to show the way to
salvation. The words of the First Letter of Peter come to mind: “As the outcome
of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1:9). To reach this goal,
the way indicated —surprisingly for people from the Anglo-Saxon and German
cultural world—is devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A brief comment may
suffice to explain this. In biblical language, the “heart” indicates the centre
of human life, the point where reason, will, temperament and sensitivity
converge, where the person finds his unity and his interior
orientation. According to Matthew 5:8, the “immaculate heart” is a heart which,
with God’s grace, has come to perfect interior unity and therefore “sees God”.
To be “devoted” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means therefore to embrace this
attitude of heart, which makes the fiat—“your will be done”—the defining
centre of one’s whole life. It might be objected that we should not place a
human being between ourselves and Christ. But then we remember that Paul did not
hesitate to say to his communities: “imitate me” (1 Cor 4:16; Phil
3:17; 1 Th 1:6; 2 Th 3:7, 9). In the Apostle they could see
concretely what it meant to follow Christ. But from whom might we better learn
in every age than from the Mother of the Lord?
Thus we come finally to the third part of the “secret” of Fatima
which for the first time is being published in its entirety. As is clear from
the documentation presented here, the interpretation offered by Cardinal Sodano
in his statement of 13 May was first put personally to Sister Lucia. Sister
Lucia responded by pointing out that she had received the vision but not its
interpretation. The interpretation, she said, belonged not to the visionary but
to the Church. After reading the text, however, she said that this
interpretation corresponded to what she had experienced and that on her part she
thought the interpretation correct. In what follows, therefore, we can only
attempt to provide a deeper foundation for this interpretation, on the basis of
the criteria already considered.
“To save souls” has emerged as the key word of the first and
second parts of the “secret”, and the key word of this third part is the
threefold cry: “Penance, Penance, Penance!” The beginning of the Gospel comes to
mind: “Repent and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:15). To understand the
signs of the times means to accept the urgency of penance – of conversion – of
faith. This is the correct response to this moment of history, characterized by
the grave perils outlined in the images that follow. Allow me to add here a
personal recollection: in a conversation with me Sister Lucia said that it
appeared ever more clearly to her that the purpose of all the apparitions was to
help people to grow more and more in faith, hope and love—everything else was
intended to lead to this.
Let us now examine more closely the single images. The angel with
the flaming sword on the left of the Mother of God recalls similar images in the
Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgement which looms over the
world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of
fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his inventions, has forged
the flaming sword. The vision then shows the power which stands opposed to the
force of destruction—the splendour of the Mother of God and, stemming from this
in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the importance of human
freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image
which the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing
can be changed. Indeed, the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto
the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. The purpose of the
vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is
exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right
direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the
“secret”, such as, for example, the claim that the would-be assassin of 13 May
1981 was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence and could
not therefore have acted freely, or other similar ideas in circulation. Rather,
the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them.
The next phrases of the text show very clearly once again the
symbolic character of the vision: God remains immeasurable, and is the light
which surpasses every vision of ours. Human persons appear as in a mirror. We
must always keep in mind the limits in the vision itself, which here are
indicated visually. The future appears only “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor
13:12). Let us now consider the individual images which follow in the text of
the “secret”. The place of the action is described in three symbols: a steep
mountain, a great city reduced to ruins and finally a large rough-hewn cross.
The mountain and city symbolize the arena of human history: history as an
arduous ascent to the summit, history as the arena of human creativity and
social harmony, but at the same time a place of destruction, where man actually
destroys the fruits of his own work. The city can be the place of communion and
progress, but also of danger and the most extreme menace. On the mountain stands
the cross—the goal and guide of history. The cross transforms destruction into
salvation; it stands as a sign of history’s misery but also as a promise for
history.
At this point human persons appear: the Bishop dressed in white
(“we had the impression that it was the Holy Father”), other Bishops, priests,
men and women Religious, and men and women of different ranks and social
positions. The Pope seems to precede the others, trembling and suffering because
of all the horrors around him. Not only do the houses of the city lie half in
ruins, but he makes his way among the corpses of the dead. The Church’s path is
thus described as a Via Crucis, as a journey through a time of violence,
destruction and persecution. The history of an entire century can be seen
represented in this image. Just as the places of the earth are synthetically
described in the two images of the mountain and the city, and are directed
towards the cross, so too time is presented in a compressed way. In the vision
we can recognize the last century as a century of martyrs, a century of
suffering and persecution for the Church, a century of World Wars and the many
local wars which filled the last fifty years and have inflicted unprecedented
forms of cruelty. In the “mirror” of this vision we see passing before us the
witnesses of the faith decade by decade. Here it would be appropriate to mention
a phrase from the letter which Sister Lucia wrote to the Holy Father on 12 May
1982: “The third part of the ‘secret’ refers to Our Lady’s words: ‘If not,
[Russia] will spread her errors throughout the world, 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 Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the
Pope has a special role. In his arduous ascent of the mountain we can
undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes. Beginning from Pius X up to
the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go
forward through all the anguish along the path which leads to the Cross. In the
vision, the Pope too is killed along with the martyrs. When, after the attempted
assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the third part of
the “secret” brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his
own fate? He had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival
in the following words: “… it was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s
path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (13 May 1994).
That here “a mother’s hand” had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once
more that there is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which
can influence history and that in the end prayer is more powerful than bullets
and faith more powerful than armies.
The concluding part of the “secret” uses images which Lucia may
have seen in devotional books and which draw their inspiration from
long-standing intuitions of faith. It is a consoling vision, which seeks to open
a history of blood and tears to the healing power of God. Beneath the arms of
the cross angels gather up the blood of the martyrs, and with it they give life
to the souls making their way to God. Here, the blood of Christ and the blood of
the martyrs are considered as one: the blood of the martyrs runs down from the
arms of the cross. The martyrs die in communion with the Passion of Christ, and
their death becomes one with his. For the sake of the body of Christ, they
complete what is still lacking in his afflictions (cf. Col 1:24). Their
life has itself become a Eucharist, part of the mystery of the grain of wheat
which in dying yields abundant fruit. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of
Christians, said Tertullian. As from Christ’s death, from his wounded side, the
Church was born, so the death of the witnesses is fruitful for the future life
of the Church. Therefore, the vision of the third part of the “secret”, so
distressing at first, concludes with an image of hope: no suffering is in vain,
and it is a suffering Church, a Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for
man in his search for God. The loving arms of God welcome not only those who
suffer like Lazarus, who found great solace there and mysteriously represents
Christ, who wished to become for us the poor Lazarus. There is something more:
from the suffering of the witnesses there comes a purifying and renewing power,
because their suffering is the actualization of the suffering of Christ himself
and a communication in the here and now of its saving effect.
And so we come to the final question: What is the meaning of the
“secret” of Fatima as a whole (in its three parts)? What does it say to us?
First of all we must affirm with Cardinal Sodano: “… the events to which the
third part of the ‘secret’ of Fatima refers now seem part of the past”. Insofar
as individual events are described, they belong to the past. Those who expected
exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course
of history are bound to be disappointed. Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity
in this way, just as Christian faith in general cannot be reduced to an object
of mere curiosity. What remains was already evident when we began our
reflections on the text of the “secret”: the exhortation to prayer as the path
of “salvation for souls” and, likewise, the summons to penance and
conversion.
I would like finally to mention another key expression of the
“secret” which has become justly famous: “my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.
What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is
stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word
of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the
Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man
in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil One has power in this world,
as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom
continually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human
heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to
choose evil no longer has the last word. From that time forth, the word that
prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I
have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to
trust in this promise.
 
