On May 13, the Catholic Church commemorates the feast of the Virgin of Fatima, who manifested in 1917 to the three young shepherds, Lucía, Francisco and Jacinta, in Cova da Iria, Portugal.
Here we offer you 7 essential data that every Catholic should know about these revelations.
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1. The Virgin appeared 6 times in Fatima
Although he usually speaks of the “appearance” of the Virgin of Fatima, there were actually six times that Maria appeared to the shepherds.
Lucía and his cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, lived in the town of Aljustrel, in Fatima, and worked as pastors of their families’ herds. On May 13, 1917, the three children saw the Virgin, who told them, among other things, that he would return every day 13 at the same time in the coming months.
The Mother of God also revealed to the children, in her second appearance, that Francisco and Jacinta would die soon and that she would survive to testify to the appearances. Sor Lucía Dos Santos died on February 13, 2005.
In the third appearance of the Virgin, on July 13, Lucia was revealed the secret of Fatima. According to the reports, he got pale and shouted for fear calling the Virgin by name. There was a thunder and the vision ended.
On August 13, the day in which the fourth appearance should take place, the children did not arrive in Cova da Iria, since they were held by the Ourem administrator. Thus, the meeting with the Virgin occurred on August 19 in a place called Valinhos.
The shepherds saw the Virgin Mary again on September 13, in Cova de Iría.
In the last appearance, on October 13, 1917, before thousands of pilgrims who arrived in Fatima, the so -called “occurred”Milagro del Sol“According to the testimonies, after the appearance of the Virgin to the shepherds, the sun could be seen in a kind of” dance. “
2. Francisco and Jacinta died soon, and Lucia became religious
A Spanish influenza pandemia razed Europe in 1918 and killed about 20 million people. It is the same year, Francisco and Jacinta contracted the disease and died in 1919 and 1920, respectively. On the other hand, Lucia entered the convent of the Doroteas sisters.
On June 13, 1929, in the chapel of the convent in Tuy (Spain), Lucia had another mystical experience in which she saw the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary.
The Mother of God pointed out: “The time has come when God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my immaculate heart, promising to save her by this means” (S. Zimdars-Schwartz, Meeting with Maria197).
On October 13, 1930, the Bishop of Leiria (now Leiria-Fátima) proclaimed that the appearances of Fatima are authentic.
3. Sor Lucia wrote the secret of Fatima 18 years after the appearances
Between 1935 and 1941, on the orders of his superiors, Sor Lucia wrote four memories of the events of Fatima.
In the third memory – published in 1941 – he wrote the first two parts of the secret and explained that there was a third that the sky did not yet allow him to reveal.
In the fourth memory he added a phrase, at the end of the second part: “In Portugal, the dogma of faith will always be kept, etc.”. This phrase was the base of much speculation and it was commented that the third part of the secret referred to a great apostasy.
After the publication of the third and fourth memory, the world paid attention to the secret of Fatima and the three parts of the message, including the petition of the Virgin so that Russia consecrates its immaculate heart, through the Pope and the bishops of the world.
On October 31, 1942, the venerable Pope Pius XII consecrated not only Russia, but to everyone to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What lacked, however, was the participation of the bishops of the world.
In 1943, the bishop of Leiria ordered Sor Lucia to put the third secret of Fatima in writing, but she did not feel free to do so. He did not write it until 1944, but the text was saved in an envelope Lacrado in which Sor Lucia wrote that he should not open until 1960.
4. The third part of Fatima’s secret was read by several potatoes
The secret remained with the bishop of Leiria until 1957, when he was requested (along with copies of other writings of Sister Lucia) for the then congregation for the doctrine of faith (today dicascery for the doctrine of faith) of the Vatican.
According to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the secret was read by San Juan XXIII and San Pablo VI. “John Paul II, on the other hand, requested the envelope containing the third part of the ‘Secret’ after the murder attempt he suffered on May 13, 1981,” he added.
After reading the secret, San Juan Pablo II realized the connection between the attempt of murder and Fatima: “It was the hand of a mother who guided the trajectory of the bullet,” said the purple.
San Juan Pablo II decided to be made public in 2000.
To know more about Fatima’s third secret you can enter the following link
5. The keys to secret: repentance and conversion
The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, said that the key to the appearance of Fatima is his called to repentance and conversion. (Theological comment).
The three parts of the secret serve to motivate the individual to repentance and do so bluntly.
6. The first part of the secret is a vision of hell
The first part of the secret – the vision of hell – is for many the most important, because it reveals what awaits people after death, if they do not regret their sins and do not become.
7. The second part of the secret is about devotion to the Immaculate Heart
In the second part, the Virgin Mary states: “You have seen the hell where the souls of the poor sinners go. To save them, God wants to establish in the world the devotion to my immaculate heart.”
After explaining the vision of hell, the Mother of God spoke of a war that “will begin during the Pius XI pontificate.” This was World War II, caused, according to Sor Lucia, for Austria’s annexation to Germany during the Pius XI pontificate.
Translated and adapted by ACI Press. Originally published on May 13, 2020 in the National Catholic Register. It has been updated for republication.
Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas and grew nominally Protestant, but in his youth he experienced a deep conversion and entered the Catholic Church. He is the main apologist of Catholic Answers, collaborating editor of Catholic Answers magazine and a weekly guest in “Catholic Answers Live.”