Lúcia de Jesus (Sister Lúcia)

Her two daughters, Maria dos Anjos and Carolina, questioned Lúcia about the events of the previous day and went home and said that their sister really had seen something. Finally, the mother too asked her what she had seen. She said that she saw a very beautiful little woman; that the dress she wore was all white, that to the question – “where she was from” – she had pointed to Heaven saying she was from there, and that, when she asked her whether Francisco, Jacinta and she, Lúcia, would not go to Heaven, the apparition answered yes. Her mother, on hearing these words, exclaimed: “How lucky you are!” The Lady said that she wanted them to go there six months running and that at the end she would say what she wanted.

Lúcia said that they were all walking... and they all saw a woman. Francisco, that he only saw her when she was leaving. Lúcia said that they were all sitting down and that the woman appeared, standing towards the side of Fátima.

First they saw a flash of lightning, got up and began to gather the sheep to go away, afraid; then they saw another flash of lightning; then they saw a woman on top of a holm-oak shrub, dressed in white: white stockings on her feet, a white skirt with gold, a white jacket, and a white mantle which she wore over her head; the mantle was not golden, and the skirt had gold running across it all over; she wore a gold chain and some very tiny earrings; she held her hands raised, and when she spoke she spread her arms, with her hands open.

This woman said that they should not be afraid, that she would do them no harm.

Lúcia asked:

– Where are you from?

She said:

– My place is heaven.

– What do you come here into the world for?

– I come here to tell you to come here every month until six months have passed, and at the end of six months I will tell you what I want.

– Can you tell me whether the war will go on a long time yet or whether it will end soon?

– I cannot tell you yet, until I also tell you what I want.

I asked her if I was going to Heaven and she told me:

– You are.

– And my cousin?

– She is too.

– And my cousin?

– He still has to say his beads.

And after this she went off up through the air.

The other two heard the questions and the answers but did not ask questions.

That done, I proceeded to question the daughter – the said seer Lúcia – who said that on the thirteenth of the current month of May she was pasturing the sheep with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta at the place called Cova da Iria – it lies two kilometres north-west of this Parish Church of Fátima, beside the road that goes to Batalha – at about one o'clock in the afternoon – solar time^* –; and that, having just finished saying the beads – the rosary – (which she often did), she saw a flash of lightning, which frightened her very much. She at once began to gather the sheep and to tell her cousins to gather them so that they could go away – home –, saying that a thunderstorm was coming, though she could see no clouds. Suddenly she saw another flash of lightning and then a Lady, of medium height and extraordinary beauty, on top of a holm-oak shrub – a small holm oak – who said to her:

– Do not be afraid, I will not harm you.

And that, at once losing all fear, she asked Her:

– Where are you from?

And the Lady answered her:

– My place is Heaven.

– What have you come to this world to do?

– I have come to tell you to come here every month for six months, and at the end of the six months I will tell you what I want.

– Can you tell me whether the war will last a long time yet or whether it will end soon?

– I cannot tell you yet, until I have also told you what I want.

– Can you tell me whether I am going to Heaven?
– You are.
– And my girl cousin?
– She is.
– And my boy cousin?
– He still has to say his beads...
– And that, when this had been said, the Lady began to rise into the air, moving towards the east until she disappeared.

The vision

Lúcia said that the Lady whom she and her cousins saw was about a metre tall, a little more or less, and was dressed in white. The skirt was white, with gold in thin cords running lengthwise and across, and it was short, that is, it did not come down to the feet. The jacket was white, not gilded. A white mantle, which went from the head to the hem of the skirt, with gold cords running from top to bottom and across; at the edges the gold was closer together. The jacket had two or three little gold cords at the cuffs. She had no belt, ribbon or sash at the waist. Her hands were joined, a little above the waist, and from them hung a white rosary. Every time she spoke she parted her hands to about the width of her shoulders. She had black eyes, and her face was lovelier than that of any lady she had ever seen. Her beauty almost blinded her, and she never tired of looking at Her.

It seemed to her that she wore white stockings, not gilded, but she could not be sure because she hardly looked at anything but the face. Indeed, on one occasion in my presence, when Jacinta was there too, she turned to her and asked her whether She was wearing stockings, because she had not noticed.

She learned from her husband and from other people that Lúcia was saying that Our Lady had appeared to her on the thirteenth of May nineteen hundred and seventeen, as well as to her cousins Francisco and Jacinta, around the hour of solar noon.

Three children — Lucia, aged 10, Francisco, aged 8, and Jacinta, aged 7 — living at Aljustrel, were on the vast plain of the Cova de Santa Iria grazing docile sheep when a lady appeared to them, all dressed in white, says Lucia. The lady told the little shepherds that they should learn to read and write and that on the 13th of each month she would appear to them at the same spot, beside an oak. On 13 October she would come down from heaven to earth for the last time to make peace in the world — and put an end to the war. All the people who did not believe in her work would be punished.

[…]

And she insists that she keeps a secret which she can reveal only on 13 October.

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.

What Lúcia says, questioned in the presence of Jacinta, who says little: That on 13 May 1917, while the three of them were pasturing their sheep at the spot called Cova da Iria, within the bounds of Fátima, after having had their snack (that is, their midday meal), they went, according to their custom, to pray the rosary^* to Our Lady, and that when they had almost finished the prayer offering it up, they saw a flash of lightning which frightened them, so that Lúcia invited the others to leave, saying to them: let's go away because it's thundering; at this they saw another flash of lightning and in front of them an extremely beautiful Lady dressed in white, with a mantle likewise white, but gilded, and with a radiance about her head recalling the radiance of the sun, but more brilliant; she as it were alighted on a small holm-oak shrub, standing, with her hands joined, from which hung some white beads, most lovely. They were terrified by the vision, but the Lady reassured them, telling them not to be afraid because she would do them no harm; at this Lúcia asked her who she was and what she wanted, to which She answered that they should come there for six months on the same day, the thirteenth, and that on the last day she would tell her who she was and what she desired. Then she began to disappear slowly, first the head, then the arms and the rest of the body down to the feet, which were the last thing to disappear.

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.

What were they doing when they saw the Lady?

2 - I was minding the sheep. There was a flash of lightning and I said: Francisco, we'd better go home, there's a thunderstorm coming. There was another flash of lightning and I looked at the holm-oak shrub and saw a Lady who said: Don't be afraid, I won't do you any harm. She was on top of the holm-oak shrub. The Lady was young, she had a tight skirt. She does not know what a hobble skirt^* is, and she has seen ladies with pleated skirts, but the Lady's dress was not like that. She did not notice whether the dress was all in one piece.

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

3 - It was in another year that João had thrown the stone.

Her mother relates that last year in May another image had appeared and that it was this one that had been chased away. Only a year later was there another apparition.

4 - How did the image appear?

4 - [...]

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

5 - The first time, that we should not be afraid, that she would do no harm: that we should go there 6 times until 6 months were up, and then she would say what she wanted. Little by little she rose and disappeared.

6 - Did they all hear?
6 - [...]
7 - Had they been to Mass the previous Sunday? And where?
7 - She had been to Mass, as it was a Sunday, at the 1st apparition. She appeared at midday.
8 - Where do they usually go to Mass?
8 - [...]
9 - How is the Image dressed in the chapel where they usually go to Mass?
9 - That in the Church there is the Lady of the Rosary, but she has a child and a mantle and no beads, whereas that one had beads.
10 - Had they heard any sermon or homily about Our Lady of Lourdes?
10 - She did not know the story of Lourdes, but a parish priest has now told it to her.
11 - Did they often go to Mass, even on weekdays?
11 - Sometimes.
12 - What did they do after seeing the Lady?
12 - They came away and she told nothing. She had seen something the year before and had told her mother, who scolded her. The first time she saw it was at a place called the Estrumeiras.
13 - What clothes did she wear the first time and the other times?
13 - She always wore the same clothes.
14 - Did she say why she came on the 13th?
14 - See no. 5.
15 - Did they always see the spots on the sun?
15 - I never saw anything in the sun because I only looked at the Lady.
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 - White - arms raised.
18 - Were they afraid when they saw the Lady?
18 - They were afraid the first time.
19 - Whom did they tell that they had seen her?
19 - She herself did not tell. It was Jacinta who spread it.
20 - When did they speak to any priest about the matter?
20 - She did not tell straight away, but later.
21 - What did he say to them?
21 - He asked questions and said nothing.

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.

Is it true that once, when you were saying the rosary, the flock you were grazing went into the field where there were wheat and chickling peas already grown, without eating any of those plants?
– It is true.
18^th – When did that happen?
– I don't remember, but I think it was on a Sunday.
19^th – Didn't you see the flock eat the wheat and the chickling peas?
– I didn't.
20^th – But do you know for certain that it didn't eat them?
– I do, because one of the owners of the property said the flock had done no damage.
21^st – Did you drive the flock away from that place?

