Feast of Our Lady of Fatima -- May 13

What better Feast Day to celebrate on Mother's Day than the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima? Laud to our Holy Mother on Mother's day.

Our Lady of Fatima Jacinta Lucia Francisco On May 13, 1917, in Portugal, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to three children in a place called Cova da Iria. It was at noon, and the children were shepherding sheep. Suddenly there was lightening, and the children, thinking that it was going to rain, began to run. Then, just above a holm oak tree, they saw a beautiful lady made of light, holding a rosary in her hand.

Our Lady of Fatima spoke to the children and told them not to be afraid. "I come from Heaven," she said. The oldest of the children was Lucía who was ten years old. She asked Our Lady of Fatima, "Will I go to Heaven?" "Yes," Our Lady of Fatima answered. "And Jacinta," who was her seven-year-old cousin, "Will she go to heaven too?" "Yes," answered Our Lady of Fatima. "And Francisco," the brother of Jacinta who was nine years old, "Will he go to Heaven?" "Yes," answered Our Lady of Fatima, but he will have to say many rosaries."

Our Lady of Fatima asked the children if they would pray and make sacrifice for sinners, and if they would come to this same place on the thirteenth of each month for five months. The children agreed and Lucía said "Yes." Only Lucía spoke to Our Lady of Fatima, the others listened. This was the beginning of a new life for the children, for their sole purpose in life was to pray and make sacrifices for sinners. They would give their lunch to the sheep as a sacrifice, and perform other acts of mortification. The children noted that the beautiful Our Lady of Fatima was sad, and they were sad also because of Our Lady of Fatima's sadness.

On June 13, Our Lady of Fatima appeared again to the children. The conversation was to pray and make sacrifices and to pray the Rosary.

On July 13, Our Lady of Fatima appeared again and conveyed a secret to the children composed of three parts. The first two parts were revealed by Lucía in her memoirs in 1941 and the third part was released by Pope John Paul II in May 2000.

On August 13, 1917, the three children were kidnapped by the mayor of Villa Nova de Ourem to whose district Fatima belonged. The mayor was atheistic as were many in Portugal. In separate conversations with each of the three children, the mayor threatened death if they did not confess everything as a lie. However, the children did not give in to the mayor and professed the truth of Our Lady of Fatima. As a result, the children could not meet Our Lady of Fatima because they were held in jail with common criminals for the night.

But according to witnesses, the children converted the men in the jail, and they all prayed in the cell.

In a previous apparition, Our Lady of Fatima had promised the children that on October 13, 1917, the final apparition, she would reveal her name and perform a great miracle to vindicate the truth of her apparitions. On August 19, 1917, when Our Lady of Fatima appeared unexpectedly, she told the children that on account of the behavior of the mayor, the miracle would not be as great as was her original intention. However, as we will see, it was truly spectacular.

On September 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima appeared over the holm oak tree, the site of the first apparition.

Now, in the final apparition at Fatima, which took place on October 13, 1917, Lucía had publicly announced that Our Lady of Fatima would perform a great miracle to testify to the truth of the apparitions. From the previous day, many people were traveling toward the area. There were not only those with faith but also the atheistic communists and the secular newspaper reporters who were convinced that they would write a story discrediting the entire event as a hoax. Suddenly, it began to rain. The field where people were gathering turned into a field of mud. Seventy thousand people were present to see the miracle. At 12 o’clock noon, Lucía pointed up at the sky. "The sun appeared as a disc that gave off various colors and could be looked at without difficulty; it spun like a fireball and looked as if it would fall to the earth." Suddenly, the sun broke free of its orbit and began to plunge to the earth. All seventy thousand people were in panic. Many were heard to say, "God have mercy on me." Then the sun stopped and returned to its place in the sky, and it turned into a beautiful day. People become aware that their clothes were dry.

In addition to those present at the event, others far away also saw the prodigal in the sky. Newspapers reported the sun falling from the sky as, "The Sun Danced." Lucía says that during this event, Our Lady of Fatima appeared in the sky with Saint Joseph. Our Lady of Fatima was holding a brown scapular, and Saint Joseph was holding the Child Jesus. Our Lady of Fatima said, "I am the Lady of the Rosary."

Fatima Prayer (Invocation)

V. O my Jesus, forgive us our sins.
R. Save us from the fires of hell.
Lead all souls to heaven,
especially those in most need of Thy mercy.

For information about the message of Fatima go here or here.

text from culturalcatholic.com