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20TH CENTURY - 1917 - OUR LADY FATIMA

FATIMA, PORTUGAL

OTHER TITLE: Our Lady of The Rosary

VISIONARY(S): Lucia (12; Francisco (10); Jacinta (8)

NUMBER OF APPARITIONS: 6

FIRST APPARITION: May 13, 1917

LAST APPARITION October 13, 1917

APPROVED: October 30, 1930

FEAST DAY: May 13th

 

  ”...”in the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph,

the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted,

and some time of peace will be given to the world.”

 

SUMMARY

 

  Just like the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Miracle of the tilma, there is so much more to the message of Our Lady of Fatima than just the Miracle of the Sun. In fact the message of Fatima is a heavenly light and occasion of grace and salvation for the 20th Century, a Message and event unparalleled in Church History, the most momentous and important event of our time, which is still unfolding to this day. We pray that all will enjoy and benefit from learning: “the rest of the story”!


The apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917 were preceded by three appearances of St. Michael in 1916. Then, in 1917, while tending sheep in a field called the Cova de Iria, Lucia de Santos (10) and her two cousins, Francisco Marto (7) and Jacinta Marto (8), reported six apparitions of Our Lady, who identified herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary."  (Our Lady always asks that we say a daily Rosary, but she has never emphasized it more than at Fatima when she made it a priority request at each of her six apparitions.)

 

  During the apparitions, Francisco was able to see Our Lady but not hear her and had to depend upon Lucia and Jacinta to tell him what Our Lady said. Jacinta was able to both see Our Lady and to hear her, but at times had difficulty in hearing her. Lucia was the one that would communicate directly with Our Lady and who was the chosen one to communicate the message of Fatima over the course of her long life of 95 years.

 

  Our Lady taught the children special prayers, truths about the Faith, heaven, hell and the final judgment, the Rosary, frequent reception of the sacraments, the need for conversion, and consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.  

 

  Our Lady made several prophesies that since have come true; and others yet to come true. For example, she prophesied that World War I would soon end and it did. She prophesied that there would be a World War II that would be preceded by a great light, and both did occur. She prophesied that Francisco and Jacinta would soon die, and they did. She prophesied that Lucia would live a very long life, and she did (to age 95). She also prophesied the exact date and time and place of the promised sign (Miracle of the Sun) confirming that she truly was the Mother of God. The Miracle of the Sun is the only time in the history of the world that an event actually happened at the date and time and place that it was prophesied to happen.

  The demands Our Lady placed on the three children would be difficult for an adult to handle. The truths disclosed to them were of a magnitude far beyond their tender years. In particular, Lucia would "suffer a great deal" as she endured the prophesied loss of her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta, and as she continued on her prophesied and chosen journey of life to "make Me (Our Lady) known and loved", and to "establish the Devotion to My Immaculate Heart in the world", through which She promised "salvation to those who embrace it as their souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by Myself to adorn His throne."

  Throughout the hundred plus years which have passed since the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, diabolic errors - both idealogical and practical - have been taking root throughout the world, just as Our Lady warned, pitting mankind more and more against the reign of Jesus Christ. Hostilities in the Middle East threaten to erupt into a Third World War of unimaginable destructiveness, and even within the Church, chaos and scandal reign in the midst of a moral, doctrinal and disciplinary collapse such as has never been seen it its 2000-year+ history.

 

  Our Lady of Fatima warned that such crises (particularly wars and persecutions of the Church) would come upon us as a punishment for the sins of the world if men did not amend their lives.

 

  The world continues to build up against itself a tremendous debt, not just financially, but above all morally, provoking the justice of God, and there will be a terrible price to pay for it if we do not invoke Our Lady - in the precise way shown to us by Heaven - to intervene on our behalf with the inestimable merits of Her Immaculate Heart.

 

  Our Lady entrusted the children with what became known as the Fatima Secret. She thought it was important for us to have the Secret, important enough to risk the lives of the three young children visionaries. It was so important that she insisted that it be written down. She obviously wanted it to be known, so the Secret indeed is important. She wants us to have the Secret so we can save our souls!

 

  The Secret talks about the apostasy in the Church being led from the top, which snares one-third of the Catholic clergy to work for the devil. As a result, many souls are going to go to hell that would not otherwise go to hell. We know that from what Pope John Paul II said on May 13, 2000.

 

  There are three parts to the Secret, and the first two parts are known. The third part of the Secret, also known as the Third Secret, was supposed to have been released in 1960 but it was not. It was finally released in 2000. Many believe that the Third Secret itself has two parts, and only one part has been released. According to Pope Benedict XVI, who has read the entire Third Secret, the Third Secret concerns the last times, and he tells us it is contained in Sacred Scripture, that is, those events predicted at the end of time - events of terrible chastisements and punishments that have already started to take place, and are going to happen shortly, in our lifetime, and we must do something about it now. We must convert now, because if not we will be dragged along with the rest in the general Apostasy

surrounding us.

 

  The story of Our Lady of the Rosary, at Fatima, Portugal, is on-going and it appears that the story will continue until all of the words of Our Lady are adhered to including: (1) the Consecration of Russia exactly as Our Lady requested, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Holy Father, simultaneously with all of the Bishops in the world; and (2) the establishment throughout the world of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (First Saturday Devotion).

 

  According to Our Lady, then and only then will there be the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart, and peace in the world.

 

  Our Lady returned to earth at Medjugorje in 1981 and is still appearing there after almost forty years. Here is the only reference to Fatima from the messages given to the visionaries at Medjugorje: August 25, 1991 - “Dear Children! Today also I invite you to prayer, now as never before when my plan has begun to be realized. Satan is strong and wants to sweep away my plans of peace and joy and make you think that my Son is not strong in His decisions. Therefore, I call all of you, dear children, to pray and fast still more firmly. I invite you to self-renunciation for nine days so that, with your help, everything that I desire to realize through the secrets I began in Fatima, may be

fullfilled. I call you, dear children, to now grasp the importance of my coming and the seriousness of the situation. I want to save all souls and present them to God. Therefore, let us pray that everything that I have begun be fully realized. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

 

BEFORE THE APPARITIONS

Friar Dominic of Guzman

 

  It was Saint Dominic that long ago prophesied, “One day, Brother Angel (a Friar that had been called to Rome from Mt. Carmel in Palestine because he was a great preacher), the Blessed Mother will give your Carmelite Order a devotion that will be known as the Brown Scapular, and to my Order of Preachers (Dominicans) a devotion that will be called the Rosary. And one day she will save the world through the Rosary and the Scapular.” On that spot where that meeting took place, a chapel was built which exists in Rome to this day.

 

Saint Simon Stock

 

  St. Simon was born in 1165 in the castle of Harford, in Kent, England, thanks to the prayers of pious parents who were both very virtuous and from the highest nobility. Some authors believe they were related to the royal family. His mother consecrated him to the Blessed Mother before he was born.

 

  The boy learned to read at a very tender age. Like his parents, he began to pray the Little Office of Our Lady, and soon also the Psalter. At the age of seven, the young genius started to study fine arts at Oxford College and was so successful that his professors were surprised. At that time he also received his First Communion and consecrated his virginity to the Blessed Mother. Persecuted by his envious older brother, and heeding an interior voice that gave St. Simon a desire to leave the world, at the age of twelve he left home and found refuge in a forest where he lived entirely alone for twenty years in prayer and penance.

 

  Our Lady then manifested to St. Simon her wish that he join some monks who were to come to England from Mount Carmel in Palestine, “especially because those religious had been consecrated to the Mother of God in a special way.” Simon thus left his solitude and, obeying another order from Heaven, studied theology and received Holy Orders. He devoted himself to preaching until 1213, when two Carmelite friars finally arrived. He was then able to receive the habit of the Carmelite order.

 

  It did not take long for the fame of St. Simon’s virtues to become well known. In 1226, St. Simon was appointed vicar-general of all Carmelite provinces in Europe. Unfortunately the devil unleashed a real storm against the Carmelites in Europe through men supposedly zealous for Church laws and wanting at all costs to suppress the entire order of the Carmelites. In 1237, St. Simon participated in the General Chapter of the Order in the Holy Land. In 1245, in a new chapter, he was elected the sixth prior-general of the Carmelites.

  As persecution of the Carmelite order intensified over the years, St. Simon felt it necessary to resort to the Blessed Mother with all the sadness of his heart, asking her to help his beleaguered Order and to send a sign of her alliance with it.

 

  In the morning of July 16, 1251, he was begging in earnest the Mother of Carmel for her protection, reciting a beautiful prayer he had composed, Flos Carmeli. As he reported to his secretary and confessor, suddenly “the Virgin appeared to me with a great retinue, and having the habit of the Order in her hand, told me, ‘Receive, My beloved son, this habit of thy order: this shall be to thee and to all Carmelites a privilege, that whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire....It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger, and a pledge of peace. Whoever dies (piously) clothed in this Scapular will not suffer eternal fire.’”

 

The Sabbatine Privilege

 

  In addition to the special grace of eternal salvation connected with the Scapular, Our Lady gave another which became known as the Sabbatine Privilege. The following century, on March 3, 1322, she appeared to Pope John XXII, communicating to those who wear her scapular, “As a tender mother, I will descend into Purgatory on the Saturday after their death and will deliver them and bring them to the holy mountain, into the happy sojourn of life everlasting.”

 

Note: In 1917, Our Lady of the Rosary appeared at Fatima and in 1961, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared at Garabandal. After the last appearance of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917, the seers saw three different scenes. In the first, the Mother of God appeared as Our Lady of the Rosary, standing by St. Joseph and holding the Child Jesus on her lap. Then, she appeared as Our Lady of Sorrows, by the painful Christ on His way to Calvary. And finally, she appeared in glory, crowned as Queen of Heaven and Earth, as Our Lady of Carmel, with the Scapular in her hand. Asked in 1950 why she thought Our Lady appeared with the Scapular in the last vision, Sister Lucia replied: “That’s because Our Lady wants everyone to wear the Scapular, and this is why the Rosary and the Scapular, the oldest, most privileged universal and valuable Marian sacramentals are more important today than in any past period in history.”

 

World War I

  World War I began on July 28, 1914, and ended with the formal surrender of Germany on November 11, 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles.  Our Lady made her first appearance in Fatima, Portugal, in the middle of the war on May 13, 1917. 


  World War I began between two sides; the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy); and the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia). Each country was heavily armed and each one had reasons for distrusting each other's countries in Europe. 


  The violence and slaughter that occurred in World War I, called the "Great War", was horrible. Estimates of casualties are 65 million mobilized, 8.5 million killed, 21.2 million wounded, and total casualties of 37.5 million.  


