13 September 1917

On the fifteenth of the month of September the seer Lúcia appeared before me at the parish residence, accompanied by her mother. I proceeded to the questioning. She said that on the thirteenth of the current month of September she went with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta to the place called Cova da Iria, and at the usual hour she saw a flash of lightning and then saw the Lady whom she had seen the other times arrive; she seemed the same to her, dressed in white, but she hardly looked at anything except the face, so as to pay attention to what She was saying. And she asked her:

– What is it you want of me?

And the Lady answered:

– I want to tell you to keep on saying the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary, that She may soften the war, for the war is about to end. On the last day Saint Joseph will come with the Child Jesus to give peace to the world, and Our Lord to bless the people. And come here on the thirteenth of October.

Here is this little girl who is deaf and mute: will you make her better?! Lúcia said to her. And she said that the Lady answered that in a year's time the girl would find some improvement.

I have many requests here – some for conversion and others for healing!...

And the Lady answered her:

– I will make some better, others not, because Our Lord does not want to believe in them.

– The people would very much like a little chapel here!

– With half the money collected so far, have the litters made and take them to Our Lady of the Rosary, and let the other half go towards the Little Chapel – the Lady answered her.

Lúcia further said that she offered her two letters and a glass – a small flask – of scented water, which had been given to her by a man from the parish of Olival, and that when she offered them she said to her:

– They gave me this... do you want them?!...

And the Lady answered:

– That is not fitting for Heaven.

And that, having said this, she rose, going off towards the east.

And then she – Lúcia – turned to the people and said: if you want to see Her, look over there. – And she pointed to where She was going.

5th Apparition: 13-9-917 – I called Lúcia before me on the 15th, and she said that on the 13th she saw the same woman dressed in white who seemed to her to be the same one she saw the other times; she saw little more than the face, at which she looked continually so as to pay attention to what she was saying; she comes from the east; she says she saw a flash of lightning, then she saw that woman arrive at the holm-oak shrub, and she says that she asked:

– What is it you want?

– I want to tell you to go on always praying the rosary^* to Our Lady of the Rosary, so that she may ease the war, for the war is about to end¹; on the last day Saint Joseph will come to give peace to the world and Our Lord to give his blessing to the people; and that you should come here on 13 October.

– Here is this little boy who is mute and deaf; will you make him better?

– A year from now he would find himself somewhat better.

– I had many requests here, some for you to convert them, others for you to make them better.

– I will make some better, others not, because Our Lord does not want to believe in them.

– The people would very much like a little chapel here.

– With half the money they have collected so far let them make the litters^* and give them to Our Lady of the Rosary; let the other half go towards the little chapel.

I offered her two letters and a little bottle of scented water.

– They gave me these; do you want them?

– That is not fitting for up in heaven.

And she went off towards the east, and I said to the people: if you want to see her, turn that way.

She told them that she would appear in October, first in the guise of Our Lady of Sorrows and then in that of Our Lady of the Rosary. She recommended that they pray the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary so that the war, which was about to end, might abate. She also told them that in October Saint Joseph would come too, with the Child Jesus, to give peace to the world, and her Divine Son to give the blessing to the people.

As in the month just ended, this month too I went to Fátima on the 13th, but this time without expecting to, because it was not easy and I had no intention of going there.

What happened was that on the night of the 12th X⁷ arrived here⁶ in an enormous char-à-bancs^*, which was carrying 16 people from Benedita to Fátima, where they longed to witness the phenomena that had been occurring on the 13th of each month since May of this year.

X spent the night at my house and the next morning invited me to take a seat in the carriage, an invitation I accepted with excitement.

On the day before, real crowds of people had passed through this village, coming from the direction of the sea, a great number of them having slept here. At the appointed hour we got into the carriage and set off. During the journey I was immensely moved, and more than once tears came to my eyes as I saw the faith and ardent piety of so many thousands of pilgrims. The roads and short cuts were full of people.

There was no track, however small, that did not bring people to the road. It was a pilgrimage that truly made one weep with emotion. Never in all my life had I been given to witness so great and so touching a manifestation of faith. Nothing was seen or heard that betrayed the slightest sense of frivolity or even an intention of innocent amusement. The accordion, indispensable at all pilgrimages and village feasts, was conspicuous by its absence. There was none of the free-and-easy manner typical of young country folk, not even the usual harmless jokes and banter accompanied by shrill guffaws. It was almost ten o'clock when we reached the end of our journey. The crowd, which by that hour was already enormous, approached the place of the apparitions full of respect. The men took off their hats. Almost all the people knelt and prayed fervently. As soon as we arrived, X and I went to the children's house, photographed them and talked with them. That was the scene that impressed me most. I was positively enchanted. That angelic simplicity and that complete lack of concern which they show cannot lie. They do not have the shyness typical of the rough children of the fields and hills in the presence of strangers. It is all the same to them whether they talk with one stranger or with many. The answers are always the same. They seem like adults in their way of expressing themselves. From the children's house we went on to the parish residence, where, besides the parish priest, there were some friends of mine and of X, with whom we exchanged impressions on the subject of the day. After half an hour we set off for the place of the apparitions.

At noon exactly — astronomical time^* — the sun began to lose its brightness. There was no one who did not notice this fact, which since the previous May had always recurred on the 13th of each month at the same hour. Shortly afterwards the eldest of the seers told the bystanders to pray.

I shall never forget the violent impression I felt on seeing so many thousands of the faithful fall to their knees, who, weeping, prayed aloud and, full of trust, implored the maternal protection of the Queen of Heaven²⁷.

It was at this moment that many people saw an oval, of a vivid³⁰ and brilliant colour, with its widest part turned downwards, describe a long straight line in the firmament. Some people saw this phenomenon for a longer time, others for a shorter. I did not see it and I am sorry about it. Mr D^r. Figueirêdo³⁵ and many people from here saw it³⁶. There are some people from here, and very serious ones, who saw a kind of flowers that came from above but did not touch the ground³⁷. — The atmosphere took on a yellowish colour, perhaps because of the darkening of the sun. — What happened in that swift quarter of an hour is never forgotten and also is not easy to describe; I shall tell you more later, so as not to bore you, Canon, with so tedious a letter; nor did I intend to write a description like this, hardly shorter than last month's; Dr. Formigão^* (whom I did not manage to see there) and Dr. Figueirêdo will tell you much better than I what took place.

[…]

As soon as the sun recovered its usual light the children withdrew, and with them the first waves of people, who little by little dispersed⁴⁵. The lowest estimates gave 15 to 17,000 people, and there were those who claimed there were well over 20,000. I give no opinion of my own, but I believe I have never seen so many people. It was a beautiful spectacle.

On that day we were at Caldas da Rainha, but we went to Fatima once again. The morning was lovely; the sky, an intense blue, was completely cloudless; the sun was brilliant and very hot, and there was not the slightest breeze.

We arrived there near noon; the crowd of people was even much larger than in August. I cannot estimate it, but in August it was reckoned that some 5 to 6 thousand people were there, and in September some 15 to 20 thousand.

Everyone feared that the children would again be prevented from coming, but God did not allow it. Meanwhile the people present went on singing the Ave and other hymns, one of them to the Senhora da Carrasqueira^*, a hymn made up by the people, whose words I have not yet managed to obtain; others were praying the rosary. The children arrived and began to pray the rosary, which the eldest led; they then prayed the Litany^*. Suddenly, without the sky clouding over, a change in temperature was felt, the heat of the sun was seen to have lessened, and the yellow patches were seen on the ground, and could also be noticed above all on the white blouses some ladies were wearing. It was only an instant; it all passed quickly. The people, as in August, fell to the ground on their knees, manifesting their faith.

In August there was not a single priest there; they did not want it said that they went there to influence the people by suggestion. In September I saw a few there, but they were all looking for natural phenomena and trying to convince themselves that there was only that. They said nothing and hardly spoke to the people unless the people spoke to them, and as I passed I heard one of them say that for the time being one should neither affirm nor believe those things.

I saw only the slight eclipse of the sun, but many people saw a star, or rather a very small cloud, like a tiny flake of white cotton wool, which, like a shooting star, crossed the firmament, coming from east to west, and disappeared into space as if suddenly submerged! I heard this from more than one person, told in the same way, without these people being together or hearing the others tell it. It therefore deserves all my credence. This passage of the cloud or star over the holm-oak shrub coincided with the hour at which the children say they saw the Lady.