– We drove it away after saying the rosary.

22^nd – Whom did the property belong to?

23^rd – It belonged to José Matias and to Francisco António⁵, of Casa Velha. They are two adjoining plots.

24^th – Why didn't you drive the flock away as soon as you saw it going into the sown field?

– I didn't drive it away at once because I wanted to say the rosary.

25^th – Weren't you afraid it would eat what had been sown?

– I thought it would eat it, but I let it wander.

26^th – So didn't you know that it was your duty to take the flock away immediately so that it would cause no damage?

– I have already confessed that fault.

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.

The first time, did you ask Francisco and Jacinta not to tell their family anything of what they had seen?

– I did.

35^th – Why?

– Because last year my mother scolded me when I told her I had seen the white figure, and told me I was lying.

36^th – Did your mother learn of the 1^st apparition from you?

– No; it was through Francisco and Jacinta, or through people they had told what they saw.

37^th – Tell me what you heard the Lady say in May.

– In May the Lady said we were not to be afraid because she would do us no harm. I asked her where she was from and she told me she was from Heaven. I asked her what she wanted and she answered that we were to go there every month, month after month, and at the end of six months she would say what she wanted.

38^th – Why did you go to the place of the apparitions from then on on the 13th and not on another day of each month?

– I went on the 13th because that made it a month. I understood that I should go on the 13th, because the day of the first apparition was the 13th.

39^th – Did you ask her any more questions?

– I asked whether we were going to Heaven and the Lady said yes, but that Francisco would have to say his beads^*.

40^th – Did the Lady say anything else?

– Perhaps she said something else, but I don't remember.

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.

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.

Lúcia said that she saw a very beautiful woman, with a radiance about her head that was blinding.

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...”

I was minding the sheep in the cova de Iria with my cousin Francisco and Jacinta, playing at building a wall round a bush; and we saw a flash of lightning; and I said to Francisco, let's go home because there's lightning and a thunderstorm may come; we turned the sheep round to go home; when we got to the middle of the field, there was another flash of lightning and we saw a Lady above a holm-oak shrub; we were very frightened to see that brightness that surrounded her. Then She said to us: don't be afraid because I won't do you any harm. I asked her, Where are you from? I am from heaven. What do you want of me? I want you to come here for 6 months and at the end I will tell you what I want. I asked her about José das Neves's Maria and She told me she is in heaven; I asked her about Amelia and she told me that she was in purgatory. If she told me anything else this month I don't remember. And with that she disappeared, rising so high that in the end we couldn't see her any more.

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 anything important happen to you at the Cova da Iria? She answered: the following happened to me: On the thirteenth of May of nineteen hundred and seventeen, I was minding the flock at the place called Cova da Iria, in the parish of Fátima, together with my cousins Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto; after saying the rosary, as usual, we began to play, building a wall around a bush, when we saw a flash of lightning towards the east, and, fearing a thunderstorm was coming, although the weather was fine, I told Francisco it was better for us to go home and gather the flock; when we reached the middle of the field there was another flash, and, two steps further on, we saw on top of a holm-oak shrub, which would have been about a metre high, a very beautiful Lady, with the appearance of a young woman, perhaps eighteen to twenty-two years old, wrapped in a light brighter than the sun. We were very frightened at seeing that radiance which surrounded her, but the Lady, in a low but quite intelligible voice, said to us: "Do not be afraid, for I will not do you any harm". I asked her: "where are you from?" to which she answered: – "I am from Heaven" – "What do you want of me?" She answered: – "I want you to come here for six months, and at the end I will tell you what I want". I asked her about Maria, José das Neves's daughter, and she told me she was in heaven; I asked her about Amélia, and she told me she was in purgatory. Whether she told me anything else in this month, I do not remember. Then she disappeared, rising very high towards the east".

– "How was the Lady dressed?". She answered: "She was dressed in white, covered from her head to the hem of her dress by a mantle edged with gold braid, fastened with a golden cord ending in a tassel, also golden, with nothing on her head except the mantle; the sleeves of the dress came down to her hands, which were joined at the height of her breast and from which hung some white beads ending in a cross, also white; it seems to me she was not barefoot, but I cannot say for sure because she was standing on leaves wrapped in light and because I did not look closely at her feet; a little of her ears could be seen, but I cannot say for certain whether she had earrings or not, though it seemed to me she had a little gold chain".

– "What was your age and that of your cousins at that time?". She answered: – "At that time I was ten, Francisco nine and Jacinta six²".

– "Did your cousins also see and speak with this Lady?". She said: – "My cousins did not ask questions, but Jacinta said she had heard her, and Francisco saw her but did not hear her".

– "And do you not remember anything else that happened that day?". She said: "Now I remember this: when the Lady told me that she was from Heaven, I asked her whether I would go to Heaven, and she said yes; whether Jacinta would go, and she said yes; whether Francisco would go, and she said yes, but that he must say the rosary; I also remember that, after the Lady disappeared, a man came to say that the sheep had got into the peas and that he had already thrown stones at them and that the peas would have been eaten; he went over there to look so as to warn the owner, and afterwards told the owner, José Matias, that the sheep had got into the peas, but that they had not been eaten".

– "Did the Apparition last a long time? Were you afraid during it? Did you tell anyone what you saw?". She said: "The Apparition lasted a short time and during it I was not frightened at all; as we were going home, I agreed with my cousins not to say anything to anyone, and on the following days we would go, when we could, with the sheep to the Cova da Iria, or we would pass by there when bringing in the flock, saying a Hail Mary there".

"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".

When later I^* was able to get near her, she asked her what she had seen. She answered that she had seen the same little woman as the other day. She asked her what she had said. She said that she had said that they should keep going there and that they should learn to read.

There they asked Lúcia which was the holm oak on which the Lady had appeared and she pointed to it with her hand. Then they went into the shade of a large holm oak nearby, where they waited for some time. Shortly afterwards, when she was asked whether the Lady would be long, she answered no. A girl asked that they all pray the litany, Lúcia declaring that there was no longer time. Almost at the same moment she stood up and said that Our Lady was coming, for there had already been the flash of lightning. She ran to the holm oak, knelt down and everyone did as she did. Moments later she asked the Apparition: “You told me to come here; please tell me what you want of me”. She heard a buzzing that came from the holm oak, not understanding a single word of the answer. Lúcia was looking at the holm oak, as were the other two children, all of them with hands joined. The deponent did not quite understand what she then said to the Apparition, but the other people told her that the little girl had asked her whether she wanted anything more of her. Then she said: – “Look! Do you want to see her?... There she goes, there she goes!”

Lúcia says that she waited for a while, and during this time she was praying the rosary^*; when they were about to pray the litany^* she said: don't start, there's no time now — there were many people there — because she had already seen the lightning flash. She went to the holm-oak shrub with the people who were present; on arriving she made a bow, bending one knee, and at the same moment the Lady arrived, coming in an oblique line from the east, and Lúcia asked:

– Well then, what do you want of me?

– “I want to tell you to come back here on the 13th and to learn to read so that I can tell you what I want of you.”

– Then don't you want anything else?

– I want nothing more.

The dress was: a white mantle which reached from the head to the bottom of the skirt; it was gilded from the waist down, with cords running across and from top to bottom, and at the edges the gold was closer together. The skirt was all white and gilded with cords lengthwise and crosswise, but it reached only to the knee; a white jacket, not gilded, with only two or three cords at the cuffs; she had no shoes, she had white stockings, not gilded; round her neck she had a gold cord with a medal at the ends; she had her hands raised; in her ears she had some very tiny studs, very close to the ears; she parted her hands when she spoke; her eyes were black; she was of medium height.

Soon after the thirteenth of June the girl Lúcia appeared before me at the parish residence, accompanied by her mother. I proceeded to question Lúcia, who told me that on the thirteenth of the current month of June, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, she went with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta to the Cova da Iria. When they got there she said the rosary with the people who were present. When the rosary was finished, the people were about to say the Litany^*, and she, who had already seen the flash of lightning, said to them: don't begin, there's no time now.

That she goes closer to the holm-oak shrub and sees the Lady arrive, coming from the east. And she asks her:

– Well, what is it you want of me?
And the Lady answered:
– I want to tell you to come back here on the thirteenth of each month and to learn to read, so that I can tell you what I want.
– Then you want nothing more of me?
– I want nothing more of you.
And at once she began to rise and disappeared.