  Of all the countries involved in this horrible war, Russia mobilized the greatest number of forces and suffered the most casualties. Estimates are 12 million mobilized, 1.7 million dead, 4.9 million wounded, and total casualties of 9.1 million.  

 

  Russia is emphasized here specifically because Russia is a big part of the Fatima story as will be described later.

 

Portugal

  In 1917, Portugal, like the majority of the world, was embroiled in war. As World War I raged throughout Europe, Portugal found itself unable to maintain its initial neutrality and joined forces with the Allies, in order to protect colonies in Africa and to defend their trade with Britain. About 220,000 Portuguese civilians died during the war; thousands due to food shortages, thousands more from the Spanish flu.

  Compounding the problem, government stability in the country had been rocky at best following the revolution and coup d’état that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and subsequent establishment of the First Portuguese Republic in 1910.

    

  A new liberal constitution separating Church and state was drafted under the influence of Freemasonry, which sought to omit the faith – which for many was the backbone of Portuguese culture and society – from public life. Anti-Catholicism in Portugal had initially begun in the 18th century during the term of statesman Marquês de Pombal, and flared up again after the drafting of the new constitution.

 

​  Catholic churches and schools were seized by the government, and the wearing of clerics in public, the ringing of church bells, and the celebrating of popular religious festivals were banned. Between 1911-1916, nearly 2,000 priests, monks and nuns were killed by anti-Christian groups.

  This was the backdrop against which Mary, in 1917, appeared to three shepherd children – Lucia dos Santos, 10, and her cousins Francisco (9) and Jacinta Marto (7) – in a field in Fatima, Portugal, bringing with her requests for the recitation of the rosary for sacrifices on behalf of sinners, a Secret regarding the fate of the world, and a Devotion and Consecration necessary for peace in the world.

Previous Apparitions

  Prior to this series of Apparitions at Fatima in the 20th century, there were three other important apparitions in which Our Lady, as She did at Fatima, gave some very important and prophetic messages; at Quito, Ecuador (Our Lady of Good Success) in the 16th century (1578-1634), at Paris, France (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal) in the 18th century (1836), and at La Salette, France (Our Lady of La Salette), also in the 18th century (1846).

Appearances of the Angel  

  

  In 1915, the three visionaries noticed the sudden appearance of a cloud in a form like that of a man, hovering above the treetops of the valley. They were obviously surprised and filled with wonderment. This happened again two more times and although the impression remained with them for a long while, it diminished with time. If not for the events that were to occur the next year, these appearances might have been completely forgotten. 

 

​  In 1916, following a rainstorm, above the trees the three visionaries began to see a light, whiter than snow. It was the form of a young man, transparent, more brilliant than a crystal pierced by the rays of the sun. As he approached, they began to distinguish his features, and as he came nearer he said: "Fear not! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me!" And they then repeated the words they heard him pronounce: "My God, I believe, I adore, and I love Thee. I ask pardon for all those who do not believe in Thee, do not adore Thee, do not hope in Thee, do not love Thee."  He repeated this prayer three times. Then he arose and said: "Pray this way. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications." The Angel continued to appear to the three visionaries teaching them to pray, and praying with them. The children were unaware however of what would be happening in only a few months, on May 13th of 1917!

THE APPARITION(S)

May 13, 1917 - First Apparition

 

  On this Sunday, during the midst of the First World War, God sent to earth the loveliest flower of the ages, His own beautiful Mother, Mary, whom we address as the Queen of May. "It was a Lady dressed all in white", Lucia records, "more brilliant than the sun, shedding rays of light, clear and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparkling water, pierced by the burning rays of the sun". 

  "Fear not!", the Lady said, "I will not harm you"... "I am from Heaven"... "I come to ask you to come here for six consecutive months, on the 13th day, at this same hour. I will tell you later who I am and what I want. And I shall return here again a seventh time."

 

  Our Lady asked the children: "Do you want to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He may choose to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and as a supplication for the conversions of sinners?" Promptly Lucia responded for all three, "Yes, we want to." "Then you are going to suffer a great deal," the Lady promised, "but the grace of God will be your comfort."

  As She pronounced these words, the Lady opened Her hands and shed upon the children an intensely bright light, that penetrated the innermost depths of their souls; and once again she spoke these words to them: "Say the Rosary every day to bring peace to the world and the end of the war."

  "She began then to elevate Herself serenely," Lucia said, "going in the direction of the East until She disappeared in the immensity of space, still surrounded by a most brilliant light that seemed to open a path for Her through the myriad galaxies of stars."

June 13, 1917 - Second Apparition: 

 

  By this time the news of the apparition had spread all through the countryside. Everyone had his own idea on the matter; some believed, most did not. In fact, both the children and their parents were ridiculed by their neighbors and things were just very difficult for all of them. 

  Once again there was a flash and shortly thereafter, Our Lady appeared. Lucia raised her eyes towards the skies, as if in prayer, and was heard to say, "You told me to come here today. What do you want me to do?" Our Lady's response was "I want you to come here on the 13th of the next month. Say the Rosary, inserting between the mysteries the following ejaculation - 'O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need.' I want you to learn to read and write and later I will tell you what else I want."

  Lucia then asked Our Lady to take the three of them with her to Heaven. Our Lady responded: "I will take Jacinta and Francisco soon. You, however, are to stay her a longer time. Jesus wants to use you to make Me known and loved. He wants to establish the Devotion to My Immaculate Heart in the world. I promise salvation to those who embrace it and their souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by Myself to adorn His throne." 

  Full of sadness with the pending loss of her cousins, Lucia asked if she would be left alone. And Our Lady responded: "No, my daughter. I will never leave you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God."

​    

  As Our Lady was leaving this second apparition, a bystander reported that as Our Lady left the tree, it was like the hissing of a distant rocket. She continued: "As for us, we saw nothing but a slight cloud, just a few inches away from the foliage, rising slowly towards the East."


July 13, 1917 - Third Apparition

 

  This apparition was extraordinary. As Our Lady appeared, Lucia, looking up towards Her with eyes filled with loving devotion, asked, "What do you want of me?" Our Lady responded: "I want you to return here on the 13th of next month," the Lady said. Continue to say the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war; for only She can help you."


  Lucia, wishing to clear up the doubts of the people, spoke again in her own childish manner, "Will you please tell us who You are and perform a miracle so that everyone will believe that You really appear to us?" Our Lady then responded: "Continue to come here every month. In October, I will say who I am and what I desire and I will perform a miracle all shall see, so that they believe."

  A little later Lucia described how Our Lady showed them Hell: "As she opened Her hands, the light reflecting from them seemed to penetrate into the earth, as if into a sea of fire, and we saw immersed in that fire were devils and souls with human form, as if they were transparent black or bronze embers floating in the fire and swayed by the flames that issued from within themselves along with great clouds of smoke, falling upon every side just like the falling of sparks in great fires, without weight or equilibrium, amidst wailing and cries of pain and despair that horrife and shook us with terror. We could distinguish the devils by their horrible and repulsive figures of frightful and unknown animals, but transparent as the black coals in a fire."

  Frightened, deathly pale, the little ones raised their eyes to Our Lady for help as Lucia cried out. "oh... Our Lady!" Our Lady explained: "You have seen Hell - where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wills to establish throughout the world the devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If people will do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by and unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."

 

  "To forestall 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 they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting 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 shall triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world."

  "In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc. Do not tell this to anyone. To Francisco, yes, you may tell it."

  Upon Our Lady's departure and as soon as the children recovered from their profound emotion, a ruthless, inquisitive crowd surrounded them, all saying at once, "Lucia, what did the Lady say to make you look so sad?" 

  Lucia's response was: "It is a SECRET. For some, it is good; for others, it is evil. I cannot tell it."

August 13, 1917


Our Lady was expected to appear on this day. The people saw signs of Our Lady showing up as she had promised, but the children were not there.   

 

  The Magistrate of the county to which Fatima belonged was a man of tremendous power. He was also a baptized Catholic but had abandoned the church to join the Masonic Lodge. He also published a local newspaper by which he endeavored to undermine the faith of the people in the Church and the priests. When he heard about the Apparitions, he realized the effects they might have among the people yet he was confident that his immense power would enable him to quickly crush this new religious fad in the beginning.

  The Magistrate brought the children in for questioning. He tried to trick them time and again. He took them to his own house and locked them in a room. He threatened them. He took them to the jail and locked them with hardened criminals. He threatened them more and said he was going to throw them into a pot of boiling oil. All they had to do was tell him the secret and he would let them go. But, the children were unwilling to comply.  

  When time came for the apparition to take place a terrible resentment went through the crowd when they found out that the children had been kidnapped. Before the crowd could cause too much trouble, there was a crack of thunder that frightened all and many began to cry, fearing they were going to be killed. And, right after the thunder came a flash and immediately all noticed a little cloud, very white, beautiful and bright, that came and stayed over the holm oak. It stayed for a few minutes, then rose towards the heavens where it disappeared. The people seemed to realize that Our Lady had come and, not finding the children, had returned to Heaven. To everyone's dismay, the apparition did not take place as promised and expected.

  Finally, the Magistrate realized that no matter what he said or did, he could accomplish nothing with these children. So, out of fear of what the enraged people in town would do, he himself took the children in his carriage to Fatima, not realizing that the Church was celebrating on that day the Feast of the Assumption.

  It is important to note that the interrogation of the children served one purpose that was providential. Since everything became a matter of official record, the Magistrate unwittingly made the existence of a secret revelation undeniable. 

August 19, 1917 - Fourth Apparition

 

  This was Sunday, and the children went to the Cova da Iria and prayed the Rosary like they always would after Mass. Then Lucia and Francisco left for a place called Valinhis, not far away where they intended to spend the afternoon. Late that afternoon Lucia became aware of the signs that always immediately preceded the apparitions of Our Lady: the sudden cooling of the air, the paling of the sun, and the typical flash. Lucia cried for Francisco’s brother John to ”Go quickly and get Jacinta! Our Lady is coming!”

 

  Just as Jacinta was arriving, a second flash occurred and a few moments later, the brilliant Lady appeared above a holm oak slightly taller than the one at Cova da Iria. The Lady was rewarding the children for their fidelity during their trials with the Magistrate.

 

  Lucia asked: “What do You want of me?” Our Lady responded: “I want you to continue to come to the Cova da Iria on the 13th and to continue to say the Rosary every day.” Lucia then asked Our Lady if She would be willing to perform a miracle so that all who disbelieved in the reality of Her presence might see and believe. Our Lady responded: “Yes, in the last month, in October, I shall perform a miracle so that all may believe in My apparitions. If they had not taken you to the village, the miracle would have been greater. St. Joseph will come with the Baby Jesus to give peace to the world. Our Lord also will come to bless the people. Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows will also come.”