There were also those who said they had seen two stars, and some people asserted they had seen three! Wouldn't that be rather a lot of stars together?!... I do not know, but what it seemed to me was that those who said they had seen them were convinced they were telling the truth.

We went back to Caldas impressed, and the same happened to many other people who went there from Caldas; it impressed us so much that the acquaintances who came to our house for news at once resolved to go to Fatima in October. And yet we assured everyone that we had seen nothing but a slight eclipse of the sun and an extraordinary manifestation of faith.

On 13 September I saw a cross of great size come out of the sun and head towards the east. It did not move very fast. Sometimes it appeared, at other times it vanished, until it leapt out of sight. I also saw other things that I cannot explain. In the parish of Lapas there were people who, at the same hour, saw the cross".

On the thirteenth of September I was at the same place, with my back turned to the north. I was a little disheartened at not seeing anything extraordinary as in the previous month. People near me were shouting that they had seen it. Suddenly I see something pass by like the bubbles children make by blowing soap through a little straw. The first time I saw it pass, I said nothing. I saw it a second time and then I asked aloud: what is this? I cannot explain what it was. I lost sight of it a dozen metre[s] above the holm-oak shrub. My wife did not see it because she was looking the other way. I did not stare at the sun then. In the same month I also saw a blue streak in a dark-coloured cloud moving in the direction opposite to the sun.

He likewise declared that on the thirteenth of September of the same year he had also noticed Lúcia speaking beside the holm-oak shrub, like someone talking with another person, asking questions and waiting for answers, and that at that moment something extraordinary, he could not say what, passed over the holm-oak shrub, looking like white flowers, and that other people also noticed this phenomenon, saying they were stars.

Yielding to an irresistible feeling of curiosity, justified by such extraordinary facts, though without managing to overcome entirely the reluctance I felt at doing so, for fear of appearing to give excessive importance to what was perhaps no more than a ridiculous popular superstition, I resolved to set out for Fatima together with some friends, and so on the afternoon of the 12th I took the northern train and got off at Torres Novas, from where at dawn on the following day I went on by carriage to the village that was already so famous. The spectacle I witnessed during the journey from the princess of the Almonda^* to the adoptive homeland of Gonçalo Hermingues^* was utterly surprising.

[…]

Obliged by the love of truth, I do not wish to conclude without saying that my impressions of what happened that day at Fatima were not encouraging.

I did not go near the place of the apparitions and hardly talked with anyone, staying on the road some three hundred metres away, and I noted only the diminution of the sunlight, which seemed to me an unimportant phenomenon, due perhaps to the high altitude of the hills. I therefore continued to maintain a prudent but benevolent wait-and-see attitude, as I had since the events of August, for before them I invariably smiled in absolute incredulity on hearing any reference to the apparitions of Fatima.

Around noon, there we were waiting for the Lady to come. Then there was a flash of lightning and the Lady appeared. What do you want of me today? I want you to go on coming here the rest of the months and to go on praying the rosary every day; I want to ask you to work a miracle so that all the people will believe; in the last month I will make a sign in the sun so that they believe; and Saint Joseph will come with the child Jesus to give the blessing to the world. Our Lady of the Rosary. Then Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lord. I want to ask you for some people who asked me, for the Lady to cure them, some lame, others dumb, others blind and others sick; in a year's time some will be cured. If she told me more things this month I don't remember. She went up towards the east as in all the other months.

13 September dawned without a cloud on the horizon. A scorching sun makes us seek the shade. Lúcia says the rosary at the appointed hour. The conversation with the said Lady follows, and as soon as she says: there she goes, the sun darkens so much that the moon and the stars that encircle the firmament can be seen. The heat lessens and a breeze comes to caress our brows. Then, very high up, cutting through the air from East to West, some very small bodies are seen, white as snow. Some say they are doves, but one can see perfectly well that they are not birds. On the slope on the east side was the reverend Father Joaquim Ferreira Gonçalves das Neves, parish priest of Santa Catarina da Serra; seeing that he was perhaps looking without seeing anything, I go up to him and ask him what he sees, and he answers that he sees nothing. I point out a direction to him and at once he says that he is now seeing them. When the phenomenon is over, I find the same gentleman on his knees leading the rosary. He was, it seems to me, the first minister of the Church to pray together with the people on that blessed spot.

"Did you go to the Cova da Iria in the month of September?". She answered: – "I went there several times because every so often people came to ask us to go there and say the rosary with them. On the thirteenth I also went there, accompanied by a great crowd; my cousins were already there with many people. At around noon there was a flash of lightning and the Lady appeared as on the other occasions. I asked: "What do you want of me?". She answered: – "I want you to come here next month and to keep saying the Rosary". At the suggestion of Maria do Rosário⁶, I asked whether She wanted them to build a little chapel there, and She said they should build a little chapel there in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary. I asked for the conversion and cure of some people and She answered that within a year some would be cured and others not.

– "And in the month of September did nothing else happen?". She answered: – "I asked again that she work a miracle so that the people would believe, because they were saying I was a fraud who ought to be hanged and burned. The Lady gave me the same answer as the other time; she withdrew as usual".

On the 13th of October of that year about 60,000 people, of every class and social condition, gathered at the place of the apparitions, drawn by the vague report of the discreetly announced miracle.

It was then that the most astonishing and divinely beautiful spectacle that it is given to man to behold unfolded before the eyes of that wondering crowd. It had rained torrentially all morning. The sky, in all its immense vastness, was covered with dense black clouds.

At astronomical noon^* the sun suddenly tears through the clouds that veil its face and, like a marvellous Catherine wheel, spins dizzily on its axis for ten minutes, sending out in continuous bursts sheaves of light and torrents of flame of the most beautiful and varied colours.

— Did Your Excellency also witness that astonishing phenomenon?

— I did. I had already been to Fátima on the thirteenth of September, but I did not witness anything extraordinary then, except the faith and piety of the crowd, which that day reached perhaps as many as 30,000 people.

On the twenty-seventh of the same month I went back there to see and question the seers, and I confess that I was deeply impressed by the tone of conviction and sincerity with which they described the facts they claimed to have witnessed. But only on the thirteenth of October, when I witnessed the solar phenomenon, did I recognise the importance of the marvellous events of Fátima and decide to carry out, on my own initiative and purely for intellectual satisfaction, an inquiry as thorough and detailed as my professional duties allowed.

In September he hastened his coming because he was anxious to find out properly and to witness what was happening. On the thirteenth of September he went to the Cova da Iria, but saw nothing except a great many people, whom many reckoned at fifty thousand. He was more or less seven metres away from the children, whom he saw arrive in the midst of a great crowd accompanying them, and he saw them kneeling by the holm oak praying the rosary. At a certain moment the people nearby said that everyone should uncover their heads, because the children had ordered it, Our Lady being present. Where he was, everyone uncovered respectfully. Some were standing, others kneeling. Almost everyone knelt when they gave the order. Some people said they had seen a star. Others lamented that they had seen nothing. Afterwards he went to the children's houses, and first to Jacinta's. There he found many people. Some ladies were questioning Jacinta and asking her to pray that the war might end. So he went to Lúcia's house. She and her parents were there. He spoke with the mother. The house too was so full of people that hardly anyone could move there. He then asked the mother about the outcome. The mother answered that her daughter, after the first apparition, came home at night and told her that she had seen Our Lady at the Cova da Iria. She would not believe it, because her daughter was not what she wished her to be, with merits enough to see Our Lady. She wanted to beat her. Lúcia, afraid of her, began to tell people outside what was happening and would not tell her mother anything more. When her mother found out, she said to her: “So you go around telling people outside that Our Lady appears to you, and you tell me nothing?” The little girl answered: “Well, Mother, you wanted to beat me!” Then she asked her daughter how big the Lady was. She said she would compare her to a local girl of fifteen. She was of such beauty that she had never seen the like. A priest from far away asked the father's permission to speak to his daughter, and he said he would not allow it, because he did not believe in the apparitions and they were wearing his daughter out; she was by her father's side, very dejected. He heard that in the end the priest had managed to speak to her after all. Then the deponent went with the father to the house of an aunt of his named Teresa, with whom he wanted to speak, the father accompanying him to show him where she lived. The aunt asked him whether he had seen anything at the Cova da Iria. He answered that he had seen nothing but a white butterfly, to which she said: “There are plenty of those around here; and then, Mr Manuel,” she added, “what will become of us?” “Why?” asked the deponent. “Because people have been passing by here making their comments, threatening and saying that the little ones and their families ought to be prosecuted, because they were deceiving the people.” The deponent spoke to her in this way: “don't worry, because if it is the work of God or of Our Lady, there is no reason to be frightened, because there was not and could not be anything against her”. The father was somewhat worked up, and so he did not speak to him about anything further.

