The Fatima Message

Between the months of May and October of 1917, our Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal, giving them a message for the world which has since become known as the “Peace Plan from Heaven.” She warned men that if they did not amend their lives, God would be forced to punish them by means of wars and other sufferings.

The actual Fatima Message begins, however, with the words of the Angel of Portugal, who appeared to the children three times the year before Our Lady appeared, as we shall here relate.

The Angel of Portugal: First Apparition

The angel first appeared in the spring or summer of 1916 at a rocky outcrop near the top of a knoll called Cabeço, not far from the village of Aljustrel. Lucia gives us this account of the apparition:

“We had been playing for a while when a strong wind shook the trees. Since it was a calm day, we looked up to see what was happening. Then we began to see, well above the trees that covered the stretch of land to the east, a light whiter than snow in the shape of a transparent young man who was more brilliant than a crystal struck by the rays of the sun.

“As he approached, we began to see his features. He was a young man of great beauty about fourteen or fifteen years old. We were surprised and ecstatic. We did not utter a word.

“Once he drew near us, he said: ‘Fear not. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.’ “Kneeling down, he bowed until his forehead touched the ground.

Led by a supernatural inspiration, we imitated him, and repeated the words we heard him say: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee.”

“After he had repeated this twice, he rose and said: ‘Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.’ Then he disappeared.

“The supernatural atmosphere that enveloped us was so intense that we were almost unaware of our own existence. For a long time, we remained in the same position repeating the same prayer. The presence of God was so intense and intimate that we dared not speak to each other. On the following day, we felt our spirits still enveloped in that atmosphere, which was but slowly disappearing.

“None of us thought of talking about this apparition or of recommending secrecy, for the incident itself demanded it. It was so intimate that it was difficult to utter a word about it. This might well have been the apparition that impressed us the most, because it was the first one thus manifested.”

The Angel’s Second Apparition

In the summer of 1916, the Angel appeared again. The children were playing in the cool shade of the trees around the well near Lucia’s house when suddenly they saw the Angel near them. Lucia relates what he said:

“‘What are you doing? Pray! Pray a great deal! The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs concerning you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High!’

“‘How must we sacrifice?’ I asked.

“‘Offer God a sacrifice of anything you can as an act of reparation for the sins with which He is offended and as a supplication for the conversion of sinners.

Draw peace upon your country by doing this. I am its guardian angel – the Angel of Portugal.

Above all, accept and endure with submission whatever suffering the Lord sends you.’ Then he disappeared.

“The angel’s words were impressed upon our souls like a light that made us understand Who God is, how much He loves us and wishes to be loved, the value of sacrifice and how sacrifice pleases God, and how He converts sinners because of it.”

The Angel’s Third Apparition

The third apparition occurred later that summer or in the early fall of 1916, once again at Loca do Cabeço. This is Lucia’s account of the event:

“As soon as we arrived there, we began to say the Angel’s prayer on our knees, with our faces to the ground. ‘My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee… ‘ I do not know how many times we had said this prayer when we saw an unknown light shining over our heads. We rose to see what was happening, and we saw the Angel bearing a chalice in his left hand. Drops of blood fell into the chalice from a Host suspended over it. Leaving the chalice and the Host suspended in the air, the Angel prostrated himself beside us and said the following prayer three times:

“’Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly and offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the insults, sacrileges, and indifference by which He is offended. Through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg Thee for the conversion of poor sinners.’”

“After this, rising up, he again took the chalice and the Host in his hand; he gave the Host to me and the contents of the chalice to Jacinta and Francisco to drink, saying: “’Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, who is horribly insulted by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God.’”

“He again prostrated himself on the ground and repeated with us the same prayer three more times. “’Most Holy Trinity. . . .’ Then he disappeared.”

As Lucia explained, “Compelled by the supernatural force that enveloped us, we imitated the angel in everything, that is, prostrating ourselves as he did and repeating the prayers he said. The strength of God’s presence was so intense that it absorbed and annihilated us almost completely. . . The peace and happiness we felt were great, but intimate, as our souls were entirely concentrated on God.”

Our Lady’s Apparitions

May 13, 1917

On May 13, 1917, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco had pastured their sheep at the Cova da Iria on May 13, 1917. About noon they stopped to eat lunch and pray the Rosary. They had resumed their play when they saw two flashes like lightning, and, fearing a storm, began to gather the sheep. As they descended the hill, they saw the Mother of God above a holm oak. She was, according to the description of Lucia, “a Lady dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun…” Her face, indescribably beautiful, was “neither sad nor happy, but serious,” with an air of mild reproach. Her hands, joined together as if she were praying, were resting at her breast and pointing upward. A rosary hung from her right hand. They approached very close to Our Lady – only 3 or 4 feet away – so that they stood within the light that radiated from her.

