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DCF III-1, Doc. 127
Doc. 127
Doc. 127
1917-10-19, Lisbon
1917-10-19, Lisboa
Article on Fátima by Maria Magdalena Trigueiros de Martel Patrício, published in the newspaper "O Dia".
Artigo sobre Fátima, de Maria Magdalena Trigueiros de Martel Patrício, publicado no jornal "O Dia".
IMPRESSIONS OF FÁTIMA
IMPRESSÕES DE FÁTIMA
The hamlets, the villages, the nearby towns were emptied of people.
Despovoaram-se os logares, as aldeias, as cidades proximas.
Along the roads, already on the eve, groups of pilgrims were travelling on their way to Fátima.
Pelas estradas, já nas vesperas, seguiam grupos de romeiros a caminho de Fátima.
Fishermen from Vieira4 left their houses of black wood set above the sea, and the work of stowing away the catch. Through the pinewoods, where the crowberries look like drops of dew in the greenery, across the sands where the sails of the windmills turn, they came on foot, woollen leggings on their muscular legs, warm skirts over their shoulders, on their heads the bag with their provisions, with the short, swaying step that made their skirts swirl and set fluttering the orange kerchiefs on which their black hats sat. Workmen from Marinha5, farmers from Monte Real6, from Córtes7, from Marrazes8, hill women from far away — from the hills of Soubio9, of Minde10, of Louriçal11 — people from everywhere the news of the miracle had reached, left their houses and fields and came along on horseback, by cart or on foot, crossing the roads, going over hills and through pinewoods, on the long trek along the ro-
Pescadores da Vieira4 deixaram as casa de madeira negra assentes sobre o mar, as lides da arrumação da pescaria. Pelos pinhaes, onde as camarinhas parecem gotas de orvalho na verdura, pelos areaes onde giram as vellas dos moinhos, vieram a pé, os coturnos de lã nas pernas musculosas, saias de agazálho sobre as costas, á cabeça o sáco com o farnel, no passo meúdo e meneado, que lhes fazia voltear a rodaria das saias, e agitar os lenços alaranjados onde assentavam os chapeus pretos. Operarios da Marinha5, lavradores de Monte Real6, das Córtes7, dos Marrazes8, serranas de longe — das serras do Soubio9, de Minde10, do Louriçal11, gentes de toda a parte onde chegasse a voz do milagre, deixavam as casas e os campos, e vinham por ahi fóra a cavalo, de carro ou a pé, cruzando as estradas, atravessando montes e pinhaes, de longada pelos cami-
ads, which for two days were enlivened by the rolling of carts, the jog-trot of donkeys and the clamour of the groups of pilgrims.
nhos, que durante dois dias se animaram do rodar dos carros, do chouto dos jumentos, do vozear dos grupos dos romeiros.
Autumn was reddening the harvested vineyards. The north-east wind, cold and cutting, heralding winter, made the transparent poplars on the riverbanks tremble as they paled, longing for the sun, in the yellow tones of old lace.
O outomno avermelhava as vinhas vindimadas. O vento do nordeste, frio e cortante, anunciando o inverno, fazia tremer os choupos transparentes das bordas dos rios, que desmaiavam saúdosos do sol, em tons amarellos de rendas antigas.
On the sands the white sails of the windmills were turning. In the pinewoods the green tops of the pines bent in the wind.
Nos areaes giravam as vellas brancas dos moinhos. Nos pinhaes curvavam-se ao vento os cimos verdes dos pinheiros.
The clouds were gradually covering the sky. The mist was piling up in light, soft flakes.
As nuvens iam cobrindo o ceu. Amontoava-se o nevoeiro em flócos leves e macios.
The sea, in the vastness of the beach at Vieira, foamed, roared, rolled itself into high waves, and across the fields its voice could be heard in a sinister clamour!
O mar, na vastidão da praia da Vieira, espumava, bramia, enrolava-se em ondas altas, e pelos campos ia-se ouvindo, n'um clamor sinistro, a sua voz!