Did the Lady recommend that you pray the rosary?
– She did.

2^a – When?
– When she appeared the first time.
3^a – Did you hear the secret too, or was it only Lúcia who heard it?
– I heard it too.
4^a – When did you hear it?
– The second time, on St. Anthony's day.
5^a – Is the secret for you to become rich?
– It isn't.
6^a – Is it for you to be good and happy?
– It is. It is for the good of all three of us.
7^a – Is it for you to go to Heaven?
– It isn't.
8^a – Can't you reveal the secret?
– I can't.
9^a – Why?
– Because the Lady said we were not to tell the secret to anyone.
10^a – If the people knew the secret, would they be sad?
– They would.
11^a – How did the Lady hold her hands?
– She held them raised.
12^a – Always raised?
– Sometimes she turns her palms towards the sky.
13^a – Did the Lady say in May that she wanted you to go to the Cova da Iria more times?
– She said she wanted us to go there for six months, month after month, until in October she would say what she wanted.
14^a – Does she have any radiance about her head?
– She does.
15^a – Can you look properly at her face?
– I can't, because it hurts the eyes.
16^a – Did you always hear properly what the Lady said?
– The last time I didn't hear everything because of the noise the people were making.

On the thirteenth of this month did Our Lady say that the war would end that very day? What were the words she used?

– She said this: “The war ends this very day; expect your soldiers here very soon”.

2^nd – Did she say: “expect your military men here” or “expect your soldiers here”?

– She said: “expect the military men here”.

3^rd – But look, the war is still going on!... The newspapers report that there has been fighting after the thirteenth!... How is this to be explained, if Our Lady said that the war ended on that day?

– I don't know. I only know that I heard her say the war would end on the 13th. I don't know anything more.

4^th – Some people assert that they heard you say on that day that Our Lady had declared that the war would end soon. Is that true?

– I said it just exactly as Our Lady had said it.

5^th – On the 27th of last month I went to your house to talk with you, do you remember?

– I remember seeing you here.

6^th – Well, on that day you told me that Our Lady had said that on 13 October St Joseph and the Child Jesus would also come, and that after that the war would soon end, not on that day.

– I don't remember well now how She said it. She could have said that; I don't know. Perhaps I didn't understand the Lady properly.

7^th – On the thirteenth of this month did you tell the people to look at the sun?

– I don't remember doing that.

8^th – Did you tell them to close their umbrellas?

– I did the month before. This last time I don't remember telling them to.

9^th – Did you know when the sign in the sun was due to begin?

– No.

10^th – Did you look at it?

– I did; it seemed to be the moon.

11^th – Why did you look at the sun?

– I looked because all those people said to look at the sun.

12^th – Did Our Lady say she would pray to her Divine Son for the souls of the soldiers killed in the war?

– No, sir.

13^th – Did she say the people would be punished if they did not turn from their sins?

– I don't remember if She said it. I think not.

14^th – On the 13th you didn't have the doubts you have now about what the Lady said. How do you explain your doubts today?

– On that day I remembered better; it had happened more recently.

15^th – What did you see about a year ago? Your mother says that you and other children saw a figure wrapped up so that its face could not be seen. Why did you tell me last month that it was nothing?

– !...

16^th – That time, did you run away?

– I think I ran away.

17^th – On the eleventh of this month you wouldn't tell me that on the thirteenth Our Lord would appear blessing the people, and Our Lady of Sorrows^* too. Was it for fear that I would make fun of you, as other people had already done, saying it was impossible? Or was it because many strangers were present and you were shy of saying it in front of so many people? Look, Jacinta has told me everything...

– !...

18^th – When did Our Lady tell you that those apparitions would take place on the thirteenth of October?

– It was on the day she appeared at Valinhos or on the other thirteenth. I don't know exactly.

19^th – Did you also see Our Lord?

– I saw a figure that seemed to be a man; it looked like Our Lord.

20^th – Where was that figure?

– It was beside the sun.

21^st – Did you see it bless the people?

– No, I didn't; but Our Lady had said that Our Lord would come to bless the people.

22^nd – If the people knew the secret that Our Lady revealed to you, would they be sad?

– I think they'd stay as they are, more or less the same.

I, Manuel Antunes Marto², Parish Priest of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Luz de Maceira, council of Leiria, diocese of Coimbra³, at the request of the most worthy Parish Priest of the parish of Fátima, Manuel Marques Ferreira, summoned before me Maria do Carmo, my parishioner, wife of Joaquim dos Santos, who has my complete trust, and she declared the following: That she had been ill for five years with no hope of getting better, for day by day she felt her strength failing; she was very thin and had a bad cough, spending whole nights coughing, so that people thought she had tuberculosis, and she was convinced of it too – so convinced that she sent her children, her daughters⁴, away from her so as not to infect them. And having heard that in the parish of Fátima Our Lady had appeared to some little children, she made a vow to go there on foot on the thirteenth of four months in a row, praying all the way, to see whether Our Lady would make her better. As soon as she went there the first time, with great difficulty, she felt better, for the journey back cost her less effort than the journey there.

She went on improving steadily, and on the thirteenth of November nineteen hundred and seventeen, the day she completed her vow, she found herself completely well, attributing her cure to a miracle of Our Lady of Fátima.

Without delay I began to question him about what he had seen and heard since the month of May last at the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of each month during the time of the apparition.

Between him and me the following short dialogue took place:

- What have you seen at the Cova da Iria these last months?
- I have seen Our Lady.
- Where does she appear?
- On top of a holm-oak shrub.
- Does she appear suddenly or do you see her coming from somewhere?
- I see her coming from the side where the sun rises and placing herself on the holm-oak shrub.
- Does she come slowly or quickly?
- She always comes quickly.
- Do you hear what she says to Lucia?
- I don't hear.
- Have you ever spoken with the Lady? Has she ever addressed a word to you?
- No, I have never asked her anything; she speaks only with Lucia.
- Whom does she look at, at you and Jacinta too or only at Lucia?
- She looks at all three; but she looks longer at Lucia.
- Has she ever wept or smiled?
- Neither one thing nor the other; she is always serious.
- How is she dressed?
- She has a long dress and over it a mantle that covers her head and comes down to the bottom of the dress.
- What is the colour of the dress and the mantle?
- It is white, the dress having gold stripes.
- What is the Lady's attitude?

– That of someone praying. She has her hands joined at the height of her breast.

– Does she carry anything in her hands?

– She carries, between the palm and the back of her right hand, some beads that hang down over her dress.

– And what does she have on her ears?

– Her ears can't be seen, because they are covered by the mantle.

– What colour are the beads?

– They are white too.

– Is the Lady pretty?

– Yes, she is.

– Prettier than that girl you see there?

– Prettier.

– But there are ladies much prettier than that girl...

– She is prettier than anyone I have ever seen.

The questioning of Francisco concluded, I called Jacinta aside, who was playing in the street with other children, had her sit on a little stool beside me and subjected her too to an interrogation, succeeding in obtaining from her answers as complete and detailed as her brother's.

– Have you seen Our Lady on the thirteenth of each month since May?

– I have.

– Where does she come from?

– She comes from Heaven, from the side of the sun.

– How is she dressed?

– She has a white dress, trimmed with gold, and on her head a mantle, also white.

– What colour is her hair?

– Her hair can't be seen; it is covered by the mantle.

– Does she wear earrings?

– I don't know, because her ears can't be seen either

– What is the position of her hands?

– Her hands are joined at the height of her breast, with the fingers turned upwards.

– Are the beads in her right hand or her left?

To this question the child first answers that they were in the right hand, but then, owing to a deliberate and captious insistence on my part, she appears perplexed and confused, not knowing how to say precisely which of her own hands corresponded to the hand in which the Apparition held the rosary.

– What was it that Our Lady recommended to Lucia most earnestly?

– She told us to pray the rosary^* every day.

– And do you pray it?

– I pray it every day with Francisco and Lucia.

What have you seen at the Cova da Iria in recent months?
- I have seen Our Lady.
- Where does she appear?
- On top of a holm-oak shrub
- Does she appear suddenly or do you see her come from somewhere?

