Jacinta Marto

They were having supper when the mother asked Jacinta again what she had witnessed.

The little girl said that Our Lady had appeared to them, that before that they had seen a flash of lightning, that they feared a thunderstorm was imminent or that it would rain, and they were already getting ready to go away, and had even started to drive the flock home for that purpose.

When she got home Jacinta, very happy, threw her arms around her, which she did not usually do, and said: “Oh, Mother, today I saw Our Lady at the Cova da Iria”. The mother retorted: “I don't believe it; you're a fine saint to be seeing Our Lady”. The little girl looked a little sad and insisted: “Believe me, Mother”. She was then seven years old. This took place still in the street at the door of the house. They went in and at once she said: “Mother, I'm going to pray the rosary with Francisco, because that is what Our Lady told us to do”. To a question from the parents on this point, the little girl answered that Our Lady had said that they should go there for six months on the thirteenth and she would appear to them, and that they should pray the rosary. The seers understood that this recitation should be done every day. Our Lady said that they should pray the rosary, that they should spread it throughout the world and that God was very much offended. Francisco said that he saw the Lady moving her lips, opening her hands and closing them, but did not hear her words. Jacinta said that the Lady spoke only with Lúcia.

On 14 July 1917 Jacinta, aged 7, daughter of Manuel Pedro Marto, came before me; questioned about the vision, she said:

That she had seen a small woman 4 times, once in her house at night and three times at the Cova da Iria at midday; she says she was the size of Albina, daughter of António Rosa of Casa Velha²; at home she saw her at the edge of the attic trapdoor, not saying anything; her mother and brothers and sisters were asleep and it was night; at the Cova da Iria she saw her standing on top of a holm-oak shrub³; she was dressed in white stockings and clothes all of gold; she wore no shoes; the skirt was white and all gold and came down to her knees; the gold was in cords running across, and on the cords in little points; a white jacket all of gold; a mantle over her head, white and all gold; her hands were raised to her waist and they opened, parting when she spoke to Lúcia; she did not hear her say anything, she heard her speak (now she says yes, now she says no); she did not hear her say how many times she would come here; as she left, the sky opened and her feet were left caught in it, with her body already hidden; she heard a very pious voice and remembers only hearing that we (they) were going to heaven; she says she saw lightning, but now she says it was once, now more than once, now before, now after; she had some white beads in her hands, held between the thumb and forefinger of both hands; she did not see earrings; she wore a thin gold chain around her neck.

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.

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.

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.

2 - What were they doing when they saw the Lady?

3 - Is it true that the boy chased the Image away with stones?

4 - How did the Image appear?

5 - What clothes was she wearing and what did she say?

2 - It was midday and they were minding the sheep when they saw a Lady dressed in white, with her hands joined, with some white beads strung over her arm. Her face was white; she has nothing to compare it with; only in height she says she was the same as Virgínia³ – (The girl is 12 years old) 1.10 m; that she had appeared to them on top of the holm oak.

That her brother had thrown a stone at the sheep and had passed close to her.

6 - Did they all hear?

6 - She hears. That she had said they should go there 6 times, until 6 months were up, and that afterwards she would say what she wanted, and she had disappeared.

7 - Had they been to Mass the previous Sunday? And where?
7 - She goes to Mass every Sunday; the day of the apparition was a weekday and she had not been to Mass.
8 - Where do they usually go to Mass?
8 - She goes to Mass at Fátima
9 - How is the Image dressed in the chapel where they usually go to Mass?
9 - That she knows that in the church there is the Lady of the Rosary, but she has no beads, nor does she have a white dress.
10 - Had they heard any sermon or homily about Our Lady of Lourdes^*?
10 - She does not know.
11 - Did they often go to Mass, even on weekdays?
11 - She goes to Mass only on Sunday, because her mother does not let her.
12 - What did they do after seeing the Lady?
12 - They came home only at night and said that they had seen the Lady from Heaven, for that is what she had called herself.
13 - What clothes did she wear the 1st time and the other times?
13 - Always the same dress.
14 - Did she say why she came on the 13th?
[...]
15 - Did they always see the spots on the sun?
15 - Only the last time did they see the Child Jesus and Saint Joseph and Our Lady in the sun. But Lúcia saw better.
16 - How was she on the holm oak? Was she smiling or was she sad?
16 - She was serious.
17 - What colour was her dress and how did she hold her arms?
17 - Dress all white, tight at the bottom, hands raised.
18 - Were they afraid when they saw the Lady?
18 - She was afraid the 1st time; the Lady said she should not be afraid, that she would do no harm.
19 - Whom did they tell that they had seen her?
19 - She told her father and brother that she had seen the Lady.
20 - When did they speak to any priest about the matter?
20 - She did not tell.
21 - What did he say to them?
21 - She does not remember.