On Saint Anthony's day (13 June). On this day there was a feast at Fátima which Lúcia's mother (and I do not know whether Francisco's and Jacinta's too) wanted them to attend, but in obedience to what the Lady had recommended to them the month before, they left the feast to go to the place of the apparition, where they met some people unknown to them and only some 3 or 4 they knew. At more or less the same hour as the month before, the same vision appears to them in the same way, and this time she told them to keep going there in the following months; to learn to read; and she told them a secret, which she forbade them to reveal to anyone whatsoever. – Some days later, being near the place of the apparition with their flock, the three of them thought of going to pray the rosary at the place of the apparition, but for that it was necessary either to leave the flock, with the risk of its going and damaging the nearby crops, or for at least one of them to stay on guard and not go to pray the rosary; they decided all to go and pray the rosary and leave the flock, which immediately went into a field of maize, cabbages, chickling peas and other vegetables. A woman who was nearby, seeing the sheep in that field, calls the shepherds, who did not answer her, so she herself went to turn the sheep out, but as soon as she turned her back they went straight back in. The rosary over, the three went to their flock, to turn it out of the place where it was and see the damage it had done, but great was their amazement when they saw that nothing had been damaged. This was confirmed by the owner himself, who, being told that the flock had been in his field, went the next day to see what damage there was, and found that it had done him no damage at all.

22 - The 2^nd time: That we should keep going there and should learn to read.

What was it the Lady said in June?

– She said we were to keep going to the Cova da Iria and that we were to learn to read.

42^nd – Did she say anything else?

– A son of Manuel Carreira, from Moita, was there, a poor boy crippled in his legs and back⁶. I asked the Lady whether she would cure him, and she said he would be cured within a year. His back has already got better little by little. I also asked the Lady if she would kindly convert a woman from Moita, and she said she would convert her within a year⁷.

43^rd – What else did the Lady say?

– I don't remember anything else.

When was it that you asked the Lady what she would do so that the people would believe that it was she who appeared to you?

– I asked her quite a few times; the first time I asked I reckon was in June.

61^st – When did she tell you the secret?

– I think it was the 2^nd time.

We were waiting for the Lady to appear beside the holm-oak shrub, and there was a flash of lightning and the Lady appeared above the holm-oak shrub.

I asked her what she wanted of me; the answer: I want you to go on coming here every month, and to learn to read. I asked her to cure a lame man and some people who had asked me, some sick and others for the conversion of some sinners. Answer: In a year's time they will be cured. With that she disappeared, rising towards the east and going so high that the clouds and the blue of the sky didn't let us see her any more. If anything else happened this month I don't remember.

Were you there on the thirteenth of the following month? She answered: "On the thirteenth of June it was the feast of Saint Anthony and my mother was not very willing to let me go to the Cova da Iria, because she wanted me to go to the feast of Saint Anthony, but some people who had heard of the Apparition came to fetch me and Jacinta and went with us to the holm-oak shrub, at around noon. Jacinta told her mother that at the Cova da Iria she had seen something very beautiful and, at her mother's insistence, told her what it was; I only told what had happened eight days later, when my mother asked me. That is how it became known.

When we reached the holm-oak shrub, we prayed; and, the prayer over, I saw a flash of lightning – it was a very hot day – and then the Lady appeared on top of the holm-oak shrub, dressed in the same fashion. I asked her: "What do you want of me?" Her answer was: – "I want you to keep coming here in the other months, to say the rosary every day and to learn to read". As I had been asked to, I asked the Lady to cure a cripple, and she answered that, if he was converted, he would be cured within a year. Then she rose towards the east and disappeared among the clouds and the blue of the sky".

– "Did the people present also see the Lady?" She answered: "The people asked me and I said what I saw, but I do not know whether anyone else saw; afterwards we said the rosary, sang, and went to the feast".

– "After that Apparition were you visited by people who questioned you about it?". She answered: "I was visited by many people, and among them some priests, who pressed me hard with questions and scolded me a great deal, and people in my family said that I was lying, and my mother even beat me with a broom handle".

What was entrusted in 1917 on this subject is the following: She asked to be taken to heaven: the Most Holy Virgin answered: yes, Jacinta and Francisco I will take soon, but you are to stay here some time longer; Jesus wishes to make use of you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart; to whoever embraces it I promise salvation, and these souls will be dear to God, like flowers placed by me to adorn his throne. Am I to stay here alone? she said sadly. No, daughter, I will never leave you; my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.

Various people put many questions to one of them, the one who had the privilege of hearing and seeing the saint, and she answered that she saw a kind of very pretty doll, which spoke to her. It had, she said, a radiance around its head and called her to its side in a very thin and melodious voice. Among the many things it told her, the main one was that it would appear again in the same place on the 13th of next month, and would appear once more after that to declare the reason why it had come into the world.

When they had finished saying it, Lucia said: “let all who can kneel down”. Then I heard her ask some questions. Among other things she said: “A person in Pedrogam asks the Lady to cure her or take her to Heaven”. She also asked for the conversion of a family from Athouguia and of another from Fatima. Finally I heard her say these words: “The Lady said that she would work a miracle so that all the people will believe”.

The little girl asked: “What do you want, my Lady, that I can do?” Then she added: “There is a person in Pedrogam who asks you to convert her household. There is a woman in Fatima who asks you for the grace of converting her whole family. And there is a man in Athouguia who asks Our Lady to take him to Heaven, the sooner the better. And I ask Our Lady to make the lame better.” At the end of each question and each request she waited a little. Then she said that Our Lady had said that she would make them better, and if she did not, she would give them help to get by. While Lucia was listening to the answer, I seemed to hear a buzzing (a buzz) like that of a guitar. When she got up, she said: “Turn that way if you want to see her.”

I forgot [to] say that she also asked the Lady to work a miracle so that all the people would believe."

Then she spoke and said that whoever could should kneel. Next she asked: “What is it that my Mother wants of me?” A little later she asked again: “So you don't want anything more of me?” Then she made several requests to her for people from Pedrogam, Athouguia and Aljustrel, asking for cures and conversions” She also asked whether she could not work a miracle so that all the people would believe. After listening to the answer she said: “Goodbye! Everyone turn that way!” An hour later, when the child was with me, she told me that the Lady had said that on the last day she would work a miracle so that all the people would believe.

Lúcia said, and the father heard it: “What I wanted – oh! Our Lady!”, and asked for the cure and conversion of various people, the father not remembering their names.

Lúcia then added: “she says that not all of them will get better, because some are wicked”. She further declared that the Lady had said that they should all pray the rosary^* and that the war would soon end. The children were then kneeling; Lúcia got up quickly, her dress billowing out like a balloon, and said, pointing: “Look over there, if you want to see her” – and immediately added: “You're already too late”. She was facing almost to the west and turned towards the east to point to the Lady, who was withdrawing.

When Lúcia said that the Lady was coming, her son slipped and fell. She asked them to pray for him, to which she said that the Lady had said she would make him better or give him the means to earn his living, and that he should always pray the rosary to Our Lady with his family. They were all kneeling. Lúcia said: “Our Lady is coming now”. The same buzzing was heard when she spoke, and the same rocket-like whistle at her departure. Before the apparition they prayed the rosary. Her husband said that she looked at the Lady and from time to time to the side, and that he asked her why she did that, to which she answered that it was because the radiance she had blinded her eyes. Lúcia asked for the recovery of a person from Pedrógão, for the conversion of a family from Fátima, and for a man from Atouguia who had asked her that Our Lady should take him to Heaven as soon as possible. Afterwards the deponent heard that the little girl had stated that Our Lady had said he should not be in a hurry, for she knew very well when she would take him.

Lúcia also stated that the Lady had told her the secret. At the time of the apparition an ai was heard, and the little girl was frightened. After that day many people came looking for her and asked her the secret. One day some ladies came and one of them asked her whether the secret was good or bad, and she said that for some it was good, for others it was bad, and for her and her cousins it was good.

On 14-7-1917 Lúcia, aged 10, came before me; she said that she left home on the 13th at about eleven o'clock, called Jacinta, and we reached the new road: we ran all the way there; people told us to go slowly and we said our legs didn't get tired, so why go slowly? We arrived and found my sister there, and she told me to start the rosary^*; I started it and we prayed it. We were there a little while, there was a flash of lightning and the Lady came. I got up, told the people to move back a little and that those who could and wished to should kneel; I knelt down again and asked her:

– What is it you want of me?

– I want to tell you to come back here on the 13th.

And she also said:

– "Pray the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary that she may ease the war, for only she can help with it."

I also said:

– I have a request here: will you convert a woman from Pedrógão and one from Fátima, and make a little boy from Moita¹ better?

She said that she would convert them and make him better within a year.