– I see her come from the side where the sun rises and settle on the holm-oak shrub.

– Does she come slowly or quickly?

– She always comes quickly.

– Do you hear what she says to Lúcia?

– I don't.

– Have you ever spoken to the Lady? Has she ever spoken to you?

– No, I never asked her anything; she speaks only to Lúcia.

– Whom does she look at, at you and Jacinta too, or only at Lúcia?

– She looks at all three of us; but she looks longer at Lúcia.

Have you seen Our Lady on the 13th of each month since May?

– I have.

– Where does she come from?

– She comes from Heaven, from the side of the sun.

– How is she dressed?

– She has a white dress, trimmed with gold, and on her head she has a mantle, also white. Round her waist there is a golden ribbon that comes down to the hem of the dress.

– Does she wear boots or shoes?

– She wears neither boots nor shoes.

– So she has only stockings on?

– It looks as if she has stockings, but perhaps her feet are so white that they look as if they had stockings on.

– What colour is her hair?

– You can't see her hair, it is covered by the mantle.

– Does she wear earrings?

– I don't know, because you can't see her ears either.

– What is the position of her hands?

– Her hands are joined on her breast, with the fingers pointing upwards.

– Are the beads in her right hand or her left hand?

– .....

To this question the child at first answers that they were in her right hand, but then, owing to insistence on my part, she shows herself perplexed and confused, unable to say precisely which of her own hands corresponded to the hand with which the Lady held the Rosary.

- What did the Lady most earnestly recommend to Lúcia?
- She told us to pray the rosary^* every day.
- And do you pray it?
- I pray it every day with Francisco and Lúcia.

Is it true that Our Lady has appeared to you at the place called Cova da Iria?

– It is true.

– How many times has she appeared to you already?

– Five times, once each month.

– On what day of the month?

– Always on the thirteenth, except in the month of August, when I was arrested and taken to the town (Vila Nova de Ourém) by the administrator^*. That month I saw her only some days later, on the nineteenth, at the place called Valinhos.

– It is said that the Lady also appeared to you last year. What truth is there in this?

– Last year she never appeared to me (nor before May of this year); nor did I say that to anyone, because it was not true.

Where does she come from? From the east?
- I don't know; I don't see her come from anywhere; she appears over the holm-oak shrub, and it is when she withdraws that she goes off in the direction where the sun rises.
- How long does she stay? A long time or a short time?
- A short time.
- Long enough to say an Our Father and a Hail Mary, or more?
- More, quite a lot more, but not always the same length of time (perhaps not enough to pray the rosary).
- The first time you saw her, weren't you frightened?
- I was, so much so that I wanted to run away, with Jacinta and Francisco, but She told us not to be afraid, because she would not harm us. She said: "don't be afraid, for I won't harm you."
- How is she dressed?
- She has a white dress, which comes down to a little below the middle of the leg, and her head is covered by a mantle of the same colour and the same length as the dress.
- Has the dress no trimmings?
- On it, at the front, two golden cords can be seen, which come down from the neck and are joined by a tassel, also golden, at about the middle of the body.
- Does she have a belt or a ribbon?
- She doesn't.
- Does she wear earrings?
- She wears small yellow hoops.
- Which hand holds the beads?
- The right hand.
- Were they a five-decade rosary or a full rosary?
- I didn't notice properly.
- Did they end with a cross?
- They ended with a white cross, and the beads were white too. The chain was white too.
- Did you ever ask her who she was?
- I did, but she declared she would only say so on 13 October.
- Didn't you ask her where she came from?
- I asked where she was from, and she answered me that she was from Heaven.
- And when did you ask her that question?
- The second time, on the thirteenth of June.
- Did she ever smile or look sad?

- She never smiled nor looked sad, but was always serious.
- Did she urge you and your cousins to say any prayers?
- She urged us to pray the rosary in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world.
- Did she express a wish that many people should be present at the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of each month?
- She said nothing about that.
- Is it true that she told you a secret, forbidding you to reveal it to anyone whatever?
- It is true.
- Does it concern only you or your companions too?
- All three of us.
- Can't you disclose it at least to your confessor?
(At this question she kept silent, seeming somewhat embarrassed, and I thought I should not insist by repeating the question).
- It is said that, to free yourself from the administrator's pestering on the day you were arrested, you told him something as if it were the secret when it was not, thus deceiving him, and afterwards boasted of having played that trick on him: is it true?
- It is not; the administrator really did want me to reveal the secret to him, but as I could not tell it to anyone, I did not tell him, even though he insisted with me a great deal to that end. What I did was to tell everything the Lady said to me, except the secret, and perhaps for that reason the administrator was left thinking that I had revealed the secret to him as well. I did not want to deceive him.
- Did the Lady tell you to learn to read?
- She did, yes, the second time she appeared.
- But if the Lady said she would take you to Heaven next October, what use would it be to you to learn to read?
- That is not true: the Lady never said she would take me to Heaven in October, and I never asserted that she had told me such a thing.
- What did the Lady declare should be done with the money the people leave at the Cova da Iria at the foot of the holm-oak shrub?
- She said we should put it on two litters^* and carry them to the parish church: Jacinta, two more girls and I carrying one, and Francisco with three more boys the other. Part of that money would be for the worship and feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and the other part towards a new chapel.
- Where does she want the chapel to be built? At the Cova da Iria?
- I don't know: she didn't say.

- Are you very happy that Our Lady has appeared to you?
- I am.
- On the thirteenth of October will Our Lady come alone?
- St. Joseph will come too with the Child, and peace will be granted to the world.
- And did she make any other revelation?
- She declared that on the 13th she will make all the people believe that she really appears.
- Why do you quite often lower your eyes and stop gazing at the Lady?
- It's because she is sometimes dazzling.
- Did she teach you any prayer?
- She did; and she wants us to recite it after each mystery of the rosary^*.
- Do you know that prayer by heart?
- I do.
- Say it then...
- O my Jesus, forgive us, deliver us from the fire of hell, take all the little souls to Heaven, especially those that most need it¹⁰.

You told me some days ago that Our Lady wanted the money offered by the people to be taken to the parish church on two litters^*. How are they to get the litters, and when are they to be taken to the church?

– The litters are to be bought with the money offered and will be carried at the feasts of Our Lady of the Rosary.

2^a – Do you know for certain in what spot Our Lady wishes a chapel to be built in her honour?

– I don't know for certain, but I think She wants the chapel at the Cova da Iria.

3^a – What did She say she would do so that all the people would believe that she appeared?

– She said she would perform a miracle.

4^a – When did she say that?

– She said it several times, but only once, at the time of the first apparition, did I ask her that question.

5^a – Aren't you afraid the people will harm you if they don't see anything extraordinary on that day?

– I am not afraid at all.

6^a – Do you feel within you something, some force that draws you to the Cova da Iria on the 13th of each month?

– I want to go there, and I would be sad if I didn't.

7^a – Did you ever see the Lady cross herself, pray, or tell the beads of the Rosary?

– I didn't.

8^a – Did she tell you to pray?

– She told me to pray several times.

9^a – Did she tell you to pray for the conversion of sinners?

– She didn't; she only told me to pray to Our Lady of the Rosary for the war to end.

10^a – Did you see the signs that other people say they have seen, such as a star, roses coming loose from the Lady's dress, etc.?

– I didn't see the star or other extraordinary signs.

11^a – Did you hear any rumbling, thunder or earth tremor?

– I never did.

12^a – Can you read?

– I can't.

13^a – Are you learning to read?

– I'm not.

14^a – How then do you fulfil the order the Lady gave you in that regard?

!.....

15^a – When you tell the people to kneel and pray, is it the Lady who tells you to say so?

– It is not the Lady who tells me, it is I who want to.

16^a – Whenever she appears, do you kneel?

- Sometimes I stay standing, other times I kneel.
16^a – When she speaks, is her voice sweet and pleasant?
– It is.
17^a – How old does the Lady seem to be?
– She seems to be about fifteen.
18^a – What colour is the chain of the rosary?
– It is white.
19^a – And that of the crucifix?
– The crucifix is white too.
20^a – Does the veil cover the Lady's forehead?
– It doesn't. Her forehead can be seen clearly.
21^a – Is the splendour that surrounds her beautiful?
– It is more beautiful than the light of the sun and very bright.
22^a – Did the Lady never greet you with her head or her hands?
– Never.
23^a – Did she never smile at you?
– No, not that either.
24^a – Does she usually look at the people?
– I never saw her look at them.
25^a – Do you hear the talk, noises and shouts of the people during the time you see the Lady?
– I don't.
26^a – Did the Lady ask you in May to come back to the Cova da Iria every month until October?
– She said we should come back there month after month for six months, on the 13th.
27^a – Did you hear your mother read the book called "Missão abreviada" where the story is told of the apparition of Our Lady to a boy and a girl?
– I did.
28^a – Did you often think about that story and talk about it to other children?
– I didn't think about that story nor did I tell it to anyone.