Our Lady: “Do not be afraid, I will not harm you.”

Lucia: “Where do you come from?”

Our Lady: “I come from Heaven.”

Lucia: “And what does you wish of me?”

Our Lady: “I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession on the thirteenth day of each month at this same hour. Later I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterward, I will return here a seventh time.”

Lucia: “Will I go to Heaven?”

Our Lady: “Yes, you will.”

Lucia: “And Jacinta?”

Our Lady: “Also.”

Lucia: “And Francisco?”

Our Lady: “Also, but he must say many rosaries.”

Lucia: “Is Maria das Neves already in heaven?”

Our Lady: “Yes, she is.”

Lucia: “And Amélia?”

Our Lady: “She will be in purgatory until the end of the world. Are you willing to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may be pleased to send you, as both an act of reparation for the sins with which He is offended and an act of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”

Lucia: “Yes, we do. ”

Our Lady: “Then you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort.”

“Upon saying these last words, ‘the grace of God…’ for the first time she opened her hands, which emitted a most intense light that penetrated our breasts, reaching the innermost part of our souls and making us see ourselves in God, Who was that light, more clearly than we can see ourselves in the best of mirrors. Then, driven by a deep inspiration, we knelt down and repeated inwardly: ‘O Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament.’”

“A moment later, Our Lady added, ‘Pray the rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.’ She immediately began to rise serenely toward the east until she disappeared far into the distance. The light that surrounded her was, so to speak, opening her way through the starry firmament.”

 

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June 13, 1917:

Lucia: “What do you want of me?”

Our Lady: “I wish you to come here on the 13th of next month, to pray the Rosary every day, and to learn to read. Later, I will tell you what I want.”

Lucia asked for the cure of a sick person.

Our Lady: “If he is converted, he will be cured during the year.”

Lucia: “I would like to ask you to take us to Heaven.”

Our Lady: “Yes, I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you, Lucy, are to stay here some time longer. Jesus wishes to make use of you in order to make Me known and loved. He wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. To whoever embraces this devotion, I promise salvation; those souls will be cherished by God, as flowers placed by Me to adorn His throne”

Lucia: “Am I to stay here alone?”

Our Lady: “No, my daughter. Are you suffering a great deal? Don’t lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”

“As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands and for the second time, she communicated to us the rays of that same immense light. We saw ourselves in this light, as it were, immersed in God. Jacinta and Francisco seemed to be in that part of the light which rose towards Heaven, and I in that which was poured out on the earth. In the front of the palm of Our Lady’s right hand was a heart encircled by thorns which pierced it. We understood that this was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, and seeking reparation.”

 

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July 13, 1917:
Lucia: “What do you want of me?”

Our Lady: “I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue reciting the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace in the world and the end of the war, because only She can help you.”

Lucia: “I should like to ask You to tell us who You are, and to work a miracle so that everyone will believe that you are appearing to us.”

Our Lady: “Continue to come here every month. In October, I will say who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle so that all might see and believe.”

Lucia then presented some petitions that had been entrusted to her. Our Lady said she would cure some, but not others, and that it was necessary to say the Rosary in order to obtain these graces throughout the year.

Our Lady: “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say often to Jesus, especially whenever you make a sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’”

“As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened Her hands once more, as she had done 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 falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans 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). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision lasted only a moment, thanks to our good Mother of Heaven, Who, at the first apparition, had promised to bring us to Heaven. Without that, I think we would have died of terror and fear.

“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. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.”

“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; if not, she 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, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc. Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him.

“When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”

Lucia: “Is there anything more that you want of me?”

Our Lady: “No, I do not want anything more of you today.”

 

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August 19, 1917:

Since the children were abducted by the mayor on August 13, they were not at the Cova da Iria at the appointed time that day. The people who were there, however, saw a small white cloud that hovered over the holm oak tree for a few minutes.

On August 19, at about four o’clock in the afternoon, Lucia was with Francisco and another cousin at Valinhos, a property belonging to one of her uncles. Lucia gives her account:

“I was accompanied by Francisco and his brother John. We were with the sheep in a place called Valinhos, when we felt something supernatural approaching and enveloping us. Suspecting that Our Lady was about to appear to us, and feeling sorry lest Jacinta might miss seeing her, we asked her brother to go and call her. As he was unwilling to go, I offered him two small coins, and off he ran.