33 - Did the Lady say at what time she was coming, and on which days?

33 - That she was coming at midday.

34 - The 2nd time, did people go to watch? What did they see?

34 - Some 50 people went.

35 - The 2nd

The 3rd

The 4th

The 5th

[...]

36 - What did the Lady want? Did she say what she came for?

36 - She never heard the Lady say what she came for. The Lady spoke slowly.

We asked her what Our Lady looked like and how she was dressed: and the little girl, without the slightest hesitation and wanting to act it out, stands up and says that Our Lady was her own height; she gathers her skirt in a little at the hem to show that Our Lady's dress was a little narrower at the bottom; then, with great effort, she tries to pull her little skirt down to her feet, showing that the dress was long.

She then explains that Our Lady wore no veil but a mantle that fell from her head down to, judging by the little one's gesture, 3 or 4 finger-widths above the tunic; she was all in white (without the blue sash), with her hands raised. To explain better, the little girl took the rosary from my hands, threading it into her own little hand between the thumb, raised her hands, imitating the gesture of Our Lady of Lourdes, and, parting them a little, then said: when she spoke she was like this: She had on her head something of many colours. The eldest girl and the little boy whom we met later gave us the same explanation. A humble little woman asked her whether, among all the ladies she saw on the 13th and all those who have visited her, she had found any as beautiful as the lady from Heaven; the little girl said she had never seen one so beautiful, and the little boy, whom we later asked the same thing, said: that there was none so beautiful in the world. We asked her to tell us what the first apparition had been like: The little one explained that they were minding the sheep that belong to the family of Lucia (the other seer) on Tio Abobera's^* land; suddenly they saw a flash of lightning and were afraid, very afraid; when they were on their knees praying, they saw the Lady on the Holm Oak, and at once another flash of lightning; the flock went into the chickling peas¹¹ and the woman they belonged to shouted from afar — “turn those sheep back for me” — but the lady said: (the little girl tried to make her voice sweeter) “don't turn the sheep back, for they won't eat anything.

Then Lucia asked: “Who are you?” — “I am the Mother of Heaven” — “What do you want of us?” - “That you come here on this day for 6 months; at the end of the 6 months I will say what I want. Say the rosary.” —

Then the owner of the chickling peas appeared, whom the woman had gone to fetch; he came to scold them, for he is a very bad-tempered man, but he didn't scold at all, because he saw that the chickling peas had not been eaten.

She also told us that one day the little ones came into her house saying they had seen the Lady from Heaven; when she answered that they were dreaming and that they were not worthy of that, the little girl insisted, described to her Mother what she had seen, and told what she had already told us on the way!

What was it the Lady said the first time she appeared, in the month of May?

– Lúcia asked what she wanted of her and she said we were to go there month after month until six months were up, and that in the last month she would say what she wanted.

2^nd – Did Lúcia ask her any more questions?

– She asked whether she was going to Heaven and the Lady said yes. Then she asked whether I was going to Heaven and she said yes. Then she asked whether Francisco was going to Heaven and she said yes, but that he would have to say his beads^*.

3^rd – Did the Lady say anything else?

– I don't remember her saying anything else that day. It was that time that the flock went into the chickling peas.

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.

In June Jacinta asked her mother not to go to the fair of the thirteenth at Pedreiras, a league^* from Porto de Mós, so that she could go and see Our Lady. Her mother, hearing this request, said to her: “Ah! you're not going there, Our Lady doesn't appear to you”. To which the little girl replied: – “Yes she does, Our Lady said she would appear and so she will appear.” Her mother retorted: “So you're not going to the feast of Saint Anthony^*?” “No,” the little girl confirmed, “Our Lady is more beautiful than Saint Anthony”.

On 13 June, Olímpia de Jesus and her husband went to a fair, although Jacinta had said the evening before: “Mother, don't go to the fair tomorrow, go to the Cova da Iria, Our Lady is coming there”. And her mother would not believe it and said to her daughter: “You want to go to Saint Anthony's, you don't want to go to the Cova da Iria!” As if to suggest that it was a pretext for going to the feast. She answered: “Saint Anthony isn't beautiful”. “Why?” the mother asked. “Because Our Lady is more beautiful,” the daughter concluded. “I'm going to the Cova da Iria with Lúcia and Francisco, and if Our Lady says we're to go to Saint Anthony's, then we'll go”.

22 - On Saint Anthony's Day (2^nd time) she said that we should learn to read.