How old are you?
– I'm nine.
2^a – Do you only see the Lady or do you also hear what She says?
– I only see her; I hear nothing of what She says.
4^a – Does she have a glow around her head?

– She does.
5^a – Can you look properly at her face?
– I can look, but only a little, because of the light.
6^a – Does she have any trimmings on her dress?
– She has some gold cords.
7^a – What colour is the crucifix of the rosary?
– It is white.
8^a – And the chain of the rosary?
– It is white too.
9^a – Would the people be sad if they knew the secret?
– They would.

Near Fátima or Aljustrel, Cova da Iria, beside Aljustrel, [near] the road [of] macadam, on the north side. Things I witnessed. On 13 June I went there for the first time, but did not arrive in time for the event; however, I spoke with the little girls in the churchyard at Fátima. I questioned them carefully and saw in them something that, it seemed to me, could not possibly be untrue. From that moment I believed that it was the Most Holy Virgin who came there. On 13 July I was present too. At the hour of the apparition [there could be seen] a little mist. The sun lost its strength and stopped giving heat, though until then it had been very hot. And many people said that, when the apparition spoke, they heard her but did not

[…]

witness [make out] what She was saying. I only heard when Lúcia said: there She goes! I heard a roar in the air. It seemed like the beginning of a thunderclap. On 13 August I was present too. The little girls and the boy had been arrested. There were a great many people. At the same hours as the apparition, the heavenly bodies and the sun did the same as on the other occasions; and there was a most extraordinary sign in the heavens. On 13 September I was present too. The sun and the heavenly bodies made the same display. The people were full of excitement, looking up into the air, some saying that they saw stars, others that they saw a dove, others that they saw stars running and swallows going along with them. Everyone was excited. Still others [said] that they saw flowers falling. On 13 October it rained almost all morning. Close to the hour of the apparition it stopped raining. The extraordinary things that happened in the sun! Everyone saw them who had their eyes open; whoever closed them saw nothing. And perhaps there were some who saw and said they had not, so as not to give honour to the Mother of Heaven. Whatever mistake there may have been about the war^*, the extraordinary [facts] that happened there are undeniable.

If the vision is genuine, there would seem to be a certain difference in the way it revealed itself to each child. Thus the eldest, Lucia, was certainly the most privileged; she saw, heard and spoke with the apparition, making requests and asking questions of it, and obtaining answers. The youngest, Jacintha, saw and heard the Lady but never spoke to her, nor did She address her directly. The little boy, Francisco, saw the Lady, but never heard her speak or even saw her move her lips, and never saw Her as distinctly as on 13 October.

[…]

The children went on their pious pilgrimage to the Cova da Iria on the 13th of every month, except in August, when they were arrested. They say they always saw the Lady, that Lucia always spoke with Her, that she asked her for some cures and conversions; that the Lady promised her to cure and convert some, and not others. That she always told them to pray the rosary, and told them that she wanted a little chapel in that place dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

[…]

The children describe the apparition as being a Lady

very beautiful, the most beautiful they had ever seen, (their very words) with hands raised to Heaven, dressed all in white and gold, with a rosary all white hanging from her right arm.

Once Lucia asked the Lady: “Where are you from and where are you going?” and she says the Lady answered her: “I am from Heaven and I am going to Heaven”. And when Lucia asked her whether she, Jacintha and Francisco would also go to Heaven, the Lady answered that she and Jacintha would go, and that Francisco would go too, but would have to pray the rosary more. Since then the little boy has at times prayed ten rosaries a day!

How did you learn that the Lady appeared to your daughter the first time? Was it she who told you?

– I learned of it from the other children's family, because Lúcia advised her companions to say nothing for fear they would be scolded. Only after I questioned her did she say what she had seen.

3^a – Did you never scold your daughter for going to the Cova da Iria? Did you always give her complete freedom to go there on the 13th of each month?

– I never forbade her to go to that place. Sometimes I asked her if she wanted to go and she answered yes, other times she herself said she would go, if I gave her leave.

4^a – Do the three children usually go to the place of the apparitions alone or do they go accompanied by other children?

– They go alone. Other children almost always go too, but accompanied by their parents, and they stay beside them; they do not join Lúcia and her cousins.

5^a – Did the children tend livestock? To whom did it belong?

– Lúcia tended a small flock of sheep and her cousins another. Those flocks belonged to their respective families. Sometimes they put the animals together, but only because they wanted to. The sheep Lúcia tended I have already sold.

6^a – How have the children been dressed when they go?

– The first time they were shabbily turned out, as shepherds almost always are. The other times, on the 13th of each month, they go dressed in light-coloured clothes and wear a white kerchief on their heads.

[…]

When the children were arrested by the administrator^* of Vila Nova de Ourém, did anyone go to demand that they be returned to their parents?

– A brother of Francisco and Jacinta went to talk to them at the administrator's house. The administrator's wife asked whether he had come to fetch the children, to which he answered no. The administrator himself brought them back to Fátima.

11^a – Have many people come to see your daughter?

– Many people have come almost every day.

Before each apparition did you see any flash of lightning?

– Sometimes I saw one, other times I saw two. The air was murky, as before a thunderstorm.

29^th – The first time the Lady appeared to you, was the sky cloudless?

– I don't remember whether there were clouds.

30^th – When the Lady appeared to you the 1^st time, what were you doing?

– I said the rosary before she came.

31^st – When the first apparition happened, did you kneel or remain standing?

– The first time I remained standing.

32^nd – Did the Lady always come surrounded by a radiance?

– She did.

– What colour was that radiance?

– It was very bright, very white.

33^rd – Did the radiance appear before the Lady?

– It appeared almost at the same time as the Lady.

I sit down beside him and begin my conversation: “Did you see Our Lady?” — “I did.” “How was she dressed?” — “All in white and gold.” “And didn't she have anything coloured?” — “No.” “And on her head?” — “A mantle.” “And nothing else?” — “Yes, she had a thing.” “What?” — “I don't know, a thing.” “And could her hair be seen?” — “No.” “And what colour were her eyes?” — “They were black.” These answers were given with an air of enormous naturalness, in a slightly drawling voice. All three children, whom I spoke to separately, change their tone when describing Our Lady's gaze. One can see that it was what impressed them most.

Lucia says of the eyes: “They were very dark.” “And the dress?” — “White and gold.”

“With a coloured belt?” — “No, with gold stars; look, she had one on her breast.” “And on her head?” — “A mantle and a thing, like this...” “But what?” — “I don't know, it was like a little basket thing” (a little basket). I did not even say the word crown, which came to my mind at once; I let the child explain herself as best she could, and I confess I found the comparison delightful. “And could her hair be seen?” — “No.” “Tell me, was Our Lady laughing, cheerful?” — “No, she was serious.” “Cross?” — “No, serious.” “She had the beads, didn't she?” — “Yes, some white beads, and when she spoke she opened her hands, like this...” The child took the beads out of her pocket and explained what she had seen. At a certain point she tells me that Our Lady had a great deal of light. “Like the sun?” — “More than the sun.” A lady who was there says to her: “Why were you afraid at first? If I appeared to you, you wouldn't run away.” — “That's because you wouldn't blind me.” She says that Our Lady asks the people to mend their ways, to pray the rosary a great deal and to build a chapel to Our Lady of the Rosary. The child repeats many times: “The people don't mend their ways, the people don't mend their ways...”

Our Lady's dress was of these colours: the dress was all white; it had two stars from the waist down, one in line with the other; round the neck a cord with a ball came down to the waist; the hands joined, and from them hung some beads, I don't know if it was a Rosary or a white Terço^*, with a crucifix also white. The mantle covered her head down to the end of the dress. it had a little gold edge; the feet, I don't know if she had stockings on or came barefoot, because I couldn't make out her toes; it was because of the light that didn't let me fix my eyes on them; everything ar[ound] her was a light so bright and so strong that it didn't let me see as I wanted because it seemed to blind me.

