Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora do Rosário da Fátima) is one of the best-known Marian apparitions in the world.

History

Between May and October 1917, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children—Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto—in the fields outside the village of Aljustrel, very close to Fatima, Portugal. She would come and speak to them on the 13th of every month. Lucia later described her as "more brilliant than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun."

According to Lucia's account, Mary exhorted the children to do penance and sacrifices to save sinners. They wore tight cords around their waists to cause pain, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and other works of penance. Most important, she asked them to say the Rosary every day. She reiterated many times that the Rosary was the key to personal and world peace. Many young Portuguese men, including relatives of the visionaries, were then fighting in World War I.

On her last visit, a crowd of 70,000 people, including reporters from sceptical, anti-religious newspapers, gathered in a torrential rainstorm to witness the great Solar Miracle of Fatima (http://www.ewtn.com/fatima/apparitions/October.htm). Many people in the crowd said that the sun changed colours, began spinning in the sky and went completely dark for several minutes before seeming to plunge toward the earth, then returning to its proper place. Reporter Avelino de Almeida, who had snarked at Fatima in previous articles, saw and reported the phenomena, while his photographer saw nothing but shot pictures of the mesmerized crowd looking up.

There is no independent verification of the solar phenomenon, and no movement or other phenomenon of the sun was registered by scientists at the time. It was reportedly witnessed from up to 25 miles away, but these people did not know what to make of it. Not everyone in the crowd saw the "sun dance", including the children, who reported seeing Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph blessing the people. Some people only saw the radiant colors. Others saw nothing at all.

The three secrets of Fatima

Main article: Three Secrets of Fatima

Most of the interest in Fatima, however, revolves around the famous three-part secret of Fatima, which includes remarkable visions of the future. Lúcia only wrote down the secrets in 1941, when she was asked to compose memoirs about Fatima and her cousins so their canonization proceedings could begin.

The first part described a horrific vision of Hell, while the second foretold the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II and called for the "Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary".

The officially released text of the third part of the secret was symbolic in nature and open to various interpretations. The Church's interpretation was that the subject of the prophecy was the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Ağca in Saint Peter's Square, Rome. The shooting occurred on May 13, the date of the first of the reported Fatima visions. The Pope had reportedly stooped to hug a little girl wearing a Lady of Fatima badge when the assailant fired, and the bullets struck him in the abdomen rather than in the head as planned.

John Paul credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life. He said more than once that he plainly saw her actively intervening to deflect the gunman's arm. He said he maintained consciousness on the ride to the hospital by keeping his mind focused on her.

The Consecration of Russia

According to Sister Lucy, The Virgin Mary promised that the Consecration of Russia would lead to Russia's conversion and an era of peace.

Many, believe Pope John Paul II fulfilled this request in 1984 by giving a blessing over the world, including Russia, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It is commonly believed that Sister Lúcia verified that this ceremony fulfilled the requests of the Virgin Mary. However, in the Blue Army's Spanish magazine, Sol de Fatima, in the September 1985 issue, Sister Lúcia said that the ceremony did not fulfill the Virgin Mary's request, as there was no specific mention of Russia, and "many bishops attached no importance to it".

In 2001, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone issued a statement, claiming that he had met with Sister Lúcia, who reportedly told him, "I have already said that the consecration desired by Our Lady was made in 1984, and has been accepted in Heaven." Sister Lúcia died on February 13, 2005, without making any public statement of her own to settle the issue.

Controversy around the Third Secret

The Vatican kept the third secret under wraps until Easter 2000 – despite Lúcia's declaration that it could be released to the public after 1940. Some say that Sr. Lúcia insisted it must be released by 1960, but other sources say she picked 1960 randomly and that release by 1960 was not a requirement. (She herself chose these dates. She said, "by that time, it'll be more clearly understood.") 1960 passed without any such announcement, which led to immense speculation over the content of the secret. In short, people assumed that the Popes chose to oppose the purported will of Mary.

There is some controversy that the third part of the secret revealed in the year 2000 was not the real secret. The main reason for this is because it was known that the third part of the Secret began with the words, "In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc." Sister Lúcia revealed this in her Fourth Memoir. These words and even this theme is not reflected by the vision released by the Vatican on June 26, 2000.

Another argument for this revolves around the decision to release the secret much later than as specified by Sister Lúcia. It was thought that the secret might contain condemnatory remarks about the last pope (who obviously wouldn't have wanted to release it), or that it might contain inflammatory remarks about Russia. Instead, the third part of the secret as revealed was by far the most unspecific and ambiguous part (compared to earlier parts which said that if unconsecrated, "Russia will spread its errors around the world").

The fate of the three children

Lucia reporting seeing the Virgin again in 1925 at the Dorothean convent at Pontevedra, Spain, and was asked to convey the message of the First Saturday Devotions. A subsequent vision of the Christ Child Himself reiterated this request.

