that covered the well, my tears mingled with the water below and I offered my suffering to God. Sometimes, Jacinta and Francisco would come and find me like this, in bitter grief. As my voice was choked with sobs and I couldn’t say a word, they shared my suffering to such a degree that they also wept copious tears.14
These difficult trials did not leave the shepherd children overwhelmed, however; the Angel had told the children about these sufferings and had invited them to offer them in reparation for sins, for the consolation of God, and for the conversion of sinners.
The children received a very special grace, and the words of the Angel had entered their souls in a profound way. As Sister Lucia explains:
These words were indelibly impressed upon our minds. They were like a light which made us understand Who God is, how He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, how pleasing it is to Him and how, on account of it, He gives the grace of conversion to sinners. It was for this reason that we began, from then on, to offer to the Lord all that mortified us.15
Through these three apparitions, the Angel taught the humble shepherd children how to pray and offer their sacrifices. Francisco and Jacinta were deeply touched and grew in the spiritual life. The Angel also prepared them for what was to come. For Sister Lucia, the apparitions of the Angel remained the most important parts of the message of Fatima. Sister Lucia wrote: “The message is more a new light to shine in the midst of darkness. Great is the Lord, immense in His mercy, eternal in His love! I believe in Thee, I adore Thee. I trust and I love Thee! For Thee I live!”
Chapter 2
Visits from Our Lady (May–September)
In central Portugal the terrain is rocky, and the soil is very poor. The summers are extremely dry, and it seldom rains. Olive oil is the chief marketable commodity for the farmers, so it is especially tragic when fire destroys large numbers of olive trees.
In June, the farmers harvest wheat; in early fall, corn and grapes. In August of each year, on the 13th, hundreds of farmers bring sacks of wheat to the basilica at the Cova da Iria, to donate for use in making flour for altar breads for the following year. These breads, the humble farmers know, will be consecrated into the Body of Christ and distributed at Masses celebrated during the coming year for the teeming pilgrims who will come to Fatima.
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary stands atop the hill where Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta played games while herding their sheep. It is there that they encountered Our Lady for the first time. As we recount the apparitions, imagine that you are one of the three shepherds on that hill, and Our Lady is appearing to you.
May Apparition
In spite of the Angel’s earlier apparitions, the three children never assumed that anything of great significance would happen again. They had the sheep up on the family property called the Cova da Iria and were playing as usual when all of a sudden it happened.
This is how Sister Lucia described that first appearance of Our Lady on May 13, 1917:
While playing with Jacinta and Francisco on the hilltop in the Cova da Iria, making a little stone wall around a furze-like clump called moita, suddenly we saw a flash of lightning. “There is a flash of lightning,” I said to my cousins, “a thunder-storm may come on. It would be better for us to go home.” “Oh yes, of course,” they said. And we began to descend the hill driving the sheep along towards the road. When we reached a large holm-oak about halfway down the slope the light flashed again. Then a few paces further on, we beheld a beautiful lady dressed in white, poised over a holm-oak sapling very near us. She was more brilliant than the sun, radiating a sparkling light. Struck with amazement, we halted before this vision. We were so near that we were bathed in the light that radiated from her person to a distance of about three feet.
Then the Lady said: “Do not be afraid; I will do you no harm.”
“Where are you from?” I asked.
“I am from heaven.”
“What do you want of me?”
“I came to ask you to come here for six successive months, on the 13th day at the same hour. Later I will tell what I want. And I will return here yet a seventh time.”
“And I, shall I go to heaven?”
“Yes, you will.”
“And Jacinta?”
“She will go also.”
“And Francisco?”
“He will go there too, but he must say many Rosaries first.”
Then I remembered to ask about two girls who had died recently. They were friends of mine and used to come to my home to learn weaving with my eldest sister. “Is Maria das Neves in heaven?”
“Yes, she is.”
“And Amelia?”
“She will be in purgatory until the end of the world.” (It seems to me that she was between 18 and 20 years of age.)16
“End of the world” is properly interpreted as a very long time. This was because people were not praying for her. In this moment, Our Lady confirmed the existence of purgatory. Her words to the children are a reminder to us that we should not forget to pray for the poor souls there. Sister Lucia continued with Mary’s words:
“Do you wish to offer up to God all the sufferings He desires to send you in reparation for the sins by which he is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Go then, for you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will comfort you.”
While pronouncing the words “the grace of God,” Our Lady opened her hands for the first time, shedding on us a light so intense that it seemed as a reflex glancing from her hands and penetrating to the innermost recesses of our hearts, making us see ourselves in God, who was that Light, more clearly than we could see ourselves in a mirror. Then by an interior impulse, also communicated to us, we fell upon our knees, repeating in our hearts: “Oh, most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the most Blessed Sacrament!”17
This first apparition of Mary occurred on the Church’s Feast of Our Lady of the Eucharist, and already the Mother of God was drawing the children to adore our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. As our heavenly Mother, Mary desires to lead all her children closer to the Eucharistic heart of Jesus, our food for eternal life.
After a few moments, Our Lady spoke to the children again: “Say the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” Sister Lucia then describes the end of the apparition:
Then she began to ascend serenely, going up towards the east, the light that surrounded her seeming to open up a path before her, until she finally disappeared in the immensity of space, the reason why we sometimes said we saw heaven opening.18
On their way home after the apparition, the children decided not to tell anyone about the Lady they had seen. Jacinta was so impressed by the Lady’s beauty, however, that she was unable to keep quiet, and told her mother about their encounter with the Mother of God. News spread quickly through the small
