7/27/2019 Fatima The Apparitions.docx http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/fatima-the-apparitionsdocx 1/78 The ApparitionsIt is almost certain that we would not be celebrating the beatifications of Jacinta and Francisco Marto were it not for the apparitions which they experienced. Yes, every Catholic has the possibility to attain to the measure of sanctity which this honor represents. However, in practical terms it was the tutelage of an angel and the Blessed Mother that led these two young children to holiness in just a few short years. That tutoring began in the spring of 1916 with three visitations of the Guardian Angel of Portugal, apparitions which served as preparation for the visits the following year of the Mother of God. The Theology of ApparitionsThe appearances of God, the angels and the saints to human beings on the earth fall into two general categories, apparitions and mysticism. A mystic is a person who having persevered in the Christian spiritual life, usually a notable length of time, receives by God's free choice the infused supernatural grace of contemplative prayer. Through this grace they are granted a deeper knowledge and experience of God, beyond that which the ordinary ways of prayer and Christian life can give. This grace is usually granted after they have been faithful in avoiding sin, conquered themselves through mortification, and meditated faithfully on Christ and the truths of the faith taught by the Church. Passing through a profound trial known as the Dark Night of the Senses they enter upon the Illuminative Way, in which they make very notable progress in sanctity, as well as receive divine communications, whether of interior words (locutions) or interior (intellectual) or exterior visions. They may also experience ecstasies, levitations, the stigmata, and other signs of their growing intimacy with God and the supernatural. If they persevere on this path they will pass through another Dark Night, of the Spirit, in which their purification is completed. Entering upon the Unitive Way, their union with God is secured by a Mystical Marriage, prefiguring their union with God at death and the consummation of the union of Christ and His Bride at the end of time. An apparition, however, is a charismatic gift granted by God for some greater purpose of His than the benefit of the one receiving it. It says nothing necessary about the sanctity of the recipient(s); although God usually chooses simple and good Christians, often children, who will readily accept and do His Will. Generally, it can be understood as an external vision, created by some means of God, to represent the holy person depicted. It would not necessarily have to be the person him or herself. Only Christ and Our Lady (possibly St. Joseph, according to St. Francis de Sales and others who hold that he was taken to heaven body and soul), could actually appear in their bodies. All others, and even they, could appear by some representation accessible to the human senses. In such a way God appeared by means of angels to Abraham and to Moses. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, this manner is the ordinary cause of mysticism and apparitions. In the case of Fátima it is clear that something more than an intellectual vision took place, an external apparition accompanied by indications of the actual presence of Our Lady. This latter cannot be conclusively determined. However, it reasonably follows from the descriptions of the events and especially from the sense of Her Presence continued to be felt there to this day. As a fruit of the events, and of the fidelity of the three children to the message of Fátima, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta grew in holiness and became mystics in the proper sense. It is for their heroic virtue in the pursuit of God that the two youngest are being raised to the honor of the altar, not for being the recipients of an apparition. This fact, more even than the miracle of the Sun, authenticates the message of Fátima.
It is almost certain that we would not be celebrating the beatifications of Jacinta and Francisco Martowere it not for the apparitions which they experienced. Yes, every Catholic has the possibility to attain to
the measure of sanctity which this honor represents. However, in practical terms itwas the tutelage of an angel and the Blessed Mother that led these two young
children to holiness in just a few short years. That tutoring began in the spring of 1916 with three visitations of the Guardian Angel of Portugal, apparitions whichserved as preparation for the visits the following year of the Mother of God.
The Theology of Apparitions
The appearances of God, the angels and the saints to human beings on the earth fall into two generalcategories, apparitions and mysticism.
A mystic is a person who having persevered in the Christian spiritual life, usually a notable length of time,receives by God's free choice the infused supernatural grace of contemplative prayer. Through this gracethey are granted a deeper knowledge and experience of God, beyond that which the ordinary ways of prayer and Christian life can give. This grace is usually granted after they have been faithful in avoidingsin, conquered themselves through mortification, and meditated faithfully on Christ and the truths of thefaith taught by the Church. Passing through a profound trial known as the Dark Night of the Senses theyenter upon the Illuminative Way, in which they make very notable progress in sanctity, as well as receivedivine communications, whether of interior words (locutions) or interior (intellectual) or exterior visions.They may also experience ecstasies, levitations, the stigmata, and other signs of their growing intimacywith God and the supernatural. If they persevere on this path they will pass through another Dark Night,of the Spirit, in which their purification is completed. Entering upon the Unitive Way, their union with Godis secured by a Mystical Marriage, prefiguring their union with God at death and the consummation of theunion of Christ and His Bride at the end of time.
An apparition, however, is a charismatic gift granted by God for some greater purpose of His than the benefit of the one receiving it.It says nothing necessary about the sanctity of the recipient(s);although God usually chooses simple and good Christians, oftenchildren, who will readily accept and do His Will. Generally, it can beunderstood as an external vision, created by some means of God,to represent the holy person depicted. It would not necessarily haveto be the person him or herself. Only Christ and Our Lady (possiblySt. Joseph, according to St. Francis de Sales and others who holdthat he was taken to heaven body and soul), could actually appear in their bodies. All others, and even they, could appear by some representation accessible to the humansenses. In such a way God appeared by means of angels to Abraham and to Moses. According to St.Thomas Aquinas, this manner is the ordinary cause of mysticism and apparitions.
In the case of Fátima it is clear that something more than an intellectual vision took place, an externalapparition accompanied by indications of the actual presence of Our Lady. This latter cannot beconclusively determined. However, it reasonably follows from the descriptions of the events andespecially from the sense of Her Presence continued to be felt there to this day.
As a fruit of the events, and of the fidelity of the three children to the message of Fátima, Lucia, Franciscoand Jacinta grew in holiness and became mystics in the proper sense. It is for their heroic virtue in thepursuit of God that the two youngest are being raised to the honor of the altar, not for being the recipientsof an apparition. This fact, more even than the miracle of the Sun, authenticates the message of Fátima.
Apparitions of the AngelIn rural Portugal of 1916 it would not have been unusual to see children leading their family flocks topasture. This is what the children of the Marto and Santos families, cousins all, did on many days. Often it
was Lucia Santos, Francisco Marto and his sister Jacinta, whogladly undertook this chore, grateful for the chance to be outdoorsand to play as the sheep silently grazed. They would take their families few sheep to graze on small plots of land owned by their parents in different parts of the sera, the mountainous plateau onwhich was located the village of Fátima (where the parish churchwas) and Aljustrel (where the children actually resided). Two favoritegrazing areas were the hillside facing Aljustrel, near an outcroppingcalled Loca do Cabeco (Place of the Head) and the Cova da Iria(Cove of Irene) at some distance beyond Fátima. At first one, then
the other, would occur the apparitions which would change the course of the children's lives and thehistory of the 20th century.
First Apparition of the Angel of Portugal Second Apparition of the Angel of Portugal Third Apparition of the Angel of Portugal Back
Second Apparition of the AngelSometime during the summer of 1916 the three cousins were playing in the heat of the day in the gardennear the well behind the Santos home in Aljustrel. Lucia describes how the angel appeared to them oncemore, chastising them for their for their lack of spiritual seriousness.Video Suddenly we saw the same angel near us.What are you doing? You must pray! Pray! The hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you.
You must offer your prayers and sacrifices to God, the Most High."But how are we to sacrifice?" I asked.In every way you can offer sacrifice to God in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and insupplication for sinners. In this way you will bring peace to our country, for I am its guardian angel, the Angel of Portugal. Above all, bear and accept with patience the sufferings God will send you.This apparition renewed the same profound effect which the first one had on them. Francisco, whothroughout the appearances of the angel and Our Lady would see but not hear, was unsuccessful inprying from the girls the words which the angel had spoken until the following day. Lucia tells us,The Angels' words sank deeply into our souls like a gleaming torch, showing us Who God is, what is Hislove for us, and how he wants us to love Him too; the value of sacrifice and how it pleases Him; how Hereceives it for the conversion of sinners. That is why from that moment we began to offer Him whatever mortified us.
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Third Apparition of the AngelLucia is uncertain when the third apparition of the angel occurred, sometime in late September or inOctober 1916 is her recollection. Having gone to the Cabeco with their flocks, and being more attentive tothe words of the angel, they immediately knelt down to pray the prayer taught them by the angel: My God,I believe, I adore etc...Video
After we had repeated this prayer I don't know how many time we saw the shining over us a strange light.We lifted our heads to see what was happening. the Angel was holding in his left hand a chalice and over it, in the air, was a host from which drops of blood fell into the chalice. The Angel leaves the chalice in theair, kneels near us and tells us to repeat three times:Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most PreciousBody, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His mostSacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners. After that he rose, took again in his hand the chalice and the host. The host he gave to me and thecontents of the chalice he gave to Jacinta and Francisco, saying at the same time,
Eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ terribly outraged by the ingratitude of men. Offer reparation for their sakes and console God.Once more he bowed to the ground repeating with us the same prayer thrice: Oh,Blessed Trinity etc. and disappeared. Overwhelmed by the supernatural atmosphere thatinvolved us, we imitated the Angel in everything, kneeling prostrate as he did andrepeating the prayers he said.It was in this way that catechized in prayer, reparative suffering, and the doctrine of theHoly Eucharist, and strengthened by the Bread of Angels, that the children of Fátimawere prepared for the visitation of the Queen of Portugal, the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
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The Children
In the year 1917, in amountainous region at thecenter of Portugal, theMother of God appearedsix times to three youngchildren. Elsewhere on thecontinent the “Great War”raged, that would costEurope an entiregeneration, over 37 millionlives. Besides sending her own sons to die (in Franceand North Africa) Portugalwas in political chaos athome. There was a dizzysuccession of governmentsfollowing a revolution in1910. The monarchy hadbeen replaced by arepublic, with a new liberalconstitution separating
Church from state.Government officials, under the influence of Freemasonry, were notsympathetic to the Faith.But for the peoplethemselves, the Faith wasthe air they breathed, as in
the village of Aljustrel, acollection of whitewashedhouses on a dusty road inthe parish of Fatima.
There Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta were bornand raised in homes where the catechism wastheir daily bread, stories from the Bible their recreation, and the word of the village priestwas law. Lucia de Jesus Santos was born, theyoungest of seven children, to Antonio andMaria Rosa Santos, on 22 March 1907. Shewas a plain child with sparkling eyes and amagnetic personality, a natural leader to whomother children looked with confident affection.Blessed with an excellent memory, Lucia wasable to learn her catechism, and make her First Communion and Confession, at age six.
She herself became a catechist at nine. Luciawould be the constant guide and companion toher first cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto,through the trials that accompanied theapparitions of the Blessed Mother.
Lucia Santos
Bl. Jacinta Marto
Bl. Francisco Marto
Lucia
Lucia de Jesus dos Santos was born in Aljustrel, a village in the parish of Fátima,Portugal, on March 22, 1907, and baptized afew days later on March 30. Her parents were Antonio and Maria Rosa dos Santos. She wasthe youngest of seven children, six girls and aboy. At age 6 she received her First HolyCommunion. By 8 she was occupied with thetending of the family's sheep, accompanied byother boys and girls of the village.
It was while in the company of her cousins,Jacinta and Francisco Marto, that the firstheavenly apparition occurred, that of the Angelof Portugal, come to prepare the young trio for their mission and for an even greater visitor.
Lucia was 10 years old when on May 13,1917, while tending the sheep in the Cova de
Iria, a woman, who later identified herself asthe Blessed Virgin Mary, appeared to thechildren. The apparition would continuemonthly on the 13th of the month until October 1917 (save August, when imprisonment by theanti-clerical authorities prevented it). Duringeach month's apparition, the Virginencouraged prayer, especially the rosary, andsacrifice. She also communicated certainprophecies of the future (the end of World War I, the rise of error in Russia (communism) andits propagation throughout the world, theannihilation of nations, another war precededby a heavenly sign if men did not convert, andthe suffering and persecution of the good,especially the Holy Father). On Oct. 13, 1930,the bishop of Leiria-Fátima, José Alves Correiada Silva, declared the apparitions of Fátimaworthy of credibility and allowed public
devotion to the Virgin under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima.
After the prophesied death of Jacinta andFrancisco, during the flu pandemic of 1919,Lucia alone remained to carry on the missionassigned by the "woman from heaven." At 14she was admitted as a boarder to the school of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Vilar, near Oportoin the north of Portugal. On Oct. 24, 1925, sheentered the Institute of the Sisters of St.Dorothy as a postulant in the convent in Tuy,Spain, not far from the Portuguese border.
During these years she would continue toreceive private revelations explanatory of themessage of Fátima. She made her first vowson Oct. 3, 1928, and her perpetual vows onOct. 3, 1934, receiving the name Sister Maryof the Sorrowful Mother.
In 1946, seeking a more contemplative life,Lucia entered the Carmelite convent of St.Teresa in Coimbra, where she made her profession as a Discalced Carmelite on May31, 1949. She took the name Sister MariaLucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.
In 1967, Sister Lucia traveled to Fatima tocelebrate the 50th anniversary of theapparitions, presided over by Pope Paul VI.She went again in 1982, when Paul John PaulII came to the Shrine on 13 May to give thanksfor the saving of his life during theassassination attempt of 13 May 1981, andagain when the Pope came there in 1991, and
Over the years Sr. Lucia would write twobooks, Memoirs, recounting the events of
Fatima in her own words, and Calls from theMessage of Fatima, giving answers to themany questions about living the message of Fátima, which she has been asked over theyears.
In the second apparition, that of June 13, Luciaasked the Lady, "Will you take us to heaven?"The Virgin responded,
Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon,but you will remain a little longer, since Jesuswishes you to make me known and loved onearth. He wishes also for you to establishdevotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart.
That mission came to an end on February 13,2005, when after weeks of weakness Sr. MariaLucia succumbed to the infirmities of old age.Her funeral Mass at the cathedral of Coimbrawas presided over by the city's bishop, MostReverend Antonio Cleto. She will lie in rest atthe convent where she spent so many years,until a place is prepared for her body at theBasilica in Fátima, where Francisco andJacinta are entombed.
Audio of homily at Sister Lucia's Funeral Mass
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Jacinta
Two years younger than Francisco, Jacintacharmed all who knew her. She was pretty andenergetic, and had a natural grace of movement. She loved to dance, and was sorrywhen their priest condemned dancing in
public. Sometimes willful, she would poutwhen she did not get her way. She took aspecial delight in flowers, gathering them bythe armful and making garlands for Lucia. At aFirst Communion, she was among the little“angels” spreading petals before the BlessedSacrament. She had a marked love for Our Lord, and at the age of five she melted in tearson hearing the account of His Passion, vowing
She had many friends, but above all she lovedher cousin Lucia, and was jealous of her time
and attention. When Lucia, at the age of ten,became unavailable for play, being sent by her parents to pasture their sheep, Jacinta mopedin loneliness-until her mother gave in andallowed her, with Francisco, to take a fewsheep to pasture with Lucia.
Her sheep toobecameher friends.She gavethemnames,held their little oneson her lap, andtried tocarry alambhome onher shoulders, as shehad seen
inpictures
of the Good Shepherd.
Her days were playful and happy, delightingwith her brother and cousin in the things of nature around her. They called the sun “Our Lady’s lamp,” and the stars “the Angels’lanterns,” which they tried to count as it grewdark. They called out to hear their voices echoacross the valley, and the name that returnedmost clearly was “Maria.”
They said the Rosary every day after lunch,but to make more time for play, they shortenedit to the words “Our Father” at the beginning of each decade, followed by “Hail Mary” tentimes. This frivolity would soon change.
In the spring of 1916, as the children watchedtheir sheep, an Angel appeared to them in an
olive grove. He asked the children to pray withhim. He appeared again in midsummer at awell in Lucia’s garden, urging them to offer sacrifice to God in reparation for sinners. In afinal appearance, at the end of the summer,the Angel held a bleeding Host over a chalice,from which he communicated the children.This experience separated them from their playmates and prepared them for theapparitions to come.