 

​  Lucia then spoke to Our Lady of the sick who had been recommended to her. Our Lady responded: "Yes, I shall cure some of them within the year." But She went on teaching them to pray rather for the health of souls than of bodies, "Pray! Pray a great deal and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them."

 

September 13, 1917 - Fifth Apparition


  The last words above, spoken at Valinhos, awakened in the children an even stronger desire for mortification, prayer and suffering. Their one longing was to close that terrifying furnace of Hell so that no more souls could go there. They prayed much, but they sacrificed themselves even more. They trained their minds to discover new ways of suffering for the conversion of sinners. All of this was only known by Our Lady but many years later, only under order from her superiors, did Lucia relate the extent of their youthful prayers and sacrifices, many of which were severe.


  While the children sought every means of pleasing Our Lady, certain men were determined to discredit the children and make a fiasco of the apparitions. For them, it was another opportunity to destroy the Church in Portugal. 

  And then there was also the belief and misunderstanding, especially on the part of the priests, together with the constant, repititious questions of the people which caused the children keen suffering and a sense of utter loneliness. They felt that no one but Our Lady really understood them and that only they understood Her. 

  Lucia was leading the Rosary as usual with the people responding when the children arose to scan the horizon. They had seen the flash. Our Lady would soon come. A few moments passed. A globe of light appeared before the crowd, and the all holy Queen of Angels was standing over the holm oak. 

  "What do you want of me?" Lucia spoke very humbly, Our Lady responded: "Let the people continue to say the Rosary every day to obtain the end of the war", Our Lady renewed the promises She made during Her last appartion:  "In the last month, in October, I shall perform a miracle so that all may believe in My apparitions. If they had not taken you to the village, the miracle would have been greater. St. Joseph will come with the Baby Jesus to give peace to the world. Our Lord also will come to bless the people. Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows will also come."  Lucia then said "Many people believe that I am a swindler who should be hanged or burned. Please perform a miracle for all to believe." And Our Lady responded: Yes, in October, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe."

  As Our Lady was leaving, many saw a luminous globe gliding slowly and majestically through space. After interrogation, with one voice they affirmed the reality of the phenomena being reported. Other signs were also reported on this day. There was a sudden cooling of the air; and the sun was dimmed, so much so that thousands of people could see the stars even though it was mid-day; also there was a rain of iridescent petals that vanished upon reaching the ground.  

October 13, 1917 - Sixth Apparition


  The pressure was really on and intense on this day. Both fear and panic prevailed.  Rain was pouring from the heavens, a sad beginning for the glorious day promised by Our Lady and the children, yet the rain did not dampen the spirits of the many thousands of people who came from every section of Portugal. Some estimated the crowd at the Cova da Iria this day to be at least 70,000 persons. A professor of the University of Coimbra, after careful consideration, placed the number at over 100,000. Even the daily newspapers sent reporters to the scene. 

  Suddenly Lucia glanced towards the east and said to Jacinta, "Jacinta, kneel downl Our Lady is coming. I've seen the flash." To the crowd, Lucia said: "Silence, Silence, Our Lady is coming". Lucia then inquired of the Queen of Heaven: "What does your grace want of me?" Our Lady responded: "I want a chapel to be built here in My honor. I am Our Lady of the Rosary. Continue to say the Rosary every day. The war will soon end and the soldiers will return to their homes." Our Lady then said: "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." Lucia then asked "Do you want anything more?" And Our Lady responded "Nothing more."

  As Our Lady took leave of the children, She opened Her hands which emitted a flood of light. While She was rising, She pointed towards the sun, and the light gleaming from Her hands brightened the sun itself. Suddenly there was a huge, immense cry of wonder and astonishment from the multitude as the clouds were quickly dispersed and the sky was clear. The sun was now pale as the moon. To the left of the sun, St. Joseph appeared holding in his left arm the Child Jesus. St. Joseph emerged from the bright clouds only to his chest, sufficient to allow him to raise his right hand and make, together with the Child Jesus, the Sign of the Cross three times over the world. As St. Joseph did this, Our Lady stood in all Her brilliancy to the right of the sun, dressed in the blue and white robes of Our Lady of the Rosary. 

​    

  Our Lady also silently held out the Scapular. Lucia said the Blessed Mother wants everyone to wear it and “The Scapular and the Rosary are inseparable.”

 

  What happened on this day has come to be known as the “Miracle of the Sun,” or “The day the sun danced.” Gathered to see the miracle that Our Lady had promised were believers and skeptics alike. The previously rainy sky cleared up, the clouds dispersed and the ground, which had been wet and muddy from the rain, was dried. A transparent veil came over the sun, making it easy to look at, and multi-colored lights were strewn across the landscape. 

  The sun spun rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning vertiginously (causing dizziness) 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 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 normal brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended. Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried. Many were cured of diseases on the spot, many more converted to the Catholic Faith. Even atheists and anti-clerical news reporters, present to scoff at the event, admit that the miracle occurred. Nothing like this miracle, announced in advance, has ever occured in the history of the world. 

  The Miracle of the Sun was also seen by numerous witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the place of the apparition.

  This miracle was a direct, and very convincing contradiction to the atheistic regimes at the time. 

  The Miracle of the Sun was understood by the people, as Our Lady had promised, to be the seal, the guarantee that in fact the three children were telling the truth.

​Rosary

 

  It should be noted that at each of Her apparitions, Our Lady asked the children to say the Rosary every day. Our Lady asks this of us at most of Her apparitions, and in particularly she does and is asking this of us at Medugorje.

 

· At the first apparition, She asked "Say the Rosary everyday to bring peace to the world and the end of the war 

· At the second apparition, She asked "Say the Rosary, inserting between the mysteries the following ejaculation - 'O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need.'"

· ​At the third apparition She asked "Continue to say the Rosary in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war."

· At the fourth apparition, She asked "Continue to say the Rosary every day."

· At the fifth apparition, She asked "Let the people continue to say the Rosary every day to obtain the end of the war."

· At the sixth apparition, She said "I am Our Lady of the Rosary. Continue to say the Rosary every day. The war will end soon and the soldiers will return to their homes.”

AFTER THE APPARITION(S)

  According to the accounts, each of the six apparitions lasted only a few moments, with the last one being the longest. At each apparition, Our Lady made prophesies, promises, requests, and even Secrets that were confusing at the time, but were later borne out by world events. The children always did exactly as requested by Our Lady. 

 

  Following the last approved appartion at Fatima in October, 1917, Our Lady and Jesus both continued to appear to Lucy (Sister Lucia) for many years in fulfillment of the promises and prophesies they had made in 1917. 

 

  So, let's now review what has actually taken place over the past 100+ years following those fateful Fatima apparitions and how accurate the prophesies of Our Lady have been.

1918 - End of World War I. 


  During the third apparition on July 13th, Our Lady said:"the war (WW1) is going to end", and it did end in 1918. Prophesy fulfilled. 

 

  Our Lady also said "If people will do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father." (See year 1938.)

1919 - Death of Francisco

  Towards the end of October, 1918, the whole Marto family came down with influenza. Francisco was in a very serious condition and could not move out of bed. At this time, Our Lady appeared to Francisco and Jacinta, telling them that she would come for Francisco very soon and Jacinta would follow him not long after. As she sat next to Francisco's bed, Lucia gently whispered to him, "Francisco, are you suffering a great deal?" Francisco replied, "Yes, I am. I suffer it all for the love of Our Lord and Our Lady. I want to suffer more and I can't. I feel very sick," he confided to Lucia, "but I'll be in Heaven soon."

  Francisco had not yet received his First Holy Communion so he asked if he could do so. So, that evening the priest came to hear his confession and promised to return the next morning to give him Communion, which he did. Francisco received Jesus into his heart, closed his eyes in prayer, and recalled that other day when the angel came and together they adored Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 

  The next morning about ten, as the morning sun shone brightly into the room, his face brightened and an angelic smile parted his lips , as he breathed his last breath. Without any agony, with utmost peace, he made his exit from this world. So, on April 4, 1919, Francisco had finished the work God had given him to do and Our Lady came to claim him for Her own. Prophesy fulfilled!

 

Note: On May 13, 2017, the world rejoiced as Francisco Marto, one of the bravest and most loving children that has ever lived, was canonized a Saint at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal, by Pope Francis.

1920 - Death of Jacinta

  Jacinta was also suffering from the influenza from which her suffering grew worse daily and an abscess formed on her chest. She knew she was going to die because Our Lady had told her so. And she also knew that she would be going to Heaven because Our Lady had also told her that. But Our Lady had also told her that she would undergo much suffering and that she did for another several months; terrible suffering from purulent pleurisy of the large left cavity, and fistulous osteitis of the 7th and 8th ribs of the same side. Later she underwent surgery to remove ribs, which was even more painful as she was unable to take anesthesia because she was too weak. 

 

  Though she suffered much, Jacinta never complained, accepting it with happiness, for she realized it would help many souls to escape the terrible fire of Hell. "Now you can convert many sinners," she spoke to Our Lord, "for I suffer a great deal, my Jesus." Our Lady continued to visit her often. Four days before her death, she said, "Our Lady has appeared again and said that she was coming for me soon. She took away all my pains.” The Doctor testified to the fact that she no longer had any pains.  Jacinta died peacefully on February 20th, 1920. 

Prophesy fulfilled!

 

  Both Francisco and Jacinta would both suffer a great deal - Prophesy fulfilled!

  Days later the undertaker testified that never before nor after had he experienced a case like Jacinta's. "It seems to me that I can still today see the little angel. Laid in the casket she seemed to be still alive in her full beauty, with rosy cheeks and lips. I have seen many bodies in this business, young and old. Never before did a thing of this sort happen to me before nor since. The pleasant aroma that exhaled from her body cannot be explained. The worst unbeliever could not question it...Though the child had been dead three days, the aroma was like a bouquet of flowers." 

  Considering the serious nature of Jacinta's sickness and the poisin that was in her system from the pleurisy (all of which would hasten the corruption of her body), it is not hard to understand the undertaker's amazement as Jacinta's body seemed to be exempt from natural law. On February 24th, the body was placed in a leaden casket and sealed in the presence of the authorities and some ladies. Fifteen years later, on September 12, 1935, the Bishop commanded that Jacinta's body be transferred to the cemetery of Fatima so that both her and Francisco's bodies could be placed in the same tomb. When Jacinta's casket was opened on this occasion, her little body was still whole and incorrupt!

