As we commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children—Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta—I would like to present twenty points that we should know about this important event. I invite you to meditate on these points and ask that these saints continue to transmit the message of Fatima—a message which simply yet profoundly summarizes warnings from Scripture, from the very mouth of Our Lord.
1. The Number of Apparitions
Our Lady of Fatima appeared six times to Lucia dos Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Francisco and Jacinta were siblings; Lucia was their older cousin, whose last name was dos Santos.
2. The Significance of the Number 13
Our Lady would appear on the 13th of every month. Consider this: the superstitious believe the number 13 to be bad luck. Ever notice an elevator in a tall buildings go straight from the 12th floor to the 14th, eliminating “the number 13″? Perhaps Our Lady appeared on the 13th day of each month to dispel this superstition. There is no such thing as a bad number or a series of bad numbers. Nothing happens by chance; all is guided mysteriously but firmly by God’s loving and providential hand. This we call “Divine Providence.”
3. The Guardian Angel of Portugal
Before Our Lady appeared to the children in 1917, the Guardian Angel of Portugal appeared to them three times, preparing the way for the appearance of Our Lady. Therefore, the reality of angels plays a prominent role in the message of Fatima.
4. The Mass and the Eucharist
The third and final apparition of the angel to the three children carried with it one of the most extraordinary elements in approved private revelation. It was this: the angel appeared alongside the consecrated Host and Chalice, suspended in the air. The angel commanded the children to receive! Lucia received the Host, and Jacinta and Francisco received from the Chalice, symbolizing the path of suffering that the siblings would choose. Shortly after the apparitions, both Jacinta and Francisco suffered much and died, reuniting with their Blessed Mother in heaven. May we too augment our faith, love, and devotion for the most Holy Eucharist, hungering for communion with Our Lord, even daily if we can.
5. War, Suffering, and Our Lady
These apparitions took place during a period of intense suffering and bloodshed: the First World War. Our Lady stated clearly that war came as a consequence of sin. Furthermore, she lamented that if people kept sinning, a worse war would break out. . . . We all know what happened twenty years later: the Second World War, which resulted, as Our Lady dictated, in even more bloodshed than the first. May Our Lord and Our Lady help us to stop sinning and bring peace to our war-ravaged world.
6. The Existence of Hell
In the apparition on July 13th, 1917, Our Lady allowed the three children to receive a very graphic vision of Hell. The visionaries later shared that if the Blessed Mother were not present with them during the vision, they would have died of fear. In so many liberal theological centers today the reality of hell is either laughed at or dismissed as an obsolete relic of medieval times. Yet Our Lady powerfully reminds us: Hell does exist, and souls do go there if they die unrepentant in mortal sin.
7. The Existence of Heaven
Lucia asked Our Lady in the June apparition if she, Jacinta, and Francisco would go to heaven, to which She responded, yes. However, She also revealed that Francisco would have to say many Rosaries before he would be ready to go to heaven. In our case, of course we want to go to heaven, and most probably we need to say many Rosaries, too.
8. Jacinta’s Sacrifice
After this vision of hell, little Jacinta took upon herself to do as many sacrifices as possible so as to save poor souls from hell. She sacrificed grapes and dancing (both of which she loved); she wore a rope around her waist underneath her clothes; she gave her lunch to children in need; she’d fast from water on hot days and pray many rosaries—and these are only a handful of her many sacrifices! Jacinta willingly accepted the spiritual burden of saving souls because she saw and believed in the terrible realities of hell.
9. Heroism to the Point of Death
On August 13th, the children did not have the expected apparition of Our Lady at Cova da Iria. Why? Because they had been imprisoned by the local government. The news of the apparitions had spread far and wide, drawing crowds and frustrating local officials. So they hatched a plan. They decided to apprehend the children, make them publicly recant the testimony of their visions, and if they did not admit to their lies, then they would threaten to boil them in a cauldron of hot oil. All three of the children refused to recant and were willing to undergo the cruel and painful martyrdom of being boiled to death. They were ready to become martyrs. What a witness to the importance of always telling the truth, despite the consequences! Their example teaches us to keep the will of God at the forefront of our minds. Jesus said, “I am the The Way, The Truth, and The Life,” as well as, “The devil is a liar and a murderer from the beginning.”
10. Lucia’s Sufferings
One of the greatest sufferings of Lucia, the oldest of the three, was that her mother, Maria Rosa, did not believe her testimony for many years. How painful that this innocent child was thought to be a liar even by her own mother. May we always seek God’s will above human opinion. As the poet Dante reassures us, “In God’s will is our peace.”
11. Early Death
Both Francisco and Jacinta would die as children, and they would suffer much before their death. Our Lady appeared later to Jacinta and asked her if she would be willing to suffer a little longer before she died to save souls, and the little girl said yes. Jacinta died alone far from home and without her parents in a hospital in Lisbon. Are you ready to die now? What are your thoughts on death? St. Ignatius of Loyola strongly exhorts us to meditate on death, most specifically on our own death, as a very powerful means to eradicate sin from our lives.