JosephCard. Ratzinger
Prefect of the
Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith

(1) From the diary of John XXIII, 17 August 1959: “Audiences:
Father Philippe, Commissary of the Holy Office, who brought me the letter
containing the third part of the secrets of Fatima. I intend to read it with my
Confessor”.

(2) The Holy Father’s comment at the General Audience of 14
October 1981 on “What happened in May: A Great Divine Trial” should be recalled:
Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 2 (Vatican City, 1981),
409-412.
(3) Radio message during the Ceremony of Veneration, Thanksgiving
and Entrustment to the Virgin Mary Theotokos in the Basilica of Saint Mary
Major: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IV, 1 (Vatican City, 1981),
1246.
(4) On the Jubilee Day for Families, the Pope entrusted
individuals and nations to Our Lady: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II,
VII, 1 (Vatican City, 1984), 775-777.
(5)

(6) In the “Fourth Memoir” of 8 December 1941 Sister Lucia writes:
“I shall begin then my new task, and thus fulfil the commands received from Your
Excellency as well as the desires of Dr Galamba. With the exception of that part
of the Secret which I am not permitted to reveal at present, I shall say
everything. I shall not knowingly omit anything, though I suppose I may forget
just a few small details of minor importance”.

(7) In the “Fourth Memoir” Sister Lucia adds: “In Portugal, the
dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc. …”.

(8) In the translation, the original text has been respected, even
as regards the imprecise punctuation, which nevertheless does not impede an
understanding of what the visionary wished to say.