As might be expected, the three were changedby the visitations of the Queen of Heaven.Jacinta, talkative sometimes to a fault, becamequiet and withdrawn. After the first apparition,Lucia had sworn her and her brother tosecrecy. But Jacinta, bubbling over, had letslip all they had seen to her family, who thentold the village. The news was received with
skepticism by many, with mockery by some,and with anger by Lucia’s mother. Jacinta wasso contrite, she promised never to revealanother secret.
Her reluctance to reveal anything more of their experiences was increased by the vision of hell given the children in the third apparitionseems to have affected Jacinta the most. Torescue sinners from hell, she was in theforefront of the three in voluntarymortifications, whether it was in giving up their lunches (sometimes to their sheep), refusing to
drink in the heat of the day, or wearing aknotted rope around their waists. Involuntarypenances included for her, as for her brother and cousin, the constant mockery of unbelievers, badgering by skeptical clergy, andwheedling by believers to reveal the Lady’ssecret.
Following the miracle of the sun, Jacintacomplied with many requests for her intercessions. On one occasion she seems tohave bilocated, in order to help a waywardyouth find his way home. Lost in a stormy
wood, he had knelt and prayed, and Jacintaappeared and took him by the hand, while shewas at home praying for him.
When she came down with influenza, she wasremoved from her family to a hospital a fewmiles away. She did not complain, becausethe Blessed Mother had forewarned her that
she would go to two hospitals, not to be cured,but to suffer for the love of God and reparationfor sinners. She stayed in the first hospital for two months, undergoing painful treatments,and then was returned home. She developedtuberculosis and was sent to Lisbon, first to aCatholic orphanage. There she was able toattend Mass and see the Tabernacle, and shewas happy. But her stay there was short. Shewas soon transferred to the second hospitalprophesied by the Blessed Mother, whereJacinta was to make her final offering in dyingalone. Her body came to rest in the Sanctuarybuilt at the Cova da Iria, where the Lady hadappeared to her.
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Francisco
Francisco was born 11 June 1908, the sixth of seven children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto.He was a handsome boy, with light hair anddark eyes. He loved games and other children,yet without the spirit of competition. He wouldnot complain when treated unfairly, and gaveup a treasured possession (a handkerchief stamped with the image of Our Lady) rather than contend for it. He was a peacemaker, butcourageous, as his conduct under questioningby the Mayor would later show. He also had amischievous turn. He was known to dropstrange and inedible objects in his sleepingbrother’s mouth. He had a love for nature, andanimals in particular. He played with lizardsand snakes, and would bring them home, tohis mother’s chagrin. Once he gave a penny,all the money he had, to a friend for a capturedbird, only to set the bird free. He played a reedpipe, to which Lucia and his sister Jacintawould sing and dance. In short, he was a kind,gentle boy, not yet a Saint, but onepredisposed by God for the graces soonbestowed on him.
Aloneamongthe three,Francisconever heard theLady’swords,althoughhe sawher andfelt her presence. After thefirstapparition, Luciaconveyedthe
Lady’smessageto him,
that he would go to heaven if he prayed manyRosaries. In the second apparition, Luciaasked to be taken to heaven, and the Ladyreplied that Francisco and Jacinta would betaken soon, but Lucia would have to wait for atime. (She is still alive.)
In the third apparition, the children were givena secret, including a vision of hell, which sochanged them that they became more like
adults than children. At this time the Mayor of the district, Artur de Oliveira Santos, aFreemason, devised a scheme to discredit theapparitions by terrorizing the children. He triedto bully them into admitting they lied,threatened to boil them in oil if they withheldthe Lady’s “Secret” (Francisco showedextravagant courage in anticipation of going toheaven), and jailed them to keep them fromtheir appointment with the Lady on the day of the fourth apparition (August 13). They kepttheir appointment two days later.
For the fifth apparition, tens of thousandsattended, having been alerted by the press tothe Mayor’s controversy with the children. Among the curious was a seminary professor from Santarem, Dr. Manuel Formigao, whoquestioned the children afterward and becameconvinced of their veracity.
for the next appointed day, many resolved tobe there, and on October 13 perhaps 70thousand people were present for the miracleof the sun.
After the apparitions ended, Francisco wasenrolled in school but played truant as often aspossible. He preferred to spend time praying tothe “Hidden Jesus” in the Tabernacle. Hisgreat concern was to console His sorrowingLord and the Heart of His Mother. When askedwhat he wanted to be when he grew up,Francisco answered, "I don't want to beanything. I want to die and go to heaven."
In August 1918, when World War I wasnearing an end, Francisco and Jacinta bothcontracted influenza. They had shortreprieves, but their decline was inevitable. In April of the following year, Francisco, knowinghis time was short, asked to receive theHidden Jesus for the first time in HolyCommunion. The next morning, April 4th, atten o’clock, he died with a glow on hisshrunken face. He was buried the next day ina little cemetery in Fatima, across from theparish church, and later translated to theSanctuary at Cova da Iria.
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Apparitions of the Angel
In rural Portugal of 1916 it would not havebeen unusual to see children leading their family flocks to pasture. This is what thechildren of the Marto and Santos families,cousins all, did on many days. Often it wasLucia Santos, Francisco Marto and his sister
by their parents in different parts of the sera,the mountainous plateau on which was locatedthe village of Fátima (where the parish churchwas) and Aljustrel (where the children actuallyresided). Two favorite grazing areas were thehillside facing Aljustrel, near an outcroppingcalled Loca do Cabeco (Place of the Head)and the Cova da Iria (Cove of Irene) at somedistance beyond Fátima. At first one, then theother, would occur the apparitions which wouldchange the course of the children's lives andthe history of the 20th century.
First Apparition of the Angel of Portugal
Second Apparition of the Angel of Portugal
Third Apparition of the Angel of Portugal
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Apparitions of Our Lady
Almost eight months had passed since the last apparition of the Angel. Lucia, Francisco and Jacintacontinued to practice what the Angel had taught them, praying and offering sacrifices to the Lord. Luciawas now ten years old, Francisco would be nine in June and Jacinta had just turned seven in March,when on May 13th, 1917, they chose to pasture their sheep in a hilly depression owned by Lucia's father and known as the Cova da Iria, or Cove of Irene. It was there, with one exception, that the Blessed Virginunder the title of Our Lady of the Rosary appeared on six occasions in 1917, and a seventh time in 1920
(to Lucia alone).
As important as the place and the time is the situation of the world. At that momentthe First World War raged in Europe, introducing mankind to the most savage formsof warfare seen to that date. In far off Moscow Lenin prepared the revolution thatwould overturn the Russian social order in November 1917 and eventually engulf almost half the peoples of the earth. It was in that context that heavencondescending to earth to provide the antidote to the moral and social evils of the
Leading their flock out from Aljustrel on the morning of the 13th of May, the feast of Our Lady
of the Blessed Sacrament, the three children passed Fátima, where the parish church and
cemetery could be found, and proceeded a kilometer or so north to the slopes of the Cova. Herethey allowed their sheep to graze as they played in the pasture land sprinkled with the occasional
oak tree. After having had their lunch about noon they decided to pray a rosary, although in a
somewhat truncated fashion, saying only the first words of each prayer. Shortly, they were
startled by what they later described as "lightening in a clear sky." Thinking that a storm might be approaching they debated whether they should take the sheep and go home. Preparing to do so
they were again surprised by a strange light.
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And we began to go down the slope driving the sheep towards the road. When we were half-way
down, near a holm oak there [the large tree which today is encircled with an iron fence], we saw
another flash of lightening, and after a few steps we saw on aholm oak [a small one lower on the hillside] a lady dressed in
white, shining brighter than the sun, giving out rays of clear
and intense light, just like a crystal goblet full of pure water when the fiery sun passes through it. We stopped astounded
by the Apparition. We were so near that we were in the light
that encircled her, or which she radiated, perhaps a meter and
a half away [4-5 feet].
Please don't be afraid of me, I'm not going to harm you.
Lucia responded for all three, as she would throughout the apparitions.
"Where are you from?"
I come from heaven.
The Lady wore a pure white mantle, edged with gold and which fell to her feet. In her hands the
beads of a rosary shone like stars, with its crucifix the most radiant gem of all. Still, Lucia felt nofear. The Lady's presence produced in her only gladness and confident joy.
"And what do you want of me?"
I want you to return here on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months, and at the verysame hour. Later I shall tell you who I am, and what it is that I most desire. And I shall return
Francisco, too, my dear, but he will first have many Rosaries to say.
For a few moments the Lady looked at Francisco with compassion, tinged with a little sadness.Lucia then remembered some friends who had died.
"Is Maria Neves in heaven?"
Yes, she is.
"And Amelia?"
She is in purgatory.
Will you offer yourselves to God, and bear all the sufferings He sends you? In atonement for all
the sins that offend Him? And for the conversion of sinners?
"Oh, we will, we will!"
Then you will have a great deal to suffer, but the grace of God will be with you and willstrengthen you.
Lucia relates that as the Lady pronounced these words, she opened her hands, and
we were bathed in a heavenly light that appeared to come directly from her hands. The light's
reality cut into our hearts and our souls, and we knew somehow that this light was God, and wecould see ourselves embraced in it. By an interior impulse of grace we fell to our knees,
repeating in our hearts: "Oh, Holy Trinity, we adore You. My God, my God, I love You in the
Blessed Sacrament."
The children remained kneeling in the flood of this wondrous light, until the Lady spoke again,
mentioning the war in Europe, of which they had little or no knowledge.
Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.
After that she began to rise slowly in the direction of the east, until she disappeared in the
immense distance. The light that encircles Her seemed to make a way amidst the stars, and that iswhy we sometimes said we had seen the heavens open.
The days that followed were filled with excitement, though they had not intended it that way.Lucia had cautioned the others to keep their visitor a secret, correctly perceiving the difficulties
they would experience if the events became known. However, the joy of seven year old Jacinta
could not be contained, and she rather promptly forgot her promise and revealed all to her mother, who patiently listened but gave it little credence. Her brothers and sisters piped in with
their questions and jokes. Among the interrogators only her father, "Ti" Marto, was inclined
immediately to accept the tale as true. He believed in the honesty of his children, and had asimple appreciation of the workings of God, such that he became the first believer in the
apparitions of Fátima.
Lucia's mother, on the other hand, when at last she heard whathad transpired, believed her own daughter to be the instigator
of a fraud, if not a blasphemy. Lucia would quickly learn whatthe Lady meant when she said they would suffer a great deal.Maria Rosa was unable to get Lucia to recant, event under
threats. Finally she hauled her before the parish priest, Fr.
Ferreira, with no better success. On the other hand, Lucia's
father, who was not especially religious, was practicallyindifferent, attributing all of it to the fancies of women. The next few weeks, as the children
awaited their scheduled appointment with the lady in June, would reveal that they had few
believers, and many detractors, in Aljustrel and Fátima.
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Apparition of 13 June 1917
In Portugal the 13th of June is a great feast, the feast of St. Anthony of Lisbon, known to mostCatholics as St. Anthony of Padua. This Franciscan miracle-worker was born in Lisbon and had
entered religious life as a Canon Regular of the Holy Cross, residing first in Lisbon and then
Coimbra, before leaving the Portuguese order for the new Order of Friars Minor and a hope of martyrdom. It was, and is, THE children's feast in Portugal, so the parents of Lucia naturally
thought that the festivities at the parish church in Fátima would distract her from the appointment
at the Cova. However, undismayed by this tactic Lucia and the Marto children proceeded to the
apparition site to keep their noon day rendezvous.
When they arrived they found a small crowd awaiting them.
After having said the rosary with Jacinta and Francisco and other people who were present, we
saw again the reflection of light nearing us, (we used to say it was lightening), and following,
"Please tell me, Madam, what it is that you want of me?"
I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month. I want you to continue saying the
Rosary every day. And after each one of the mysteries, my children, I want you to pray in this
way: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins , save us from the fire of hell. Take all souls to heaven,especially those who are most in need. I want you to learn to read and write, and later I will tell
you what else I want of you.
"Will you take us to heaven?"
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.
"Must I remain in the world alone?"
Not alone, my child, and you must not be sad. I will be with
you always, and my Immaculate Heart will be your comfort and the way which will lead you to
God.
The moment she said the last words, opening her hands, She transmitted to us, for the secondtime, the reflection of that intense light. In it we felt we were submerged in God. Jacinta and
Francisco seemed to be in that part of the light which was rising to Heaven, and I in the part
spreading over the earth. In front of the palm of Our Lady's right hand was a heart encircled with
thorns which appeared to pierce it. We understood it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary offended by the sins of mankind, craving reparation.
The apparition then concluded as on the first occasion, with the Lady going off toward the east
and disappearing in the "immensity of heaven."
Despite the joy of those precious moments the sorrows of the children continued in the following
weeks, moderated by the belief of very many at the Cova that day. They knew that something
unusual had occurred - they saw the "lightening," some perceived a certain dimming of the sun,
others a little gray cloud that came and went as the apparition did and they believed. However,the difficulties with their families did not abate, especially with their mothers, who became
genuinely alarmed that the events were not just continuing but expanding. To this was added the
painful caution of the parish priest, that after all it might be real but of demonic origin.
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Apparition of 13 July 1917
As the July date approached Lucia continued to be troubled by the words of her pastor that the
devil might be behind the apparitions. Finally, she confided to Jacinta that she intended not to go.
When the day finally dawned, however, her fears and anxieties disappeared, so that the noonhour found her in the Cova with Jacinta and Francisco,
awaiting the arrival of the beautiful Lady.
The apparition of July 13th would prove to be in many ways
the most controversial aspect of the message of Fátima,
providing a secret in three parts which the children guardedzealously. The first two parts, the vision of hell and the
prophecy of the future role of Russia and how to prevent it,
would not be revealed until Sr. Lucia wrote them down in her third memoir, at the request of the bishop, in 1941. The third
part, usually called the Third Secret, was only later communicated to the bishop, who sent it
unread to Pope Pius XII.
Video
A few moments after arriving at the Cova da Iria, near the holmoak, where a large number of people were praying the Rosary, we saw the flah of light once more, and a moment later Our Lady appeared on the holmoak.
"Lucia," Jacinta said, "speak. Our Lady is talking to you.
"Yes?" said Lucia. She spoke humbly, asking pardon for her doubts with every gesture, and tothe Lady: "What do you want of me?"
I want you to come back here on the thirteenth of next month. Continue to say the Rosary every
day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, to obtain the peace of the world and the end of the war,
because only she can obtain it.
"Yes, "yes."
"I would like to ask who you are, and if you will do a miracleso that everyone will know for certain that you have appeared
to us."
You must come here every month, and in October I will tell
you who I am and what I want. I will then perform a miracle
so that all may believe.
Thus assured, Lucia began to place before the Lady the petitions for help that so many had
entrusted to her. The Lady said gently that she would cure some, but others she would not cure.
"And the crippled son of Maria da Capelinha?"
No, neither of his infirmity nor of his poverty would he be cured, and he must be certain to say
Another case recommended by Lucia to the Lady's assistance was a sick woman from Atougia
who asked to be taken to heaven.
Tell her not to be in a hurry. Tell her I know very well when I shall come to fetch her."
Make sacrifices for sinners, and say often, especially while making a sacrifice: O Jesus, this is
for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for offences committed against
the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
As Our lady spoke these words she opened her hands once more, as had during the two previous
months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire.Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all
blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the
flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now following
back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks andgroans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (it must have been
this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me do). The demons could be
distinguished by their terrifying nad repellant likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our
Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:
You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. It is to save them that God wants to
establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If you do what I tell you, many souls
will be saved, and there will be peace. This war will end, but if men do not refrain from
offending God, another and more terrible war will begin during the pontificate of Pius XI. When
you see a night that is lit by a strange and unknown light [this occurred on January 28, 1938],you will know it is the sign God gives you that He is about to punish the world with war and
with hunger, and by the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father.