12. Beatification
Did you know that both Jacinta and Francisco were beatified by St. Pope John Paul II in the millennium year, 2000? What day do you think the saintly pontiff chose for their beatification? May 13th—the day of the first of Our Lady’s apparitions to the children. Nothing happens by chance! May is for Mary, but May 13th is for Our Lady of Fatima. Blessed Francisco and Blessed Jacinta, pray for us and for the entire world!
13. The Rosary
In all of the six apparitions of Our Lady, she told the children as well as the world at large to pray the Rosary. St. Pope John Paul II, in his document The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Rosary (October, 2002), insisted on the daily recitation of the most Holy Rosary and for two specific intentions: for world peace and for the salvation of the family. Let us obey the saintly pope and the Mother of God by pray the Rosary every day ourselves. Fr. Patrick Peyton encourages us, saying, “The family that prays together stays together.”
14. The Greatest Miracle
One of the greatest miracles of the last century was the miracle of the sun. It was raining heavily the morning of October 13th, 1917; people were drenched. However, shortly after noon, the sun came out and spun around like a Ferris Wheel in the sky. The people fell to their knees and begged pardon for their sins. More miracles occurred: the blind recovered their sight, and the paralyzed could walk. Not only that, but the people’s clothes were immediately and completely dried from the rain. This was seen by as many as 70,000 people.
15. The Vision
Lucia saw the Child Jesus in the arms of St. Joseph blessing the world, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. May the Holy Family bless us. May all of us wear the brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. May all families, especially men, cultivate a tender and growing devotion to good St. Joseph who is patron of men, of spouses, as well as of the family. Good St. Joseph, pray for us!
16. Fatima and Pope St John Paul II
May 13th, 1981, after blessing children from his pope-mobile, Pope John Paul II was brutally shot and rushed to the hospital. It seemed as if it was a lost cause. Heaven was stormed with Rosaries, prayers, and sacrifices for the beloved pontiff. We all know how this story ended—JPII would live almost another 24 years, until April 2nd, 2005. Pope John Paul II attributed his life being saved to Our Lady and specifically Our Lady of Fatima.
17. The Crown and the Bullet
The following year on May 13th, 1982, Pope John Paul II, now healed from the attack, traveled as a pilgrim to Fatima. The purpose of this momentous visit (better described as a “pilgrimage”) was to thank Our Lady of Fatima for having intervened and saved his life. As the writer George Weigel highlighted, Pope John Paul recognized the malicious intent of the evil spirit in the shooting of the bullet. However, the hand of Our Lady was more powerful! We live in constant spiritual warfare, surrounded by countless spiritual bullets aiming for our young children, teens, as well as ourselves. May we seek refuge in the mantle and the Immaculate Heart of Mary as our most sure haven, refuge, and ark of safety.
18. Reason for the Loss of Many Souls
Our Lady pointed out that many souls are lost because of a shortage of sacrifices. She said that she was very pleased at the sacrifices of the children. Jesus also pointed out to St. Faustina in her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, that souls are saved by suffering, meaning by sacrifices. The little children had no formal education, not too much spiritual formation, and (obviously) no seminary formation. However, they had the best of teachers: Our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary. What are you willing to sacrifice to collaborate in the salvation of immoral souls? Never forget the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas: “One soul is worth more than the whole created universe.” Let us be generous and sacrifice for the salvation of immortal souls ransomed by the Precious Blood of Jesus.
19. The Sins that Offend the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Do you know what Our Lady revealed with respect to the sins that hurt her most? There are actually five . . .
- Sins against the Immaculate Conception—the fact that Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin.
- Sins against her Perpetual Virginity—sins against purity and those who deny Mary was a Virgin before the birth of Jesus, during the birth of Jesus, and after the birth of Jesus.
- Sins against Mary’s Divine Maternity—meaning sins against Mary’s greatest privilege of all—the fact that she was and is the Mother of God.
- Sins that damage the little children. Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me for such are the kingdom of God.” Think of the many sins that scandalize, damage, destroy the innocence of children. How the Hearts of Mary and Jesus weep.
- Profanation of images of Our Lady. Over the past few years there has been a real proliferation of vandalism in churches and the destruction or mockery of the images of Mary. These sins of blasphemy penetrate and wound the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. May we do all we can to repair for these five sins against the Blessed Virgin Mary.
20. The Power of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
It would be incomplete if we did not mention in the message of Fatima, the importance of love and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When Jacinta was beatified Pope John Paul II presented her as a “Little Victim Soul;” Francisco, “A Little Mystic.” However, Our Lady wanted Lucia to spend more time on earth and she lived into her late nineties as a Carmelite cloistered nun in Coimbra, Portugal. One of the hallmarks of the spirituality of Lucia was to promote love, devotion and consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In a later message to Jacinta, Our Lady revealed one of her most ardent desires:
Tell everybody that God give graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Tell them to ask graces from her, and that the Heart of Jesus wishes to be venerated together with the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Ask them to plead for peace from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the Lord has confided the peace of the world through her.
Therefore, let us all love the Immaculate Heart of Mary, consecrate our lives, families, and parishes to her powerful intercession. Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