I think I have already said almost everything if anything of what she told me to write is missing I don't remember.

"Did your cousins ever speak with the Lady?". She answered: "They never spoke; once we agreed that Jacinta would speak to her, but, when we got there, Jacinta said nothing."

– "Was the Lady's countenance smiling?". She answered: "It was sad; when she spoke, she opened her hands, which were joined and raised against her breast".

[…]

"Are you certain that you really saw a Lady on top of the holm-oak shrub and that you were not mistaken?". She answered: "I am certain that I saw her and that I was not mistaken; even if they killed me, no one would make me say the contrary.

– "And who was this Lady?". She answered: "Before she said she was the Lady of the Rosary, I did not know who she was; now I am convinced she was Our Lady".

Several times I questioned the seer Jacinta, who always confirmed to me that she saw a Lady at the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of each month from May to October nineteen hundred and seventeen, except on the thirteenth of August, when she was at the house of the municipal administrator^*, but that in that month she saw Her on the following Sunday – the nineteenth – at the place called Valinho, where she was called by her brother João at Lúcia's request.

She said that she saw a very beautiful Lady, all dressed in white, in a garment with little gold cords, with a veil or mantle over her head, the size of F. – she points to a girl of average height, about fourteen years old – and that she had some very white beads hanging from her hands, held between the forefinger and thumb of both hands, which she held up at her waist and parted to about the width of her shoulders when she spoke to Lúcia.

When She spoke to Lúcia, she heard a very gentle, pious voice, but she does not remember hearing anything said except that they – the seers – would go to Heaven. In the several times I questioned her she never contradicted herself on essentials, although on incidental matters there were some contradictions, real or apparent. On one occasion – 21 August – I went to her parents' house with five ladies – Dona Maria de Jesus Raposo, of Torres Novas, and others from the Quinta da Cardiga – one of whom, about fifteen years of age, was dressed in white. On reaching the parents' house I called out... Jacinta came; she was alone, and on seeing the unexpected visitors she was embarrassed, as is natural in a child of the people, and in one who a few days earlier had been returned to her parents after being abducted. After a few words of encouragement, I said to her:

– Look, Jacinta, see whether it was one of these ladies you saw at the Cova da Iria, or whether there is one here who looks like the one you saw there.

She raises her little eyes, runs her gaze over all of them, from head to foot, and says:

– It wasn't any of these... the other one is much more beautiful.

I point out to her the one dressed in white, saying to her:

– Then wasn't it this Lady, dressed in white, so beautiful, that you saw up there?!

This Lady, she answered, is very beautiful, but She whom I saw there is much more beautiful.

We went to Lúcia's parents' house and, on finding her, I asked her the same question and got the same answer. Nor could I get her to reveal the secret to me; she only said that it – the secret – was not bad for them, the seers. She also said that the Lady appeared to her three more times: once on the day of the Ascension of the Lord, in the church during Mass, when she taught her to say the beads; another time, at night, above the trapdoor of the loft while the family was asleep; and once more under (or, if I am not mistaken, on top of) a table, without saying anything to her, until she, Jacinta, said to her mother: Look... don't you see the Lady I saw up there, there underneath?!... Look!!! As the mother herself stated to me.

Does that man not know that the children said Our Lady would give a sign so that all the people would believe that it was She who was appearing?

On 27 September I heard that prediction from the mouths of the children and on 13 October I saw the sign and saw that all the people believed.

What did the Lady say in September?

– I don't remember what She said.

Perhaps it was that day that she said that on 13 October St. Joseph would come with the Child, and Our Lord to give the blessing to the people, and Our Lady of the Rosary with a little angel on each side, and Our Lady of Sorrows with an arch of flowers.

("at that moment something extraordinary was passing over the Holm-oak shrub, looking like white flowers, and other people also noticed this phenomenon, saying they were stars"),

I feel obliged to say that at that date I was very far from sharing such a conviction. On the contrary, I returned from Fatima more sceptical than ever, although I had been greatly moved in contemplating the ardent faith and sincere piety of the pilgrims during my long journey.

What doubtless contributed to this was the fact that I had stayed on the road far from the place of the apparitions, from where I had been able to observe nothing or almost nothing.

On the thirteenth of September he also went to the Cova da Iria. He was some distance from the children. He saw nothing and heard nothing, but heard it said that some people had seen extraordinary things in the sky. He heard the children say that Our Lady would say in October what she wanted and would work a miracle so that all the people would believe.

On the thirteenth of September, after the children had left for the Cova da Iria, she went to call her sister-in-law so that the two of them could go in secret, that is, so that nobody would see them. They arrived and stayed on the slope, not going near the children so as not to be seen. When the people shouted that they saw signs, they did not understand what they were saying, but they thought they saw a little smoke rising from the middle of the people near the holm oak. As soon as they noticed that the children were coming away and that the people were following them, Jacinta's mother said: “They're safe, let's go”, and they went back to their homes.

"in 1917 I was a seminarian and was at Batalha for the summer holidays, at the end of July or the beginning of August. Before 13 August, but not on any 13th, Fr. Carmo turned up at Batalha and invited him to go with him to Fátima. They found the seers and talked with them. The holm oak had been reduced to its trunk. The Rev. Fr. Joaquim António do Carmo had a camera with him and took the seers' portrait right there"

In September and October of this year we were spending the summer not far from the place of the apparition, and we confess that curiosity did not move us to attend; rather, we kept to our habitual indifference, as if the apparition of the mother of Jesus Christ were for us the most natural thing in the world. We saw hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pilgrims pass by on their way to the heath: believers, the curious, picnic lovers, sellers of cool water and capilé^*, reporters, retail wine merchants, a varied and interesting multitude; and we gave only a few moments' thought to the cause of the pilgrimage.

From the extraordinary happenings I witnessed at Fatima on 13 September and 13 October 1917 and 13 June 1920 – exaggerating nothing of what I was allowed to witness, without any effect of suggestion, nor through any exaggeration – I have no doubt whatever that the 6 apparitions of the Most Holy Virgin were a fact.

Almost every month after May José Alves went there on the thirteenth and saw nothing; he only heard others say that they saw things in the sky. He did not hear the loud bang in August. He often heard it said that a little smoke appeared.

33 - She never said at what time she was coming, but we used to go there at that time.

[37]⁴

[37-] The Lady told her a secret but she will not reveal it.

What the Lady wore on her feet – were they stockings? Are you sure of that?

– I reckon they were stockings, but they might not have been.

4th – You have never told the secret, nor even said that the people would be sad if they knew it. Francisco and Jacinta say that they would be sad. If you cannot say that, neither could they say it. What do you think?

– I don't know whether they should or shouldn't say that the people would be sad. Our Lady said we were not to tell anything to anyone. That is why I can't say anything.

2^nd – You once said that the Lady had white stockings. So were they stockings or were they her feet?

– If they were stockings, they were white, but I don't know for sure whether they were stockings or her feet.

3^rd – Was the skirt always the same length?

– The last time the skirt seemed longer.

When was it that the Lady taught you the prayer you were to say after each mystery^*?

– I think it was in the third month.

2^nd – How many people did the Lady promise to cure and convert?

– I asked for many and she said she would cure and convert some, and not others.

3^rd – How many times did you make that request to her?

– I think it was five times, now for some people, now for others.

On a few different occasions I questioned Francisco, and he always told me that he saw a very beautiful Lady at the Cova da Iria and at Valinho on the same days his companions had given, and that she was dressed in white, but that he did not hear Her speak. As for the secret, I could not get him to reveal anything. When I told him that, since he did not hear the Lady, he had no secret at all, he answered that yes, he has; Lúcia told it to him. I told him that, since it was Lúcia who told it to him, he could tell me, because it is not a secret and Our Lady did not tell him not to tell it; he answered: I won't tell, it's a sin; Lúcia said that I shouldn't tell it, so I won't.

It was at this moment that many people saw an oval, of a vivid³⁰ and brilliant colour, with its widest part turned downwards, describe a long straight line in the firmament. Some people saw this phenomenon for a longer time, others for a shorter. I did not see it and I am sorry about it. Mr D^r. Figueirêdo³⁵ and many people from here saw it³⁶.