To prevent this, I shall come to the world to ask that Russia be consecrated to my ImmaculateHeart, and I shall ask that on the First Saturday of every month Communions of reparation be
made in atonement for the sins-of the world. If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted
and there will be peace; if not, then Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, bringing
new wars and persecution of the Church; the good will be martyred and the Holy Father will
have much to suffer; certain nations will be annihilated. But in the end my Immaculate Heart willtriumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and the world
will enjoy a period of peace. In Portugal the faith will always be preserved... [Here belongs the part of the Secret of which Cardinal Sodano spoke at the Mass of Beatification, and which theCongregation for Doctrine of the Faith will publish, with commentary.] Remember, you must not
tell this to anyone except Francisco.
When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire
of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.
Then as before Our Lady began to ascend towards the east, until she finally disappeared in the
immense darkness of the firmament.
The possession of the Secret proved to be very great trial for the three young ones. Family,
neighbors, followers of the apparitions, even the clergy, tried unsuccessfully to get them to
reveal it. Finally, as the day of the August apparition approached even the civil government,which was secular and virulently anti-clerical, alarmed by the numbers of people taking an
interest in the Fátima events, attempted to wrest it from them and in the process expose the
Church as a collaborator in a fraud.
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Apparition of 19 August 1917
Under the pretext of providing his personal automobile, so that the children could travel safely
through the crowds pressing around their homes, the civilAdministrator or Mayor of the district in which Fátima was
located, arrived in Aljustrel on the morning of August 13th. A
previous attempt on August 11th to obtain the "truth" from the
children having been unsuccessful, Artur Santos, an apostateCatholic and high Mason, had devised a scheme by which he
would take them into custody and force them to reveal all.
With a show of good will he now offered to take the three andtheir parents to see the parish priest, whom he claimed wished
to see them, and then to the Cova. At the parish house he abandoned this ruse, and the parents,
taking the children alone from there to the district headquarters in Vila Nova de Ourem, some 9miles away. Here he tried bribes, threats of death and locking them in a cell with other
"criminals" in order to get them to recant their story. It was to no avail. Despite their ages, their
belief in the Lady and their courage was unshakeable.
Meanwhile, in the Cova at noon on the 13th the characteristic
external signs of the Apparition appeared for the benefit of the
crowd, the greatest crowd to that time. After they ended the
crowd dispersed, as yet unaware of the trickery of thegovernment.
The "trial" of the children, however, continued for two days,
to the consternation of their families. Finally, on the Feast of
the Assumption, August 15, the Administrator had them driven back to Fátima and deposited onthe steps of the rectory. Here they were seen as the people, who had just come from Mass, were
trying to determined from Ti Marto where the children were. Their anger was poured out on the
driver, and on the Mayor when he arrived a little later, both of whom were no doubt glad to berid of their little charges and to escape unscathed. It would effectively be the only serious effort
of the civil authorities to interfere with the Lady of Fátima.
As it was the Lady's plans were delayed slightly. On Sunday the 19th Lucia, her brother John,
and Francisco, were grazing the sheep at a place known as Valinhos. It was located on the side of
the same hillock opposite Aljustrel where the angel appeared twice, though a little farther north.At apout 4 o'clock, sensing that Our Lady was about to appear, Lucia tried unsuccessfully to get
John to fetch Jacinta, until she offered him a couple pennies for the errand. As she and Francisco
waited they saw the characteristic light. The moment Jacinta arrived the Lady appeared.
"What do you want of me?"
Come again to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of next month, my child, and continue to say the
Rosary every day. In the last month I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.
"What are we to do with the offerings of money that people
leave at the Cova da Iria?"
I want you to have two ardors [litters to carry statues] made,
for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. I want you and Jacinta
to carry one of them with two other girls. You will both dressin white. And then I want Francisco, with three boys helping
him, to carry the other one. The boys, too, will be dressed in
white. What is left over will help towards the construction of a
chapel that is to be built here.
Lucia then asked for the cure of some sick people.
Some I will cure during the year."
(looking sadly at them) Pray, pray very much. Make sacrifices for sinners. Many souls go to hell,
because no one is willing to help them with sacrifice.
Having said that she departed as she had on the other occasions.
During the night of 12-13 October it had rained throughout,
soaking the ground and the pilgrims who make their way to
Fátima from all directions by the thousands. By foot, by cartand even by car they came, entering the bowl of the Cova
from the Fátima-Leiria road, which today still passes in front
of the large square of the Basilica. From there they made their way down the gently slope to the place where a trestle had
been erected over the little holm oak of the apparitions. Today
on the site is the modern glass and steel Capelhina (little chapel), enclosing the first chapel builtthere and the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima where the holm oak had stood.
As for the children, they made their way to the Cova amid the adulation and skepticism which
had followed them since May. When they arrived they found critics who questioned their veracity and the punctuality of the Lady, who had promised to arrive at noon. It was well passed
noon by the official time of the country. However, when the sun arrived at its zenith the Ladyappeared as she had said she would.
Video
"What do you want of me?"
I want a chapel built here in my honor. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. Thewar will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their homes.
"Yes. Yes."
"Will you tell me your name?"
I am the Lady of the Rosary.
"I have many petitions from many people. Will you grant them? "
Some I shall grant, and others I must deny. People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!
"And is that all you have to ask?"
There is nothing more.
As the Lady of the Rosary rises toward the east she turns the palms of her hands toward the dark
sky. While the rain had stopped, dark clouds continued to obscure the sun, which suddenly bursts
through them and is seen to be a soft spinning disk of silver.
From this point two distinct apparitions were seen, that of the
phenomenon of the sun seen by the 70,000 or so spectatorsand that beheld by the children alone. Lucia describes the
latter in her memoirs.
After our Lady had disappeared into the immense distance of
the firmament, we beheld St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and
Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun.St. Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross
with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our lady; it
seemed to me to that it was Our Lady of Sorrows (Dolors). Our Lord appeared to bless the worldin the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady
once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel. [Only Lucia would see the later, presaging
her entrance into Carmel some years later.]
This would be the last of the apparitions of Fátima for Jacinta and Francisco. However, for Lucia
Our Lady would return a seventh time, in 1920, as she had promised the previous May. At thattime Lucia would be praying in the Cova before leaving Fátima for a girls boarding school. TheLady would come to urge her to dedicate herself wholly to God.
As the children viewed the various apparitions of Jesus, Mary and Joseph the crowd witnessed adifferent prodigy, the now famous miracle of the sun. Among the witnesses there were the
following:
O Seculo (a pro-government, anti-clerical, Lisbon paper):
From the road, where the vehicles were parked and where hundreds of people who had not dared
to brave the mud were congregated, one could see the immense multitude turn toward the sun,which appeared free from clouds and in its zenith. It looked like a plaque of dull silver, and it
was possible to look at it without the least discomfort. It might have been an eclipse which wastaking place. But at that moment a great shout went up, and one could hear the spectators nearest
at hand shouting: "A miracle! A miracle!
Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bareheaded,
eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all
cosmic laws---the sun "danced" according to the typical expression of the people.
Standing at the step of an omnibus was an old man. With his face turned to the sun, he recited the
Credo in a loud voice. I asked who he was and was told Senhor Joao da Cunha Vasconcelos. Isaw him afterwards going up to those around him who still had their hats on, and vehemently
imploring them to uncover before such an extraordinary demonstration of the existence of God.
Identical scenes were repeated elsewhere, and in one place a woman cried out: "How terrible!
There are even men who do not uncover before such a stupendous miracle!"
People then began to ask each other what they had seen. The great majority admitted to having
seen the trembling and the dancing of the sun; others affirmed that they saw the face of theBlessed Virgin; others, again, swore that the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel
and that it lowered itself to the earth as if to burn it in its rays. Some said they saw it change
colors successively....
O Dia (another Lisbon daily, edition of 17 October 1917):
"At one o'clock in the afternoon, midday by the sun, the rain stopped. The sky, pearly grey in
colour, illuminated the vast arid landscape with a strange light. The sun had a transparent gauzy
veil so that the eyes could easily be fixed upon it. The grey mother-of-pearl tone turned into a
sheet of silver which broke up as the clouds were torn apart and the silver sun, enveloped in thesame gauzy grey light, was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds. A cry went up
from every mouth and people fell on their knees on the muddy ground....
The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a
cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands. The blue faded
slowly, and then the light seemed to pass through yellow glass. Yellow stains fell against whitehandkerchiefs, against the dark skirts of the women. They were repeated on the trees, on the
stones and on the serra. People wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a
miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they.
Ti Marto (father of Jacinta and Francisco)
We looked easily at the sun, which for some reason did not blind us. It seemed to flicker on and
off, first one way, then another. It cast its rays in many directions and painted everything in
different colors--- the trees, the people, the air and the ground. But what was most extraordinary,
I thought, was that the sun did not hurt our eyes. Everything was still and quiet, and everyonewas looking up. Then at a certain moment, the sun appeared to stop spinning. It then began to
move and to dance in the sky until it seemed to detach itself from its place and fall upon us. It
was a terrible moment.
Maria de Capelinha (one of the earliest believers):
The sun turned everything to different colours---yellow, blue and white. Then it shook and
trembled. It looked like a wheel of fire that was going to fall on the people. They began to cry
out, "We shall all be killed!" Others called to our Lady to save them. They recited acts of
contrition. One woman began to confess her sins aloud, advertising that she had done this andthat.... When at last the sun stopped leaping and moving, we all breathed our relief. We were still
alive, and the miracle which the children had foretold, had been seen by everyone.
I was looking at the place of the apparitions, in a serene, if cold, expectation of something
happening, and with diminishing curiosity, because a long time had passed without anything to
excite my attention. Then I heard a shout from thousands of voices and saw the multitudesuddenly turn its back and shoulders away from the point toward which up to now it had directed
its attention, and turn to look at the sky on the opposite side.
It must have been nearly two o'clock by the legal time, and about midday by the sun. The sun, a
few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it, and shone clearly
and intensely. I veered to the magnet which seemed to be drawing all eyes, and saw it as a disc
with a clean-cut rim, luminous and shining, but which did not hurt the eyes. I do not agree withthe comparison which I have heard made in Fatima---that of a dull silver disc. It was a clearer,
richer, brighter colour, having something of the luster of a pearl. It did not in the least resemble
the moon on a clear night because one saw it and felt it to be a living body. It was not sphericlike the moon, nor did it have the same colour, tone, or shading. It looked like a glazed wheel
made of mother-of-pearl. It could not be confused, either, with the sun seen through fog (for
there was no fog at the time), because it was not opaque, diffused or veiled. In Fatima it gave
light and heat and appeared clear-cut with a well-defined rim.
The sky was mottled with light cirrus clouds with the blue coming through here and there, butsometimes the sun stood out in patches of clear sky. The clouds passed from west to east and did
not obscure the light of the sun, giving the impression of passing behind it, though sometimes
these flecks of white took on tones of pink or diaphanous blue as they passed before the sun.
It was a remarkable fact that one could fix one's eyes on this brazier of heat and light without any pain in the eyes or blinding of the retina. The phenomenon, except for two interruptions when the
sun seemed to send out rays of refulgent heat which obliged us to look away, must have lastedabout ten minutes.
The sun's disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a, heavenly body, for it
spun round on itself in a mad whirl. Then, suddenly, one heard a clamour, a cry of anguish
breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the
firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery
weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible.
During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described in detail, there were changes of colour in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything around was becoming darkened.
I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance further afield as far as the
horizon. I saw everything an amethyst colour. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere,were of the same colour. An oak tree nearby threw a shadow of this colour on the ground.
Fearing that I was suffering from an affection of the retina, an improbable explanation because in
that case one could not see things purple-colored, I turned away and shut my eyes, keeping my
hands before them to intercept the light. With my back still turned, I opened my eyes and sawthat the landscape was the same purple colour as before.
The impression was not that of an eclipse, and while looking at the sun I noticed that theatmosphere had cleared. Soon after I heard a peasant who was near me shout out in tones of
astonishment: "Look, that lady is all yellow!"
And in fact everything, both near and far, had changed, taking on the colour of old yellow
damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice, and I recall a sensation of
amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive. My own hand was the same colour. Allthe phenomena which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind,
and without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them.
Dr. Almeida Garrett, PhD (Coimbra University):
I was looking at the place of the apparitions, in a serene, if cold, expectation of something
happening, and with diminishing curiosity, because a long time had passed without anything toexcite my attention. Then I heard a shout from thousands of voices and saw the multitude
suddenly turn its back and shoulders away from the point toward which up to now it had directed
its attention, and turn to look at the sky on the opposite side.
It must have been nearly two o'clock by the legal time, and about midday by the sun. The sun, a
few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it, and shone clearlyand intensely. I veered to the magnet which seemed to be drawing all eyes, and saw it as a disc
with a clean-cut rim, luminous and shining, but which did not hurt the eyes. I do not agree withthe comparison which I have heard made in Fátima---that of a dull silver disc. It was a clearer,richer, brighter color, having something of the luster of a pearl. It did not in the least resemble
the moon on a clear night because one saw it and felt it to be a living body. It was not spheric
like the moon, nor did it have the same color, tone, or shading. It looked like a glazed wheelmade of mother-of-pearl. It could not be confused, either, with the sun seen through fog (for
there was no fog at the time), because it was not opaque, diffused or veiled. In Fátima it gave
light and heat and appeared clear-cut with a well-defined rim.
The sky was mottled with light cirrus clouds with the blue coming through here and there, but
sometimes the sun stood out in patches of clear sky. The clouds passed from west to east and did
not obscure the light of the sun, giving the impression of passing behind it, though sometimesthese flecks of white took on tones of pink or diaphanous blue as they passed before the sun.
It was a remarkable fact that one could fix one's eyes on this brazier of heat and light without any pain in the eyes or blinding of the retina. The phenomenon, except for two interruptions when the
sun seemed to send out rays of refulgent heat which obliged us to look away, must have lasted
The sun's disc did not remain immobile. This was not the sparkling of a, heavenly body, for it
spun round on itself in a mad whirl. Then, suddenly, one heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the
firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery
weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible.
During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described in detail, there were changes of color
in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything around was becoming darkened.I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance further afield as far as the
horizon. I saw everything an amethyst color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere,
were of the same color. An oak tree nearby threw a shadow of this color on the ground.
Fearing that I was suffering from an affection of the retina, an improbable explanation because in
that case one could not see things purple-colored, I turned away and shut my eyes, keeping my
hands before them to intercept the light. With my back still turned, I opened my eyes and sawthat the landscape was the same purple color as before.
The impression was not that of an eclipse, and while looking at the sun I noticed that the
atmosphere had cleared. Soon after I heard a peasant who was near me shout out in tones of
astonishment: "Look, that lady is all yellow!"
And in fact everything, both near and far, had changed, taking on the color of old yellow
damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice, and I recall a sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive. My own hand was the same color. All
the phenomena which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind,
and without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them.
Dr. Domingos Coelho (reported in the newspaper Ordem):
The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceedingly fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be
loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat.
Fr. Manuel Pereira da Silva (in a letter to a friend)
The sun appeared with its circumference well defined. It came down as if to the height of theclouds and began to whirl giddily upon itself like a captive ball of fire. With some interruptions,
this lasted about eight minutes. The atmosphere darkened and the features of each became
We made our arrangements, and went in three motor cars on the early morning of the 13th. There
was a thick mist, and the car which went in front mistook the way so that we were all lost for a
time and only arrived at the Cova da Iria at midday by the sun. It was absolutely full of people, but for my part I felt devoid of any religious feeling. When Lucia called out: "Look at the sun!"
the whole multitude repeated: "Attention to the sun!" It was a day of incessant drizzle but a few
moments before the miracle it stopped raining. I can hardly find words to describe whatfollowed. The sun began to move, and at a certain moment appeared to be detached from the sky
and about to hurtle upon us like a wheel of flame. My wife---we had been married only a short
time- -- fainted, and I was too upset to attend to her, and my brother-in- law, Joao Vassalo,supported her on his arm. I fell on my knees, oblivious of everything, and when I got up I don't
know what I said. I think I began to cry out like the others. An old man with a white beard began
to attack the atheists aloud and challenged them to say whether or not something supernatural
had occurred.