I said:

– Perform a miracle so that everyone will believe.

– Three months from now I shall then make everyone believe.

– Don't you want anything more of me?

– "No, for my part I don't want anything more of you now."

I said to her:

– Well, for my part I don't want anything more either.

Then she went off towards the east and I said to the people:

– Look over there to see her, towards where she was going.

The people turned round.

She was exactly the same one she had seen the other times.

–I had a request here: would you take a man from Atouguia to heaven, the sooner the better?

–I shall take him.

On the fourteenth of the month of July the seer Lúcia appeared before me at the parish residence, accompanied by her mother.

I proceeded to question her, and she – the seer Lúcia – said that on the thirteenth of this month of July she went with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta, at the usual hour, to the Cova da Iria, and that when they got there she led the rosary – that is, she presided over its recitation – saying it with the people (estimated at two thousand persons). When the rosary was finished she waited a little while, and then she saw the flash of lightning, and after that the Lady came. She stood up – she had been kneeling – and told the people to move back a little, and that those who could and wished to should kneel; and, kneeling again, she asked the Lady:

– What is it you want of me today?
And the Lady answered:
– I want to tell you to come back here on the thirteenth: say the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary, that she may soften the war, for only She can help.
– I have been asked whether you will convert a woman from Pedrógão and one from Fátima, and make a little boy from Moita better?
And that the Lady answered her that she would convert them and make him better within a year.

– I have been asked whether you will take a man from Atouguia to Heaven as soon as possible.

And She answered:

– I will, but... (here I do not know what else she said).
– Work a miracle so that everyone will believe!?

And the Lady answered:

– In three months' time I will make everyone believe.
– You want nothing more of me?!
– I want nothing more of you.

And that, having said this, she rose as on the other occasions, moving towards the east, and disappeared.

The little girl said that the Lady had told her a secret that she could not tell anyone, and that she had asked for some sick people, and that she thinks the Lady said that some would get better and others not.

On 13 July. This time she recommended to her that they pray the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary so that the war might abate; that only She could help them, and that in the coming months they should keep going to that place as before.

Yesterday we went to interview the seers. Lucia, who is the only one who speaks with Our Lady, was in the church, where she had gone with her mother to hear

Mass and receive communion. She made her first communion at 7. She is very sweet-natured. She told us — all the while playing with our hands or our lorgnettes — that Our Lady wants the rosary to be prayed every day; that we should ask much pardon for our sins, because Our Lord is very much offended; and that a little chapel should be built to her in that place. She presents herself under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. She is dressed in white; barefoot; a white mantle over her head and a string of beads, also white, in her right hand. She announced the end of the war as imminent — the seer says “today” — and that our soldiers are coming back soon. Our Lady told her a secret, which she has been pressed to reveal but persists in not telling. She answered one man: — Our Lady told me not to tell anyone; and you are someone.

3^rd time - That we should keep coming, that we should pray the rosary to Our Lady so that the war would end, for only she could help. She stayed only a short while; there were already many people.

But Lucia says, and maintained, that she did not remember either Our Lady saying it to her or herself repeating it. Yet the fact is that several other trustworthy people who were beside her affirm it. I believe the little girl gets confused because she is so exhausted and tired.

What she confirms is that Our Lady told her that the war would end that day, when She reached Heaven, and that very soon the soldiers would return to their families. She says she is not quite sure whether Our Lady told her she was Our Lady of the Rosary or that she wanted the Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary; it was one or the other.

As for the secret, she did not tell her to tell it to anyone¹⁰, and they still keep it as stubbornly as ever.

What did the Lady say in July?

– She said we were to keep going to the Cova da Iria and to say the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary so that the war would ease, for only she could help. I asked the Lady for the cure of sick people and the conversion of sinners who had been recommended to me, and she told me she would make some better and not others, and would convert some and not others.

45^th – Did she say anything else?

– I don't remember her saying anything else that day.

On folio five of the parish inquiry, in the interrogation about the third apparition, which took place on the thirteenth of July, nineteen hundred and seventeen, Lúcia testifies that, when she had said to the Lady: "Work a miracle so that everyone will believe!", the Lady answered: "Three months from now I will then make everyone believe".

Around noon, as in all the other months, we went up close to the holm-oak shrub to see the Lady. There was a flash of lightning and the Lady appeared above the holm oak. Question: What do you want of me today? Answer: I want you to go on coming here for the rest of the months Do you want to learn a prayer Yes we do. It is this one: O my Jesus forgive us, deliver us from the fire of hell and take all the little souls to heaven, especially those that most need it.

Then she confided some little words to us, telling us: Don't tell this to anyone; you can only tell it to Francisco. I want to ask you for some people who asked me to ask you for them: some blind, others crippled, others dumb. In a year's time some will be cured.

And with that she went up to heaven as in all the other months.

"Did you go back to the Cova da Iria in the month of July?". She answered: "I went back on the thirteenth of July, as the Lady had asked; there were a good many people there, around noon. We said the Rosary at the foot of the holm-oak shrub; after finishing, while we were standing, there was a flash of lightning, and the Lady appeared on top of the holm oak. And I asked her: what do you want of me today? The Lady answered: – "I want you to keep coming here for the rest of the months and to keep saying the rosary". Then the Lady said: "Would you like to learn a prayer?". "Yes, we would", I answered. And the Lady taught it like this: – "O my Jesus, forgive us, deliver us from the fire of hell and take all the little souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need".

Next, she confided a few words to me and to Jacinta, telling us not to repeat them to anyone except Francisco. As I had been asked, I asked the Lady for the cure of some people, some blind, others crippled and others mute, and she said that within a year some would be cured. And then she rose up to Heaven as on the other occasions".

Lucia, now a nun and the only seer still living, has alluded to a secret that the Most Holy Virgin told her. She did not tell it to me, nor did I insist.

When I asked the girl Lúcia who had taught her to say what she has been saying, she answered that it was the Lady she saw at the Cova da Iria. When I told her that people who tell lies that do as much harm as hers does – if it is a lie, with so many people coming here deceived – go to hell, she answered that if liars go to hell, she will not go to hell for that, because she does not tell lies; she only says what she saw and what the Lady told her; and if the people come, it is because they want to, for she has not called anyone. I asked her whether the Lady had told her a secret. She answered that she had, but that she would not tell it to me. After several questions about it, she answered: Look!... if you like... I'll go up there and ask the Lady whether She gives me leave to tell the secret, and if She gives me leave, then I'll tell you.

Then the boy declared that Lúcia had told him that she was already seeing the signs in the sky, that Our Lady was also appearing that day and that she wanted Jacinta to be there too.

On the nineteenth, Lúcia came home at night carrying a little branch of holm oak in her hand and said that Our Lady had appeared to her a little before sunset, around the middle of the afternoon, at four o'clock (at noon she had been at home with the flock). The mother took the branch and noticed that it smelled very sweet. The scent could not be compared with any other scent. She was unbelieving and was somewhat shaken, a little more convinced. Her daughter said that the Lady had said that they should keep going to the Cova da Iria and that she would work a miracle in October at the Cova da Iria, that the soldiers would come back from the war, that Our Lady of Sorrows would come, and other things besides.

Lúcia said that she saw Our Lady on the Sunday following the 13th² at the place called Valinho³; first she saw the signs in the air as they usually appeared; she saw Our Lady coming from the east, and then she alighted on top of the holm-oak shrub.

I bowed to her, stood up again and asked her:

– What do you want of me?

– “I want to tell you to go back there to the Cova da Iria; if they had not made off with you to the Aldeia⁴ the Miracle would have been better known; St. Joseph was to come with the Child Jesus to give peace to the world, and Our Lord was to come to bless the people; Our Lady of the Rosary was coming with an angel on each side, and Our Lady with an arch of flowers around her.”

I asked:

– That money that you have, what do you want done with it?

– With that money make two little litters^*, very small ones; you carry one, with three other girls like you, all dressed in white; Francisco carries the other, with three other boys like him; let them wear white capes; take it to Our Lady of the Rosary and use it for her. Then she went off up through the air and I said goodbye.

I asked her the 1st or 2nd time who she was, and she said that she would tell me on the last day.

On the twenty-first the girl Lúcia appeared before me and said that on the thirteenth, when she was taken by the administrator to Vila Nova de Ourém, where she stayed in the administrator's house until the fifteenth, she saw nothing extraordinary. On the nineteenth, which had been a Sunday, she was pasturing the sheep at the place called Valinho with her cousin Francisco and a brother of his called João, older than Francisco; and seeing the sky look as it did when they used to see the Lady, she asks her cousin João, offering him a vintém^*, to go and fetch Jacinta, who was at her parents' house. And as soon as Jacinta arrived, the Lady appeared to them on top of a holm-oak shrub; they all saw her except her cousin João, the brother of Francisco and Jacinta. And then she asked her:

– Well, what is it you want of me?