Imagine, Ramalho, who is married to Florinda Rafael⁹, went there and saw that cloud and the lightning flash. He says it was a lovely day and suddenly the sun begins to turn red and to grow dark, and then one sees a cloud come down onto the holm-oak shrub and one sees the lightning flash. Only the little girls see Our Lady. This is at noon exactly. It was my sisters who told me this

I spoke with a very serious and learned priest, a doctor⁵, who had gone to be present, and he told me that he had seen something like a star appear, almost on the right side of the sun, round and white like the clouds, which moved along in the same direction, then rose and disappeared; that was all he saw.

Lúcia de Jesus Santos, the principal protagonist of the apparitions of Fátima, stated on the twenty-seventh of September, nineteen hundred and seventeen, that shortly after the following thirteenth of October peace would be granted to the world. On the 13th of October she declared that the Apparition had assured her that the war would end that very day. When a priest asked the seer, shortly after the apparition, whether the Lady had said that the great European conflict would end soon, and not on that day, she contradicted him, insisting that the Vision had stated that the war would end on that very day, the thirteenth, because the Vision had used the word "today". "She said that the war ends today, today" were the seer's exact words.

When the children went back to the Cova da Iria, she told them to ask the Lady what was to be done with the money. At Valinhos, when the apparition took place there on the nineteenth of the same month, the little girl did indeed put that question to the Lady, and the Lady said that they should make two processional litters and take them to the church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Many people were sorry that the money was not to be spent on something to be made at the place, and they told Lúcia to ask permission to build a chapel at the place, permission which the Lady gave on the thirteenth of September, on condition that half of the money on hand be given to Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima. The sum of thirteen thousand five hundred and forty was collected by the thirteenth of September. And what the Lady ordered was carried out.

On the sixteenth of August, the day of the fourth apparition, after the sad episodes at Ourém, Lúcia asked the Lady for a miracle so that the people would believe, and She said that in the last month she would make a sign in the sun and that everyone would believe. After what had happened in the seat of the council, and in the face of the doubts that so many people expressed about the reality and supernatural character of the apparitions, it was natural that Lúcia should think of asking the Lady for evident proof that she was not a liar, as many claimed. If she did not think of it, someone would certainly have advised her to make that request. On the thirteenth of September Lúcia pressed for the fulfilment of the promise. Here are the exact words that appear in the report on fol. 5²⁶: "I asked again that she would work a miracle for the people to believe, because they said I was a humbug who ought to be hanged and burned. The Lady gave me the same answer as the other time".

Maria do Carmo, aged forty-seven, a native of the hamlet of Arnal, in the parish of Maceira, municipality of Leiria, and married to Joaquim dos Santos, had for five years been suffering from a rather serious illness which showed all the characteristic symptoms of tuberculosis. In the first phase of the illness she felt pains from time to time, though not very strong ones, in the head, the stomach and the intestines. At the beginning of 1916 the pains grew extraordinarily worse. They were continuous and hard to bear. She then felt them in her back and, with even greater intensity, in her chest. At the same time she began to suffer from shortness of breath. Her hands, her feet and her belly swelled enormously. It was suspected that she had a tumour in the uterus. She was wasting away and growing thin before one's eyes. Three months later she did not look the same person, for from being well-nourished she had become extremely thin. She could not put any somewhat heavy object on her head because of the torments it caused her. She often felt like vomiting, though she did not vomit.

When she took any food, and while digestion lasted, the headaches increased. The stomach pains hardly let her sleep. So as not to be worse, she ate very little.

She lived exclusively or almost exclusively on milk.

A deep, dry cough tormented her chest ceaselessly. Her saliva often tasted of blood. All the neighbours were persuaded that the unfortunate woman was tubercular. She herself would not let her children come near her for fear of contagion. One individual who knew perfectly well the gravity of the illness, talking one day with some friends and seeing her pass close by, told them in a tone of voice that left no room for doubt that she was irremediably lost and would not live more than fifteen days. This was in the middle of July of last year. In vain did she seek relief for her ailments in the resources of medicine. Poor as she was, and there being no doctor except some kilometres away, at Batalha, she went there only once with her husband to consult the distinguished and skilful physician Dr. Padrão. The remedies this practitioner prescribed brought her no relief at all.

In these circumstances she harboured no illusions about the gravity of her condition and resignedly awaited death. At that time the consoling news was spreading from place to place, from one end of the country to the other, that since the previous May the Most Holy Virgin had been appearing every month on the thirteenth to some humble little children who grazed livestock at a place commonly called “Cova da Iria”, in the parish of Fatima, municipality of Villa Nova d'Ourem, seven leagues^* from Maceira. A gleam of gentle hope suddenly lit up her downcast and embittered spirit. Full of faith, she invokes the Mother of God and, to obtain through her intercession the cure she so longed for, vows to go to Fatima four times on foot, barefoot. She chose the thirteenth of August to begin fulfilling her vow. But her husband, though a God-fearing man, considered such an undertaking sheer recklessness and opposed her going. “We are poor,” he told his wife, “we haven't the means to hire a carriage in which you could make the journey without danger and with some chance of getting there alive. Be patient, but I won't let you go”.

Indeed, her state of weakness was so great that she grew enormously tired when she walked, however little. About two hundred metres from the house where they live she owns a small plot of land. For a long time she had rarely gone there, and when she did, she needed to sit down countless times by the side of the path to rest. Her daughters did all the housework, their mother directing and allotting the various tasks, unable to help them as she wished, for her strength was failing. She insisted so much with her husband, however, that he, seeing her unshakeable confidence, gave in to her persistent entreaties and made up his mind to go with her. At last the thirteenth of August came, so ardently awaited. At one o'clock in the morning of that day the sick woman sets out in the company of her husband, who continued to regard such a journey as recklessness and madness. She rested several times on the way.

It was nine o'clock in the morning when she reached the place of the apparitions. She was quite exhausted, she felt a great deal of pain; she was, in her own words, all one pain. A few moments later, to her great surprise, she felt notable relief.

She sat down in the shade of a large, leafy holm oak, where she took some food, and stayed there until three o'clock in the afternoon, then setting off again. On the way back the pains were less intense and she did not feel as tired as on the way there.

From day to day the improvement became more and more marked. Meanwhile she began to take solid food, but her main food continued to be milk. On the thirteenth of September she went back to Fatima for the second time, the journey not causing her as much discomfort as on the thirteenth of August. Each time she went there she prayed the rosary both going and coming back, neither talking nor paying attention to the conversations of the people who accompanied her.

From that day on she improved still more.

She was already doing a little work in the house and went with less difficulty to her plot of land. On the thirteenth of October she set out early in the morning as on the other occasions, but before she reached Fatima she was caught by the memorable torrential rain that marked that autumn day. Although she got completely wet, the rain soaking the clothes she wore, she felt perfectly well at the place of the apparitions. The pains disappeared never to return. The swelling of the belly and of the arms and legs likewise disappeared as if by magic. Since returning home that day she has eaten everything, at any hour of the day or night, and however indigestible the food may be, she does not feel the slightest discomfort. She has not felt short of breath again. She works hard and can carry heavy loads on her head as before her illness. She has never had a cough again. She is plump, feels strong and enjoys excellent health. She does not remember ever having been so well at any time in her life. On the thirteenth of November she went to Fatima again in order to give thanks for her cure to the Virgin of the Rosary⁴.

The account of the apparitions is reproduced here in summary.

The Lady says that her place is Heaven, promises eternal happiness to the three children, tells them a secret that they may reveal to no one, teaches them a short prayer⁴, recommends to Lúcia that they learn to read, commands that everyone pray the rosary so that the war may end, announces the appearance of Our Lord, of St Joseph with the Child Jesus, and of Our Lady under the titles of the Rosary, of Carmel and of Sorrows, again recommends the recitation of the rosary, declares that the war would end soon, and on the last day states that Our Lord is very angry at the sins of men, begs that they offend Him no more, insists once again that they pray the rosary, declares that she is the Lady of the Rosary and orders that a chapel be built there in her honour. Jacinta's deposition confirms, in a general way, Lúcia's deposition, as does that of Francisco, who however only saw the Lady and heard nothing of what she said to his cousin.

But if I was relying on statements of the seers that I kept in my memory, it is utterly impossible for me to state precisely, after so many years, which of the children assured me that the cross of the rosary was, or looked like, gold. Was it Francisco? Was it Jacinta? I do not know. It must be stressed that Lucia, like her cousins, sometimes said that certain parts of the vision's body or certain items of its clothing were white because of the clear, brilliant light that surrounded it and almost blinded their eyes. Page 77, Lucia: "It's that she sometimes blinds". Page 94, Francisco: "I can look at her face, but only a little, because of the light".