There may have been many former atheists in Fátima that day, but there were plenty in Portugal,
nonetheless, to charge hallucination. For those the Lady provided witnesses who were not at the
scene and could not have been subject to collective suggestion.
Alfonso Lopes Vieira (observed the display from a distance of nearly 25 miles):
On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the predictions of the children, I was
enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it from
this veranda....
Fr. Ignacio Lorenco (Alburitel, 11 miles away):
I was only nine years old at this time, and I went to the local village school. At about midday we
were surprised by the shouts and cries of some men and women who were passing in the street in
front of the school. The teacher, a good, pious woman, though nervous and impressionable, wasthe first to run into the road, with the children after her.
Outside, the people were shouting and weeping and pointing to the sun, ignoring the agitated
questions of the schoolmistress. It was the great Miracle, which one could see quite distinctlyfrom the top of the hill where my village was situated---the Miracle of the sun, accompanied by
all its extraordinary phenomena.
I feel incapable of describing what I saw and felt. I looked fixedly at the sun, which seemed pale
and did not hurt the eyes. Looking like a ball of snow revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed tocome down in a zigzag, menacing the earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself among the people,
who were weeping and expecting the end of the world at any moment.
Near us was an unbeliever who had spent the morning mocking at the simpletons who had gone
off to Fátima just to see an ordinary girl. He now seemed to be paralyzed, his eyes fixed on the
sun. Afterwards he trembled from head to foot and lifting up his arms fell on his knees in themud, crying out to our Lady.
Meanwhile the people continued to cry out and to weep, asking God to pardon their sins. We all
ran to the two chapels in the village, which were soon filled to overflowing. During those long
moments of the solar prodigy, objects around us turned all the colors of the rainbow. We saw
ourselves blue, yellow, red, etc. All these strange phenomena increased the fears of the people.After about ten minutes the sun, now dull and pallid, returned to its place. When the people
realized that the danger was over, there was an explosion of joy, and everyone joined in
thanksgiving and praise to our Lady.
Rev. Dr. Formigao's Examination of 13 October
Back
The Message of Fátima
The most important dimension of the Fátima event was not the supernatural and preternatural
phenomena but the content and the meaning of the message communicated to the children. By
following this message their spiritual lives were elevated to the heights of sanctity, to which the
beatification of Jacinta and Francisco testifies, and the hope and possibility of the conversion of the world from its ruinous course was offered to mankind.
This message can be seen as comprising two essential
elements, to which all others can be related in some way. The
first of these elements is the singular role of the Immaculate
One in the economy of salvation, a dogmatic fact. God doesnot have whims, and so the request of the Almighty that
devotion to the Immaculate Heart be established in the world
must be founded on reality and presumes that such devotion is
justly given to the Mother of God.
The second of these elements involves the practical order, the value of devotion to theImmaculate Heart for the individual life and for the future of the human race. To this element are
connected the various spiritual practices encouraged by the Angel and by the Lady, as well as the
prophetic content of the message, upon which the fate of the world depends. Without the firstelement, the dogmatic, the practical dimension of the message of Fátima would be entirely
The intimate association of the Immaculate Heart of the Mother with the Sacred Heart of the
Son, indeed their unity in the Plan of the Father, is the essential doctrinal feature of the Message
of Fátima. From the first message of the Angel we are pointed to it.
Pray with me. "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love you, and I ask pardon for those who
do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love you." The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are
attentive to your prayers.
Here we see that it is the Hearts of Jesus and Mary which await, and mediate, the prayer of
reparation to God requested by the Angel. This can only be understood by a profound reflection
on the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Redemption. By such a reflection the
objective reality of Mary's role within the economy of salvation can be understood.
We must first start with the Trinity as it exists within Itself, apart from its works. The doctrine of
the Divine Processions tells us that Life and Love, Truth and Goodness, all that the Persons of
the Trinity are by their sharing of the one Divine nature, proceeds from the Father, to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of the Father and the Son). From all eternity these eternal
processions of the Son and the Holy Spirit take place, with the Eternal Father as their ultimate
Source.
This Order of Procession within God establishes the Order of the Missions of the Divine Persons,
that is of their external works - Creation, Redemption, Sanctification/Glorification. God who is
the same "yesterday, today and forever" acts outside Himself according to the reality of His own
interior life, stamping His works with the image of that Life. Thus, these works proceed from the
Father, through the Son and are effected by the power of their Love, the Holy Spirit. This Order
is why all formal liturgical prayer is directed "to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit,"
as that is how all good things come to us.
After the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Father promised a new Woman from whom would come a
new Adam, the Redeemer to undo the sin of the old Adam (Genesis 3:15). In the fullness of timethe Father effected the Incarnation of the Son by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). This Divine Spirit
brought about the union of the human nature, taken from Mary alone, and the Divine nature, in
the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word. It was thus from Mary's Immaculate flesh, preserved
from original and person sin by the foreseen merits of her Son and "full of grace" (Luke 1:28),
that the New Adam was created. The renewal of the universe was begun in the new Adam and
Heart this doctrine was already implicit in the doctrine of the faith, as all doctrines must be.
However, as has been the case with many teachings it had to develop in the Church from the
contemplation of more basic doctrines. Thus, generally, Mary's prerogatives and her role have
only come to be fully understood after the basic Trinitarian and Christological dogmas were
settled. It was only in the 1700s that Christ's divine-human love began to be revered under thesymbol of the Sacred Heart and only in 1854 that the Immaculate Conception was formally
defined. So, it would have been theologically difficult for the Church to have acknowledged it
much sooner.
The connection with the conversion of souls is this, Christ wills to associate believers with
Himself in the meriting of salvation for actual souls. "Once for all" Jesus merited the graces of
the Redemption, as only He can span the infinite chasm which sin opens up between God and
man. But these graces must still be applied to the individuals who are to make up the Body of
Christ the Church. The application of Christ's merits to souls can itself be merited on their behalf
by our prayers and sufferings. This is the meaning of that mysterious passage in which St. Paulsays that he "makes up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body the
Church" (Colossians 1:24). Such a boast would sound blasphemous were it not for the nuptial
unity of the Christian soul with her Bridegroom. This is naturally, therefore, uniquely true of the
Immaculate One, whose compassionate Heart accompanied Her Son in every stage of His
Redemptive Mission, especially the Last. She thus shares fully in the sufferings of the
Bridegroom, the Bridal Price, as she does in everything that is His. For this reason she is our
Model and our Tutor in compassionate (co-) suffering with the Lord and in reparative and
intercessory suffering on behalf of sinners.
Finally, God's timing is always perfect and this is, in His Plan, the era of the Immaculate Heart.God has promised to Our Lady a Triumph over the evil one of a particularly humiliating nature
for him. It will be accomplished by the handmaiden not the Lord, by the Woman not the Seed,
and by the Bride not the Bridegroom. In this Triumph we are all called to share, and do share, to
the extent that we live the Message of Fátima. Christ's suffering is over, Mary's suffering is over,
our suffering, that of the Church, is not yet over. We are to offer it for the salvation of souls.
Marto as Blessed on 13 May 2000represents the next to last stage in theChurch's official recognition of their holiness. It also provides a further confirmation of the authenticity and value of the Message of Fátima. Remarkably, theprincipal visionary is still alive, Lucia dosSantos (Sr. Maria Lucia, OCD), able torejoice in the elevation of her companionsto the honor of the altar. The whole Churchmust rejoice, as well, that ones so youngwere able to live lives of heroic virtue.Parents, especially, should be emboldenedto encourage holiness in the young,confident that it is possible for anyone, of whatever age, who follows the spiritualadvice of Our Lady of Fátima.
As the second millennium gives way to the third, Pope John Paul II has decided to publish the text of the
third part of the “secret of Fatima”.
The twentieth century was one of the most crucial in human history, with its tragic and cruel events
culminating in the assassination attempt on the “sweet Christ on earth”. Now a veil is drawn back on a
series of events which make history and interpret it in depth, in a spiritual perspective alien to present-day attitudes, often tainted with rationalism.
Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human
events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of
history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their
Paul VI read the contents with the Substitute, Archbishop Angelo Dell'Acqua, on 27 March 1965, and
returned the envelope to the Archives of the Holy Office, deciding not to publish the text.
John Paul II, for his part, asked for the envelope containing the third part of the “secret” following the
assassination attempt on 13 May 1981. On 18 July 1981 Cardinal Franjo Šeper, Prefect of the
Congregation, gave two envelopes to Archbishop Eduardo Martínez Somalo, Substitute of the
Secretariat of State: one white envelope, containing Sister Lucia's original text in Portuguese; the other
orange, with the Italian translation of the “secret”. On the following 11 August, Archbishop Martínez
returned the two envelopes to the Archives of the Holy Office.(2)
As is well known, Pope John Paul II immediately thought of consecrating the world to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary and he himself composed a prayer for what he called an “Act of Entrustment”, which was
to be celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 7 June 1981, the Solemnity of Pentecost, the day
chosen to commemorate the 1600th anniversary of the First Council of Constantinople and the 1550th
anniversary of the Council of Ephesus. Since the Pope was unable to be present, his recorded Address
was broadcast. The following is the part which refers specifically to the Act of Entrustment:
“Mother of all individuals and peoples, you know all their sufferings and hopes. In your motherly heart
you feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that convulse the world:
accept the plea which we make in the Holy Spirit directly to your heart, and embrace with the love of the Mother and Handmaid of the Lord those who most await this embrace, and also those whose act of
entrustment you too await in a particular way. Take under your motherly protection the whole human
family, which with affectionate love we entrust to you, O Mother. May there dawn for everyone the
time of peace and freedom, the time of truth, of justice and of hope”.(3)
In order to respond more fully to the requests of “Our Lady”, the Holy Father desired to make more
explicit during the Holy Year of the Redemption the Act of Entrustment of 7 May 1981, which had been
repeated in Fatima on 13 May 1982. On 25 March 1984 in Saint Peter's Square, while recalling the fiat
uttered by Mary at the Annunciation, the Holy Father, in spiritual union with the Bishops of the world,
who had been “convoked” beforehand, entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, in terms which recalled the heartfelt words spoken in 1981:
Above all creatures, may you be blessed, you, the Handmaid of the Lord, who in the fullest way obeyed
the divine call!
Hail to you, who are wholly united to the redeeming consecration of your Son!
Mother of the Church! Enlighten the People of God along the paths of faith, hope, and love! Enlighten
especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment by us you are awaiting. Help us to live in the
truth of the consecration of Christ for the entire human family of the modern world.
In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all individuals and peoples, we also entrust to you this veryconsecration of the world, placing it in your motherly Heart.
Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the
people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and
seem to block the paths towards the future!
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
In the great joy of Easter, I greet you with the words the Risen Jesus spoke to the disciples: “Peace be
with you”!
I will be happy to be able to meet you on the long-awaited day of the Beatification of Francisco and
Jacinta, which, please God, I will celebrate on 13 May of this year.
Since on that day there will be time only for a brief greeting and not a conversation, I am sending His
Excellency Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to
speak with you. This is the Congregation which works most closely with the Pope in defending the true
Catholic faith, and which since 1957, as you know, has kept your hand-written letter containing the thirdpart of the “secret” revealed on 13 July 1917 at Cova da Iria, Fatima.
Archbishop Bertone, accompanied by the Bishop of Leiria, His Excellency Bishop Serafim de Sousa
Ferreira e Silva, will come in my name to ask certain questions about the interpretation of “the third
Sister Lucia was lucid and at ease; she was very happy that the Holy Father was going to Fatima for the
Beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, something she had looked forward to for a long time.
The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima read the autograph letter of the Holy Father, which explained the reasons
for the visit. Sister Lucia felt honoured by this and reread the letter herself, contemplating it in own her
hands. She said that she was prepared to answer all questions frankly.
At this point, Archbishop Bertone presented two envelopes to her: the first containing the second,
which held the third part of the “secret” of Fatima. Immediately, touching it with her fingers, she said:
“This is my letter”, and then while reading it: “This is my writing”.
The original text, in Portuguese, was read and interpreted with the help of the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima.Sister Lucia agreed with the interpretation that the third part of the “secret” was a prophetic vision,
similar to those in sacred history. She repeated her conviction that the vision of Fatima concerns above
all the struggle of atheistic Communism against the Church and against Christians, and describes the
terrible sufferings of the victims of the faith in the twentieth century.
When asked: “Is the principal figure in the vision the Pope?”, Sister Lucia replied at once that it was. She
recalled that the three children were very sad about the suffering of the Pope, and that Jacinta kept
saying: “Coitadinho do Santo Padre, tenho muita pena dos pecadores!” (“Poor Holy Father, I am very sad
for sinners!”). Sister Lucia continued: “We did not know the name of the Pope; Our Lady did not tell us
the name of the Pope; we did not know whether it was Benedict XV or Pius XII or Paul VI or John Paul II;
but it was the Pope who was suffering and that made us suffer too”.
As regards the passage about the Bishop dressed in white, that is, the Holy Father—as the children
immediately realized during the “vision”—who is struck dead and falls to the ground, Sister Lucia was in
full agreement with the Pope's claim that “it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his
throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death” (Pope John Paul II, Meditation from the Policlinico
Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, 13 May 1994).
Before giving the sealed envelope containing the third part of the “secret” to the then Bishop of Leiria-
Fatima, Sister Lucia wrote on the outside envelope that it could be opened only after 1960, either by the
Patriarch of Lisbon or the Bishop of Leiria. Archbishop Bertone therefore asked: “Why only after 1960?
Was it Our Lady who fixed that date?” Sister Lucia replied: “It was not Our Lady. I fixed the date because
him for his vital pastoral ministry for the good of all God's Holy Church; we present the heartfelt wishes
of the whole Church.
On this solemn occasion of his visit to Fatima, His Holiness has directed me to make an announcement
to you. As you know, the purpose of his visit to Fatima has been to beatify the two “little shepherds”.
Nevertheless he also wishes his pilgrimage to be a renewed gesture of gratitude to Our Lady for her
protection during these years of his papacy. This protection seems also to be linked to the so-called third
part of the “secret” of Fatima.
That text contains a prophetic vision similar to those found in Sacred Scripture, which do not describe
photographically the details of future events, but synthesize and compress against a single background
facts which extend through time in an unspecified succession and duration. As a result, the text must be
interpreted in a symbolic key.
The vision of Fatima concerns above all the war waged by atheistic systems against the Church and
Christians, and it describes the immense suffering endured by the witnesses of the faith in the last
century of the second millennium. It is an interminable Way of the Cross led by the Popes of the
twentieth century.
According to the interpretation of the “little shepherds”, which was also confirmed recently by Sister
Lucia, “the Bishop clothed in white” who prays for all the faithful is the Pope. As he makes his way with
great difficulty towards the Cross amid the corpses of those who were martyred (Bishops, priests, men
and women Religious and many lay people), he too falls to the ground, apparently dead, under a hail of
gunfire.
After the assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, it appeared evident that it was “a mother's hand that
guided the bullet's path”, enabling “the Pope in his throes” to halt “at the threshold of death” (Pope
John Paul II, Meditation from the Policlinico Gemelli to the Italian Bishops, Insegnamenti, XVII, 1 [1994],
1061). On the occasion of a visit to Rome by the then Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, the Pope decided to givehim the bullet which had remained in the jeep after the assassination attempt, so that it might be kept
in the shrine. By the Bishop's decision, the bullet was later set in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of
The successive events of 1989 led, both in the Soviet Union and in a number of countries of Eastern
Europe, to the fall of the Communist regimes which promoted atheism. For this too His Holiness offers
heartfelt thanks to the Most Holy Virgin. In other parts of the world, however, attacks against the
Church and against Christians, with the burden of suffering they bring, tragically continue. Even if the
events to which the third part of the “secret” of Fatima refers now seem part of the past, Our Lady's call
to conversion and penance, issued at the start of the twentieth century, remains timely and urgenttoday. “The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times—the signs of our time—with
special insight... The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation
of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness” (Pope
John Paul II, Message for the 1997 World Day of the Sick, No. 1, Insegnamenti, XIX, 2 [1996], 561).