 

Note: On May 13, 2017, the world rejoiced as Jacinta Marto, like her brother one of the bravest and most loving children that has ever lived, was canonized a Saint at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal, by Pope Francis.

1918 - The Chapel

 

  At the sixth apparition, Our Lady asked "I want a chapel to be built here in My honor." The first chapel was begun on August 6, 1918. As soon as it was finished, someone offered to have a statue made to complete the shrine. This proposal met with great enthusiasm, and immediately a procession was planned for the installation of the statue. However, when the hostile government officials learned of this, they promptly made their own plans for breaking up the demonstration. There was no procession, but the people had to sneak the statue into the little chapel. And, they had to take it to one their homes nightly due to fear that everything in the chapel would be stolen or set on fire. 

1922 - Sure enough, two years later, on March 6, 1922, two bombs were placed at the Cova, one in the chapel, the other at the holm oak. The roof of the chapel was blown off, but the bomb at the holm oak failed to explode. 

1923 - The destruction of the chapel had aroused the people to protest to the government, and they determined to hold a great pilgrimage for May 13, 1923 in order to make reparation to Our Lady for this terrible insult. Some officials tried to prevent the demonstration, but when the day arrived, over 60,000 persons gathered to march to Fatima to pay homage to their Queen. 

  Many years have now passed since the apparitions occurred. The barren fields on which Lucia, Francis and Jacinta used to graze their sheep are now covered with large beautiful buildings. The little chapel can still be seen, but a great shrine in honor of Our Lady of Fatima dominates the area, flanked by a hospital, a convent and a retreat house, all of which testify to the power and mercy of Our Blessed Mother Mary.

1925 - Communion of Reparation - First Saturday

 

  Remember, at Our Lady’s third apparition at Fatima, on July 13, 1917, she gave them the Secret(s), one part of which was: “When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father.”

 

  Then Our Lady said: “To forestall this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.” She did not say when she would come to ask for the Communion of Reparation, she just promised that she would, and she did, eight years later.

 

  On December 10, 1925, Our Lady fulfilled this commitment: "I shall come to ask for... the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays", when she appeared to Lucia in her room at the Dorothean Convent in Pontevedra, Spain. The Child Jesus was at Our Lady's side, elevated upon a cloud of light. Our Lady, resting one hand upon Lucia's shoulder, held in Her other hand a heart surrounded with sharp thorns. The Child Jesus spoke first to Lucia: "Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother. It is covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there is no one to remove them with an act of reparation."

  Then Our Lady said to Lucia: "My daughter, look at My Heart encircled with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep Me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to Me."

1926 - Lucia could never forget this vision of Mary's bleeding heart. She informed her confessor and her superior of this apparition, but they felt unable of themselves to spread this devotion. Two months passed, and on February 15th, 1926, the Child Jesus again appeared to Lucia, inquiring if she had spread this devotion of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of His Mother. In fact, Lucia's Mother Superior ardently desired to propogate the devotion but her confessor had advised her she could do nothing by herself.  Our Lord's answer to this was "It is true that your superior alone can do nothing, but with My grace she can do all." Meanwhile, Lucia did her part in writing to her own mother, urging her to become an apostle in the crusade of reparation, when she said: "As soon as I knew it, I embraced it myself and have wanted to do everything possible to make others practice it."

1927 - While praying at the convent chapel at Tuy, Spain, where she was then stationed, Lucia received permission from Heaven to reveal the first two parts of the Secret: both the vision of Hell; and the urgent need for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. "You have seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wants to establish throughout the world the devotion to My Immaculate Heart"... "I shall come back for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart." Lucia informed her Mother Superior and her confessor about this apparition immediately. It appears that despite Lucia's efforts, not much progress was made in convincing her superiors of the need for progatation of this devotion. 

  Our Lord obviously foresaw this difficulty. Appearing to Lucia as a child, he said: "... have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother asked you?" Then, recognizing it was Jesus, Lucia repeated to Him what her confessor had said to her that this vision had to be repeated; there had to be facts permitting us to believe it, and that the Mother Superior alone could not spread this devotion.  Jesus then said: "It is true that the Mother Superior alone can do nothing, but with My grace she can do everything. It is enough that your confessor gives you permission, and that your superior announce this for it to be believed by the people, even if they do not know whom it was revealed to."  Jesus explained that five First Saturdays were required because of the five specific offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and He also elaborated upon each of the five offenses and blasphemies.  

  Tragically, today these offenses and blasphemies are committed not only by non-Catholics but the ignorance and coldness exemplified in them are now characteristic of many Catholics as well. Since the time of the Second Vatican Council, all too many Catholics - including a frightening number of clergy and religious - have disregarded these great Marian truths reiterated by Almighty God Himself. 

  Why is it that the church hierarchy, at all levels, has ignored/ignores these requests of not only Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, but also of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, for the First Saturday Communion of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary? How many Churches and Priests ignore any reference to the Five First Saturdays? How many offer the devotion service to its parishioners? How many Catholics participate in the devotion? How many Catholics perform the devotion exactly as requested by Our Lady?  

 

  Clearly the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays is an important devotion for our time, and is needed now more than ever. For just as Our Lady promised Francisco and Jacinta that she would take them to heaven, she promises the same to us if we perform the First Saturday devotion as requested...i.e. on the first Saturday of each month, we confess our sins to a priest (at least within a few days of the first Saturday), attend Mass, receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary, and keep her company for at least a quarter of an hour, while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, all with the intention of making reparation to her for the offenses against Her Immaculate Heart.

 

  Our Lady promises us that she will assist us at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation if we do this as she has requested of us. And, Our Lady has proven time and again that she will live up to her promises!

 

​1929 - The Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

  First let us remember once again, at Our Lady’s third apparition at Fatima, on July 13, 1917, she gave them the Secret(s), one part of which was: “When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father.”

 

  Then Our Lady said: “To forestall this, I shall come to ask for the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.” She did not say when she would come to ask for the Consecration of Russia, she just promised that she would.

 

  In 1927, Our Lady told Lucia once again while Lucia was praying in the convent chapel in Tuy, Spain, that: "I shall come to ask for the Conscration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart."  She did not say when she would come to ask for the Communion of Reparation, she just promised that she would.

 

  Finally, two years later, on June 13, 1929, in fulfillment of Her promises, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucy at Tuy, Spain, this time along with the visible presence of the Most Holy Trinity, to formally request the Consecration of Russia. Sister Lucia describes the vision as follows:

 

  “Suddenly a supernatural light illumined the whole chapel and on the altar appeared a cross of light which reached to the ceiling. In a brighter part could be seen, on the upper part of the Cross, the face of a Man and His body to the waist. On His breast was an equally luminous Dove, and nailed to the cross, the body of another Man.

 

  “A little below the waist, suspended in mid-air, was to be seen a Chalice and a large Host onto which fell some drops of Blood from the face of the Crucified and from a wound on His breast. These drops ran down over the Host and fell into the Chalice. Under the right arm of the Cross was Our Lady (Our Lady of Fatima with Her Immaculate Heart in Her hand)... Under the left arm (of the Cross), some big letters, as if it were crystal-clear water running down over the altar, formed these words: ‘Grace and Mercy.’”

 

  As with the Miracle of the Sun, this “Trinitarian Theophany” is absolutely unique in the history of the world. Thus did God Himself signify the singular importance of what Our Lady of Fatima was about to tell Sister Lucia in the miraculous presence of the Most Holy Trinity: "The moment has come in which God asks of the Holy Father to make, and to order that in union with him and at the same time all the bishops of the world make, the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart."

 

  Our Lady promised to convert it (Russia) through this day of prayer and worldwide reparation.  Our Lady explained that this consecration to her Immaculate Heart should be made by the Holy Father in union with all the bishops of the world. Lucia made this known to her confessors. One of them, Reverend Father Francisco Rodrigues, S.J., told her to write it down. He then showed this letter to the Bishop and gave him the full details. Father Rodrigues also had it brought to the attention of the Holy Father. Yet, for two years, nothing was done!

 

  In the summer of 1931, Jesus appeared to Sister Lucia and issued this warning to the Church's hierarchy regarding failure to perform the Consecration of Russia that God Himself commanded through the Blessed Virgin Mary two years earlier: "Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune." 

 

  Our Lord here refers to the execution of Louis XVI by the soldiers of the French Revolution, following the century-long failure of the French kings to heed His request (to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque) for the Consecration of France to His Sacred Heart. Our Lord thus warns of a fate like the one depicted by the vision that will be published in 2000 (but without the explanatory words of the Virgin) in which a Pope, bishops, priests, religious and lay people are likewise executed outside the devastated city. 

​NOTE: The Kings of France for 100 years did not obey the command given by Jesus in 1689 to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart. The King of France and his ministers were killed by the French Revolutionaries and the Reign of Terror between 1789 and 1794. 

Prophesy fulfilled.

1938 - Pope Pius XI was still Pope, seven more years had passed, and still no Consecration of Russia. World War II was beginning to break out, and the pope was pleading for peace. In March, 1938, Germany invaded Austria and prepared for World War II, which began in September, 1939, six months after Pope Pius XI died in March, 1939. (Remember, Our Lady had prophesied 21 years earlier that World War II would break out in the reign of Pope Pius XI). 

Prophesy fulfilled.

 

  When asked: "But the war did not begin under Pope Pius XI?", Lucia replied: "The annexation of Austria gave occasion for the war. When the Munich Accord was made, the sisters rejoiced for they thought that peace was secured. Unhappily, I knew more than they."  When asked "And what about that great sign that God was going to give the world that He was going to punish it for its crimes?", Lucia answered that this sign was the appearance of the "Great Northern Lights" of 1938 when unusual lights appeared in the skies of the world. "This was the sign," she said, "that God used to make me understand that His justice was ready to deal the blow upon the guilty nations." 

 

  When then asked: "But the astronomers say that it was a common aurora borealis?" Lucia countered: "I do not know, but it seems to me that if they had studied it well, they would have realized that, owing to the circumstances under which the light appeared, it was not nor could it have been an aurora borealis."

  So, it does appear that another of Our Lady's prophesies that were made 21 years earlier was fulfilled right on track, once again! Another incredible event!

 

  But still no Consecration of Russia!

 

​  In 1940, Lucia wrote again to the Bishop of Leiria expressing her regret that the consecration had not yet been made. "Would that the world knew the hour of grace that is being given it and would do penance." Then she wrote what her director told her to write.  She asked for the consecration of the world to Mary's Immaculate Heart with a special mention of Russia!  The Pope deliberated long and prayerfully upon this request.