]]> http://www.fatimafamily.org/fatima-doctrine-of-faith/feed/ 1 http://www.fatimafamily.org/the-beatification-of-jacinta-and-francisco/ http://www.fatimafamily.org/the-beatification-of-jacinta-and-francisco/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:44:08 +0000 admin http://fatimafamily.org/?p=171 The Beatification

The Declaration of Jacinta and Francisco Marto as Blessed on 13 May 2000 represents the next to last stage in the Church’s official recognition of their holiness. It also provides a further confirmation
of the authenticity and value of the Message of Fátima. Remarkably, the principal visionary is still alive, Lucia dos Santos (Sr. Maria Lucia, OCD), able to rejoice in the elevation of her companions to
the honor of the altar. The whole Church must rejoice, as well, that ones so young were able to live lives of heroic virtue. Parents, especially, should be emboldened to encourage holiness in the young, confident that it is possible for anyone, of whatever age, who follows the spiritual advice of Our Lady of Fátima.

His father said: “He was more courageous than Jacinta. He didn’t always have as much patience; and often, for small reason, he would run around like a young bull calf. He was anything but a coward. He would go out at night, alone in the dark, without a sign of fear. He played with lizards and snakes….”

Practical Jokes

Francisco’s brother John, still living, indicated to me that Francisco risked scoldings when he had a mind to carry out some practical joke. Like the time John was sleeping with his mouth open near the stove, and Francisco dropped a chip of wood into it.

His father recalled that once or twice he refused to say his prayers because he was in a rebellious mood. He was strongly corrected. His father saw him defending his interest with a strong will. Both Lucia and his father agree on certain basic things.

According to his father he had a gentle nature, he was affectionate, obedient and seldom disturbed the family peace. Lucia said, “He would play with all the children without showing preference.” When Lucia was overbearing with him, he would obey and then she would be sorry for her impatience and go to him, “and he would always be as friendly as if nothing had happened.”

We can detect here a spirit of vivaciousness and basic humility with a bit of self-will. If tempered and open to the Holy Spirit this will give us one who indeed has a spirit of contemplation.

It has always been a point of interest that Francisco never heard the angel or Our Blessed Mother speak but he saw them. One time he said to Lucia: “You spoke to the angel; what did he say?” His question surprised Lucia. “Didn’t you hear the angel speak then?” she asked. “No, I saw that he spoke to you. I heard what you said but I didn’t hear what he said.”

Both Lucia and Jacinta felt so awed and lacking in strength that they refused to speak about the angel until some days later when their strength returned. When Lucia finally told Francisco all that the angel had said, he could not understand everything. He had to ask her questions to explain what “Almighty” meant and answer his question, “And what is the meaning of the saying, ‘The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications’?”

What we have here is the making of a very young contemplative saint. Now the strength of Francisco was drained too with the experience of the angel but he said “What does it matter? The angel is more important than anything. Let us think about him!”

During the final angelic apparition the angel gave Lucia the Host and her two younger cousins the chalice to drink from. After this apparition Francisco questioned again: “Oh, Lucia, the angel gave you Holy Communion, but what was it he gave Jacinta and me?” It was Jacinta who answered his question. “It was the same,” she said. “It was Holy Communion. Didn’t you see that it was the Blood that fell from the Host?”

Although he was in deep meditation, and it was difficult to speak, he said, “I felt that God was in me, but I did not understand in what way.” The three little shepherds knelt down and remained that way for a long time saying the prayer to the Holy Trinity. They were physically very weak each time after the angel appeared and wanted to keep silence and meditate on God. It was after this encounter that the friendship between Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco became very close and greatly spiritual.

Recall how, when Our Lady first appeared, Francisco did not immediately see her. He knew that Lucia and Jacinta were seeing something very special. Our Lady then told Lucia to tell Francisco to say the Rosary and he would see the beautiful Lady from heaven.

He took out his rosary and had said about five or six Hail Marys when he could see the beautiful heavenly Lady bathed in brilliant light, brighter than the sun. Was not Our Lady in this incident again leading Francisco to become more of the contemplative? He must think, inquire, pray.

When Lucia asked if Francisco would go to heaven too, Our Lady said, “Yes, but first he must say many Rosaries.” Learning this, Francisco cried out excitedly: “Oh, Our Lady, I will say all the Rosaries you wish!” Note “Our” Lady. We must not act as if she is only “My” Lady. She is the Mother of us all; Mother of the Church.

Rejoice if others are drawing people to Jesus through Mary. Rejoice if the work of others seems to bear even more fruit than your own hard efforts which may go unnoticed.

I once asked John Marto, Francisco’s brother, if he thought Francisco was holier than himself when he was a boy. He answered, “No. Not until I noticed he was always saying the Rosary. Then I would go and hide from him so that I didn’t have to see him always praying that Rosary.”

Francisco the Contemplative

Francisco the contemplative had no problem keeping to himself the appearance of the beautiful Lady from heaven. Remember Lucia’s strong admonitions. They must keep all quiet lest the roof cave in. She had an experience a couple years earlier with several girls when they saw the vague appearance of an angel and the other girls talked and got into trouble. So Lucia cautioned especially Jacinta. How disgusted Francisco was with his younger sister. “Oh, Lucia, Jacinta went and told everybody at home what happened.”