In order that the faithful may better receive the message of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pope has charged
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with making public the third part of the “secret”, after the
preparation of an appropriate commentary.
Brothers and sisters, let us thank Our Lady of Fatima for her protection. To her maternal intercession let
us entrust the Church of the Third Millennium.
Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix! Intercede pro Ecclesia. Intercede pro Papa
language which is symbolic and not easy to decipher. Is this what the Mother of the Lord wished to
communicate to Christianity and to humanity at a time of great difficulty and distress? Is it of any help to
us at the beginning of the new millennium? Or are these only projections of the inner world of children,
brought up in a climate of profound piety but shaken at the same time by the tempests which
threatened their own time? How should we understand the vision? What are we to make of it?
Public Revelation and private revelations – their theological status
Before attempting an interpretation, the main lines of which can be found in the statement read by
Cardinal Sodano on 13 May of this year at the end of the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father in Fatima,
there is a need for some basic clarification of the way in which, according to Church teaching,
phenomena such as Fatima are to be understood within the life of faith. The teaching of the Church
distinguishes between “public Revelation” and “private revelations”. The two realities differ not only indegree but also in essence. The term “public Revelation” refers to the revealing action of God directed
to humanity as a whole and which finds its literary expression in the two parts of the Bible: the Old and
New Testaments. It is called “Revelation” because in it God gradually made himself known to men, to
the point of becoming man himself, in order to draw to himself the whole world and unite it with
himself through his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. It is not a matter therefore of intellectual
communication, but of a life-giving process in which God comes to meet man. At the same time this
process naturally produces data pertaining to the mind and to the understanding of the mystery of God.
It is a process which involves man in his entirety and therefore reason as well, but not reason alone.
Because God is one, history, which he shares with humanity, is also one. It is valid for all time, and it has
reached its fulfilment in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has saideverything, that is, he has revealed himself completely, and therefore Revelation came to an end with
the fulfilment of the mystery of Christ as enunciated in the New Testament. To explain the finality and
completeness of Revelation, the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes a text of Saint John of the
Cross: “In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once
in this sole Word—and he has no more to say... because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts,
he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or
desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending
him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty” (No.
65; Saint John of the Cross,The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22).
Because the single Revelation of God addressed to all peoples comes to completion with Christ and the
witness borne to him in the books of the New Testament, the Church is tied to this unique event of
sacred history and to the word of the Bible, which guarantees and interprets it. But this does not mean
that the Church can now look only to the past and that she is condemned to sterile repetition. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church says in this regard: “...even if Revelation is already complete, it has not
been made fully explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the
course of the centuries” (No. 66). The way in which the Church is bound to both the uniqueness of the
event and progress in understanding it is very well illustrated in the farewell discourse of the Lord when,
taking leave of his disciples, he says: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them
now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own
authority... He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16:12-14). On theone hand, the Spirit acts as a guide who discloses a knowledge previously unreachable because the
premise was missing—this is the boundless breadth and depth of Christian faith. On the other hand, to
be guided by the Spirit is also “to draw from” the riches of Jesus Christ himself, the inexhaustible depths
of which appear in the way the Spirit leads. In this regard, the Catechism cites profound words of Pope
Gregory the Great: “The sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them” (No. 94; Gregory the
Great,Homilia in Ezechielem I, 7, 8). The Second Vatican Council notes three essential ways in which the
Spirit guides in the Church, and therefore three ways in which “the word grows”: through the
meditation and study of the faithful, through the deep understanding which comes from spiritual
experience, and through the preaching of “those who, in the succession of the episcopate, have
received the sure charism of truth” (Dei Verbum, 8).
In this context, it now becomes possible to understand rightly the concept of “private revelation”, which
refers to all the visions and revelations which have taken place since the completion of the New
Testament. This is the category to which we must assign the message of Fatima. In this respect, let us
listen once again to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Throughout the ages, there have been so-
called ‘private' revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church... It is
not their role to complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain
period of history” (No. 67). This clarifies two things:
1. The authority of private revelations is essentially different from that of the definitive public
Revelation. The latter demands faith; in it in fact God himself speaks to us through human words and
the mediation of the living community of the Church. Faith in God and in his word is different from any
other human faith, trust or opinion. The certainty that it is God who is speaking gives me the assurance
that I am in touch with truth itself. It gives me a certitude which is beyond verification by any human
way of knowing. It is the certitude upon which I build my life and to which I entrust myself in dying.
2. Private revelation is a help to this faith, and shows its credibility precisely by leading me back to the
definitive public Revelation. In this regard, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV,
says in his classic treatise, which later became normative for beatifications and canonizations: “An
assent of Catholic faith is not due to revelations approved in this way; it is not even possible. These
revelations seek rather an assent of human faith in keeping with the requirements of prudence, which
puts them before us as probable and credible to piety”. The Flemish theologian E. Dhanis, an eminent
scholar in this field, states succinctly that ecclesiastical approval of a private revelation has three
elements: the message contains nothing contrary to faith or morals; it is lawful to make it public; and
the faithful are authorized to accept it with prudence (E. Dhanis,Sguardo su Fatima e bilancio di una
discussione, in La Civiltà Cattolica 104 [1953], II, 392-406, in particular 397). Such a message can be a
genuine help in understanding the Gospel and living it better at a particular moment in time; therefore it
should not be disregarded. It is a help which is offered, but which one is not obliged to use.
The criterion for the truth and value of a private revelation is therefore its orientation to Christ himself.
When it leads us away from him, when it becomes independent of him or even presents itself as
another and better plan of salvation, more important than the Gospel, then it certainly does not come
from the Holy Spirit, who guides us more deeply into the Gospel and not away from it. This does not
mean that a private revelation will not offer new emphases or give rise to new devotional forms, or
deepen and spread older forms. But in all of this there must be a nurturing of faith, hope and love,
which are the unchanging path to salvation for everyone. We might add that private revelations often
spring from popular piety and leave their stamp on it, giving it a new impulse and opening the way for
new forms of it. Nor does this exclude that they will have an effect even on the liturgy, as we see for
instance in the feasts of Corpus Christi and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From one point of view, the
relationship between Revelation and private revelations appears in the relationship between the liturgy
and popular piety: the liturgy is the criterion, it is the living form of the Church as a whole, fed directly
by the Gospel. Popular piety is a sign that the faith is spreading its roots into the heart of a people in
such a way that it reaches into daily life. Popular religiosity is the first and fundamental mode of
“inculturation” of the faith. While it must always take its lead and direction from the liturgy, it in turn
enriches the faith by involving the heart.
We have thus moved from the somewhat negative clarifications, initially needed, to a positive definition
of private revelations. How can they be classified correctly in relation to Scripture? To which theological
category do they belong? The oldest letter of Saint Paul which has been preserved, perhaps the oldest of
the New Testament texts, the First Letter to the Thessalonians, seems to me to point the way. The
Apostle says: “Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything, holding fast to
what is good” (5:19-21). In every age the Church has received the charism of prophecy, which must be
scrutinized but not scorned. On this point, it should be kept in mind that prophecy in the biblical sense
does not mean to predict the future but to explain the will of God for the present, and therefore show
the right path to take for the future. A person who foretells what is going to happen responds to thecuriosity of the mind, which wants to draw back the veil on the future. The prophet speaks to the
blindness of will and of reason, and declares the will of God as an indication and demand for the present
time. In this case, prediction of the future is of secondary importance. What is essential is the
actualization of the definitive Revelation, which concerns me at the deepest level. The prophetic word is
a warning or a consolation, or both together. In this sense there is a link between the charism of
prophecy and the category of “the signs of the times”, which Vatican II brought to light anew: “You
know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; why then do you not know how to interpret the
present time?” (Lk 12:56). In this saying of Jesus, the “signs of the times” must be understood as the
path he was taking, indeed it must be understood as Jesus himself. To interpret the signs of the times in
the light of faith means to recognize the presence of Christ in every age. In the private revelations
approved by the Church—and therefore also in Fatima—this is the point: they help us to understand the
signs of the times and to respond to them rightly in faith.
The anthropological structure of private revelations
In these reflections we have sought so far to identify the theological status of private revelations. Before
undertaking an interpretation of the message of Fatima, we must still attempt briefly to offer some
clarification of their anthropological (psychological) character. In this field, theological anthropology
distinguishes three forms of perception or “vision”: vision with the senses, and hence exterior bodilyperception, interior perception, and spiritual vision (visio sensibilis - imaginativa - intellectualis). It is
clear that in the visions of Lourdes, Fatima and other places it is not a question of normal exterior
perception of the senses: the images and forms which are seen are not located spatially, as is the case
for example with a tree or a house. This is perfectly obvious, for instance, as regards the vision of hell
(described in the first part of the Fatima “secret”) or even the vision described in the third part of the
“secret”. But the same can be very easily shown with regard to other visions, especially since not
everybody present saw them, but only the “visionaries”. It is also clear that it is not a matter of a
“vision” in the mind, without images, as occurs at the higher levels of mysticism. Therefore we are
dealing with the middle category, interior perception. For the visionary, this perception certainly has the
force of a presence, equivalent for that person to an external manifestation to the senses.
Interior vision does not mean fantasy, which would be no more than an expression of the subjective
imagination. It means rather that the soul is touched by something real, even if beyond the senses. It is
rendered capable of seeing that which is beyond the senses, that which cannot be seen—seeing by
means of the “interior senses”. It involves true “objects”, which touch the soul, even if these “objects”
do not belong to our habitual sensory world. This is why there is a need for an interior vigilance of the
heart, which is usually precluded by the intense pressure of external reality and of the images and
thoughts which fill the soul. The person is led beyond pure exteriority and is touched by deeper
dimensions of reality, which become visible to him. Perhaps this explains why children tend to be the
ones to receive these apparitions: their souls are as yet little disturbed, their interior powers of
perception are still not impaired. “On the lips of children and of babes you have found praise”, replies
Jesus with a phrase of Psalm 8 (v. 3) to the criticism of the High Priests and elders, who had judged the
children's cries of “hosanna” inappropriate (cf. Mt 21:16).
“Interior vision” is not fantasy but, as we have said, a true and valid means of verification. But it also has
its limitations. Even in exterior vision the subjective element is always present. We do not see the pure
object, but it comes to us through the filter of our senses, which carry out a work of translation. This is
still more evident in the case of interior vision, especially when it involves realities which in themselves
transcend our horizon. The subject, the visionary, is still more powerfully involved. He sees insofar as he
is able, in the modes of representation and consciousness available to him. In the case of interior vision,the process of translation is even more extensive than in exterior vision, for the subject shares in an
essential way in the formation of the image of what appears. He can arrive at the image only within the
bounds of his capacities and possibilities. Such visions therefore are never simple “photographs” of the
other world, but are influenced by the potentialities and limitations of the perceiving subject.
This can be demonstrated in all the great visions of the saints; and naturally it is also true of the visions
of the children at Fatima. The images described by them are by no means a simple expression of their
fantasy, but the result of a real perception of a higher and interior origin. But neither should they be
thought of as if for a moment the veil of the other world were drawn back, with heaven appearing in its
pure essence, as one day we hope to see it in our definitive union with God. Rather the images are, in a
manner of speaking, a synthesis of the impulse coming from on high and the capacity to receive this
impulse in the visionaries, that is, the children. For this reason, the figurative language of the visions is
symbolic. In this regard, Cardinal Sodano stated: “*they+ do not describe photographically the details of
future events, but synthesize and compress against a single background facts which extend through time
in an unspecified succession and duration”. This compression of time and place in a single image is
typical of such visions, which for the most part can be deciphered only in retrospect. Not every element
of the vision has to have a specific historical sense. It is the vision as a whole that matters, and the
details must be understood on the basis of the images taken in their entirety. The central element of theimage is revealed where it coincides with what is the focal point of Christian “prophecy” itself: the
centre is found where the vision becomes a summons and a guide to the will of God.
An attempt to interpret the “secret” of Fatima
The first and second parts of the “secret” of Fatima have already been so amply discussed in the relative
literature that there is no need to deal with them again here. I would just like to recall briefly the most
significant point. For one terrible moment, the children were given a vision of hell. They saw the fall of
“the souls of poor sinners”. And now they are told why they have been exposed to this moment: “in
order to save souls”—to show the way to salvation. The words of the First Letter of Peter come to mind:
“As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls” (1:9). To reach this goal, the way
indicated —surprisingly for people from the Anglo-Saxon and German cultural world—is devotion to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary. A brief comment may suffice to explain this. In biblical language, the “heart”
indicates the centre of human life, the point where reason, will, temperament and sensitivity converge,
where the person finds his unity and his interior orientation. According to Matthew 5:8, the
“immaculate heart” is a heart which, with God's grace, has come to perfect interior unity and therefore
“sees God”. To be “devoted” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means therefore to embrace this attitude
of heart, which makes the fiat—“your will be done”—the defining centre of one's whole life. It might be
objected that we should not place a human being between ourselves and Christ. But then we remember
that Paul did not hesitate to say to his communities: “imitate me” (1 Cor 4:16; Phil 3:17; 1 Th 1:6; 2 Th3:7, 9). In the Apostle they could see concretely what it meant to follow Christ. But from whom might
we better learn in every age than from the Mother of the Lord?
Thus we come finally to the third part of the “secret” of Fatima which for the first time is being
published in its entirety. As is clear from the documentation presented here, the interpretation offered
by Cardinal Sodano in his statement of 13 May was first put personally to Sister Lucia. Sister Lucia
responded by pointing out that she had received the vision but not its interpretation. The interpretation,
she said, belonged not to the visionary but to the Church. After reading the text, however, she said that
this interpretation corresponded to what she had experienced and that on her part she thought the
interpretation correct. In what follows, therefore, we can only attempt to provide a deeper foundation
for this interpretation, on the basis of the criteria already considered.
“To save souls” has emerged as the key word of the first and second parts of the “secret”, and the key
word of this third part is the threefold cry: “Penance, Penance, Penance!” The beginning of the Gospel
comes to mind: “Repent and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:15). To understand the signs of the times
means to accept the urgency of penance – of conversion – of faith. This is the correct response to this
moment of history, characterized by the grave perils outlined in the images that follow. Allow me to addhere a personal recollection: in a conversation with me Sister Lucia said that it appeared ever more
clearly to her that the purpose of all the apparitions was to help people to grow more and more in faith,
hope and love—everything else was intended to lead to this.
Let us now examine more closely the single images. The angel with the flaming sword on the left of the
Mother of God recalls similar images in the Book of Revelation. This represents the threat of judgement
which looms over the world. Today the prospect that the world might be reduced to ashes by a sea of
fire no longer seems pure fantasy: man himself, with his inventions, has forged the flaming sword. The
vision then shows the power which stands opposed to the force of destruction—the splendour of the
Mother of God and, stemming from this in a certain way, the summons to penance. In this way, the
importance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image
which the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed. Indeed,
the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive
direction. The purpose of the vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is
exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we
must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the “secret”, such as, for example, the claim that the
would-be assassin of 13 May 1981 was merely an instrument of the divine plan guided by Providence
and could not therefore have acted freely, or other similar ideas in circulation. Rather, the vision speaks
of dangers and how we might be saved from them.
The next phrases of the text show very clearly once again the symbolic character of the vision: God
remains immeasurable, and is the light which surpasses every vision of ours. Human persons appear as
in a mirror. We must always keep in mind the limits in the vision itself, which here are indicated visually.