  On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII, acting alone and on the basis of inaccurate information about what Our Lady requested, consecrates the world, but not Russia specifically, to the Immaculate Heart. The bishops do not participate. 

  On December 8, 1942, Pius XII repeats the same ceremony, again without the participation of the bishops. Our Lord tells Sister Lucy that because of this World War II will be shortened, but that world peace will not result as Russia has not been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and consequently converted. World peace is reserved only to the proper Consecration of Russia.  The war did stop on the Feast of Our Lady!

  On July 15, 1946, the eminent author and historian William Thomas Walsh interviewed Sister Lucia.  In his widely

I

circulated work Our Lady of Fatima, he writes: “Lucia made it plain that Our Lady did not ask for the consecration of the world to Her Immaculate Heart. What She demanded specifically was the Consecration of Russia...” Lucia said more than once with deliberate emphasis: “What Our Lady wants is that the Pope and all the bishops in the world shall consecrate Russia to Her Immaculate Heart on one special day. If this is done, She will convert Russia and there will be peace. If it is not done, the errors of Russia will spread through every country in the world.”

 

  In May, 1952, Our Lady appears to Sister Lucy saying: "Make it known to the Holy Father that I am always awaiting the Consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart. Without the Consecration, Russia will not be able to convert, nor will the world have peace."

  On July 7, 1952, Pope Pius XII consecrates Russia specifically in an apostolic letter called Sacro vergent anno, but only as a written exhortation. He does not ask for all the bishops to join him in keeping with Our Lady's request for a public ceremony conducted by the Pope in union with all the Catholic bishops of the whole world.  

 

  On November 21, 1964, the last day of the third session of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary with no mention of Russia. The bishops look on but do not join in the act. The silence concerning Russia is in keeping with the Vatican-Moscow Agreement.

 

​  On June 7, 1981, Pope John Paul II consecrates the world, but not Russia, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

​  On March 19, 1983, Sister Lucy meets with the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Portalupi, again and confirms that the Consecration of Russia was not effected because Russia was not clearly the object of the consecration and the Catholic bishops of the world did not participate.

  On March 25, 1984, before 250,000 people in Rome, Pope John Paul II performs yet another consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart. Immediately after he pronounces the words of consecration, however, he departs from his prepared text and addresses Our Lady with this petition: "Enlighten especially the peoples of which You Yourself are awaiting our consecration and confiding." The Pope thus publicly acknowledges that Our Lady of Fatima still awaits the Consecration of Russia.

  On March 26, 1984, The Pope's own newpaper, L'Osservatore Romano, reports the exact words spoken by the Holy Father the day before. 

  On March 27. 1984, the Italian Catholic bishops' newspaper Avvenire reports that the Holy Father, at 4:00 in the afternoon, three hours after he consecrated the world, prays at St. Peter's that Our lady will bless "those peoples for whom You Yourself are awaiting our act of consecration and entrusting," thus once again acknowledging that he had not fulfilled that request on March 25. The same results were reported in the Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano on March 26-27. 

  In September, 1985, in an interview in Sol de Fatima magazine, Sister Lucy affirms that the Consecration of Russia still has not been done correctly because Russia was not the object of the 1984 ceremony and because all the Catholic bishops of the world did not participate. 

​  In September, 1987, Sister Lucy confirms once again that the Consecration of Russia has not been done.

  In 1989-1990, Vatican functionaries demand, via anonymous "instruction" from unidentified persons in the Vatican to Lucia and others, that she and they must affirm that the consecration of Russia was accomplished on March 25, 1984. Three computer-generated and typewritten notes and letters supposedly signed by Sister Lucy, suddenly appear, purportedly contradicting her previous statements that the Consecration of Russia has not been done. These letters are quickly proven to be fakes in analyses published throughout the Catholic world by the Fatima Center. Two more fake letters appear between January and July 1990.

Note: On October 11, 1990, Sister Lucy's sister, Carolina, reveals that Sister Lucy did not even know how to type and advised all not to pay attention to these bogus typed letters. In Her second appartion, on June, 1917, Our Lady told Lucia "I want you to learn to read and write and later I will tell you what else I want." Very soon after the sixth apparition on May 13, 2017, both Francisco and Jacinta died as prophesied by Our Lady. Lucia eventually became Sister Lucy and learned how to read and write. All corresondence from Sister Lucy prior to these type written letters were hand written. 

  On May 13, 1991, John Paul II travels to Fatima to meet with Sister Lucia, who does not change her testimony regarding the failure to consecrate Russia. After the meeting neither she nor the pope makes any statement concerning the Consecration of Russia, despite the ongoing controversy over whether or not it has been accomplished.

  On October 8, 2000, with 1,500 bishops in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II mentions the world, but not Russia, in an "entrustment" of the world to Mary, failing yet again to consecrate Russia. 

  On November 30, 2000, a Cardinal described as "one of the Pope's closest advisors", admits that he advised Pope John Paul II not to mention Russia in any consecration ceremony because it would offend the Russian Orthodox. Inside The Vatican publishes this revelation in the issue of the same date.

​    

  On February 13, 2005, Sister Lucy of Fatima dies less than two months short of her 98th birthday. She is never allowed by the Vatican to address the world directly in her own words concerning the Consecration of Russia or the Third Secret. Access to Sister Lucia is strictly limited until her death, and immediately thereafter her cell in the convent at Coimbra is sealed off in the manner of a crime scene. 


  On April 2, 2005, two months later, Pope John Paul II dies.

  On April 19, 2005, the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI begins. 

  On May 11, 2010, Pope Benedict makes an unexpected pilgrimage to the Fatima Shrine in Fatima, Portugal. 

  On May 13, 2010, Pope Benedict declares that "He who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is conluded deceives himself."

  On February 11, 2013, Pope Benedict makes the stunning announcement that he will abdicate from the throne of St. Peter. The Pope's stated rationale was the deterioration of both strength of mind and body to the extent that he had to recognize his incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to him. 

  On March 13, 2013, the papacy of Pope Francis II begins. At his repeated and insistent request, his pontificate is consecrated to Our Lady of Fatima by Cardinal Jose Policarpo, the Patriarch of Lisbon, at the Fatima Shrine in a collegial act in union with all the bishops of Portugal. 

  On August 13, 2013, Pope Francis announces that he has invited the Catholic bishops to accompany him in consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn ceremony in Rome on the coming October 13, 2013.  

 

​  On October 13, 2013, Pope Francis officiates at the announced ceremony which turns out to be nothing more than yet another vague act of "entrustment" in which nothing is consecrated, not even the world is mentioned, and there is no reference at all to the Immaculate Heart. 

  In summary of this long narrative about the requested Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let's look one final time at exactly what Our Lady requested according to Sister Lucia: 

 

  "You have seen Hell - where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wills to establish throughout the world the devotion to My Immaculate Heart. If people will do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by and unknown light, know that it is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."


  "To forestall 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 they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting 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 shall triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world."

  Not long after the apparitions at Fatima in 1917, Russia began spreading her errors throughout the world (and still is), wars and persecutions of the church have been occuring (and still are), tens of thousands of good people have been martyred (and still are), various nations have been annihilated (and still are), and more than one Holy Father has endured much suffering (JPII and Pope Benedict XVI are two).

 

  So, has the request for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary yet been performed validly as requested by Our Lady, by any Pope, and particularly was it validly performed by Pope John Paul II in 1984?

 

​  Here is what Father Gabrield Amorth, the Vatican Chief Exorcist, said when talking about the consecration that the Vatican proclaims to be valid,“Therefore, that of 1984 was not a proper Consecration of Russia. I was there, kneeling just a couple of meters ahead of the Holy Father...”

 

  Father Amorth said that “he was immediately devoted to Our Lady of Fatima, and from Her he received the grace of being chosen to organize the Consecration of Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which occurred in 1959! He further said the he was appointed by the Italian Conference to organize such a marvelous consecration, but time was short and we didn’t know how to make it in time! Well, we were able because for the first time we decided to bring the statue of Our Lady of Fatima to Italy”.

 

  ... “Then, in 1984, when John Paul II decided to consecrate the world - the most solemn ceremony, the one that occurred in Rome on March 25, 1984 - on the day of the consecration of the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima (the main one, the statue that is never moved from the Fatima Sanctuary) was flown over from Portugal and was venerated in St. Peter’s Square”...

 

  ... “However, that day the Pope did something unusual while pronouncing the consecration prayer. He wanted to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. His entourage, however, was against it: ‘No, Holy Father, if you do this you’ll offend the Patriarch of Moscow’; or, ‘No, Holy Father, if you do this (you’ll go against the Soviets)’, etc.”

 

  “So after several attempts to change his advisors’ minds, the Pope finally went along with them. He did not name Russia during the Consecration. But he did do Our Lady of Fatima this service - he made it known very plainly and quite publicly that he was not performing that day the consecration requested by Our Lady of Fatima. And the Pope drew particular attention to this fact by alluding to it twice that day - first in the morning, during the prayer of consecration itself, and then again three hours later”.

 

  “The text of the consecration prayer had been prepared many months before the ceremony. It was sent to all the bishops in a letter of December 8, 1983, and published in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on February 17, 1984. But on that morning of March 25, 1984, well after that part of the Act of Consecration at which the Holy Father had pronounced the consecration of the world to the Blessed Virgin - seven paragraphs later, to be precise - he unexpectedly broke away from the prepared text. After the words “Mother of the Church,” he added the following words:

 

  ‘Enlighten especially the peoples of which You await our consecration and confiding.’”

 

  “This was the only change that he made to the planned ceremony, and his words clearly indicate that he knows that the Consecration of Russia asked for by Our Lady of Fatima was not accomplished by that day’s consecration.”

 

  ‘And if that was not clear enough, he repeated the same message several hours later, when he gathered with 10,000 of the faithful in St. Peter’s Basilica at 4 p.m. to say goodbye to the Pilgrim Virgin statue.”

 

  The good news is that Our Lady, Queen of Peace, continues to promise the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart and a time of peace to follow.    

 

  Since 1981, Our Lady of Medjugorje, has been appearing every single day to one or more visionaries with peace being her central theme as emphasized in Her message of December 25, 1988: 

 

  "Dear children! I call you to peace. Live it in your heart and all around you, so that all will know peace, peace that does not come from you but from God. Little children, today is a great day. Rejoice with me. Glorify the Nativity of Jesus through the peace that I give you. It is for this peace that I have come as your Mother, Queen of Peace. Today I give you my special blessing. Bring it to all creation, so that all creation will know peace. Thank you for having responded to my call."