What did the Lady say the second time, in June?

– Lúcia said: What do you want of me? The Lady answered: I want you to learn to read.

5^th – Did Lúcia ask any more questions?

– She asked for the sick and for sinners, and the Lady said she would make some better and would convert them, and not others.

6^th – Did the Lady say anything else?

– That day she said nothing else.

The father picked Jacinta up in his arms to get through the crowd more easily. She said she had seen Our Lady again. Some days later, the eldest daughter, Florinda, said that Jacinta had said to Lúcia: “Speak to her, Lúcia, she's already talking”.

“The little girl then speaks of the end of the war and of the end of the world if there were no faith (don't be alarmed, there is still plenty). It is these two points that I find doubtful: would Our Lady really have spoken of the end of the war and of the world, or have the children been confused by all the questions they have been asked? — Our Lady told them a secret. The mothers, poor things, ignorant as they are, have done everything possible to find it out. According to what people say, the administrator^* has already promised 20,000 réis^* if they told it to him, but there is no way of wresting the secret from them. I heard the little boy say that not even if they were given the whole world would they tell it. When they are asked whether it is bad, they say it is good for everyone. — On the last day Our Lady also said that she was the Virgin of the Rosary, and that she wanted the people to build her a chapel there — But this is far from being the most important part; imagine our feelings when the little one, carrying on talking, tells us that on the last day (13 October) St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to her!! So it was the Holy Family. Our first reaction was doubt and alarm: was the whole thing about to collapse?! But some neighbours who were there told us that the 3 children had already spoken of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus several times. — The little one then explained that St. Joseph had come to give peace to the world, and with her hand she made the sign of the cross many times, imitating the gesture of Bishops when they walk along blessing the faithful. She told us that the Child Jesus and St. Joseph were just like some little holy images she had at home.

[…]

the little one says she had some pictures at home, but she didn't even look at them: she went to a box and took out a Holy Family group, saying: “see?” St. Joseph and the Child Jesus were as they are here: but here St. Joseph has his eyes closed, and there they were with their eyes open. — Wanting to see whether she would get muddled, we told her that since St. Joseph and the Child were as they are there, Our Lady on the last day must also have been like that one, with a veil and a coloured mantle; we asked this several times, and she always answered that Our Lady was not like that one, but in white and with the rosary. We further said that, being the Holy Family, they must all have been together, to which she always answered no. Our Lady was on the holm oak, and St. Joseph and the Child Jesus near the Sun. — We made the same experiment with the little boy, who always answered like his sister. — It is therefore beyond doubt that the 6 apparitions of Our Lady can be confirmed without confirming that of the Holy Family. The eldest little girl, before leaving for Ourém, also spoke to us of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus.

On which side was the Child Jesus when you saw him on the thirteenth of October beside the sun?

– The Child Jesus was in the middle, on St. Joseph's right side, and Our Lady was on the right side of the sun.

2nd – Was the Lady you saw beside the sun different from the one you saw on the holm-oak shrub?

– The Lady who was beside the sun had a white dress and a blue mantle; the one I saw at the holm-oak shrub had both dress and mantle white.

3rd – What colour were the feet of the Lady who appeared on the holm-oak shrub?

– The Lady's feet were white; I reckon she was wearing stockings.

4th – What colour were St. Joseph's clothes and the Child's?

– St. Joseph's were red, and the Child's I think were also red.

5th – When was it that the Lady revealed the secret?

– I reckon it was in July.

When Jacinta began to say that she knew a secret communicated by Our Lady, she began to be called to various places, even outside the parish. According to what the little girl said, Francisco did not hear the secret, and it was Lúcia who had told it to him on behalf of Our Lady.

Once some very rich ladies came to their house and offered Jacinta various jewels they were wearing if she would tell them the secret. Jacinta said she would not tell it for anything, not even if they gave her the whole world. Even during her last illness her mother would say to her: “I'll despise you and want nothing to do with you if you don't tell me the secret”. And the daughter would reply that she could not tell it. “At least you must tell me whether it's good or bad,” the mother insisted. She would answer that it was good for those who were willing to believe. “Believe in what?” the mother would ask. “In God,” the daughter would conclude. And she added that it was bad for those who would not believe.

His wife said one day to Jacinta, in his absence, telling him about it afterwards: “Oh Jacinta, tell me the secret and I'll give you my gold chain”. Francisco was not present; if anyone was, it was Lúcia. Francisco never stayed at his house and went there only once or twice. Jacinta said: “if you give me that holy picture, I'll tell you”. His wife replied: “I can't give it to you, it isn't mine, it's my niece's”. The niece said: “Oh Jacinta, do tell me the secret and I'll give it to you”. To which she answered: “Not even if you gave me the whole world”. Once, when his wife was at their house asking Lúcia questions, Jacinta joined in the conversation and said: “Our Lady came from there (and she pointed to the east) and went there (and she pointed in the direction of the Cova da Iria).”

