Jacinto de Almeida Lopes

Jacinto de Almeida Lopes, married, landowner, native and resident of the hamlet of Amoreira, in this parish of Fátima, being questioned about what he had witnessed regarding the events that occurred at the place called Cova da Iria, in this parish, said that on the thirteenth of July nineteen hundred and seventeen, having gone to the place in advance, he remained there beside the holm-oak shrub, where he was when the children arrived. They arrived, decorated the holm-oak shrub, knelt, prayed the rosary (five decades), stood up and then, after a short while, knelt again, and, all on their knees, Lúcia begins, as if speaking with someone, turned towards the holm-oak shrub on which she had fixed her gaze:

– Well, what is it that You want of me?

After this question, a little while in silence, the time of a brief answer. And during this silence he heard, as if coming from the holm-oak shrub, a very faint voice, like, he says, the buzzing of a bee, but without making out a single word.

– Then Lúcia says: – I have a request to make of You here: It was whether You would make a cripple from Aljustrel better; whether You would convert a woman from Pedrógão; whether You would convert a woman from Fátima and her children; whether You would make a man from Atouguia better or take him to Heaven as soon as possible¹.

This said... there is a short silence, as of someone awaiting an answer, and he hears the same voice, which he did not hear while Lúcia was speaking.

– Could You not – Lúcia continues – make these people be converted?

---

Silence... after the time of a brief answer, she says – as if confirming what she had heard:

– Yes, the rosary must be prayed!... the rosary must be prayed!... yes... everything will be done.

And while she spoke thus she accompanied her words with nods of the head.

– Well then, could You not make all these people believe?

Silence...

Then she says: – Do You want nothing more of me?

She waits... and then says:

– Nor I either.

This said, she gets up instantly and, turning towards the east, said:

– Do you want to see Our Lady?!!

And she points in the same direction.

On the thirteenth of October he went, like so many people, to the place of the Apparitions, anxious to observe some extraordinary event, for he had heard it said that the Lady had told Lúcia that on the last day she would perform a miracle. The rain lashed him hard, but it hardly bothered him because his aim lay in observing the extraordinary. While the hour approaches and the people crowd together, he observes some little birds fluttering over the holm-oak shrub, hopping from one side to the other. He sees, above the people surrounding the holm-oak shrub, at times one after another, small clouds of smoke – or what seemed to him smoke – rising from the ground, like the smoke from the thurible at the time of incensing, or like puffs of cigarette smoke. At first he thinks that it was someone who was smoking there or making a fire to warm himself, but he came to ascertain that there was no fire of any kind there. The hour approaches, and behold, as if by enchantment, the rain stops, the sun breaks through the dense black clouds and shows itself darting its luminous rays, which very quickly take on the colours yellow, red and green, making the objects under its influence the same colours; and then it loses its brilliance and colours – being able to be stared at with the naked eye without hurting the sight – and takes on a dizzying rotating movement, seeming to hurl itself upon the earth. And while he observes these marvels, all the people are in loud exclamations. This lasted at most some five minutes; then it returned to its normal state.

In the parish inquiry the first witness, Jacinto de Almeida Lopes, says that on the thirteenth of October, nineteen hundred and seventeen, "he saw, above the people surrounding the holm-oak shrub, several times, small clouds of smoke, or what looked to him like smoke, rising from the ground, similar to the smoke of a censer at the time of incensing or to cigarette smoke. At first he thought, because he was some distance from the holm-oak shrub where he saw the smoke, that it was someone there smoking or making a fire to warm himself, but afterwards he ascertained that there was no fire of any kind there.