  Our Lady has said at Medjugorje that this is her last appartion, that we are in a "time of grace", and now is our time to convert and be prepared for what may be happening very soon (during the lifetime of Mirjana). Our Lady has been true to Her prophesies and promises to date. Why would she not be likewise true for Her prophesies and promises made at Fatima - especially this promise: ” in the end, My Immaculate Heart shall triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world."

1941 - The Secrets

 

  In her third apparition on June 13, 1917, Our Lady, with approximately 5,000 people present in the Cova, confided to the children the Great Secret, or the Secret(s).

 

Note: In some cases the Secret is called a Great Secret with three parts. In other cases, it is just said that there are three separate Secrets. Finally, it is said by some that the Third Secret has two separate secrets within it, while others say there is only one Third Secret.


  On August 31, 1941, Lucia records the first two Secrets in her Third Memoir.

 

​  On December 8, 1941, in her Fourth Memoir, the first two Secrets are recorded again, with the addition of Our Lady's mysterious interrupted reference to Portugal and the dogma of the Faith (“In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved etc.”), after which Lucia writes, "Here begins the Third Secret."

 

  The first two secrets as recorded by Sister Lucia on December 8, 1941 are:

 

First Secret - Vision of Hell

 

  The First Secret is a vision of hell, which, as described by Sister Lucia, terrified the visionaries: "As she opened Her hands, the light reflecting from them seemed to penetrate into the earth, as if into a sea of fire, and we saw immersed in that fire were devils and souls with human form, as if they were transparent black or bronze embers floating in the fire and swayed by the flames that issued from within themselves along with great clouds of smoke, falling upon every side just like the falling of sparks in great fires, without weight or equilibrium, amidst wailing and cries of pain and despair that horrife and shook us with terror. We could distinguish the devils by their horrible and repulsive figures of frightful and unknown animals, but transparent as the black coals in a fire." Frightened, deathly pale, the little ones raised their eyes to Our Lady for help as Lucia cried out. "oh... Our Lady!" Then The Blessed Virgin explained that devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was a means to save souls from going to Hell: “You have seen hell, where the poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish the devotion to My Immaculate Heart...” - a reference to the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Blessed Virgin then called for acts of prayer and personal sacrifice for the sake of sinners in order to save them when she said: “God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”.

 

​Second Secret - World War I and II

 

  The Second Secret prophesied the imminent end of World War I, but also accurately warned that a “worse war” would break out (World War II) during the reign of Pius XI (who was not elected Pope until 1922) and that Russia would spread her errors throughout the world. Our Lady explained:  If people will do what I tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse war will break out in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by and unknown light, know that this is the great sign that God gives you, that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."

  Our Lady promised however, that these calamities could be avoided if Russia were publicly consecrated (set aside for a sacred purpose) by the Pope and the Catholic bishops, an act the Virgin said she would come to request at a later time (which came in 1929) as follows: “To forestall 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 they heed My requests, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace. If not, she shall spread her errors throughout the world, promoting 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 shall triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and some time of peace will be given to the world."

 

​  The Second Secret was then followed by Our Lady’s mysterious interrupted reference to Portugal and the dogma of the Faith:​ "In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc.  Since Our Lady’s eloquence and command of language has always surpassed the greatest orator or poet, it would seem to be doubtful that the word “etc.” was hers, but rather was inserted by Sister Lucia to mark the place of Our Lady’s words. It does seem unreasonable that Our Lady would make such an important declaration and then end it with the word, “etc.” And, it also seems that the sentence is not complete, that there is something more to follow.

 

Third Secret - Penance and Papal Assassination Attempt

 

  Our Lady gave Sister Lucia an express order that the Third Secret was to be revealed in 1960 to the Bishop of Fatima or the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, and thus to the whole world.

 

  Sister Lucia chose not to disclose the third secret in her memoir of 1941. According to Sister Lucia, Our Lady asked her an express order that the Secret was to be revealed to the Bishop of Fatima or the Cardinal Patriafor the Secret to be revealed to the world “in 1960 or after my death, whichever comes first”. When asked why 1960, Sister Lucy responded: “because the Blessed Virgin wishes it so” and “it (the Third Secret) will be clearer then”.

 

  In 1943, Sister Lucia was seriously sick and in danger of death; the Bishop of Leiria advised and ordered her to write down the third part of the Secret. She protested that she had no order from heaven to do so, but the Bishop said the responsibility was his and reminded her to be obedient. This caused her great distress. She tried a number of times to obey the command, but her hand froze.

 

  Finally, on January 3, 1944, Our Lady appeared and said, “Do not be afraid, God wanted to prove your obedience, faith, and humility. Be at peace and write what they order you, but do not give your opinion of its meaning.” Sister Lucy does so and delivers the sealed envelope in person to her confessor bishop who in turn delivers it to the Bishop of Fatima, Jose de Silva, on June 17, 1944, where it stayed until 1957, when it was finally delivered to Rome. Sister Lucia explained thereafter that “she could only repeat the details of the vision, but not divulge Mary’s explanation”.

 

  In September, 1952, Austrian Jesuit Father Joseph Schweigi, sent by Pope Pius XII to interrogate Sister Lucy about the Third Secret, states that the Secret is in two parts. He later confides to one of his colleagues, “I cannot reveal anything of what I have learned at Fatima concerning the Third Secret, but I can say that it has two parts: one concerns the Pope. The other, logically - although I must say nothing - would have to be the continuation of the words: ‘In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved.’”

 

  On November 4, 1958, Pope John XXIII becomes Pope and on January 25, 1959, he announces the creation of The Second Vatican Council, also called Vatican II. This announcement shocked the world as there had not been an ecumenical council - an assembly of Roman Catholic religious leaders meant to settle doctrinal issues - in nearly 100 years.

 

  In 1960, the Vatican issued a press release stating that it was “most probable the Secret would remain for ever, under absolute seal.”

 

Why was the Third Secret not being released as Our Lady had requested?

 

  From 1962-1965, Vatican II was held and transformed the church from an exclusive to an inclusive institution. Vatican II was really a revolution offering an entirely new liturgy. Its effects were somewhat abrupt. Vatican II gave bishops a sense of empowerment. They spoke candidly, and many openly criticized the Vatican ban on artificial birth control. The bishops’ assertiveness shocked the hierarchy. Today, the church is still reeling from clerical sex abuse scandals across the world. There is a shortage of priests, and in Europe churches are empty. In Latin America,

Catholicism is losing faithful to other Christians religions. Is this the fault of Vatican II? Was there a second part of the Third Secret, and did it warn in any way what might be happening in the Catholic Church in the future, and if so, was the Secret suppressed for whatever reason?

 

  On June 27, 1963, less than a week after becoming pope, Paul VI reads the text of the Third Secret kept in the papal apartment after the Substitute Secretary of State Msgr. Angelo Dell'Aqua telephones Msgr. Capovilla, personal secretary to Pope John XXIII, to inquire as to where to find it. Capovilla testifies to this fact in his "certified note" of May 17, 1967. It is this text - the one that contains Our Lady's words - that is later identified by Cardinal Ottaviani as being 25 lines in length.  

 

  In an interview published in the November 11, 1984 edition of Jesus magazine, Cardinal Ratzinger acknowledged that he had read the Third Secret and it involved “the importance of the novissimi”, and “dangers threatening the faith and life of the Christian and therefore (the life) of the world.” Perhaps Cardinal Ratzinger perhaps revealed even more than he intended when he connected three elements together: the Third Secret, Sacred Scripture and other Marian apparitions approved by the Church as authentic. As he said in 1984: “the things contained in this Third Secret correspond to what has been announced in Scripture, and has been said again and again in many other Marian apparitions ...” Quoting Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Howard Dee, Cardinal Ratzinger had personally

confirmed to him that the messages of Akita and Fatima are essentially the same. The Akita prophecy, in part, contains the following: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. ... churches and altars sacked...”

 

  On May 13, 2000, Cardinal Angelo Sodano announced that the Third Secret would finally be released, during which he implied the secret was about the persecution of Christians in the 20th century that culminated in the failed assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981. In a syndicated radio broadcast, Malachi Martin stated that the Third Secret “doesn’t make sense unless we accept that there will be, or that there is in progress, a wholesale apostasy amongst clerics, and laity in the Catholic Church.” The Third Secret contains much apocalyptic imagery including a vision of a pope who is shot.

 

  On June 26, 2000, at a press conference, Archbishop Bertone publishes the originally handwritten 62 line text which he claims is the entire Third Secret and claims it refers to the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II. The 62 line text describes a vision in which the Pope (a “Bishop dressed in White”) is killed by a band of soldiers.

 

​  Here is that 62-line text of the Third Secret as handwritten by Sister Lucia:

 

  The third part of the secret revealed at the Cova da Iria-Fatima, on 13 July 1917. 

 

“I write in obedience to you, my God, who command me to do so through his Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and through your Most Holy Mother and mine.” 

​  “After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: Penance, Penance, Penance!'. And we saw in an immense light that is God: something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it: a Bishop dressed in White; we had the impression that it was the Holy Father. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it

sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.”

Tuy-3-1-1944

 

What about the 25 line handwritten text that Pope John XXIII is reported to have read after which he said: “I leave it to others to comment or decide.”

 

  On May 11, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI, on his pilgrimage to Portugal in May, stunned the press and the Catholic world by saying that the Third Secret of Fatima tells us that “not only from the outside come the attacks against the Pope and the Church, but the sufferings of the Church come from right inside the Church, from the sin that resides inside the Church... we see this today really in a terrifying way: the greatest persecution against the Church doesnt’t come from its enemies outside, but starts from within the Church.”

 

  On May 13, 2010, before 500,000 pilgrims, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed (in reference to the Third Secret):”Whoever thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is concluded deceives himself.”

 

  On February 28, 2013, Pope Benedict resigned from the papacy. The move was unexpected, given that popes in the modern era have held the position from election until death. The Pope stated that the reason for his decision was his declining health due to old age. (Meanwhile, in the latter part of 2020, Pope Benedict appears to still be in relatively good health!) Why was there such a delay in releasing the Third Secret which was not revealed until 40 years later (1960 vs 2000) than when Our Lady asked for it to be?

 

  Was the entire Third Secret revealed? Was the 25 line version not revealed. The Vatican says the whole Secret was released. So if there indeed was a 25 line version, what happened to it? The Vatican’s entire explanation of the Fatima Apparition can be found at the following site: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/re con cfaith doc 20000626 message-fatima en.html

 

  Mother Angelica made some startling candid remarks to her national television audience on the Eternal World Television Network (EWTN) on May 16, 2001. Concerning the vision of the Third Secret disclosed by the Vatican on June 26, 2000, Mother Angelica said: “As for the Secret, I happen to be one of those individuals who thinks we didn’t get the whole thing ... Because I think it’s scary ... ”

 

  Father Paul Kramer, who has studied the facts and circumstances of the Third Secret for some

thirty-five years, agrees with Mother Angelica that the Third Secret is indeed scary - and far scarier than Catholics have generally understood.