And the Lady answered her:

– I want to tell you to go back to the Cova da Iria: if they had not made off with you to the Village (Vila Nova de Ourém), the miracle would be better known. Saint Joseph would have come with the Child Jesus to give peace to the world. Our Lord would have come to bless the people. Our Lady of the Rosary would have come with a little angel on each side. Our Lady of Sorrows would have come with an arch of flowers around her.

– That money you have, what do you want done with it? (This is the money from the offerings people have given.)

When this question had been asked, the Lady answered:

– That money... have two little processional litters^* made; you carry one with three other girls like you, all dressed in white, and let Francisco carry the other with three other boys like him, wearing white capes; take them to Our Lady of the Rosary and dedicate them to Her.

Having said this, she disappeared, rising up into the air. The first or second time the Lady appeared, Lúcia asked her who she was – and the Lady answered that she would tell her on the last day. She also said that the second or third time the Lady appeared to her, she taught her a prayer, which she usually says between the mysteries^* of the rosary when she says it at the Cova da Iria. – The prayer is: O my Jesus, forgive us and deliver us from the fire of hell:

take all the poor souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of it.

This time she appeared to them at the spot called Valinhos on the Sunday immediately after 13 August (because on that day they were treacherously taken to Ourém by the local administrator^*, who deceived them, saying that he himself would take them in his carriage to the place of the apparition). On this day she told her that if on the 13th they had not been taken away by the administrator, the miracle (for the people) would not have been so well known. Lúcia made various requests to her that she convert certain people and make some sick people better, to which She answered that some would be converted and get better, but others not, because they did not believe, and some not even in her Son.

4^th time - I was arrested

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.

What did the Lady say in August?

– In August I didn't go there.

47^th – But what did she say the following Sunday when she appeared to you at the place called Valinhos?

– At Valinhos she said that if we had not been arrested the miracle would not be so well known, and that St. Joseph would have come with the Child to give peace to the world, and Our Lord to give the blessing to the people.

48^th – What else did She say?

– I asked her what should be done with the money that had been collected, and she said we were to take it on two litters^* to Our Lady of the Rosary, on the days of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

49^th – Was it you who thought of asking that question?

– No; it was the person who had the money who told me to ask that question.

50^th – Did the Lady say nothing more?

– I asked again for the sick and the sinners who had been recommended, and she said that some would be made better and others converted within a year.

That day I didn't ask her anything else.

What was it Lúcia said to the Lady?
– She asked her what she had come here to do.
14^th – Did you hear the Lady's answer?
– I didn't, but Lúcia waited a little while.
15^th – Did Lúcia ask more questions?
– She did. She spoke again, but I don't remember what she said, except for the last question, which was whether she would bring my Manuel back here.
16^th – Didn't Lúcia tell you afterwards what the Lady had said to her?
– She told me the same day near the holm-oak shrub, straight away on the way back, that if she had not been taken to the village (Vila Nova de Ourém) on the 13th, the miracle would not be so well known.

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.

At Valinhos Lúcia asked the Lady, at the deponent's request, whether Our

Lady had appeared to anyone else at the Cova da Iria, and the Lady answered that it was not she but an angel, the figure that Carolina, the deponent's youngest daughter, aged twelve, and a little girl of seven from Espite saw on the twenty-eighth of July near the holm oak, of small stature, very beautiful, with fair hair, a figure which Carolina afterwards saw on top of the holm oak.

We were on our way to the place of the holm-oak shrub and they told us that first we had to go to the Parish Priest's house; we went thinking that he wanted something of us; when we got there we went up onto the veranda waiting for the orders they would give us; nobody wanted us for anything.

Then they said to us: Get into this carriage so that you get to the place more quickly. At first my father said that we would go on foot; but the Administrator^* told us to get into the carriage again, saying that in the carriage we would be free of the crowd. So on my father's orders I got into the carriage, and my cousins, instead of going with us to the cova de Iria, went to Vila Nova de Ourem. I said this isn't the way over here; but the Administrator answered, saying that we were going to Ourem to the Parish Priest's house and afterwards we would come in an automobile and would still get here in time. And as soon as we got to Ourem he locked us in a room, promising us that we would not leave there until we told the secret that the Lady had confided to us; and so three days went by, with them threatening us with various punishments and promising us some gold coins, but they got nothing out of us. Then they came and left us at the Parish Priest's house.

When we got home we went straight off to pasture the sheep at a place called Valinho; I was with Francisco and João; Jacinta had stayed at home. Then I suspected that our Lady might pay us a visit, and by inspiration of our Lady I asked João to go home and call Jacinta, and as he didn't want to go I promised to give him a vintém^* I had; then he went. When Jacinta arrived there was a flash of lightning and the Lady appeared above a holm-oak shrub.

So what do you want of me today? I want you to go on [going] to the cova de Iria the rest of the months; If you hadn't gone away the miracle wouldn't be so well known. The woman who has the money sends to ask what you want done with that money. I want them to make two processional litters^* for the day of the feast of our Lady of the Rosary; Francisco carries one with three more little boys, the girls carry the other with two more. I want to ask you for some people who asked me for the Lady to cure them; in a year's time some Will be cured. And with that she went up as in all the other months, leaning towards the east.

"In the month of August, did everything happen in the same way?". She answered: "In the month of August it was different. Before the 13th of August, my cousins and I were summoned to the Administration^*; my uncle did not take his children there, but I went with my father. The Administrator questioned me and insisted that I reveal the Lady's secret to him, which I did not do; after writing it down, he sent me away. On the thirteenth we were going to the place of the holm-oak shrub, when we were told that we first had to go to the parish priest's house. So we went, going up onto the veranda of the house. After we had been waiting for some time, the Administrator appeared and told us to get into a carriage, saying that we would get to the Cova da Iria faster that way.

My father said that we would go on foot, but the Administrator insisted it was better for us to go in the carriage, because we would be free of the crowd. Then, on my father's orders, I got into the carriage with my cousins. The carriage turned round and set off in the direction of Vila Nova de Ourém. "It isn't this way", I said, but the Administrator answered that we were going to Ourém to the parish priest's house and that we would still come back in time because we would be coming by motor car. When we reached Ourém, they shut us in a room and said that we would not leave there until we declared the secret that the Lady had confided to us. The next day³, an elderly lady questioned us about the secret; then they took us to the Administration, where we were questioned again, being offered gold coins to reveal the secret. We went back to the Administrator's house, where we had stayed the previous night, and in the afternoon we were questioned again about the secret. They took us to the jail, and threatened that we would stay there if we did not tell it. We went back to the Administration, and since we did not tell the secret, they promised they would fry us in oil. The Administrator had us taken out and told a man to get a cauldron of hot oil ready. Then he called Jacinta, saying she was the first to be burned. She went at once, without saying goodbye. They questioned her and put her in a room. Next they called Francisco; they told him that Jacinta had already been burned and that he would have the same fate if he did not declare the secret. They questioned him and sent him to the same room. Then it was my turn; they said that my cousins had already been burned and that I would have the same fate if I did not tell the secret. Although I thought it was true, I was not afraid. They sent me to join my cousins, and a man said that it would not be long before all three of us were burned. They took us to the Administrator's house, and there we spent that night in the same room. The next day⁴, it was almost the same thing: interrogations morning and afternoon, with many promises and threats. On the sixteenth⁵, we went again to the Administration at about ten o'clock, but they got nothing out of us, as on the other occasions. Then the Administrator had us get into a carriage, and left us at the parish priest's house, on the veranda.

When we got home, we went straight away with the sheep to a place called Valinho together with Francisco and João. Jacinta had stayed at home. There was a flash of lightning, and I sent João, her brother, to fetch Jacinta. João did not want to go, and I promised him two vinténs^* to go. When Jacinta arrived, I told her there had been a flash of lightning and that the Lady was probably going to appear. We went down by a short cut, and saw the Lady on top of a holm oak. "What do you want of me?", I asked. She said: – "I want you to keep going to the Cova da Iria for the rest of the months until October and to say the Rosary". I asked further: "What is to be done with the money that was at the Cova da Iria?" Maria do Rosário, from Moita⁶, had taken charge of it and since neither my parents nor my cousins' parents wanted to keep it, she told me to ask the Lady what should be done with that money. The Lady answered: "Make two processional litters, for the day of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; Francisco is to carry one with three other boys, and the two of you are to carry the other with two other girls". I asked her for the cure of some people, and She said that within a year some would be cured. I also asked her 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, so that everyone would believe; that the Child Jesus would come with Saint Joseph to give the blessing to the world, and Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Sorrows; that Our Lord would come to give peace to the world. Then she disappeared as in the other months towards the east."