“Meanwhile, Francisco and I saw the flash of light, which we called lightning. Jacinta arrived, and a moment later, we saw Our Lady on a holm oak tree.”

Lucia: “What do you want from me?”

Our Lady: “I want you to continue going to the Cova da Iria on the 13th, that you continue praying the Rosary every day. On the last month, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe. If they had not taken you to the town, the miracle would have been greater. Saint Joseph will come with the Child Jesus, to give peace to the world. Our Lord will come to bless the people. Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows will come also.”

Lucia: “What do you want them to do with the money the people leave at the Cova da Iria?”

Our Lady: “Have two litters made. You will carry one with Jacinta and two other girls dressed in white; the other one Francisco is to carry, with three boys, like him, dressed in white. It will be for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. What is left over will help towards the construction of a chapel that is to be built.”

Lucia: “I should like to ask you to cure some sick persons.”

Our Lady: “Yes, I will cure some of them during the year.”

Then looking more sad, Our Lady said: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them.”

As usual, Our Lady began to ascend towards the east. From this time on, the three children looked for ways to make more sacrifices. Lucy describes one example:

“Some days after, we were following a path with our sheep and I found a piece of rope which had fallen from a cart. I took it and amused myself by attaching it to one of my arms. I did not take long to notice that the rope hurt me. I then said to my cousins: ‘Look, this hurts! We could attach it around our waist and offer this sacrifice to God.’ They accepted my idea immediately and we then decided to share that rope among the three of us. A sharp stone, rubbing on another, served as a knife. Whether because of the size and roughness of the rope, or because sometimes we squeezed it too much, that instrument made us suffer horribly. Sometimes Jacinta shed some tears because of the discomfort which the rope caused her. I told her on several occasions to take it off, and she replied, ‘No! I want to offer this sacrifice to Our Lord in reparation and for the conversion of sinners.’”

 

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September 13, 1917:

Lucia: What do you want of me?”

Our Lady: “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Dolors and Our Lady of Carmel. Saint Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime.”

Lucia: I was told to ask you many things, the cure of some sick people, of a deaf-mute…”

Our Lady: “Yes, I will cure some, but not others. In October I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.”

Then Our Lady began to rise as usual, and disappeared.

 

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October 13, 1917:

Lucia: “What do you wish of me?”

Our Lady: “I wish to tell you that I want a chapel built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue to pray the rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.”

Lucia: “I have many things to ask you: if you would cure some sick persons, and if you would convert some sinners…”

Our Lady: “Some yes, others no. It is necessary that they amend their lives, and ask pardon for their sins. Let them offend Our Lord God no more, for He is already much offended.”

Then, opening her hands, Our Lady shone the light issuing from them onto the sun, and as she rose, her own radiance continued to be cast onto the sun. At that moment, Lucia cried, “Look at the sun!”

Once Our Lady had disappeared in the expanse of the firmament, three scenes followed in succession, symbolizing first the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, then the sorrowful mysteries, and, finally, the glorious mysteries. Lúcia alone saw the three scenes; Francisco and Jacinta saw only the first.

First scene: Saint Joseph appeared beside the sun with the Child Jesus and Our Lady of the Rosary. It was the Holy Family. The Virgin was dressed in white with a blue mantle. Saint Joseph was also dressed in white, and the Child Jesus in light red. Saint Joseph blessed the crowd, making the Sign of the Cross three times. The Child Jesus did the same.

Second scene: This was followed by the vision of Our Lady of Sorrows, without the sword in her breast, and of Our Lord overwhelmed with sorrow on the way to Calvary. Our Lord made the Sign of the Cross to bless the people.

Third scene: Finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, appeared in a glorious vision with the Child Jesus.

While these scenes took place, the great throng of about seventy thousand spectators witnessed the miracle of the sun.

It had rained all during the apparition. At the end of the conversation between Our Lady and Lucia — when the Blessed Virgin rose and Lúcia shouted, “Look at the sun!” — the clouds opened up, revealing the sun as an immense silver disk. It shone with an intensity never before seen, but was not blinding. This lasted only an instant. Then the immense ball began to “dance.” The sun began to spin rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously again. Its rim became scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky. Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes, and on the very faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant hues and changing colors.

After performing this bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the terrified crowd.

All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining with its everyday brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended. Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried.

Later Apparitions

The following apparitions took place after Lucia entered the Sisters of St. Dorothy in October of 1925.