 

  According to Father Kramer, with respect to the “other Marian apparitions” that Cardinal Ratzinger spoke to in 1984, “we have the approved Marian apparition of Our Lady of Good Success at Quito, Ecuador, in 1634. In this apparition Our Lady warned of precisely what the Third Secret predicts: a great apostasy in the Church. Our Lady told Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres that in the late 19th Century and throughout most of the 20th Century the Church would yield to a great heresy. ‘The Sacrament of Matrimony will be attacked and profaned,’ and ‘Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitious laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born with the blessing of the Church.’”

 

  Then, Our Lady warned, “The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs (morals), and this will result in the lack of priestly and religious vocations ...”

 

  And here is one more message that Mother Mariana said was given to her for her own edification and to the world, ”...I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th Century and shortly after the middle of the 20th Century ....unbridled passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs (morals), because Satan will reign through the Masonic sects, targeting the children in particular to insure general corruption.... then through the faith of the just a ‘complete restoration.” Reading the messages given to Mother Mariana at Quito, Ecuador, from 1594-1635, by Our Lord, the Blessed Mother, and the Archangels, is like reading the news over the last sixty years. We especially see today how viciously the culture war has taken its toll on marriage and the family. Who would believe years ago that today we would be having a battle over transgender bathrooms?

 

  In a direct parallel to the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart, Our Lady of Good Success declared that this darkest time in Church history “will mark the arrival of My hour” and that God will eventually “bring to an end those ominous times, sending to this Church the Prelate who will restore the spirit of its priests.”

 

  Answering the question of when, if ever, will the Third Secret be revealed, Father Kramer said: “Of course, it will be revealed, for man cannot hide forever a secret confided by God Himself to His Blessed Mother for the benefit of the whole world. The question is not whether, but when it will be revealed at last.”

 

Pius XII and the Third Secret

 

  Pius XII was in possession of the Third Secret, it having been delivered to the Vatican on his orders in 1957, where he personally maintained it in a wooden safe in the papal apartments.  He told a group of pilgrims to Rome that “The time for doubting Fatima is past; it is now time for action.” In apparent reference to the approaching crisis of the Church foretold in the Third Secret, which unfolded after 1960, the future Pius XII, then Vatican Secretary of State under Pius XI, made this prophetic observation in light of the Fatima apparitions: “I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Ludy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith in her liturgy, her theology, and her soul. ... A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God ... In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them. Like Mary Magdalen, weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask, “Where have they taken him?”

 

Paul VI and the Third Secret

 

  During his pilgrimage to Fatima from May 12-13, 1967, Paul VI - who by then had read the integral text of the Third Secret - specifically linked the Message of Fatima to the Book of the Apocalypse. In what must have been an allusion to the Third Secret Prophesy of a crisis in the Church, during his sermon at Fatima on May 13, 1967, Paul VI expressed alarm about the harm to the Church that would occur if “an arbitrary unauthorized interpretation of the Church’s magisterium” following Vatican II led to: “a dissolution of its (the Church’s) traditional and constitutional structure, replacing the theology of true and great masters with new and special ideologies intended to remove from the norm of faith what modern thinking, often deprived of the light of reason, does not understand or dislikes, and changing the apostolic concern for redemptive charity into an acquiescence in the negative forms of the profane mentailty and worldly customs!”

 

  Only five years later, Paul VI, clearly in light of the same Secret he had read, issued this astonishing declaration as recorded in the archives of his official addresses: “By some fissure there has entered into the temple of God the smoke of Satan: there is doubt, uncertainty, problems, unrest. Doubt has entered our consciences, and it has entered through the windows (at Vatican II) which were meant to have been opened to the light. This state of uncertainty reigns even in the Church. It was hoped that after the Council there would be a day on sunlight in the history of the Church. Instead, there came a day of clouds, of darkness, of groping, of uncertainty. How did this happen? We will confide our thoughts to you: there has been interference from an adverse power: his name is the devil, that mysterious being to whom frequent allusion is made even in the Epistle of St. Peter” (Paul Vi, Insegnamenti, Ed Vaticana, vol. X, 1971, p.707)

 

John Paul II and the Third Secret

 

  John Paul II made two pilgrimages to Fatima. The first, in 1982, came after he had survived the assassination attempt on his life on May 13, 1981 - the very anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima! John Paul attributed his escape from death to Our Lady of Fatima’s intervention because he had turned to look at an image of her at the moment the assassin’s bullet was fired, thus the bullet missed the intended targeted area. He said of his recovery: “I myself experienced her (Our Lady of Fatima’s) protection” and “At that time I experienced mortal danger and suffering, but also the great mercy of God. By the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, my life was spared.” Later, John Paul placed the assassin’s bullet, recovered during surgery, into the crown of the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima at the Fatima Shrine. It fit perfectly!

 

  Like Paul VI before him, John Paul II - who had read the Third Secret in 1978 - linked the Message of Fatima to the Book of the Apocalypse, referring as well to “the most apocalyptic menaces looming over the nations and mankind as a whole.” He further affirmed the Church’s acceptance of the Message: “If the Church has accepted the message of Fatima, it is above all because that message contains a truth and a call whose basic content is the truth and the call of the Gospel itself.” The Message of Fatima, he declared, “is still more relevant that it was sixty-five years ago, it is still more urgent.”

 

  During John Paul II’s second pilgrimage to Fatima in 2000, when he beatified the seers Jacinta and Francisco (Sister Lucia was still alive), then Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, revealed that at the command of the Pope, the Secret, after 40 years of suppression, would soon be published. On this occasion, John Paul II yet again linked the Message of Fatima to the Book of the Apocalypse, particularly Chapter 12, declaring: “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’ (Apocalypse 12:4).” The traditional interpretation of this passage is that it refers to the corruption of consecrated souls: priests, nuns and religious. John Paul II’s citation of this passage was immediately followed by the worldwide eruption of the so-called “pedophile” scandal in the Catholic priesthood.

 

  The October 1981 issue of the German magazine Stimme des Glaubens reported on a discussion that Pope John Paul II had with a select group of German Catholics, in November of 1980. In the discussion, John Paul II talked about the third secret in such catastrophic terms, saying that “oceans will flood whole areas of the earth”. He also talked about a coming crisis in the Church: “How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise.”

 

  The following is a verbatim report of the discussion that John Paul II had with the German magazine:

 

  The Holy Father was asked, “What about the Third Secret of Fatima? Should it not have already been published by 1960?”

 

  Pope John Paul II replied: “Given the seriousness of the contents, my predecessors in the Petrine office diplomatically preferred to postpone publication so as not to encourage the world power of Communism to make certain moves. On the other hand, it should be sufficient for all Christians to know this: if there is a message in which it is written that the oceans will flood whole areas of the earth, and that from one moment to the next millions of people will perish, truly the publication of such a message is no longer something to be so much desired.”

 

  The Pope continued: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.”

 

  At this point the Pope grasped a Rosary and said: “Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God.”

 

  The Holy Father was then asked: “What is going to happen to the Church?”

 

  He answered: “We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ… With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary.” 

 

NOTE: Pope John Paul II made the above statements in November, 1980. It was only 8 months later, on June 24, 1981, that Our Lady began appearing in Medjugorje where she gave to those visionaries 10 more secrets which have yet to be revealed in their entirety. We have been told however that we still have a very short time before our “Time of Grace” is over - and therefore our time for conversion is now! And, once again, Our Lady asks us to pray, especially the Rosary.

 

  A couple of years later, on September 25, 1983, Our Lady began appearing in San Nicolas, Argentina, as Mary of the Rosary of San Nicolas. Here Our Lady told us: “All humanity is contaminated. It does know what it wants, and it is the evil one’s chance, but he will not be the winner. Christ Jesus will win the battle... ”

 

  In addition to beatifying two of the three Fatima seers in 2000, John Paul II in 2002, added to the Roman Missal, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on May 13, thus enshrining the Fatima event in the life of the entire Church.

 

Benedict XVI and the Third Secret

 

  Benedict made his pilgrimage to Fatima on May 13, 2010. In his homily he accepted as a given that the Fatima event was an authentic and compelling prophesy for our time, declaring to the crowd: “In seven years you will return here to celebrate the centenary of the first visit made by the Lady ‘come from Heaven’, the Teacher who introduced the little seers to a deep knowledge of the Love of the Blessed Trinity and led them to saviour God Himself as the most beautiful reality of the human existence.... May the seven years which separate us from the centenary of the apparitions hasten the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity.”

 

  During the same pilgrimage, Benedict would make explosive revelations concerning the integral text of the Third Secret. One revelation was that the Secret concerns not only past events, as Cardinal Sodano had asserted, but rather: “realities involving the future of the Church, which are gradually taking shape and becoming evident.... As for the new things which we can find in this message today, there is also the fact that attacks on the Pope and the Church come not from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church. This too is something that we have always known, but today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way - that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin with the Church...”

 

  Benedict also confirmed to Howard Dee, the Philippines ambassador to the Vatican, that the apparitions of Our Lady of Akita in Japan and the Third Secret are “essentially the same” message.  At Akita, on October 13, 1973 - the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima - Our Lady warned Sister Agnes Sasagawa: “As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one has never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests.”

 

  “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate Me will be scorned and opposed by their confrere... churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord.”

 

  “The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of My sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them.”

 

100-Year Reign of Satan

 

  On October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII heard Satan ask God for 75-100 years to have dominion over mankind. According to Pope Leo SIII, Satan was granted the time to test mankind in unknown ways. He fainted after he heard the conversation between God and Satan, and he personally composed the St. Michael Prayer, which was said after every low Mass up to Vatican II in the mid 1960’s (why was this stopped?).

 

  The problem many people have had with Pope Leo’s vision is, “What was the start date for the 100 years?”

 

Free Masonry

 

  In the 16th Century at Quito, Ecuador, As Our Lady of Good Success told Sister Mariana de Jesus Torres “I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th Century and shortly after the middle of the 20th Century ....unbridled passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs (morals), because Satan will reign through the Masonic sects, targeting the children in particular to insure the faith of the just a ‘complete restoration” .