– "Did all of you see the Lady?" – She answered: – "Jacinta and I saw and heard; Francisco, as on the other occasions, saw her but did not hear what she said, and João neither saw nor heard anything"

– "Did many people come to your house asking about the Lady?". She answered: "many people came, and even many priests, some of whom called me a fraud".

As soon as they arrived at Ourém, the children were shut in a room and told that they would not leave it until they declared the secret that the Lady had confided to them. The next day, after being questioned by a lady, they were taken to the council administration and questioned again, someone even offering them gold pieces to reveal the secret. In the afternoon they were again questioned about the secret. They were taken to the jail and threatened that they would be made to stay there if they did not tell it. As they would not tell it, they were threatened that they would be fried in oil. At that point, in the presence of the children, the administrator told an individual who was nearby to get ready a cauldron of hot oil. He then called Jacinta, saying that she was the first to be burned. She went promptly, and Lúcia, in her deposition, adds ingenuously that she went without saying goodbye. They questioned her and put her in a room. Next they called Francisco and told him that Jacinta was already burned and that he would suffer the same fate if he did not declare the secret. They questioned him and sent him to the same room. Then it was Lúcia's turn. They told her that her cousins were already burned and that she would suffer the same fate if she did not tell the secret. Although she thought it was true, the seer was not afraid, as she herself declares. They sent her to join her cousins, and a man said that it would not be long before all three were burned. They were taken to the administrator's house, and there they spent one more night in the same room. The next day almost the same thing happened: interrogations morning and afternoon, with many promises and threats. On the sixteenth they went again to the administration, at about ten o'clock, but nothing was obtained from the seers, as on the other occasions, until finally the administrator went to take them to the parish residence of Fátima.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

"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 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.

The child asserts that the Lady spoke to her once more,

[…]

Lucia, the one who speaks with the Virgin, announces with theatrical gestures, from the arms of a man¹⁴ who carries her from group to group, that the war had ended¹⁵ and that our soldiers^* were going to come home...

Little Lucia said it was the Lady of the Rosary, who wants a church built to her there, and announced that God is much offended with the people and that he was showing his power so that they might be converted and be saved; if they gain nothing from this manifestation of his power he will send a punishment.

I neither heard nor spoke with the child, but all this seems natural to me.

She said many more things, but I don't know everything yet.

[…]

Our Lady told Lucia that Saint Joseph had come to bless the people, and that all the believers (present there) were forgiven up to that moment.

That place was blessed; people and animals, everything was blessed.

And that impression grew stronger when the Rev. Cardoso, of Portalegre⁴, who during the vision was beside the little shepherd girls, told us that the eldest, while still on her knees beside the holm-oak shrub, said to all who surrounded her: — Look at the sun now! — and the solar phenomenon followed immediately.

This agrees with the answer she gave me when I asked her whether the apparition had taken place during the phenomenon. "No," she answered; "the Lady had already disappeared

Suddenly Lucia told him to look at the holm-oak shrub. The little girl's face became lovelier than it was: it turned rosy, and her lips grew thinner. Then I heard her ask this question: What is it you want? You said that today, which is 13 October, you would tell me what you wanted. She was silent for a moment and then added: “Very well, but if you don't work some miracle, the people will say it is a lie.” Then she was silent for a little while. Next she said: “But what am I to ask for? I would ask you to save all these people and take them to Heaven, and to cure these sick people.” At that moment many people were making requests. I do not know whom the little girl was referring to. She also said the following: “I have come here to talk several times now and never asked you your name”. After hearing the answer she said: “it is the Lady of the Rosary.” Then, leaning towards her mother, who was nearby, but without turning towards the people, she said more loudly: “Our Lady says to look at the sun, that she wants to manifest herself in the heavenly bodies. ”

Suddenly, Lucia's voice:

– There She is, on the little holm oak.

An eternal, supernatural sensation, that of knowing the Mother of God to be near us!

Prostrate on the ground, hands raised in supplication, in the fervent contrition of human wretchedness before the divine greatness, the holiness of Holinesses!

Then I distinctly heard this sentence from Lucia: – Won't you work the miracle today that you promised me? –

And after these simple words of that predestined child, I heard from her the sentence that destroys all doubt and dispels all the hesitation with which the learned seek to confuse the supernatural with a phenomenon of nature, an illusion that has shaken the firmness of so many believers!

Look at the Sun –

And only after that exclamation of Lucia's, like an order from Heaven, did the Queen of Angels cause that prodigious miracle to appear, that glorious Sun which illuminated her Apparition with a light that no Christian soul will ever be able to extinguish!

I affirm that I heard four more sentences: – Don't you want anything more of me today? –

And, after the question, as if repeating syllables and words which the Mother of Christ was murmuring to her from Heaven: – Cha - Chapel or Church here? –

And, for the first time, with a radiant face, and clapping her hands.

– It's Our Lady of the Rosary –

Turning again to Jacintha, and moving her head down from right to left, as if following the path taken by the Immaculate Virgin, she exclaimed:

– She went that way.

He heard Jacinta shout that they should not crush her. Lúcia said: “She's here!” The people asserted that they saw colours in the sun and in the sky. The sun did not hurt the eyes at all. He heard no voice. He heard it said, either by Lúcia or by other people, that Our Lady wanted Our Lord not to be offended any more, since He was very much offended, and that the war was going to end.

Lúcia drew breath twice, like someone short of air. Then she said: “What do you want of me today?” A few moments later Lúcia said further: “I would like you to make my sick people better.” Then she declared: “Our Lady said she could not make them all better, that they were very wicked”. After a few moments she stood up very quickly and said: “If you want to see her, turn towards the east”. But immediately afterwards she exclaimed: “You can't see her any more”.

All three at once gave a cry, an “ai!” Lúcia said: “Here she comes! Be quiet, there's been a flash of lightning”. It had been raining all morning. The holm oak was decorated with ribbons and roses; you could hardly see any of it.

Then Lúcia said: “She's here now”. She spoke aloud. The mother saw nothing. She only noticed the same scent as the little branch from Valinhos, when her daughter said: “She's here now!” Lúcia asked: “What do you want of me today?” She fell silent for a little and then seemed to ask her for a miracle so that all those people would believe. Then she was silent again. A few moments later she told her that she had many requests from many sick people to make to her. She was standing, with hands joined, facing the holm oak. The others were in the same position. Jacinta was in the middle. The other two children said nothing. Lúcia from time to time made as if to raise her eyes and lowered them at once, and when the parish priest later asked her why she did that, she said it was because it was blinding. The two little girls were dressed in a light blue dress and a white veil and had on their heads a garland of white artificial paper flowers. It all lasted a short time. Lúcia finally said: “There she goes, there she goes!... Do you see her?... Look over there!”, pointing with her arm towards the east, which was the direction she was facing and had faced the whole time. Then, presumably when she lost sight of her, she turned her back to the holm oak and, addressing the people behind, said: “Listen, Our Lady said that people should mend their ways and stop offending God, who was already very much offended, and that the war was going to end”. And her sister-in-law Olímpia said: “Oh Lúcia, didn't you ask Our Lady to work a miracle so that all the people would believe?” To this Lúcia answered: “Well, do you want a greater miracle than the war ending?” Lúcia said further that Our Lady had said that they should build a little chapel there, that she was the Lady of the Rosary, that the war would end as soon as she reached Heaven. She turned round again and repeated: “There she is!... Do you see her?... She's just about to arrive” (The little girl does not remember having told the people to look up, I mean, at the sky, at the sun).

After the thirteenth of September she told Lúcia to ask the Lady who she was. The holm oak shook a great deal when she said that the Lady was coming. She heard Lúcia ask: “You gave permission to build the little chapel; now say under what title we are to worship you”. When she stood up after the apparition, she asked her what title she had said, and the little girl said that it was Our Lady of the Rosary. That day Lúcia also said: “Now close your umbrellas,” for Saint Joseph is already coming into the sun, and the Child, to give the blessing, as soon as Our Lady reaches Heaven”. After she said this the sun danced.

The eldest little girl, Lucia, aged 10, asks the Virgin aloud: who are you, ma'am? What do you want, ma'am? The answers are not heard, but when the sun resumes its usual course the child turns to the people and, from the arms of a man⁷ who is holding her up, repeats the words of the Lady

I am the Virgin of the Rosary; I want a chapel to be built for me here.

Tell the people to mend their ways and stop offending God; tell them that peace is made today and that your soldiers^* will come back

The two other children, Francisco and Jacyntha, see the Virgin but do not speak to her.