The future appears only “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor 13:12). Let us now consider the individual images
which follow in the text of the “secret”. The place of the action is described in three symbols: a steep
mountain, a great city reduced to ruins and finally a large rough-hewn cross. The mountain and city
symbolize the arena of human history: history as an arduous ascent to the summit, history as the arena
of human creativity and social harmony, but at the same time a place of destruction, where man actually
destroys the fruits of his own work. The city can be the place of communion and progress, but also of
danger and the most extreme menace. On the mountain stands the cross—the goal and guide of history.
The cross transforms destruction into salvation; it stands as a sign of history's misery but also as a
promise for history.
At this point human persons appear: the Bishop dressed in white (“we had the impression that it was
the Holy Father”), other Bishops, priests, men and women Religious, and men and women of different
ranks and social positions. The Pope seems to precede the others, trembling and suffering because of all
the horrors around him. Not only do the houses of the city lie half in ruins, but he makes his way among
the corpses of the dead. The Church's path is thus described as a Via Crucis, as a journey through a timeof violence, destruction and persecution. The history of an entire century can be seen represented in
this image. Just as the places of the earth are synthetically described in the two images of the mountain
and the city, and are directed towards the cross, so too time is presented in a compressed way. In the
vision we can recognize the last century as a century of martyrs, a century of suffering and persecution
for the Church, a century of World Wars and the many local wars which filled the last fifty years and
have inflicted unprecedented forms of cruelty. In the “mirror” of this vision we see passing before us the
witnesses of the faith decade by decade. Here it would be appropriate to mention a phrase from the
letter which Sister Lucia wrote to the Holy Father on 12 May 1982: “The third part of the ‘secret' refers
to Our Lady's words: ‘If not, *Russia+ will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and
persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; variousnations will be annihilated'”.
In the Via Crucis of an entire century, the figure of the Pope has a special role. In his arduous ascent of
the mountain we can undoubtedly see a convergence of different Popes. Beginning from Pius X up to
the present Pope, they all shared the sufferings of the century and strove to go forward through all the
anguish along the path which leads to the Cross. In the vision, the Pope too is killed along with the
martyrs. When, after the attempted assassination on 13 May 1981, the Holy Father had the text of the
third part of the “secret” brought to him, was it not inevitable that he should see in it his own fate? He
had been very close to death, and he himself explained his survival in the following words: “... it was a
mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death”
(13 May 1994). That here “a mother's hand” had deflected the fateful bullet only shows once more thatthere is no immutable destiny, that faith and prayer are forces which can influence history and that in
the end prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies.
The concluding part of the “secret” uses images which Lucia may have seen in devotional books and
which draw their inspiration from long-standing intuitions of faith. It is a consoling vision, which seeks to
open a history of blood and tears to the healing power of God. Beneath the arms of the cross angels
gather up the blood of the martyrs, and with it they give life to the souls making their way to God. Here,
the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs are considered as one: the blood of the martyrs runs
down from the arms of the cross. The martyrs die in communion with the Passion of Christ, and their
death becomes one with his. For the sake of the body of Christ, they complete what is still lacking in his
afflictions (cf. Col 1:24). Their life has itself become a Eucharist, part of the mystery of the grain of wheat
which in dying yields abundant fruit. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians, said Tertullian.
As from Christ's death, from his wounded side, the Church was born, so the death of the witnesses is
fruitful for the future life of the Church. Therefore, the vision of the third part of the “secret”, so
distressing at first, concludes with an image of hope: no suffering is in vain, and it is a suffering Church, a
Church of martyrs, which becomes a sign-post for man in his search for God. The loving arms of God
welcome not only those who suffer like Lazarus, who found great solace there and mysteriously
represents Christ, who wished to become for us the poor Lazarus. There is something more: from thesuffering of the witnesses there comes a purifying and renewing power, because their suffering is the
actualization of the suffering of Christ himself and a communication in the here and now of its saving
effect.
And so we come to the final question: What is the meaning of the “secret” of Fatima as a whole (in its
three parts)? What does it say to us? First of all we must affirm with Cardinal Sodano: “... the events to
which the third part of the ‘secret' of Fatima refers now seem part of the past”. Insofar as individual
events are described, they belong to the past. Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations
about the end of the world or the future course of history are bound to be disappointed. Fatima doesnot satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith in general cannot be reduced to an object of
mere curiosity. What remains was already evident when we began our reflections on the text of the
“secret”: the exhortation to prayer as the path of “salvation for souls” and, likewise, the summons to
I would like finally to mention another key expression of the “secret” which has become justly famous:
“my Immaculate Heart will triumph”. What does this mean? The Heart open to God, purified by
contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind. The fiat of Mary, the word of
her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—
because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time. The Evil
One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedomcontinually lets itself be led away from God. But since God himself took a human heart and has thus
steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word.
From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take
heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33). The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.
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Highlights of the Cause for Canonization
1946Opening of the Preliminary Process.
1952 Official Opening of the Canonical Informative Process. Thisis the formal beginning, at the diocesan level, of the Cause for the Canonization of Francisco and JacintaMarto.
2 July 1979 Diocesan process concluded and documentation on Jacinta Marto presented to the Congregation of Saints
3 August 1979Diocesan process concluded and documentation on Francisco Marto presented to the Congregation of Saints
13 May 1989 Pope John Paul approves the decree on the HeroicVirtues of the Servants of God Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
28 June 1999
Pope John Paul approves a miracle attributed to the Venerable Servants of God Francisco & JacintaMarto.
13 May 2000 At Fatima, in Portugal, on the 83rd anniversary of the f irst apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, Franciscoand Jacinta Marto were declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II.
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Decree of Venerable - Jacinta [A Decree of Heroic Virtues is a judgment of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints that a Servant of God lived a life of profound
union with God and fidelity to Church teaching. Theologically it witnesses to the full flowering of virtue in the person's life, which St. Thomas
Aquinas explains occurs when the moral virtues are perfected in their operation by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Decree is official when
accepted by the Pope. When combined with the approval of a miracle at the intercession of the Servant of God the requirements for
beatification have been met.]
On the 13th of May 1989, on the 72nd anniversary of the first Apparition of Our Lady to the Little
Shepherds, at the beginning of the solemn concelebration presided over by Cardinal Law of Boston, theBishop of Leiria-Fatima announced to the Assembly, and by the Media to the whole world, that the Holy Father, John Paul II, had on that very day promulgated the decree of the heroic virtues of the Servants of God, Francisco and Jacinta, granting the title of Venerable.We present herewith the English translation of the text of the [first of the] two decrees.
CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS DECREEregarding the Canonization of the Servant of God
Jacinta Marto
Young Girl(1910-1920)
of the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima
ON THE QUESTION Concerning the existence to an heroic degree of the theological virtues of Faith,Hope and Charity towards God and towards neighbour and also of the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and their associates, inthe case and for the end in view.
"Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18, 3).
With these words Jesus exalted the active role that little ones have in the Kingdom of God. They are the eloquent
symbol and exalted image of those moral and spiritual conditions that are essential for entering into the Kingdom of
God and for living the logic of total confidence in the Lord. Furthermore, it must be acknowledged that valuable
possibilities exist even in life's stages of infancy and childhood, both for the building up of the Church and for making society more humane" (John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation 'Christifideles Laici', 47,
December 1988). Indeed, children, as participators in the function of Christ, priest, prophet and king, are called to
have an active part in the life and mission of the Church and, according to their own measure, they are true living
witnesses of the Lord Jesus (cf. Conc. Ecum. Vat. II , Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, 12).
Such a mission, which is rooted in the sacrament of Baptism, was admirably fulfilled by the child, Jacinta Marto,
who, corresponding unreservedly to divine grace, rapidly attained to great perfection in the imitation of Christ and
voluntarily consumed her short life in giving glory to God and co-operating in the salvation of souls through fervent
prayer and assiduous penance.
The Servant of God, seventh child of the marriage of Manuel Pedro Marto, and Olimpia de Jesus dos Santos, was
born in the village of Aljustrel, parish of Fatima, in Portugal, on 11 March 1910. On the 19th day of the same month
she received the grace of Baptism.
Her parents, who were humble farmers and pious Christians, gave her a sound moral and religious education. She
learned Christian doctrine in the family and at the catechism lessons which her maternal aunt Maria Rosa dos Santos
taught to the local children. According to custom she did not attend any school, as such did not exist in the village,
and by the time they were established Jacinta was already ill.
From a tender age she showed a love for prayer, concern about the truths of faith, prudence in the choice of
friendships and a serene spirit of obedience. Endowed with a lively, expansive and joyful disposition, she loved to
play and dance; she captured the sympathy of others, although she had a certain inclination to domineer and disliked
being contradicted so much that she pouted easily and was possessive of what belonged to her. Afterwards,
however, she changed completely and became a splendid model of humility, mortification and generosity.
As soon as she was able she began to work, her particular charge being to accompany her brother Francisco, whowas a little older than herself, in pasturing the flock. They both loved to join their cousin, Lucia de Jesus dos Santos,
who was also a shepherdess. In this manner the three children, united in a close friendship, passed the entire day in
this activity, which, although arduous, they executed diligently and even with pleasure, because it left them time for
playing and praying and they were able to enjoy the beauties of nature.
What unexpectedly changed their life, came to pass in the year 1916. They said they had seen an Angel three times,
who urged them to pray and do penance for the remission of sins and to obtain the conversion of sinners. From that
moment onward, the little Jacinta made use of every occasion to do what the Angel had asked her.
From the 13th of May to the 13th of October 1917, together with Francisco and Lucia, she had the privilege of
seeing the Virgin Mary in a place called Cova da Iria, near Fatima. Full of joy and gratitude for the gift she had
received, she wished to respond immediately with all her strength to the exhortation of the Virgin Mary, who asked
their prayers and sacrifices in reparation for sins that offend God and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for theconversion of sinners. At the same time, docile to the action of grace, she separated herself from the things of earth
in order turn her attention to heavenly things, and voluntarily consecrated her life so as to enter paradise one day.
She was constantly immersed in the contemplation of God, in intimate colloquy with Him. She sought silence and
solitude, and at night she got out of bed to pray and freely express her love for Our Lord. In a little while, her
interior life became distinguished by a great faith and by enormous charity.
Concerning this she said: "I love Our Lord so much! At times, I seem to have a fire in my heart, but it does not burn
me." She dearly loved to contemplate Christ Crucified and she was moved to tears on hearing the account of the
Passion. She then declared that she would never wish to commit sin in order not to make Jesus suffer. She nourished
an ardent devotion to the Eucharist, which she visited frequently and for long periods in the parish Church,
concealing herself in the pulpit where no one could see or distract her. She longed to receive the Body of Christ, but
that was not permitted because of her age. However, she found some consolation in spiritual communion. In the
same way, she venerated the Virgin Mary with a tender, filial and joyful love, responding constantly to her words
and desires, and honouring her many times with the recitation of the Rosary and with pious ejaculations.
Although of tender age, the Servant of God well knew that she was a living member of the church, and as such, had
the duty to contribute according to her powers to its growth and prosperity. Therefore she conscientiously offered
prayers and sacrifices for the Supreme Pontiff, for the salvation of souls and for the conversion of sinners. Even
during the apparitions of Our Lady, she was already able to share in the Passion of the Lord. In fact, not a few of her
sufferings were caused by those who doubted or did not believe the apparitions to be true; she was called a liar and a
fraud; she was even beaten and put in prison for some days. She bore all of this in silence, happy to complete in her
body what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for the sake of His Body, that is, the Church (cf. Col. 1,24). With
admirable courage and patience, she resisted the threats and flattering promises of the Municipal authorities who
wanted at all costs to prevent her from attending the parish Church and sought to discover the "secret" revealed by
the Virgin Mary to the three children. Subsequently, she underwent the trial of having to speak with many people
who had come to Fatima, moved by piety or persistent curiosity. Actually, in similar cases, despite her preference to
remain hidden, she did everything that was possible for her.
Besides all this, she bore much else spontaneously, as if she had an insatiable hunger for immolation. She restrained
her will and her temperament, and was obedient to her parents and to her older brothers and sisters; she deprived
herself food to give it to the poor; she did not drink water, especially in the summer heat; as a form of penance she
wore a rope around her waist; she endured everything that was disagreeable in a spirit of penance and oblation. She
expressed her manner of acting in praying: "0 my Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion sinners, and in
reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart Mary".
Her desire to suffer became more noticeable during the long and grave illness which attacked her from October 1918
onwards. Infected by the broncho-pulminary epidemic, called the "Spanish influenza", her state of health
deteriorated little by little to such a point that she had to accept the idea of having an operation. Knowing that only a
short span of life remained for her, she multiplied her sacrifices, penances and privations as a way of co-operating to
the fullest of her possibilities in the work of Redemption. But what cost her most was having to leave her family in
order to undergo treatment in a hospital. Foreseeing that she would die alone, that is, far from her dear ones at home,
she said: "O my Jesus, now You can convert many sinners, because this is really a big sacrifice!"
While the strength of her body was failing, her soul became more beautiful, according as the days passed by,
through the resolute, constant, joyful and perfect exercise of the Christian virtues. Indeed her abandonment to the
will of God was complete. Not only did her strength in surrendering to the Lord, in responding to His graces and in
avoiding any kind of sin, never fail her, rather it increased more and more. Even in adverse and difficult
circumstances, she gave witness of possessing to a high degree the theological virtues and also the virtues of
prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, humility, sincerity and modesty. Therefore the words of Wisdom seem to
be very appropriate: "Being made perfect in a short space, she fulfilled a long time" (Wis. 4,13).
On the 20th of February in the year 1920, she asked for the Sacraments. She only received the Sacrament of Penance. Conscious of being near death she requested Holy Viaticum, but the priest, notwithstanding the pleas of
the Servant of God, deferred it to the following day. On that same day, at night, far from her parents and
acquaintances, she died in the Lisbon hospital where she had been a patient for some time. She had finally reached
the goal of her desires: eternal life.
The people, who already considered her a saint, began immediately to show their spontaneous marks of veneration
for her. Her body was buried first in Vila Nova de Ourem and later translated to the cemetery of Fatima, and finally
to the Sanctuary built on the spot where the Virgin Mary appeared to her. In virtue of the fame of sanctity and of the
graces through which the Servant of God had become known, the first steps to initiate the Cause of canonization
were taken, in the year 1946, together with that of her brother Francisco, who had died a holy death in the year 1919.
The Informative Process was introduced by the Episcopal Curia of Leiria in the year 1952 and concluded in the year
1979. The Rogatory Process was also conducted in Coimbra, in order to hear the testimony of Lucia who had
become a Carmelite.
The Positio about the Virtues having been prepared by Rev. Fr. Paul Molinari, Postulator General of the Company
of Jesus and legitimately constituted Postulator of this Cause, the Special Congress of Consultant Theologians,
presided over by Rev. Msgr. Antonio Petti, Promoter General of the Faith, took place with a favourable outcome on
the 16th day of December in the year 1988. The Cardinals and Bishops, in the Ordinary Congregation, on the 18th
day of April in the year 1989, having as Proponent of the Cause, His Eminence Cardinal Edward Gagnon,
recognized that the girl Jacinta Marto had practised to an heroic degree the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues
and their associates.
The written report of all these facts having been finally given to the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, by the
undersigned Cardinal Prefect, His Holiness, willingly accepting the desires of the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, ordained the Decree concerning the heroic virtues of the Servant of God be duly recorded.
This being done, on the same day, the cardinals, the Prefect of the Congregation and Proponent of the Cause and I,
the Bishop Secretary, being convoked, together with the remainder according to custom, and all being present, the
Holy Father declared solemnly: it is certain that the Servant of God, in the case and for the end in view, practised to
an heroic degree the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity towards God and towards neighbour, and also
the Cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and their associates.
The Holy Father ordered this Decree to be published and recorded in the acts of the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints.
