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~1915~ Lúcia do Santos, age eight, is tending sheep with three young companions on Mount Cabeço near Fátima. While reciting the Rosary they see “a strange cloud, whiter than snow, hovering over the trees in the valley.” The cloud is transparent and has a human form. Word spreads. Lúcia is doubted and taunted. The phenomena is repeated a second time in the same place. ~1916~ Early: The previous phenomena is repeated a third time. Spring: The “mystery of the cloud” is finally clarified. In a mountainside niche a youthful angel appears to Lúcia and her cousins Jacinta and Franciso Marto. The apparition shines with supernatural beauty and is adolescent-looking. “Do not fear. I am the Angel of Peace,” he says. “Pray with me.” The children lie prostrate and pray for hours. Summer: The angel returns while the children play. Audibly to the two girls he urges prayer and sacrifice, and at last says: “Bear the sufferings that the Lord will send you.” The children are overwhelmed. That evening the apparition returns and speaks only to Lúcia. Her mind becomes absorbed with the supernatural. (The Sun Danced at Fatima p. 21) Autumn: At the mountain niche the angel makes his final appearance. He teaches a prayer of intercessory penitence for the world, and serves them a supernatural Eucharist. The nature of the experience differs for each witness. (ibid.. p 22) As the three children tend their sheep, a light overwhelms them. In the center, above a four-foot tree, stands a supernaturally lovely and radiant Lady. (ibid. p 27). Speaking to Lúcia she announces that she wishes to meet with them
for six consecutive months on the 13th day at the same hour, after which
she will return for a seventh time. (ibid p.
28) The Lady asks if the children are willing to suffer what is to come,
for others’ sake. Lúcia agrees. [Analogy to Christ] A
light emanates from the Lady’s palms into their deepest souls “making them see themselves in God, Who was that light, more
clearly than in the best of mirrors.” She encourages prayer
and is borne upward in light. Historical note: Simultaneously on this date, future Pope Pius XII is being consecrated a bishop in Rome; and in Moscow, Lenin launches a series of acts that will lead to the Communist revolution. Word of the previous apparition has caused fifty townspeople to gather for the promised apparition. The Beautiful Lady arrives above the small tree, but only the three children can see her and only Lúcia hears her. The Lady asks them to continue daily prayers. She requests that Lúcia learn to read. She grants a request for a certain child’s healing, on condition that the child must convert. The children ask if they may go to Heaven, to which the Lady says that Lúcia must stay to serve Jesus, but the other two will soon be taken. As in the previous apparition, the Lady opens her palms, from which beams of celestial light are transmitted into the children’s souls. [p48] She next gives them a vision called The Immaculate Heart of Mary. (ibid. p 48) The Lady departs by ascending into Heaven, still visible only to Lúcia. However, onlookers hear a sound which some describe as underground thunder coming from the tree, and some see a small light cloud rise from the tree like smoke. ~July 12, 1917~ Reports from the previous apparitions have spread. Travelers from nearby towns are arriving early for the third apparition. Young Lúcia is wracked with despair. A clergyman has told her that the visions may be a demonic deception. She decides not to go to the appointed rendezvous, then wrestles in her soul—and suddenly feels compelled to go. A crowd of four or five thousand have gathered. As they pray the Rosary, the Lady arrives in all her radiance and glory. As before, she encourages prayers for world peace. Timidly, Lúcia asks if the Lady can perform a public miracle that will dispel all doubts and questions. The Lady agrees, promising proof at an appointed day and time so that all may see and believe. (What is more important…)(op. cit p 61) Again, as before, the Lady opens her palms so as to send forth beams of light. These penetrate into the earth, where they reveal, to the children’s horror, the abyss of Hell. [p 61] The Lady is warning the whole world that, after the conclusion of World War I, a second more terrible war will follow. Russia is to be the lynchpin of the coming misery. (ibid 61) These future terrors must not be disclosed, however, but, rather, only the urgent sense that the world must become consecrated to her Immaculate Heart. The vision ends with the Lady’s ascent in the East. Onlookers report having perceived various phenomena—a humming sound, a decrease in the sun’s glow, a whitish cloud about the tree. Two days before the next scheduled apparition, a local official (with strong anti-clerical leanings) summons Lúcia and her cousins to the district administration building for questioning. Despite the interrogation, the children refuse to reveal the Lady’s secrets. The Administrator then attempts various ploys to keep them from the next vision on the 13th. Failing these, he detains them by force. ~August 13, 1917~ By noon, eighteen thousand have assembled at the Fátima apparition tree. From the nearby government seat, a messenger arrives to announce that the children are now captives of the magistrate. Anger stirs the crowd, but it is interrupted by supernatural phenomena: First, an explosive sound, then a small beautiful whitish cloud forms around the apparition tree. It hovers for several minutes, then vanishes. Next, “the clouds in the sky turn crimson. And…change color and become rose, yellow, blue. In rapid succession they assume all the colors of the rainbow. The area “becomes a vast and fantastic fairyland, with every leaf looking like a flower and every object magically alive with color.” p 82 These are regarded as proofs of Mary’s presence. As they fade, the crowd begins to pray. Meanwhile, the captive children continue to resist interrogation, followed by bribery offers and death threats, to coerce them into revealing the Lady’s secrets. The next day, the children are freed. ~August 18, 1917~ In Fátima several people notice odd celestial phenomena such as a sudden chill and an unusual solar color. The children sense that the Lady wishes to visit. Arriving at the apparition tree, they see Her in a brilliant light and clothed in white and gold. She promises a spectacular phenomena in two months, and she instructs the children in several matters of piety; then, she departs. For the next month the children experience several trials, self-imposed penances and a stream of question from the curious. THIRTY
THOUSAND have thronged to Fátima for the scheduled apparition.
Lúcia leads them in reciting the Rosary. Precisely at noon, the
Lady begins her appearance. Thousands witness a globe of light
advancing gracefully from the east through the valley. They cry
out excitedly and point to it. The globe comes to rest on the
apparition tree. “As the people gaze in awe and astonishment…a
lovely white cloud forms about the tree and the three children, and out
of the sky, a shower of mysterious shiny white petals begins to fall.” Now Lúcia receives her private communication with the Beautiful Lady [p 109] The promise of a public spectacle in the following month is reassured—the final apparition. It will be a phenomenon suitable to dispel all doubts. At last the Lady departs, returning towards the east in the same glowing globe, which many onlookers (though not all) see a second time. The lovely cloud that had enveloped the children and the tree vanishes; the petals cease to fall, and the sun returns to its normal brilliance and color. Many in the crowd are excitedly confirming what they have seen, and learn that the experience differed considerably in its intensity and visual content, for some persons. For this, the final apparition, seventy thousand persons have gathered, although a heavy rain falls. Represented are all professions and classes: News media, academics, skeptics and government officials from throughout Europe are present. Noon—the appointed hour—arrives. But the Lady does not appear. Another hour passes, then half an hour hour more. At last a flash of light signals Her arrival in the East as usual. (The sun is at its zenith, signifying noon—but official government time is incorrect!) This, her final communication, is similar to those previously. Before departing she offers these grave words: “People must not offend Our Lord anymore, for He is already greatly offended." ~October 13, 1917~
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