She told them that she was Our Lady of the Rosary; that the war was ending that day; that our soldiers would soon come back; that they should build at the place of the apparition a chapel to Our Lady of the Rosary, and that the people should reform and turn from their sins, which have greatly offended her Son.

When the little girl went back home, Dr. João do Val⁹ went to speak to her, as did the Saraivas.

She answered everything with the greatest simplicity and said this: “that Our Lady was asking men to make an effort to be better, for her beloved son was already angry; that the war would end soon and the Portuguese soldiers^* would return home. Above all she recommended that they pray a great deal. If they wished, they were to build a little chapel there and venerate her under the name of Our Lady of the Rosary”.

When she was asked about Our Lady, she said that she was lovely, wore a very straight white dress (it must be a tunic), was barefoot, and had on her head a very long blue kerchief (mantle). Her voice is very beautiful, and she called the little girl by her name: “Lucia”.

The little girl only answers what she is asked, but without any embarrassment, though before the apparition she was very shy.

She says, as on the other occasions too, that the Lady tells her a secret, which she tells no one, not even her mother.

the blessed girl shouts to the people that Our Lady said all the people should look at the sun after it was all over the blessed girl Lucia says that Our Lady said the war was going to end and that the flags of peace were already in sight (miracle), but Our Lady also asked her to tell the people that they should all pray the rosary every day and build her a Church on that spot.

But how do the unbelievers explain the fact that the child, seconds before the phenomenon occurred, said “Look at the sun. It is now”.

[…]

P.S. There is one inaccuracy in the Seculo. The child did not say that the war had ended, but that it was going to end and that the soldiers^* would soon return to Portugal.

Lúcia, after saying that she made several requests and that Our Lady answered that she would grant some and not others, added: "I didn't make any particular request, because then I'd still be there making requests".

6th Apparition – 13-10-1917 – On 16 October I summoned Lúcia before me and, when questioned, she said that she first saw a flash of lightning, which has always happened: I told the people to be quiet, that the flash had already come; I turned towards the east and saw Our Lady coming down through the air and I said to the people: be quiet, Our Lady is coming now – Do you see her! Do you see her!

The Lady came and settled on top of the roses and silk ribbons that were covering the stumps of the holm-oak shrub.

I asked:

– What do you want of me?

– I want to tell you that you should not offend¹ Our Lord any more; that they should pray the rosary^* to Our Lady; that they should make a little chapel here to the Lady of the Rosary (Lúcia is in doubt whether it was so or whether it was: make a little chapel here, I am the Lady of the Rosary); the war ends this very day; expect your soldiers back here very soon. All this, Lúcia said, the Lady had said in answer to the 1st question.

– I have many requests, will you grant them all or not?

– Some I will grant, others not.

I did not make any particular request, because at that time I was still there making requests.

– Do you want anything more of me?

– I want nothing more now.

Then she went away, returning by the same path and in the same direction, and I said to the people: look, there she goes! There she goes! There she goes!

The Lady disappeared, and it seems to me that it was because my eyes could no longer see her, not because there were clouds to hide her.

Then she says that she looked at the sun and that she saw Saint Joseph to the left of the sun, and the Child Jesus; of St. Joseph she only saw from the waist up; he was dressed in white and the Child Jesus was dressed in red. The Child Jesus she saw whole, and he was seated on St. Joseph's left arm. St. Joseph was making signs of the cross with his right hand; she thinks he made some 3 or 4, then disappeared; after St. Joseph disappeared everything was yellow; Our Lord came, but it seemed that she could make out only a dress with a cape; I only saw him from the waist up; the beard was short and the hair I did not see; I did not get to see the hands, I saw only the chest.

Next to Our Lord there was a Lady standing on Our Lord's right, and Our Lord was to the right of the sun. Both had a yellow radiance; she had no child; this Lady was dressed in white and had a blue mantle over her head; she had her hands on her chest, palms inwards, one below the other. The skirt was white and long and reached her feet; it seems to her that the white skirt and jacket were not golden; she did not see her as well in the sun as when she was on the holm-oak shrub; then she disappeared.

Together with St. Joseph I saw another image or Lady who was on the right side of the sun; I saw her all dressed in red, the mantle was blue, edged at the neck; she had her hands at her waist with the fingers interlaced; she had no child, she had a yellow radiance; she disappeared with St. Joseph.

At the moment when I was seeing this image the people were shouting: look! look! how lovely!

And I also looked, telling the people to look over there, that St. Joseph was there and afterwards Our Lord.

The Lady of the Holm-Oak Shrub came dressed in white exactly as on the other occasions; I saw neither less nor more; the skirt I think was short as on the other occasions; she said that the money was for a chapel but not all of it, because some should be for a litter^*; she said she had no idea who should build the chapel or take charge of it.

On the sixteenth of the current month of October the seer Lúcia appeared before me at the parish residence, accompanied by her mother. I proceeded to question Lúcia, who said that on the thirteenth of the current month, having gone with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta to the place called Cova da Iria, once there she saw at the same hour as the other times a flash of lightning – which has always happened on the thirteenth of each month since May – that she turned towards the east, having told the people to be quiet because the lightning had already come, and then she saw Our Lady come down through the air; and that she said again to the people: be quiet... Our Lady is coming now! Look!... Do you see Her... do you see Her... do you see Her?... And the Lady came and placed her feet on top of the silk ribbons and roses that were covering the little stems of the holm-oak shrub.

And then she asked Her:

– What is it you want of me?

And the Lady answered:

– I want to tell you that they must not offend Our Lord any more, for he is much offended; that they should say the rosary to Our Lady. Build a Little Chapel here to Our Lady of the Rosary (Lúcia is in doubt whether it was as stated or whether it was: build a Little Chapel here – I am the Lady of the Rosary). The war ends this very day; expect your soldiers here very soon.

– I have many requests, will you grant them all or not?!

– Some I will grant, others not.

– You want nothing more of me now?

– I want nothing more of you now – answered the Lady.

– And I want nothing more of You either. Having said this, the Lady went off by the same way and in the same direction as the other times. And then she turned to the people and said to them:

– Look... there She goes – there She goes – there She goes!... And that she went on rising until she disappeared from sight. Once she was lost from sight, she looked at the sun – but not because She told her to – and saw Saint Joseph, from the waist up, dressed in white, with the child seated on his left arm. Saint Joseph was to the left of the sun and was blessing the people with his right hand. It seems to her that he made three or four signs of the cross over the people. The Child Jesus she saw full-length, dressed in red. And she saw, on the right side of the sun, Our Lady, full-length, dressed in red with a blue mantle over her head, fastened with a brooch at the neck, and her hands at her waist with the fingers interlaced.

This vision disappeared, she says, and everything became yellow for a few moments – and then she saw Our Lord appear, from the waist up, dressed in white, to the right of the Sun; and to the right of Our Lord she saw Our Lady, full-length, standing, dressed in white, with a blue mantle over her head, and her hands on her breast with the palms inwards, one beside the other in a horizontal position. The mantle was not fastened with a brooch like that of the first vision. In none of these visions did Our Lady appear with the Child. All these visions had a yellow radiance, except that of Saint Joseph.

While she was seeing these images the people were shouting: Look... Look... Look... how beautiful!!! Lúcia further stated that at this moment she also told the people to look there – at the sun – for Saint Joseph was there – and – afterwards Our Lord. Asked what is to be done with the money, she said it is for a Chapel; and as to who is to build the Chapel and take charge of the work, she said she did not know, because the Lady had not told her. And asked also when Our Lady would appear to her again, or when she hoped to see her again, she said she was no longer expecting Her, because the Lady had promised her only six months, or six times – and these have now come – and that now she only hopes to see her again in Heaven.

Do you know that this time the Holy Family appeared? And that the phenomenon of the Sun took place when Our Lady said to the little girl: “Tell the people to look at the sun”?! — I have not heard that any further apparition has been announced, but I shall not hold out long without going to speak with the fortunate children. The child answered a priest who asked her why she did not keep looking at the vision all the time but lowered her eyes: “No, because She is blinding”! That was how she explained the brilliance and beauty of the Lady.

It is certain that Our Lady ordered them to go on praying the rosary a great deal. It seems she has made this recommendation every time. She said she wanted a Chapel there, and that the war would end very soon, which she had already promised on the other occasions. But she also said that if after this sign, this warning, the people did not mend their ways, a great punishment would come upon Portugal.

[…]

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.

She learned afterwards that the little girl had told them that Our Lady had said to her: "tell the people to look at the sun".