Two little shepherd girls and a little shepherd boy asserted that a lady of incomparable beauty appeared to them on the thirteenth of each month from May to October of that year, making various communications to them, some of them secret. The Vision, according to the testimony of the three children, promised to say on the thirteenth of October who she was and to perform a prodigy that day so that everyone would believe her words, and at the same time asked for a chapel to be built in her honour at the place of the apparitions.

Several times she declared that God was greatly offended by the sins of men and that grave punishments threatened them; she recommended to all that they do penance, advised the frequent recitation of the rosary, and lastly said that she was the Lady of the Rosary.

On 13 May 1917, three children of the parish of Fátima, in the vicariate^* of Ourém, in this Diocese, were pasturing a small flock in a place called Cova da Iria, which was then deserted.

The eldest, Lúcia de Jesus, was 10 years old, Francisco nine and Jacinta six^a. The two younger ones were brother and sister, and the eldest was their cousin.

None of them could read or write.

It was getting on towards noon, and the children, according to the custom of their region, prayed the rosary^* of Our Lady.

The prayer finished, they were amusing themselves building a tiny house out of loose stones when, suddenly, a flash of lightning, of vivid and brilliant light, furrowed the sky. Although the sky was clear and cloudless, the children, fearing a thunderstorm, gathered the flock and were about to leave. But as they reach a point near the spot where the water fountains now stand, another flash of lightning blazes out and, a few paces away, standing on a small holm oak at the place where the tiny, humble Chapel of the Apparitions now stands, they see with amazement the figure of a Lady of incomparable beauty, clothed in a dress of the purest white; a mantle edged with gold covers her head and most of her body. Her face, of a heavenly, supernatural beauty, appeared serene, grave and clouded by a slight shadow of sadness. From her hands, joined at the height of her breast, hung a beautiful rosary ending in a cross.

From the whole figure, surrounded by a splendour brighter than the sun, beams of light radiated.

The children drew near, and a dialogue took place between the Lady and the eldest; the Lady invited them to come there on the 13th of each month until October.

According to the testimony of the children and of many people, there were six apparitions, all on the 13th of the month, except in August, when the apparition took place a few days later because the administrative authority^* was holding the children prisoner in Ourém.

The Lady told them that her place is in heaven, entrusted them with a secret that they may reveal to no one, taught them a short prayer, recommended the recitation of the Rosary, advised Lúcia to learn to read, insisted on the need for prayer and penance for the war to end, said that Our Lord is very angry at the sins of men and above all at the sin of the flesh, ordered a chapel to be built there in her honour, and declared that she is the Lady of the Rosary...

That day many people went from here to Fátima to see the miracle of the apparition of Our Lady, but nobody saw anything; and at nig[h]t, on the way home, over at Calçadas, in a brawl, Bernardino da Freiria was knifed, and so was the son of the Ferreiro^* of Martinel⁴.

He heard the children say that Our Lady would say in October what she wanted and would work a miracle so that all the people would believe.

Dr. F.^* and many fellow townsmen of mine affirm that they saw it too. Some of these , whose seriousness one may not call into doubt, assure us that they made out a kind of flowers falling from the sky, which did not touch the ground but disappeared on reaching a certain height.

It was at this moment that many people saw an oval, of a vivid³⁰ and brilliant colour, with its widest part turned downwards, describe a long straight line in the firmament. Some people saw this phenomenon for a longer time, others for a shorter. I did not see it and I am sorry about it. Mr D^r. Figueirêdo³⁵ and many people from here saw it³⁶. There are some people from here, and very serious ones, who saw a kind of flowers that came from above but did not touch the ground³⁷.

On the twenty-seventh of September, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and therefore sixteen days in advance, the seer Lúcia de Jesus declared to the author of the pamphlet "Os Episódios Maravilhosos de Fátima"^*, in the presence of several people, among them Dona Adelaide Braamcamp de Melo Breyner and Dona Maria de Jesus do Rosário, of Santarém, in the seer's own dwelling house in Aljustrel, that the Lady who appeared to her had said that on the thirteenth of October she would make a sign so that all the people would believe that she really appeared.

Those who witnessed the 13th of September say that between 12 and 1, old time^*, on a glorious day of blazing sun, the temperature suddenly dropped and there was a small eclipse of the sun. Some people said they had seen pink clouds here and there. Not everyone believed them⁵.

Then came the 13th of September; and on that day, after the apparition, the children said that on the 13th of October Our Lady would work a miracle so great that it could leave no one in doubt.

They were almost indignant and told me “that for them there was not the slightest doubt that it was a miracle, since they had already been there before, on the 13th of September last, and had witnessed extraordinary luminous phenomena in the sun, precisely at the hour indicated by the little shepherd girls; that the clergy were not well informed and that, if I doubted, I should wait”.

She thinks she heard Lúcia say that the Lady had advised her to learn to read.

"Here I take the opportunity to say that on this same thirteenth, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, there came to my house, the parish residence, the Reverend António Maria de Figueiredo, most worthy teacher at the Patriarchal Seminary in Santarém, and declared to me that he saw stars in a region lower than the region of the stars, and that he came to my house on purpose to make this declaration to me"

"Here I take the opportunity to say that on this same thirteenth, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, the Very Rev. Dr. António Maria de Figueiredo¹, most worthy professor at the Patriarchal Seminary of Santarém, came to my house, the parish residence, and declared to me that he had seen stars in a region below that of the stars, and that he had come to my house on purpose to make this declaration to me

On the slope on the east side was the reverend Father Joaquim Ferreira Gonçalves das Neves, parish priest of Santa Catarina da Serra; seeing that he was perhaps looking without seeing anything, I go up to him and ask him what he sees, and he answers that he sees nothing. I point out a direction to him and at once he says that he is now seeing them. When the phenomenon is over, I find the same gentleman on his knees leading the rosary. He was, it seems to me, the first minister of the Church to pray together with the people on that blessed spot.

On the thirteenth of September, after the apparition, a Spanish gentleman who was present offered Lúcia a small medal of white metal of little value, which at first she did not want to accept, supposing it was a silver coin.

At the time of the last apparition at Fatima, on 13 October 1917, her sister Lucia Maria Anna dos Santos, aged 20, who was spending the summer in the hamlet of Carrascos, parish of Paço, municipality of Torres Novas, at the house of her cousin Amelia Estevão, went with several relatives to that village in the Serra de Minde and witnessed the marvellous phenomena that took place there, begging the Most Holy Virgin with the greatest fervour and in the deepest distress to deign to cure her sister. Her sister's cure was her great concern every day, every hour, every moment. It was her most ardent desire, the grace she most longed for, the favour she begged for most earnestly and most constantly. On the 13th of the previous month she had already gone to Fatima and ardently begged for this grace. Before that day, still in September, she had asked a cousin of hers, Julio Netto d'Almeida, not to forget to commend her intention to the little shepherd girls favoured with the apparitions of the Virgin. On 13 October she herself asked the seers for the help of their prayers and promised that her sister would go to Fatima to give thanks for her cure if Our Lady deigned to grant her that grace.

We went on with the journey, and when we reached Fatima the Ex.^mo Mr Pedro asked after the little girls, who just then were coming out of school; then, at the schoolmistress's bidding, the girls came up to the carriage and spoke with other people who were there, and we asked them about Our Lady, and they always affirmed the same thing: that they saw her, heard her and spoke with her.

A. On page 11 I state that the apparition seems to be no more than 18 years old because once Lucia's mother, in the presence of her daughter and of other people, told me, when I asked how old the vision looked, that she looked like a girl from the hamlet of Aljustrel who was present and who was already 17. On page 90 I state that Lucia said the Vision seemed to be about 15 years old, because she really did say so, although she was a simple, uneducated little girl, only 10 years old, and incapable of judging a person's age accurately. Besides, the difference between about fifteen years and no more than eighteen years is not great, and the expression I use on page 90 not only does not contradict or exclude the statement on page 11 but actually completes it and brings us closer to the truth.

Franc. died on 4 April 1919. He received the last sacr. with great lucidity and piety And confirmed that he had seen a Lady at the Cova da Iria and Vallinho³.

Francisco – the seer – died at ten o'clock at night on the 4th of this April, the victim of a long, 5-month ordeal with the pneumonic influenza^*, having received the Sacraments with great lucidity and piety – And he confirmed that he had seen a Lady at the Cova da Iria and Valinho^*.