 

  On October 16, 1917, three days after the October 13th Miracle of the Sun, there was a young Polish seminarian in Rome by the name of Maximilian Maria Kolbe. He had called a meeting with three brother seminarians and three priests. That day through Rome and the Vatican, Masons in large numbers marched saying they would overturn the Church. Many know this story, but what is not generally known is that Masons had written on the banners and placards, “Lucifer will rule the Vatican in 2017,” as they looked to overthrow the Church. They had given themselves 100 years to accomplish their goal.

 

  On October 16, 1917, Kolbe wrote: “These men without God find themselves in a tragic situation. Such implacable hatred for the Church and the ambassadors of Christ on earth is not in the power of individual persons, but of a systematic activity stemming in the final analysis from Freemasonry.  Their decrees have been spread throughout the world, in different disguises. But with the same goal - religious indifference and weakening of moral forces, according to their basic principle - We will conquer the Catholic Church not by argumentation, but rather with moral corruption.”

 

  The Militia Immaculata was formed that night, and neither Kolbe nor the others knew of the apparitions at Fatima. Evolving in the next few years was his magazine by the name of The Knights of the Immaculate, which had over one million in circulation and the largest friary in the world in Niepokalanow, Poland. It had over 700 friars with their own printing presses and the most modern means of communication for that time and enlisted the Blessed Mother as Mediatrix of Grace to overcome the evils in the world.

 

  In message 406 to the Marian Movement of Priests (mmp-usa.net), the Blessed Mother addresses at great length (nearly five pages) the Beast Like a Lamb - ecclesiastical Freemasonry. She states, “Above all, as Mother, I have wanted to warn you of the grave dangers which threaten the Church today, because of the many and diabolical attacks which are being carried out against it to destroy it. The black beast like a leopard indicates Freemasonry; the beast like the two horns indicates Freemasonry infiltrated into the interior of the Church, that is to say, ecclesiastical Masonry, which has spread especially among members of the hierarchy. This masonic infiltration in the interior of the Church was already foretold to you by me at Fatima, when I announced to you that Satan would enter in even to the summit of the Church. If the task of Masonry is to lead souls to perdition, bringing them to the worship of false divinities, the task of ecclesiastical Masonry on the other hand is that of destroying Christ and His Church, building a new idol, namely a false Christ and a false Church.

 

  ...The aim of ecclesiastical Masonry is that of justifying sin, of presenting it no longer as an evil but as something good and of value .... The beast with the two horns like a lamb seeks to destroy the mystical Christ, which is the Church.”

 

  The Blessed Mother has often referred to Masonry as “the Synagogue of Satan” to the Marian Movement of Priests. And she also says “It will again be in the name of Mary that I will bring to completion my work with the defeat of Masonry, of every diabolical force...and thus be purified and completely renewed, with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart in the world.”

 

Popes

 

  Here is the list of the Popes that have been involved with Fatima since the apparitions began in 1917:

 

1. 1917-1922           Benedict XV

2. 1922-1939           Pius XI

3. 1939-1958           Pius XII

4. 1958-1963           John XXIII

5. 1963-1978           Paul VI

6. 1978-1978           John Paul I

7. 1978-2005           John Paul II

8. 2006-2013           Benedict XVI

9. 2013-2020           Francis I

 

​Link between Fatima (1917), Garabandal (1961), and Lourdes (1858),

 

  There has always been a link between Fatima and Garabandal, but also in part, with Lourdes. St. Bernadette’s last apparition was on July 16th, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. At Fatima in the sixth apparition on October 13th, a tableau appeared with the last phase in the series being a vision of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Forty-four years later at Garabandal Our Lady appeared under the title of Mount Carmel with the scapular hanging from her right wrist.

 

  Another link between these three great Marian events was the Rosary. At Lourdes Our Lady appeared with the Rosary on her right arm and had St. Bernadette pray the Rosary in her visions. At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin came as Our Lady of the Rosary and put great emphasis on the benefits of reciting it especially on the Five First Saturdays. At Garabandal, She instructed the seers on how to say it properly and taught them the mysteries. Throughout the apparitions the visionaries prayed the Rosary in their visions which included those marvelous Rosary processions through the village being led by the Virgin and the four seers with the townsfolk and visitors taking part.

 

  Other connections between Fatima and Garabandal are at both places an Angel prepared the way for the Blessed Virgin. At Garabandal, Saint Michael first appeared to the visionaries in the evening (8:30 p.m.) of June 18, 1961, exactly forty years (a biblical number) to the day (and even the same time of day), from the last vision at Fatima. And at both Fatima and Garabandal, the Angel gave the seers Holy Communion. Another similarity is controversy over misunderstood prophesies.

 

  Another connection between Fatima and Garabandal is the warning(s) of Russian aggression by Our Lady at both sites. Our Lady warned of dire consequences for the world at the hands of Russia if her call for a universal amendment of life went unheeded.

 

  Sister Lucia said in her interview with Father De Marchi: She (Our Lady) said that: “Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation.”

 

  Our Lady told the visionaries at Garabandal that the Church would endure a great “tribulation” (she named it “communism”) which would entail a harrowing persecution the likes of which has never been seen before. Mari Loli said: ”...Russia will unexpectedly and suddenly overrun and overwhelm a great part of the free world.” And Conchita’s aunt heard the visionaries in ecstasy say: “If we don’t amend our ways, Russia will take over the whole world.”

 

  Finally, at both Fatima and Garabandal the truth of the events were to be sealed by a Great Miracle. This happened at Fatima with the Miracle of the Sun and a very great one is predicted to happen at the Pines in Garabandal (and also at Medugorje).

 

Links between Fatima (1917), Garabandal (1961), and Medjugorje (1981)

 

  Fatima, Garabandal, and Medjugorje were all simple villages when Our Lady began to manifest herself to groups of poor, simple children. Mary developed warm loving relationships with each of these children, and they were used to pass on important information about warnings, signs, miracles, and chastisements, which could be lessened or avoided through conversion, prayer, and sacrifices.

 

  The similarities among the apparitions of Fatima, Garabandal, and Medjugorje are striking. They amplify, translate, and build on one another. In fact, one might consider them as all one extended apparition of Our Blessed Mother, made manifest at different times, in different places, with slightly different messages that are relevant to the needs of the Church generation in which the visions occur.

 

Here are some of the particular themes by which they affirm and amplify one another:

 

a. The importance of and power of the rosary and of the priesthood;

b. The emphasis on the Eucharist; angelic presences (i.e., in both apparitions (at Fatima and Garabandal) an angel precedes the appearance of Our Blessed Mother, and an angel gives communion to the children);

c. The considerable emphasis placed on the reception of the sacraments;

d. Secrets given which will be revealed at later dates;

e. An urgent call for prayer and penance;

f. Emergence of a main visionary among the children;

g. Vision of coming calamities (if there is not enough prayer and amendment for life).

Miraculous Water of Fatima

 

  Many know of the miraculous water of Lourdes, but much less renowned is the miraculous water of Fatima. Fatima is a very dry area and even before the Apparitions in 1917, water was hard to obtain in and around Fatima as the nature of the terrain made it unable to retain moisture. Following the apparitions, the local villagers’ wells were running dry from constant use by pilgrims coming to Fatima. The Bishop recognized this problem but also the growing need for water resulting from the ever growing number of pilgrims coming to Fatima; so he organized an effort to dig a new well.

  On November 9, 1991, the digging for the new well began, but after only a half a day of work, they were obstructed by stone. Then, all by itself, plenty of water began to appear, yet no more work was done on the well until the next year. Meanwhile, the local inhabitants and also the pilgrims would obtain water from this providential well. Everybody had great confidence in that water and Our Lady, as a reward, would work many miracles of healing. And ever since, Our Lady has blessed her privileged shrine at Fatima with easily-accessible “Fatima Water” that is sent around the world in little bottles, and continues to work on-going miracles.

 

Approval of the Fatima apparitions

 

  Investigation of these six apparitions at Fatima began in 1919 and concluded on October 13, 1930. Dom Jose Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of the Diocese of Leiria-Fatima announced the results of the Investigative Commission, declaring the apparitions “worthy of belief”.

 

  Every Pope since the apparitions has expressed approval of the supernatural character and stressed the importance of the message of Fatima.

 

PRAYERS

 

Prayer to Our Lady of the Rosary (Fatima, Portugal): Hail, Mother of the Lord, Virgin Mary, Queen of the Rosary of Fatima! Blessed among all women, you are the image of the Church robed in paschal light, you are the honor of our people, you are the victory over every assault of evil. Prophecy of the merciful love of the Father, Teacher of the message of Good News of the Son, Sign of the burning fire of the Holy Spirit, teach us, in this valley of joys and sorrows, the eternal truths that the Father reveals to the little ones. Show us the strength of your protective mantle. In your Immaculate Heart, be the refuge of sinners and the way that leads to God. In union with my brothers and sisters, in faith, in hope, and in love, I entrust myself to you. In union with my brothers and sisters, through you, I consecrate myself to God, O Virgin of the Rosary of Fatima. And at last enveloped in the Light that comes from your hands, I will give glory to the lord for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Prayer of the Angel (Fatima): My God, I believe, I hope, and I love You! I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You. (3*)

 

Trinitarian Prayer (Fatima): Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.

 

SOURCES 

www.miraclehunter.com/

www.fatima.org;  

Flyer from the Fatima Center named “Do You Know”

Flyer from the Fatima Center named “The Third Secret Made Simple”

Flyer from the Fatima Center named “The Still Hidden Secret”

The Fatima Timeline by The Fatima Center

www.wikipedia,org

The True Story of Fatima - A complete account of the Fatima Apparitions by John de Marchi, I.M.C.

www,medjugorjemiracle

Garabandal Journal, Volume 16, No.3, May-June 2017 - Editorial

Garabandal Journal, Volume 16, No.3, May-June 2017 - 100th Anniversary of Fatima

Signs and Wonders for Our Times Volume 17 3/4 2006 - The Third Secret Predicts: World War III and Worse?

Signs and Wonders for Our Times Volume 17 3/4 2006 - Our Lady of Good Success (Prophecies for Our Times); Prophetic revelations made to Venerable Mariana de Jesus Torres

Signs and Wonders for Our Times Volume 27 1/2 2017 - Vatican Chief Exorcist says Consecration of Russia Still Not Done

Signs and Wonders for Our Times Volume 27 1/2 2017 - When Did the 100-YEAR REIGN OF

SATAN Begin? - Speculation Continues in the 100th Year Anniversary of Fatima

https://veritas-vincit-international.org/2017/06/08/john-paul-ii-and-benedict-xvi-on-the-third-secret-of-fatima/

https://aleteia.org/2020/08/28/what-are-the-3-secrets-of-our-lady-of-fatima/

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