His wife and Jacinta arrived and he asked his daughter what had happened, and she said that Our Lady had appeared; that those who had gone with the flock were João^*, Lúcia and Francisco, that João had called her and that, as soon as she got there, Our Lady appeared, and that Our Lady of Sorrows (he thinks), Our Lady of the Rosary, Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus would appear.

What did the Lady say in August?

– In August we didn't go there.

8^th – Will you tell me what it was the Lady said the following Sunday at Valinhos?

– Lúcia asked the Lady whether she would bring back my Manuel⁸ (a brother of Jacinta's who is serving in the army in Cape Verde^*) and she said she would bring them all back here.

9^th – What else did the Lady say?

– She said that, if we hadn't gone off to Ourém, St. Joseph and the Child would have come to give peace to the world, and Our Lady of the Rosary with two little angels, one on each side.

10^th – What else did she say?

– She said we were to make two litters^* and take them to the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; that I, Lúcia and two more little girls dressed in white were to carry one, and Francisco with three boys was to carry the other.

11^th – Did she say anything else?

– She said nothing.

It is then that Jacintha exclaims: “My mother from Heaven is going away now, look where she's going!” The little boy in turn says: “I can't see her any more! ” Jacintha answered him: “She's right in line with the...”

Jacinta, as the mother heard, after they had said that Our Lady had already appeared, nudged Lúcia with her elbow and said to her: “Speak to her, Lúcia, Our Lady is already there”. Once at home Jacinta said to her mother: “Oh, Mother, I saw her go into Heaven”, and added that it had seemed to her, when she saw her go into Heaven, that her feet were getting caught.

Our Lady always appeared grave, without smiling, and the two little girls, separately, described this vision in exactly the same way: Our Lady with the white rosary, on the left St Joseph, and the Child Jesus between the two.

And the younger one, who is six years old, even when separated from the other, said exactly the same thing, without contradicting herself on a single point.

The last time - Lúcia asked what she wanted and She said - That the war would end on the 13th - When she reached Heaven.

– That if the people would not mend their ways the world would end; if they would not mend their ways the war would end.

She heard no more. The Lady was sad when she said this.

On the thirteenth of this month did you see Our Lord, Our Lady of Sorrows^* and Our Lady of Carmel^* near the sun?

– I didn't see them.

2^nd – But on the eleventh of this month you told me they were to appear.

– I did. It was Lúcia who saw another Lady, not me.

3^rd – Did you see St Joseph?

– I did. Lúcia said St Joseph was giving peace.

4^th – Did you look at the sun?

– I did.

5^th – And what did you see?

– I saw the sun red, green and other colours, and I saw that it was going round.

6^th – Did you hear Lúcia tell the people to look at the sun?

– I did. She said in a very loud voice to look at the sun. The sun was already going round.

7^th – Was it the Lady who told her to tell the people?

– The Lady didn't say anything.

8^th – What did the Lady say this last time?

– She said: I come here to tell you that they should not offend Our Lord any more, for he was very much offended; that if the people mended their ways the war would end, and if they did not, the world would end. Lúcia heard what the Lady said better than I did.

9^th – Did she say the war would end that day or that it would end soon?

– Our Lady said that when she got to Heaven the war would end.

10^th – But the war hasn't ended yet!...

– It'll end, it'll end.

11^th – But then when will it end?

– I think it'll end on Sunday.

What did the Lady say in October?

– Lúcia said: “What do you want of me”? The Lady answered: “do not offend Our Lord any more, for he was much offended”. She said she would forgive [sic] our sins, if we wanted to go to Heaven. She also said that people were to say the rosary. She said they were to expect the soldiers back here very soon and that the war would end that day. She said people were to build a chapel there, and I don't know whether she said “to Our Lady of the Rosary” or that “she was Our Lady of the Rosary”.

He further declares: that when he met Lúcia again on the eighth of this month of December, and it was pointed out to her that the war had not ended on the day stated, nor indeed by that date, she answered that perhaps she had been mistaken, since her companion Jacinta had said that Our Lady had said, for her part, that the war would indeed end – but if the people mended their ways.

Immediately after this apparition, the child Jacintha declared to many people that the Virgin of the Rosary had told her, regarding the European war, the following:

– The war ended today.

“my cousin Jacinta told me at home that the Lady spoke like this: be converted, for the war ends within a year”