Sometimes when Lucia and Jacinta would be at play, Francisco would go off by himself to pray the Rosary. One time when Lucia found him atop a rock and asked what he had been doing up there all this time, he answered: “I was thinking about God, who is so offended by the innumerable sins committed. What would I not give to be able to console Him.” Francisco was very taken up with the desire to console God, so offended by sin. The spirit of contemplation sank more deeply into his being. Pressed by his sister and cousin to come play, he would hold up his rosary beads. He would say “Afterwards! Don’t you remember that I must say many Rosaries before I can go to heaven?”

The contemplative Francisco was also very logical. When Lucia had been convinced that maybe the apparitions were a trick of the devil and that she was not going to return to the Cova da Iria on July 13, Francisco said, “It is a pity. Why do you think like that about the matter? Don’t you see that it can’t be the demon? God, Our Lord, is already so hurt by the sins committed. If you do not go He will become sadder still. Decide once for all! . . . Courage! Didn’t Our Lady say that we would have much to suffer in reparation for the numerous sins committed against Our Lord and her Immaculate Heart which hurt so much? And you are going about so sad, when you could offer up this suffering in reparation. We should be pleased.” Quite a contemplative.

Our Divine Lord took up his Cross to redeem us with interior joy and wanted to share his joy with us. Joy, even in suffering was the way of Jesus Christ and the way to discover the deeper secrets of spirituality.

One day Lucia asked Francisco which he liked best, to console Our Lord or to convert sinners to prevent more souls from going to hell. Francisco did not have to hesitate to answer that question. “I prefer to console Our Lord. Don’t you remember last month how Our Lady became so sad when she asked us not to offend Our Lord who was already so offended? I want to console Our Lord, and then to convert sinners so that they won’t offend Him any more.”

To Console Our Lord

One day when Jacinta and Lucia came into his room, he asked them not to talk much as he had a bad headache. Jacinta told him not to forget to offer it up for sinners. He answered: “Yes, but first of all I am offering it up to console Our Lord and Our Lady, then for sinners and the Holy Father.”

All three children received the same messages from heaven. Yet, each of them had a special part of it they stressed, while not forgetting the other parts. Jacinta’s main desire was to convert sinners and save souls from going to hell, where they suffer so much and forever. Francisco preferred to think mostly of consoling Our Lord and Our Lady, both of whom seemed so sad at sin. His great reverence for God was seen in asking one of the men prisoners to take his hat off when they prayed. Of the threat of boiling oil the boy said: “If they kill us, as they say they intend doing, we will be in heaven in a few minutes’ time! How lucky we are! I do not mind anything. I hope Jacinta is not afraid! . . .”

When his parents began to send him to the Boleiros school, he knew that he would go to heaven soon anyway. Very often therefore, instead of going to school, he’d go only as far as the Fatima church. He would say to Lucia: “You go on to school while I stay here in the church. It is not worth my while learning to read, as I will soon be going to heaven. Call for me on your return.”

Francisco would remain in church the entire school day. He’d go right up to the altar, immediately before the Hidden Jesus in the tabernacle. He would place his arms on the altar. Kneeling, he would adore his Lord and God there present. There he would console his God.

On December 23, 1918, Francisco developed bronchial pneumonia. He said he would go to heaven soon and added: “Oh, when I am there I will console Jesus and Our Lady a great deal!”

A Special Presence

People felt an experience of being in the presence of God when they came near him, especially in his last days. They experienced something of the supernatural and said that to enter his room was like entering a church.

After meticulously examining his conscience and making a good confession, Francisco, near death, received Holy Communion from the priest who came to his home. After receiving the Hidden Jesus he lay for a long time with his eyes shut, making a good thanksgiving. “Today,” he said to Jacinta, suffering from the same illness, “I am happier than you are, for I have the Hidden Jesus in my heart!” The evening before he died Lucia came to see him for a last farewell. She said, “Good-bye, Francisco. If you die during the night, do not forget me up there!”

“You may rest assured, I will never forget you,” and he took hold of her hand and looked at Lucia for a long time with tears in his eyes. “Good-bye then, Francisco, until we meet in heaven.”

What faith, what love, what depths even children are capable of in the spiritual life. We must never fail in offering children the fullness of true faith or hinder the workings of God in their tender souls. And to us in the Apostolate, we can hear Jesus say, “Unless you change, and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Fatima message was given to the children for the whole world. Who were the first to respond to it. The answer is obvious: the three children of Fatima. Had they not responded to it within their own hearts, the message would not be credible to the rest of us. If we hope to be apostles of the message, we must first live the message within our own hearts.

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