All night and all through the early morning it rained: a fine, persistent rain that soaked the fields and saddened the earth, and whose cold damp pierced to the bone the women, the children, the men and the animals crossing the muddy roads as they hurried towards the Hill of the Miracle.
Toda a noite, toda a madrugada choveu, uma chuva miudinha, persistente, que encharcava os campos, que entristecia a terra, que ia trespassando até aos ossos, de uma humidade fria, as mulheres, as creanças, os homens e os animaes, que cruzavam as estradas lamacentas, no caminhar apressado para a Serra do Milagre.
The rain fell and fell, soft and stubborn.
A chuva cahia, cahia, macia e teimosa.
The thick skirts of serge and striped cotton dripped and weighed like lead on the waistbands. The caps and the broad hats streamed water onto the new jackets of the Sunday-best suits. The bare feet of the women and the hobnailed boots of the men splashed in the wide puddles of the muddy roads.
As saias grossas d'estamenha e riscadilho pingavam, pezavam como chumbo, nas fitas das cinturas. Os barretes e os chapeus largos escorriam agua sobre as jaquetas novas dos fatos de vêr a Deus. Os pés descalços das mulheres, as botas ferradas dos homens, chapinhavam nas poças largas do lodaçal das estradas.
But the rain seemed not to wet them; it seemed they did not feel the rain!
Mas a chuva parecia que não molhava, parecia que não sentiam a chuva!
They walked on and on, climbing the hill, lit up by faith, eagerly longing for the miracle that Our Lady had promised for the 13th, at one o'clock, sun time*, to the simple, pure souls of three children who grazed flocks!
Caminhavam sempre, subindo a serra, illuminados de fé, na ancia do milagre que Nossa Senhora promettera, no dia 13, pela uma hora, a hora do Sol, ás almas simples e puras de trez creanças que apascentavam gados!
Left behind, lost in the mist, blurred in the transparency of the rain, were pines, poplars, oak shrubs, red patches of vineyards, farmsteads, ploughed fields of dark earth... The fields were deserted. The houses were shut!
Iam ficando para traz, perdidos na nevoa, esfumados na transparencia da chuva, pinheiros, choupos, carvalheiras, manchas vermelhas de vinhas, casaes, campos lavrados de terra escura... Os campos eram desertos. As casas eram fechadas!
There was a strange silence in the fields, deserted of people and flocks; there was an air of expectation and emotion in the attitude of things,
Havia um silencio estranho nos campos desertos, de gentes e de gados, havia um ar de espera e de emoção na attitude das cousas,
of the poor houses as though asleep in the silence, their windows and doors shut to the light!
das casas pobres como adormecidas no silencio, janellas e portas fechadas á luz!
The hill was high, but it seemed to the walkers that the climb did not tire them!
A serra era alta, mas parecia aos caminheiros que os não cançava a subida da serra!
The hill was sad, ever sadder, with bare black stones and without the cheer of a single green tree, but the walkers did not feel the striking, tragic torment of that landscape of sorrow!
A serra era triste, cada vez mais triste, de pedras escalvadas e negras sem a alegria da verdura de uma arvore, mas os caminheiros não sentiam a tortura impressionante e tragica da paysagem de dôr!
The rain began to thin out. It was now only a very light veil of mist that was gradually dissolving, and little by little the hill was growing brighter.
A chuva começou a rarear. Era agora só um veu de nevoa muito leve que se ia desfazendo a pouco e pouco, e pouco a pouco a serra ia aclarando.
A murmur was drawing near, coming down from the hill. A murmur that seemed like the distant voice of the sea, which had fallen silent in the silence of the fields...
Approximava-se um murmurio que vinha descendo do monte. Murmurio que parecia a voz longinqua do mar, que se tinha calado no silencio dos campos...
They were hymns, growing clearer, sung by thousands of voices.
Eram canticos que se definiam, entoados por milhares de boccas.
On the plateau of the hill, covering the slope, filling a valley, one could see an enormous, shifting mass of thousands and thousands of God's creatures, thousands and thousands of souls in prayer!
No planalto da serra, cobrindo o monte, enchendo um valle, via-se uma mancha enorme e movediça de milhares e milhares de creaturas de Deus, milhares e milhares d'almas em prece!