Given in Rome, on the 13th day of May in the Year of Our Lord 1989.
ANGELUS Card. FELICI, PrefectTraianus Crisan, Archiep. tit. Drivastensis, a Secretis
Back
of Venerable - Francisco [A Decree of Heroic Virtues is a judgment of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints that a Servant of God lived a life of profound
union with God and fidelity to Church teaching. Theologically it witnesses to the full flowering of virtue in the person's life, which St. Thomas
Aquinas explains occurs when the moral virtues are perfected in their operation by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Decree is official when
accepted by the Pope. When combined with the approval of a miracle at the intercession of the Servant of God the requirements for
beatification have been met.]
On the 13th of May 1989, on the 72nd anniversary of the first Apparition of Our Lady to the LittleShepherds, at the beginning of the solemn concelebration presided over by Cardinal Law of Boston, the
Bishop of Leiria-Fatima announced to the Assembly, and by the Media to the whole world, that the Holy Father, John Paul II, had on that very day promulgated the decree of the heroic virtues of the Servants of God, Francisco and Jacinta, granting the title of Venerable.We present herewith the English translation of the text of the [second of the] two decrees.
CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS DECREEregarding the Canonization of the Servant of God
Young Boy (1908-1919)of the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima
ON THE QUESTIONConcerning the existence to an heroic degree of the theological virtues of Faith, Hopeand Charity towards God and towards neighbour and also of the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and their associates, in the case and for the end in view.
"Let the little children come to Me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Godbelongs" (Lk. 18, 16).
Among the children who responded best to the love and predilection of Jesus, we believe that the Servantof God, Francisco Marto, can be included. He made the gifts of grace which were granted him bear abundant fruit and, in a few short years, attained great perfection in the imitation of Christ and in theexercise of the Christian virtues. In spite of his tender age he left us an eminent example of obedience to
the will of God, of ardent love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and diligent attentiveness in consolingOur Lord, so offended by the sins of men, and praying and suffering for the needs of the Church and for the conversion of sinners.
The Servant of God was born in a village called Aljustrel, belonging to the parish of Fatima, in Portugal,on 11 June 1908, son of Manuel Pedro Marto and Olimpia de Jesus dos Santos, modest farmers andgood Christians. On the 20th day of the same month he received the sacrament of Baptism, becoming amember of the people of the new covenant.
Of a docile and condescending character he received to good effect the sound education which hisparents gave him. He began, at home, to know and to love God, to pray and to participate in the sacredparish functions, to help his neighbor in need, to be sincere, just, obedient and diligent. He regularlyattended the catechism lessons taught by the parish priest and by his aunt, Maria Rosa dos Santos. He
lived in peace with everyone, whether adults or those of his own age. He was not irritated whencontradicted, and at games he found no difficulty in adjusting to the will of others. He was sensitive to thebeauty of nature, which he contemplated with simplicity and admiration; he delighted in the solitude of themountains and remained enraptured before the rising and the setting of the sun. He called the sun "Our Lord's lamp" and was filled with joy at the appearance of the stars which he named "the Angels' lamps".His innocence was such that he said, on reaching Heaven, he would have to put oil in the lamp of theVirgin Mary.
He could not attend primary school as there was none in Fatima at the time, and when it did open he onlywent there now and then. In compensation, he learned very well the science of God and the means of actively co-operating in the growth of the kingdom of Christ in souls. As soon as he was able, or rather when he had reached the age of six years, he was entrusted with the task of keeping the flock, which hetook out daily to pasture. As was customary he went out early in the morning, taking a bag containing his
lunch and his flute with which he amused himself, and returned at sunset. Many times he wasaccompanied by his little sister Jacinta, and both would join their cousin, Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, whowas pasturing her flock as well. These children declared that they had seen the vision of an angel in theyear 1916. This unexpected and unforeseen happening constituted for the Servant of God the beginningof a spiritual experience that became more generous, more efficacious and more intense day by day.Suddenly he began to be more pious and reserved; he frequently recited the prayer taught by the Angel;he was always ready to offer sacrifices for the salvation of those who do not believe, do not hope or donot love. After these apparitions he seemed to have received the vocation of an anchorite; he hid behind
the rocks and trees in order to pray alone, while at other times he climbed to the highest and most solitaryplaces and there gave himself so intensely to meditation and prayer that he did not hear the voices of those who called him. At the same time he felt a strong and continuous longing to approach the sacredEucharistic table, which in fact was only permitted to him just before he died.
These were not the only gifts of God, for there were other greater ones too. From the 13th of May to the13th of October in the year 1917, he, together with Jacinta and Lucia, was granted the privilege of seeingthe Virgin Mary, a certain number of times, in a place called the Cova da Iria. From then on, ever moreand more inflamed with love for God and for souls, he had only one aspiration: to pray and suffer according to Our Lady's request. If the measure of divine benevolence towards him was extraordinary,the manner in which he wished to correspond with divine grace, in joy, fervour and constancy, was alsoextraordinary. He did not limit himself only to being a messenger, announcing penance and prayer, butmore than that, with all his strength he conformed his life to the message which he announced, more bythe goodness of works than by words. Thus he fulfilled the exhortation of Peter: "Each one of you hasreceived a special grace, so, like good stewards responsible for all these different graces of God, putyourselves at the service of others" (1 Pet. 4,10).
He used to say: "How beautiful God is, how beautiful! But He is sad because of the sins of men. I want toconsole Him, I want to suffer for love of Him." He maintained this resolve to the very end. During theapparitions he bore with firm spirit and admirable fortitude the malicious interpretations, the injuries, thepersecutions and even some days of imprisonment. He respectfully and firmly resisted the local authoritywho tried everything in order to discover the "secret" revealed, to the three children by the Most HolyVirgin, instilling courage at the same time into his sister and his cousin. Every time they threatened himwith death he replied: "If they kill us we'll soon be in Heaven! Nothing else matters!" The parish priest triedto make him deny what had happened in the Cova da Iria, but he, although he revered priests very much,eagerly confirmed what he had seen. The prodigious events in which he was the protagonist turned alleyes towards him, but he remained simple and humble. He continued to carry out his daily tasks, to obeyhis parents and to be attentive towards all. He was patient with the curious, welcoming towards pilgrims,humane with the impious and merciful towards those who placed their supplications before him. Hemortified his will and his character, overcoming fatigue, depriving himself of food in order to give it to thepoor, not drinking water for entire days, especially in the hot weather, fasting during Lent, wearing a ropearound his waist as a penance, giving up his favourite games in order to devote more time to prayer. He
lost no occasion of uniting himself to the Passion of Christ and of co-operating in this manner in thesalvation of souls and in the growth of the Church.
Another striking mark of his apostolate was prayer. He already prayed before the apparitions. Afterwards,however, moved by a more living and mature spirit of faith, he became conscious of being called todedicate himself zealously and constantly to the duty of prayer according to the intentions of the VirginMary. He sought silence and solitude in order to immerse himself totally in contemplation and in dialoguewith God. He assisted at Mass on feastdays, and also on weekdays when it was possible. He nurtured aspecial devotion to the Eucharist and spent much time in Church, adoring the Sacrament of the Altar which he called the "Hidden Jesus". He recited the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary daily, and many moretimes besides, in order to fulfil Our Lady's desire; to that he loved to add prayers and ejaculations whichhe had learned at the catechism classes, and which the Angel, the Most Holy Virgin and pious priests hadtaught him. He prayed with the intention of consoling God, of honouring the Mother of the Lord, whom he
loved so much, of being useful to the holy souls who were expiating their penalties in the fire of Purgatory,and of helping the Supreme Pontiff in the fulfillment of his important office as universal pastor; he prayedfor the needs of the world ravaged by hatred and sin; he prayed for the Church and for the eternalsalvation of souls. He prayed alone, with his family, and with the pilgrims, manifesting a deep interior recollection and a sure confidence in the divine goodness.
With the firm resolve of desiring and doing only that which was pleasing to God, he dedicated himself constantly in heart and soul to the immortal things of the spirit, avoiding every form of sin and, at the age
of seven years, he began frequently and piously to approach the sacrament of Penance. Docile to theprecepts of the Lord and to the words of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, he progressed continually on the pathof sanctity and, in a short time, attained a great and solid Christian perfection. Indeed his was a livingfaith, his charity was tender and zealous and his hope was full of joy. He was upright in word and deed.He had total disregard for earthly goods and for his own life and health. Since it had been made known tohim by the Virgin Mary that his life would be brief, he spent the days in ardent expectation of enteringHeaven. And in fact the time of waiting was not long delayed. Indeed, though he was robust and enjoyedgood health, in October 1918 he was attacked by a serious broncho-pulmonary epidemic, called the"Spanish influenza". Once confined to bed he never managed to get up again; on the contrary, his state of health deteriorated in the year 1919. With great interior joy, he suffered his infirmity and severe pains asan oblation to God. When Lucia asked him if he was suffering he replied: "Quite a lot, but never mind. Iam suffering to console Our Lord, and afterwards, within a short time, I am going to Heaven." In spite of being so sick, he nevertheless prayed many rosaries, exhorting the others to pray with him. On April 2nd,he devoutly received the sacrament of Penance, and on the following day he was finally nourished by theBody of Christ, as Holy Viaticum. In bidding farewell to those present he promised to pray for them inHeaven. He piously entered into eternal life, which he so ardently desired, on 4 April 1919. He was buriedin the cemetery, but later his relics were translated to the Sanctuary, which had been built meanwhile onthe spot where Our Lady appeared.
The fame for holiness, which he already enjoyed in life, was consolidated and increased after his death.Many of the faithful who had recourse to the intercession of the Servant of God affirmed that they hadbeen heard and had received spiritual and corporal graces. The first steps towards the Cause of Canonization were taken in 1946, but the Informative Process was only begun in the Episcopal Curia of Leiria in 1952 and concluded in 1979. A Rogatory Process was also conducted in Coimbra, with thepurpose of hearing Lucia's testimony. The Positio about the Virtues having been prepared by Rev. Fr.Paul Molinari, Postulator of this Cause, the Special Congress of Consultant Theologians, presided over by Rev. Msgr. Antonio Petti, Promoter General of the Faith, took place with a favourable outcome on the5th day of December in the year 1988. The Cardinals and Bishops, in the Ordinary Congregation, on the18th day of April in the year 1989, having as Proponent of the Cause, His Eminence Cardinal EdwardGagnon, recognized that the boy Francisco Marto had practised to an heroic degree the theologicalvirtues, the carnal virtues and their associates.
The written report of all these facts having been finally given to the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, by theundersigned Cardinal Prefect, His Holiness, willingly accepting the desires of the Congregation for theCauses of Saints, ordained that the Decree concerning the heroic virtues of the Servant of God be dulyrecorded.
This being done, on the same day, the Cardinals, the Prefect of the Congregation and Proponent of theCause and I, the Bishop Secretary, being convoked, together with the remainder according to custom,and all being present, the Holy Father declared solemnly: it is certain that the Servant of God, in the caseand for the end in view, practised to an heroic degree the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity towards God and towards neighbour, and also the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude and their associates.
The Holy Father ordered this Decree to be published and recorded in the acts of the Congregation for theCauses of Saints.
Given in Rome, on the 13th day of May in the Year of Our Lord 1989.
ANGELUS Card. FELICI, PrefectTraianus Crisan, Archiep. tit. Drivastensis, a Secretis
For many, even in the Church, the Catholic practice of beatifying and canonizing is an enigma. Why doesthe Church do it? How does the Church do it? What are the implications of being canonized, or in thecase of Jacinta and Francisca beatified?
General History.
First it should be noted that according to the testimony of Sacred Scripture every Christian is a saint. TheGreek New Testament speaks in many places of the hagios ( Acts 9:32; Rom 15:25, 31; Eph 1:1; Col. 1:2; Jude 1:3 and others). The Latin Vulgate speaks of the sancti , which is rendered in some Englishtranslations as the saints and in others as the holy ones. As St. Peter tells Christians, "you are a chosenrace, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of himwho called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." The saints are set apart by God through baptism,
filled with His divine life (the Kingdom of God within), and called to announce that Kingdom's presence inthe world to the whole human race. Thus it is that in the Scriptural usage all of those baptized into Christand in the state of grace can rightly be called saints.
In another sense, stricter and more technical, the saints are those in whom Christ's victory over sin, thedevil and death has not just begun, as it has in us, but has been completed. This is the case when thewayfaring state of earthy life is concluded and the holiness of life attained in the pilgrim's state is realizedperfectly in heaven. Even while saying that no one is truly good but God (Mt 19:17), Christ called us to theperfection of goodness, of holiness, "be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48, Mt 19:21; Col.4:12, James 1:4), since nothing imperfect will enter into heaven (Rev 21:27).
The early Church understood that only the Christian who followed Christ perfectly would go immediatelyinto the heavenly Jerusalem. Others would enter the purifying fires of purgation "to be made perfect," from
which they would not depart until they had "paid the last penny" (Mt 5:26, 1 Cor 3:13, 15). Sinceperfection was conformity to Christ in His death, a process begun at baptism, the martyr (literally, witness)for Christ was seen to have achieved the goal. Thus, during the age of persecution (from Pentecost to311 AD) esteem for those Christians who had been killed in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei) lead themto extol their example of heroic witness to Christ, to guard and preserve their relics (the trophies of victoryover death) and to celebrate the anniversary of their birthday into eternal life. The Circular Letter of theChurch of Smyrna on the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (155 AD) illustrates this esteem perfectly.
We have at last gathered his bones, which are dearer to us than priceless gems and purer than gold, andlaid them to rest where it was befitting they should lie. And if it be possible for us to assemble again, mayGod grant us to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom with gladness, thus to recall the memory of thosewho fought in the glorious combat, and to teach and strengthen by his example, those who shall comeafter us.
Finally, the greatest tribute of honor that could be rendered to the martyr was to have his or her namementioned in the Canon (or Eucharistic Prayer) of the Mass, accompanying the Lord in His RedemptiveSacrifice. This was done on their feast day, the day of their entry into eternal life. The Roman Canon(Eucharistic Prayer 1) retains the eloquent testimony of the Roman Church for the Mother of the Lord, for the apostles, and the most significant martyrs of Rome and Italy.
"In union with the whole Church ...we honor Mary ... Peter and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas,
Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; we honor Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius,Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian." (Communicates)
"For ourselves, too, we ask some share in the fellowship of your apostles and martyrs, with John theBaptist, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha,
Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia and all the saints." (Nobis quoque peccatoribus)
Thus, in the early centuries of the Church the popular acclaim of sanctity in the martyrs, the veneration of their relics, the honoring of their names in private and liturgical prayer (with the consent of the localbishop) canonized important witnesses to Christ in the universal, and the local, Church, as examples of the perfect fidelity to which all Christians are called.
Although the age of martyrs has never truly ended, the relative peace that existed after the Edict of Milanin 311 meant that martyrdom was a rarer example of perfection than it had been. The Church began tolook for other models of holiness, other ways in which conformity to Christ could be a witness to thefaithful and the world, the living out in daily Christian life of the dying to self and living for Christundertaken in baptism. This witness was found in those whose white martyrdom of heroic virtueconfessed to the world the triumph of light over darkness, of grace over sin, of the new man over the old
man (Eph 4:17-24), and thus of Christ over Satan. Thus, such Confessors, the witness of whose life hadthe fame of holiness, began to enter the roles of the canonized.
This cultus* (religious veneration) was generally of a single diocese, but as the fame of the person spreadit could encompass several dioceses, and in the case of Mary, the apostles and other significant figuresbe universal in fact. Although the records of early Church Councils shows occasional interventions tocorrect abuses in the naming of saints and to establish criteria for their acclamation, the processcontinued to be a local one with some few examples of Popes declaring saints of universal veneration.