December 10, 1925, at Pontevedra, Spain

Lucia, then a postulant in the Dorothean convent, was in her cell when Our Lady came, as she promised in 1917, to ask for the Five First Saturdays of reparation. Beside her, on a luminous cloud, stood the Child Jesus. With her hand placed tenderly on Lucia’s shoulder, Our Lady showed her a heart surrounded with thorns which she held in her other hand. As Lucia relates in her account, the Child then said to her:

“‘Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.’

“‘Then the Most Holy Virgin said:

“‘Look, my daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months shall receive the sacrament of confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to my Immaculate Heart.’”

Although Sister Lucia made this known to both her superior and her confessor, she was advised to wait.

February 15, 1926, at Pontevedra, Spain

Two months later, Lucia received another heavenly visitation. While on her way to empty a garbage can outside the garden, she encountered a young boy she had met there months earlier, on which occasion she asked if he knew the Hail Mary. He said that he did, but he would not say it for her until she recited it with him. Before going her way, she asked him to go to a nearby church every day and to pray,
“Oh my Heavenly Mother, give me Your Child Jesus!” This is Lucia’s account:

“[O]n February 15, while returning as usual [to empty the garbage can], I found a child appearing to be the same child, and asked him: ‘Have you asked our Heavenly Mother for the Child Jesus?’ The Child turned to me and said: ‘And have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked you?’”
He then became resplendent with light. Seeing that it was Our Lord, Lucia reminded Him of a letter she had read to Him from her confessor in which he said that he required more proof and that her superior alone could not spread the devotion.

“It is true that the Mother Superior alone can do nothing, but with My grace, she can do anything. It is enough that your confessor gives you permission, and that your superior announces this for it to be believed by the people, even if they do not know to whom it was revealed.”
Sister Lucia told Jesus that her confessor had said that the devotion of Communion on the first Saturdays already existed.

“It is true, My daughter, that many souls begin, but few persevere to the end, and those who persevere do it for the graces promised. Those who make the five first Saturdays fervently to make reparation to the Heart of your Heavenly Mother please Me more than those who make fifteen but are lukewarm and indifferent.’”
Lucia brought up the difficulty of going to confession on Saturday, asking if confession within eight days would be valid. “Yes,” Our Lord said, “It can even be made later, provided that they are in the state of grace when they receive Me on the first Saturday, and that they had the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’”
What of those who forget to make the intention, Lucia asked.

“They can form it at the next confession, taking advantage of their first opportunity to go to confession.’”

He then disappeared.

June 13, 1929, at Tuy, Spain

Later in 1926 Sister Lucia entered the Dorothean novitiate at Tuy. Our Lady came, as she predicted, “to ask for the consecration of Russia,” on June 13, 1929, while Lucia was making her customary 11 p.m. Thursday night holy hour:

“Suddenly, the whole chapel lit up with a supernatural light and on the altar appeared a cross of light which reached the ceiling. In a clearer light, on the upper part of the cross, could be seen the face of a man with His body to the waist, on His chest a dove, equally luminous; and nailed to the cross, the body of another man. A little below the waist [of Christ on the cross], suspended in the air, could be seen a Chalice and a large Host, onto which some drops of Blood were falling, which flowed from the face of the Crucified One and from the wound in His breast. Running down over the Host, these drops fell into the Chalice.

“Under the right arm of the cross was Our Lady with her Immaculate Heart in her hand… under the left arm [of the cross], in large letters, like crystalline water which flowed over the altar, forming these words: ‘Grace and Mercy.’ I understood that the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity was shown to me, and I received lights about this mystery which I am not permitted to reveal.

“Then Our Lady said to me: ‘The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father to make, in union with all the bishops of the world, the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means. So numerous are the souls which the justice of God condemns for sins committed against me, that I come to ask for reparation. Sacrifice yourself for this intention and pray.’”

“Later, by means of an interior communication, Our Lord said to me, complaining:

“‘They did not want to heed My request! … Like the King of France they will repent and do it, but it will be late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world, provoking wars and persecution against the Church: the Holy Father will have much to suffer.”’

May 29-30, 1930, at Tuy, Spain

Sister Lucia’s confessor asked her the reason for five first Saturdays rather than some other number. She answered him in a letter dated June 12, 1930, that Our Lord appeared her in the convent chapel during the night of May 29-30 of that year and said to her, “My daughter, the motive is simple. There are five ways in which people offend and blaspheme against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

“1st, the blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception.

“2nd, against her Perpetual Virginity.

“3rd, against the Divine Maternity, refusing at the same time to accept her as the Mother of all mankind.

“4th, those who try publicly to implant in the children’s hearts, indifference, contempt and even hate against this Immaculate Mother.

“5th, those who insult her directly in her sacred images.”