Lucia was transferred to another convent in Tuy, Spain in 1928. In 1929, Lucia reported that Mary returned and repeated her request for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

Lucia reportedly saw Mary in private visions off and on throughout her life. Most significant was the apparition in Rianxo, Spain in 1931, in which Jesus taught Sister Lucia two prayers and delivered a message to give to the hierarchy of the Church.

In 1947, Sister Lucia left the Dorothean order and joined the Carmelite order in a convent in Coimbra, Portugal. Lucia died on February 13, 2005, at the age of 97. The date may have significance to Fatima devotees, since most of the major events of this vision series took place on the 13th day of the month. After her death, the Vatican, specifically Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at that time, still head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) ordered her cell sealed off. It is believed this was because Sister Lucia had continued to receive more revelations, and they wished to censor them, or perhaps simply to examine them in the course of proceedings for Lucia's canonization.

Lucia's cousins, the siblings Francisco (1908–1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910–1920), were both victims of the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919.

Francisco and Jacinta were declared "venerable" by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony at Fatima on 13 May1989. John Paul returned there on 13 May 2000, to declare them "blessed" (one step from sainthood - see Canonization for more on that process). Jacinta is the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

Interestingly, during the second apparition on June 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary predicted the deaths of two of the children. Previously, she'd told them they would all eventually go to heaven. On June 13, Lucia asked the Virgin to take them to heaven soon. Mary replied, "Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart." The younger children were ecstatic to hear that they'd be going to Heaven "soon" and did not keep this information secret. Family, friends and curious tourists all report Jacinta and Francisco joyfully and serenely predicting their deaths. Jacinta, in fact, accurately predicted the exact hour and detailed circumstances of her death, according to accounts by her own mother, by Lucia, and by hospital staff.

Exhumed in 1935 and again in 1951, Jacinta's body was found incorrupt. Francisco's had decomposed.

Controversies of Fatima

Fatima is not without controversy. Some Christians do not accept the Church's claim of veracity of the visions. Compare similar visions to shepherd children at La Salette in 1848, published in 1879. In addition, the Salazar regime in Portugal was even referred to by the opposition as the time of "Fado, Fatima, and Football".

Still others cite that until 2001, Sister Lucia had always insisted that the Consecration requested by the Virgin Mary was to be specifically of Russia, and all the Catholic bishops had take part. The communique of Archbishop Bertone around the end of 2001 seemed to contradict 84 years of her prior testimony.

Also, there are accusations of a deliberate campaign to cover up (http://www.devilsfinalbattle.com/appendix.htm) the message of Fatima by ecclesiastical authorities within the Catholic Church.

Also, in the years prior to the alleged revelation of the Third Secret in 2000, many tabloids used the Secret for their own purposes. They would publish articles on an almost regular basis saying that the Third Secret was a vision of the end of the world, or "earth changes" similar to those predicted by Edgar Cayce, which would come to pass in the very near future. Many of these articles, which were written prior to the year 2000, said the events contained in their version of the Third Secret vision would occur around the year 2000. Lucia, when asked about these articles, denied that the third secret was anything like that.

Influence of the apparitions

Although it has been used previously, Fátima has become a more common name for Portuguese females. The name of the city derives from a local Moslem princess named Fatima who, following her capture by Christian forces during the Moorish occupation of Portugal, was betrothed to the Count of Ourem, converted to Catholicism, and was baptised before marrying the Count in 1158. Her baptismal name was Oureana.

Our Lady Fatima Parish is one of the divisions of mainland Macau, a former Portuguese colony, now part of a special administration region of China.

Many Portuguese use a figure of Our Lady of Fatima as an amulet.

Conservative Catholics take the anti-Communist character of Mary's reported messages very much to heart. The Blue Army of Our Lady is made up of Catholics and non-Catholics who dedicate themselves to daily prayer (specifically, of the Rosary) for world peace and an end to tyranny and leftist dictatorships. In 1952, a fact-based feature film, The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima, appeared.

Official position of the Roman Catholic Church

Catholics are not required to believe in a miraculous origin for the events at Fatima: as with other Church-approved visions such as those of Bernadette Soubirous, it is designated "worthy of belief".

External links

• Official Vatican Statement releasing the third secret of Fatima (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html)
• Full account of the apparitions (http://www.fatima.org/essentials/facts/1917appar.asp)
• Details of a forthcoming book on Lucia's life (http://www2.marian.org/thebulletin/issues/issue140/article140130.html)
• How The Sun Danced At Noon At Fatima (http://www.portcult.com/FAT.12.NEWSPAPER.2.htm) Translated text of Avelino de Almeida's eyewitness account, as published in O Seculo (The Century), a leading Lisbon newspaper.
• The Miracles at Fatima (http://www.anatheist.com/Articles/fatima.html) A skeptical treatment of the alleged miracles at Fatima from an Atheist perspective.
• The Fatima Center (http://www.fatima.org) from an alternative perspective, a very thorough look at Fatima.
• OUR LADY AND ISLAM: HEAVEN’S PEACE PLAN (http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/olislam.htm) The relationship between Mary, Islam and the Fatima apparitions.Template:Wikisource

nl:Onze Lieve Vrouw van Fatima