The first canonical process seems to be that of Pope Urban II (1089-99), in the "Cause" of Nicholas of Trani. The Bishop of Trani was ordered to conduct a local investigation into his alleged sanctity andmiracles, which then would be submitted to the Pope for judgement. This first "Cause" dragged on over several pontificates, and seems not to have been concluded favorably. It also seems to have occasioned
developments in the legal procedures themselves, Callistus II (1119-24) requiring all causes to include acritical biography of the Servant of God. As often happens in the Church, abuses brought about major developments in Church practice. In 1170 Pope Alexander III decreed that no one could be declared asaint without the permission of the Supreme Pontiff. This was precipitated by the acclamation as saint of a Swedish "martyr" who was killed while drunk, and thus could not be truly said to be a willing witness for Christ.This regulation was formally incorporated into Church law by Pope Gregory IX in 1234.
The centralization of the canonization process in Rome was an inevitable development of the Church'stheological and canonical Tradition. While the acclamation of the faithful and the acceptance of the bishopis in most cases an adequate witness to the holiness of the person, it only provides a moral certainty, areasonable credibility, that the person is in heaven. In order to give universal witness to the sanctity of someone a higher standard needed to be invoked, that of the charism of the infallibility of the Church. According to Catholic teaching the Church, the Mystical Christ, cannot err in matters of faith and morals
(Jn 16:13). The practical exercise of this infallibility falls to the apostolic office, which in the name and bythe authority of Christ the Head of the Church intends to bind the faithful in a matter of faith or morals.This can be done either by the college of bishops as a whole, as in a Council ( Acts 15:28 15:28), or bythe Successor of St. Peter (Lk 22:32, Acts 15:7-12 15:7-12). By the grace of the Holy Spirit Christ protectssuch judgements of universal import for the Church from err. The common opinion of theologianshistorically, therefore, is that papal Canonization is an exercise of the charism of infallibility, protecting theChurch from raising an unfitting individual to the universal veneration of the faithful. As in the case of adogmatic declaration, the declaration of a saint inserts that person into the heart of the Church's life, in
this case into the central mystery of the faith, the Eucharist, and must by its nature be free from error.
Cause for Beatification/Cause for Canonization.
According to an ancient theological axiom grace builds on natur e. For this reason the Church is very
careful to exhaust the human and reasonable means of determining the sanctity of a person beforerelying on supernatural ones. As noted earlier the papal canonization process quickly developed certainprocedures which had to be followed in the diocese and in Rome, such as the collecting of evidence, of testimonies of witnesses and the writing of a critical biography. By the fourteenth century two regular processes were in place, the Cause for Beatification and the Cause for Canonization. The first, whensuccessfully concluded, allowed some measure of veneration of the Blessed by the faithful, in his or her diocese, by a religious order, by a nation. The second permitted universal veneration of the Saint by theChurch. The concluding stage of each was conducted in the form of a trial, with sides for or against. Theoffice of the Promoter of the Faith or Devil's Advocate, who argued against the Servant of God, datesfrom this era.
The Processes have gone through several revisions and refinements over the centuries, including tworecent ones, under Pope Paul VI in 1969 and under Pope John Paul II in 1983. Included in Pope Paul's
reforms were the consolidation of the processes into a single Cause for Canonization. Notable in those of Pope John Paul II was the elimination of the Devil's Advocate, as well as many procedural changes.
What it means to be Blessed.
Up until the beatification of a Servant of God Catholics must observe a strict rule of non cultus, meaningthat while they may privately pray to and venerate an individual whom they believe to be in heaven theremay not be any public acts of religious veneration. In fact, the presence of a cultus before the approval of the Church is given can end the candidacy of a Servant of God.
With Beatification a number of marks of veneration can be given to a person. The most important one isthat a feast day, with its proper Mass and Office (Liturgy of the Hours), can be granted to particular dioceses and religious orders and congregations. For example, Blessed Takeri Tekawitha, the Lily of the
Mohawks, is celebrated on the liturgical calendars of the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. and Mexico thereis a feast day for Blessed Juan Diego, the visionary of Guadalupe. By analogy, this privilege is somewhatakin to the practice of episcopal canonization earlier in Church history, except that a bishop manifests toRome his flock's desire to venerate a Blessed and Rome grants such local veneration.
With beatification comes the restricted right to venerate the relics of Jacinta and Francisco, to have publicprayers to them and to honor their images in places of worship where this is granted by the Holy See. It isrestricted in the sense that it is the veneration of a part of the Church and not the whole, and lacks thefinality of canonization.
*Cultus. A certain negativity has attached itself to the English term cult (a false, exaggerated religioussystem) which should not be applied to the older, properly understood, Latin term cultus. The Latin termin the ancient world had the meaning of religious worship of God or a god. It could be applied to the TrueGod (which would be legitimate) or to a pagan god among gods (which would be idolatry). In using theterm, but with specific theological meaning, the Church distinguishes between the forms of worshipappropriate to God, Trinity, Christ and the Blessed Sacrament (called latria, worship or adoration, in thestrict sense), and the forms of veneration and honor appropriate to the Blessed Virgin, the angels and thesaints (called hyperdulia or the greatest measure of veneration in the case of Mary and dulia or simpleveneration in the case of the angels and other saints). It is a principle of justice that we must honor,
respect and show gratitude in proper measure to those who are part of God's plan for our natural andsupernatural life. God commands it in the Fourth Commandment. This includes our natural parents whogave us life, but also those to whom we owe a debt for their role in the redemption (1 Cor 4:14-16, Heb.13:7), first among whom is the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lk 1:48).But without the fidelity of the angels, whoserved as God's messengers, of the prophets, of the apostles, the evangelists, the Fathers and the greatand holy men and women of all ages, we today would not have the faith. That is the foundation of our individual and collective gratitude for the working of God's grace in their lives and thus of their cultus (inthe way understood by the Church). Return to text
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Saints Jacinta and Francisco?
With Canonization comes the obligation, not just the privilege, to render the due justice of universal publicveneration to someone whose life, and God's working in that life, has been crowned with the eternalvision of God. Canonization does not put a person in heaven, it recognizes that God's grace and their cooperation with grace has done so.
Between Beatification and Canonization there exists but two obstacles, one procedural and one spiritual.The procedural obstacle is the approval of a second miracle, first through a Process in the diocese inwhich it occurred, and then by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The spiritual obstacle is thecertainty of the Supreme Pontiff that the person is worthy to be canonized.
Thus, in this way, by practical tests, of the life, of the intercessory power of the candidate, and by theprayerful and serene judgment of the Pontiff, the Holy Spirit works through human instruments to ensurethe authenticity of a canonization.
In the words of the formula from the canonization of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) wecan see the solemn judgment and infallible authority of the Supreme Pastor of the Church at work andhope that the day will come when these words will be pronounced on behalf of Jacinta and Francisco.
For the honour of the Blessed Trinity, the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the fostering of the Christianlife, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own, after duedeliberation and frequent prayers for the divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of our Brother Bishops, we declare and define that Bl. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, is a saint and weenroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated in the whole Church as one of thesaints. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Father's Beatification Homily
You revealed these things to chi ldren
On Saturday morning, 13 May, over 600,000 faithful gathered in the square and surrounding areas of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima, Portugal, for the solemn Mass
celebrated by Pope John Paul II for the beatification of the Servants of God Francisco and
Jacinto Marto, two shepherd children who witnessed extraordinary appearances of the Blessed Mother in 1917.
Concelebrating with the Holy Father were the Cardinals and Bishops of the papal entourage, all
the Bishops of Portugal and other Cardinals and Bishops from various parts of the world. Also
pre-sent for the liturgy was Sr Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart (in the world Lucia de
Jesus), the third child to see and speak with Our Lady.
After the introductory rites of the liturgy, Bishop Serafim de Sousa Ferreira e Silva of Leiria- Fatima petitioned the Holy Father to enrol Francisco and Jacinta Marto among the blessed
After the Pope proclaimed them blessed, he announced that their least day would be 20
February. The readings of the liturgy were specially chosen to reflect the lives of the seers and the message of Fatima: Rv 11:19a, 12:1, 3-6a, 17; Col 1:24-28; and Mt 11:25. The Creed was
sung in Latin and the prayers of the faithful were offered in various languages. The Pope gave
Holy Communion to Sr Lucia, 12 children and other members of the faithful.
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's homily, which he preached in Portuguese.
1. "Father, ... to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you
have revealed to the merest children" (Mt 11:25).
With these words, dear brothers and sisters, Jesus praises the heavenly Father for his designs; he
knows that no one can come to him unless he is drawn by the Father (cf. Jn 6:44); therefore he
praises him for his plan and embraces it as a son: "Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will"(Mt 11:26). You were pleased to reveal the kingdom to the merest children.
According to the divine plan, "a woman clothed with the sun" (Rv 12: 1) came down fromheaven to this earth to visit the privileged children of the Father. She speaks to them with a
mother's voice and heart: she asks them to offer themselves as victims of reparation, saying that
she was ready to lead them safely to God. And behold, they see a light shining from her maternal
hands which penetrates them inwardly, so that they feel immersed in God just—as they explain—a person sees himself in a mirror.
Later Francisco, one of the three privileged children, exclaimed: "We were burning in that light
which is God and we were not consumed. What is God, like? It is impossible to say. In fact we
will never be able to tell people". God: a fight that burns without consuming. Moses had the
same experience when he saw God in the burning bush; he heard God say that he was concernedabout the slavery of his people and had decided to deliver them through him: "I will be with you"
(cf. Ex 3:2-12). Those who welcome this presence become the dwelling-place and, consequently,
a "burning bush" of the Most High.
Francisco bore his sufferings without complaining
2. What most impressed and entirely absorbed Bl. Francisco was God in that immense fight
which penetrated the inmost depths of the three children. But God told only Francisco "how sad"
he was, as he said. One night his father heard him sobbing and asked him why he was crying; hisson answered: "I was thinking of Jesus who is so sad because of the sins that are committed
against him". He was motivated by one desire—so expressive of how children think —"to console
A transformation takes place in his life, one we could call radical: a transformation certainly
uncommon for children of his age. He devotes himself to an intense spiritual fife, expressed in
assiduous and fervent prayer, and attains a true form of mystical union with the Lord. This spurshim to a progressive purification of the spirit through the renunciation of his own pleasures and
even of innocent childhood games.
Francisco bore without complaining the great sufferings caused by the illness from which he
died. It all seemed to him so little to console Jesus: he died with a smile on his lips. little
Francisco had a great desire to atone for the offences Of sinners by striving to be good and byoffering his sacrifices and prayers. The life of Jacinta, his younger sister by almost two years,
was motivated by these same sentiments.
3. "Another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon" (Rv 12:3).
These words from the first reading of the Mass make us think of the great struggle between goodand evil, showing how, when man puts God aside, be cannot achieve happiness, but ends up
destroying himself.
How many victims there have been throughout the last century of the second millennium! We
remember the horrors of the First and Second World Wars and the other wars in so many parts of
the world, the concentration and extermination camps, the gulags, ethnic cleansings and persecutions, terrorism, kidnappings, drugs, the attacks on unborn life and the family.
The message of Fatima is a call to conversion, alerting humanity to have nothing to do with the"dragon" whose "tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth" (Rv
12:4). Man's final goal is heaven, his true home, where the heavenly Father awaits everyone with
his merciful love.
God does not want anyone to be lost; that is why 2,000 years ago he sent his Son to earth, "to
seek and to save the lost" (Lk 19:10). And he saved us by his death on the cross. Let no oneempty that Cross of its power! Jesus died and rose from the dead to be "the first-born among
many brethren" (Rom 8:29).
In her motherly concern, the Blessed Virgin came here to Fatima to ask men and women "to stop
offending God, Our Lord, who is already very offended". It is a mother's sorrow that compels her
to speak; the destiny of her children is at stake. For this reason she asks the little shepherds:
"Pray, pray much and make sacrifices for sinners; many souls go to hell because they have noone to pray and make sacrifices for them".
Jacinta endured everything for the conversion of sinners
4. Little Jacinta felt and personally experienced Our Lady's anguish, offering herself heroicallyas a victim for sinners. One day, when she and Francisco had already contracted the illness that
forced them to bed, the Virgin Mary came to visit them at home, as the little one recounts: "Our
Lady came to see us and said that soon she would come and take Francisco to heaven. And she
asked me if I still wanted to convert more sinners. I told her yes". And when the time came for
Francisco to leave, the little girl tells him: "Give my greetings to Our Lord and to Our Lady and
tell them that I am enduring everything they want for the conversion of sinners". Jacinta had
been so deeply moved by the vision of hell during the apparition of 13 July that no mortificationor penance seemed too great to save sinners.
She could well exclaim with St Paul: "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh Icomplete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church" (Col
1:24). Last Sunday at the Colosseum in Rome, we commemorated the many witnesses to the
faith in the 20th century, recalling the tribulations they suffered through the significanttestimonies they left us. An innumerable cloud of courageous witnesses to the faith have left us a
precious heritage which must live on in the third millennium. Here in Fatima, where these times
of tribulation were foretold and Our Lady asked for prayer and penance to shorten them, I would
like today to thank heaven for the powerful, witness shown in all those lives. And once again Iwould like to celebrate the Lord's goodness to me when I was saved from death after being
gravely wounded on 13 May 1981. I also express my gratitude to Bl. Jacinta for the sacrifices
and prayers offered for the Holy Father, whom she saw suffering greatly.
5. "Father, to you I offer praise, for you have revealed these things to the merest children". Today
Jesus' praise takes the solemn form of the beatification of the little shepherds, Francisco andJacinta. With this rite the Church wishes to put on the candelabrum these two candles which God
fit to illumine humanity in its dark and anxious hours. May they shine on the path of this
immense multitude of pilgrims and of all who have accompanied us by radio and television. May
Francisco and Jacinta be a friendly light that illumines all Portugal and, in special way, thisDiocese of Leiria-Fatima.
I thank Bishop Serafim, of this illustrious particular Church, for his words of welcome, and withgreat joy I greet the entire Portuguese Episcopate and their Dioceses, which I deeply love and
which I urge to imitate their saints. A fraternal greeting goes to the Cardinals and Bishops present, with a special word for the Pastors from the community of Portuguese-speakingcountries: may the Virgin Mary obtain reconciliation for the Angolan people; may she bring
comfort to the flood victims of Mozambique; may she watch over the steps of Timor Lorosae,
Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe; may she preserve her Brazilian sons anddaughters in the unity of faith.
I extend a respectful greeting to the President of the Republic and to the authorities who havewished to take part in this celebration. I take this occasion to express, through them, my gratitude
to everyone who helped make my pilgrimage possible. A cordial embrace and a particular
blessing to the parish and city of Fatima, which today rejoices in her children who are raised to
the honours of the altar.
We make spiritual progress when we rely on Mary
6. My last words are for the children: dear boys and girls, I see so many of you dressed like
Francisco and Jacinta. You look very nice! But in a little while or tomorrow you will take theseclothes off and ... the little shepherds will disappear. They should not disappear, should they?!
Our Lady needs you all to console Jesus, who is sad because of the bad things done to him; he
needs your prayers and your sacrifices for sinners.
Ask your parents and teachers to enrol you in the "school" of Our Lady, so that she can teach you
to be like the little shepherds, who tried to do whatever she asked them. I tell you that "one
makes more progress in a short time of submission and dependence on Mary than during entireyears of personal initiatives, relying on oneself alone" (St Louis de Montfort, The True Devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, n. 155). This was how the little shepherds became saints so quickly.
A woman who gave hospitality to Jacinta. in Lisbon, on hearing the very beautiful and wiseadvice that the little girl gave, asked who taught it to her. "It was Our Lady", she replied.
Devoting themselves with total generosity to the direction of such a good Teacher, Jacinta and
Francisco soon reached the heights of perfection.
7. "Father, to you I offer praise, for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you
have revealed to the merest children".
Father, to you I offer praise for all your children, from the Virgin Mary, your humble Servant, tothe little shepherds, Francisco and Jacinta.
May the message of their lives live on for ever to light humanity's way!