With raised hands and eyes in ecstasy, they came in the ardent faith of belief. They came to ask Our Lady for the miracle, to ask for the redemption of sins, to ask for a blessing on the bitterness of life!
Mãos erguidas, olhos em extase, vinham na fé ardente da crença. Vinham pedir o milagre a Nossa Senhora, pedir a redempção dos peccados, pedir a benção para as amarguras da vida!
At one o'clock in the afternoon, sun time, the rain stopped.
Á uma hora da tarde, hora do sol, parou a chuva.
The sky had a greyish tone of pearl, and a strange brightness lit up the biblical and tragic vastness of the sad landscape, ever sadder...
O céu tinha um tom acinzentado de perola e uma claridade extranha illuminava a vastidão biblica e tragica da paysagem triste, cada vez mais triste...
The sun had something like a veil of transparent gauze, so that eyes could look at it. The grey tone of mother-of-pearl turned as if into a gleaming silver plate, which kept breaking open until the clouds were torn apart and the silvery sun, wrapped in the same grey lightness of gauze, was seen to rotate, spinning round within the circle of the parted clouds!
O sol tinha como um véu de gaze transparente para que os olhos o pudéssem olhar. O tom cinzento da madreperola transformava-se como n'uma chapa de prata luzidia, que se ia rompendo até que as nuvens se rasgaram e o sol prateado, envolvido na mesma leveza cinzenta de gaze, viu-se rodar, a girar em volta do circulo das nuvens afastadas!
It was a single cry from every mouth; the thousands and thousands of God's creatures whom faith was lifting up to heaven fell to their knees on the soaked ground!
Foi um grito só em todas as boccas; cahiram de joelhos na terra encharcada, os milhares e milhares de creaturas de Deus que a fé levantava até ao céu!
The light turned blue, a strange blue, as if it came through the stained-glass windows of an immense cathedral and spread through that gigantic nave whose pointed arches were formed by the hands raised in the air...
A luz azulava-se n'um azul exquisito, como se viesse, atravez dos vitraes de uma cathedral immensa, espalhar-se n'aquella nave gigantesca ogivada pelas mãos que se ergueram no ar...
The blue slowly died away, so that the light seemed filtered through yellow stained glass.
O azul extinguiu-se lentamente para a luz parecer coada por vitraes amarellos.
Yellow patches now fell on faces, on white kerchiefs, on the dark, poor serge skirts. They were patches repeated endlessly on the low holm oaks, on the stones, on the hillside.
Manchas amarellas cahiam agora sobre as caras, sobre os lenços brancos, sobre as saias escuras e pobres das estamenhas. Eram manchas que se repetiam indefinidamente sobre as azinheiras rasteiras, sobre as pedras, sobre a serra.
Everyone was weeping, everyone was praying, hat in hand, under the grandiose and unique impression of the awaited miracle!
Tudo chorava, tudo rezava, de chapeu na mão, na impressão grandiosa e unica do milagre esperado!
They were seconds, they were instants that seemed like hours, so intensely were they lived!
Foram segundos, foram instantes que pareceram horas, tão vivídos foram!
Clouds passed over the vague grey brightness that veiled the sun!
Passaram nuvens sobre a claridade vaga e cinzenta que velava o sol!
The souls in prayer, whose life had been suspended for a few instants, came back to life.
As almas em prece, que tiveram por instantes a vida suspensa, á vida voltaram.
The clouds were torn to shreds; blue patches of sky appeared. The sun, in the impassive serenity of all time, vaguely lit up the bare hill where Our Lady, through the mouths of three children who grazed flocks, had gathered thousands and thousands of God's creatures!
Esfarraparam-se as nuvens, appareceram bocados azues do céu. O sol, na serenidade impassivel de todo o sempre, illuminou vagamente a serra escalvada, onde Nossa Senhora fez juntar, pela bocca de trez creanças que apascentavam gados, milhares e milhares de creaturas de Deus!
Maria Magdalena
Maria Magdalena
Editors' notes
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