When the apparition was over, the little girls related that Our Lady had appeared to them with St Joseph and the Child Jesus on the right, and had told them that she wanted a small chapel to be erected to her there, that those apparitions were a proof that she protected Portugal, but that everyone needed to pray and do penance, because otherwise a great punishment would fall upon Portugal. And that the war would end soon, but on this point the letter is a little confused, so I cannot repeat to you what it says. She also said that she was Our Lady of the Rosary. All this the little girl repeated in a clear, measured voice, without showing the slightest embarrassment at finding herself surrounded by thousands of people.

Dona Maria de Jesus Alte Espargosa⁸ writes to me and tells me that St Joseph and the Child Jesus also appeared to the children, the Child being between Our Lady and St Joseph. And that Our Lady had ordered Lucia to tell the people to look at the sun, and that if Portugal did not turn away from its sins a great punishment would come upon it.

It should also be noted that, the vision over, on the 13th, Lúcia, one of the three children who claim that the Virgin appeared to them, at a given moment turned to the people and tells them that the Virgin had ordered them to look at the sun, where the announced sign was going to be produced.

Antoninha¹⁰ manages to see one of the little girls, very flushed, bathed in tears, in the arms of a man, and later that same man, a doctor¹¹, repeats the little girl's words to her: Our Lady asks that people should not offend Our Lord any more, and that they should do penance. She promises the end of the war soon. Mothers are to pray and trust that the soldiers are coming back. She blesses all the people and asks for a little chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

The 6^th - That people should not offend Our Lord any more, for he was already much offended. – That people should pray the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary so that he would forgive us our sins, if we want to go to Heaven.

That a little chapel should be made there to the Lady of the Rosary, if we wished; that the war would end today and that they should expect our soldiers very soon.

[...]

First the head disappeared, then the body and the feet.

She saw next to the sun - something that looked like the face of a man and of a child.

Little Lúcia said that Our Lady had asked her to have a chapel built there dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary; that the war was going to end; that the Portuguese soldiers would soon return to their homes; that the Portuguese should unite and do penance, for God was tired of so many offences; that they should pray the Rosary, in order to avert the punishments that would fall upon Portugal if the Portuguese did not mend their ways.

Francisco Brás das Neves, curate of the parish of Freixianda, in this Patriarchate of Lisbon^*, declares: that on the twentieth of October of this year he interviewed the two little girls of the parish of Fátima who say that Our Lady appeared to them at the place called Cova da Iria, in the same parish, on the 13th of each month from May to October inclusive, also of this year; and that the elder, named Lúcia, stated to him that Our Lady, when she appeared to her on 13 October, had promised her that the war would end that very day. 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.

I received your esteemed little letter⁴, for which I thank you very much.

I am anxiously awaiting the graces promised by Our dear Mother in heaven⁵.

My Adelaide⁴, who managed to speak to the little girl, heard her say that Our Lady had told her that she was the Lady of the Rosary, that she wanted a chapel built to her there, that people should repent because because they were offending God very much, that the war would end soon and that they should wait for our soldiers, who are coming back soon! — That is all I know. She is small and ugly, not very likeable and very simple-minded in manner; but she speaks very firmly and never contradicts herself.

Meanwhile the Miracle ends and the children rise from prayer and, carried in the arms of various individuals, the eldest says to the People: Our Lady, who spoke with me for the last time, charges me to tell you: that Peace is made today; that you should go home untroubled, for the rain will not wet you on the way back; that you should pray to Our Lord, whom you have offended much, and that soon the soldiers will come from France, and that she wishes a chapel to be built for her at the place.

[…]

Within the luminous globe a group of persons could be seen moving, which the child says was St Joseph announcing Peace to men; His blessed Son giving the blessing; and Our Lady of Sorrows.

Within the luminous globe a group of persons could be seen moving, which the child afterwards explained was St Joseph announcing Peace to men, his blessed Son blessing the People, and Our Lady of Sorrows.

The eldest girl and the little boy whom we met later gave us the same explanation.

[…]

The eldest little girl, before leaving for Ourém, also spoke to us of St. Joseph and the Child Jesus.

On the thirteenth of October did you see the little angels and the arch of flowers?

– I didn't see them, I didn't notice, when the Lady appeared beside the sun.

52^nd – What did the Lady say in October?

– I asked her what she wanted of me. She said that people were not to offend God Our Lord any more, for He was already much offended; that they should say the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary, that she might forgive them their sins (sic), if they wanted to go to Heaven; and she also said that she wanted them to build a little chapel there to Our Lady of the Rosary, or that she was Our Lady of the Rosary. I don't know whether she said “to Our Lady of the Rosary” or “I am Our Lady of the Rosary”.

53^rd – What else did she say?

– I told her I had many requests for cures and conversions and she said she would make better and convert some, and not others.

54^th – Did she say nothing else?

– She said: “the war ends today, and expect your soldiers back here very soon”.

55^th – Didn't she say that the war would end as soon as she reached Heaven?

– I don't remember whether she said it would be as soon as she reached Heaven.

56^th – That day did you tell the people to close their umbrellas?

– I don't remember saying so.

57^th – Did you let out a cry telling the people to look at the sun?

– I don't remember letting out any such cry.

58^th – Is it true that the Lady pointed to the sun?

– I don't remember her doing so.

59^th – What colour was Our Lady's clothing beside the sun?

– The mantle was blue and the dress white.

– And Our Lord's, St. Joseph's and the Child's?

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

Little Lúcia, the one to whom the Virgin appeared, was talking with some visitors a little way off. We waited for them to leave her and went up to her. She was a child of about twelve, with coarse features and a very sallow complexion. She was poorly dressed, in country fashion, with a small red paper flower on her breast and in her hands a small box in which some coins jingled. They had a sad and sombre air. She told us of the apparition of the Virgin in the way already known to all: that the Virgin had told her “that we had greatly offended God and that we should mend our ways”; “that we should build a little chapel there and give it the name of the Lady of the Rosary”; “that the war would soon end”. When my sister asked her what she had seen in the sun at the time of the miracle, she answered “that she had seen St. Joseph”. I also asked her whether she had not been afraid the miracle might not happen, since the people might kill her, thinking she had been deceiving everyone; she replied with some force “that she knew the miracle would happen and so had not even thought of such a danger”. She also told us that she had previously heard tell of the miracles of Our Lady of Lourdes.

According to the statements of the seer Lúcia de Jesus, who had prophesied months in advance a threefold apparition of the Most Holy Virgin for the thirteenth of October, nineteen hundred and seventeen, the Queen of Heaven manifested herself on that memorable day successively under three different titles, that of the Rosary, that of Sorrows and that of Carmel.

As in all the other months we went to the foot of the holm-oak shrub to see the Lady. There was a flash of lightning; and the Lady appeared. What do you want of me today? I want to tell you that they must not offend God our Lord any more because he is already much offended and that they must go on praying the rosary every day and I want them to build a little Chapel here to the Lady of the Rosary. Then what is your name? I am the Lady of the Rosary. Now I understood that she said it like this. When I get to heaven the war ends today. But my cousin Jacinta said that she had said it this way. If the people mend their ways the war ends today. For this reason I cannot cannot state in which way she pronounced these words. I want to ask you for those people who asked me for the Lady to cure them; some lame others blind others dumb others sick; some I will cure others not.

and With that she went up towards the east as in all the other months; going to such a height that the blue of the sky and the clouds didn't let us see any more. When she had hidden herself we looked at the sun and we saw on the right side of the sun a man from the waist up, with a child in his arms making crosses + with his right hand; and in the other he had a little child dressed in white they had all round them a great brightness that didn't let us look as much as we wanted. On the left side Our Lady just as she had come down to the holm oak.

When they finished Making the crosses Saint Joseph with the child and Our Lady disappeared. Straight afterwards Our Lord appeared on the right side of the Sun seen only from the waist up he had a red garment. On the other side Our Lady of Sorrows with a purple mantle; and always covered with the brightnes[s] that seemed to blind us; with that they disappeared and I have never seen anything again up to today.

"Did you go to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of October?". She answered: – "The people came to fetch us. I was already at my cousins' house when a lady appeared with a blue dress and wanted me to wear it; she gave a white one to Jacinta. We also wore a garland of artificial flowers on our heads. It was raining hard. When we reached the Cova da Iria it was impossible to get through the crowd; the road was full of carriages and motor cars. At noon there was a flash of lightning and the Lady appeared on the holm-oak shrub: "What do you want of me?", I asked. She answered: "I want to tell you that they must not offend God Our Lord any more, for he is already much offended; keep saying the rosary every day; I want a little chapel built here to the Lady of the Rosary". Then what is your name? She answered: – "I am the Lady of the Rosary". It seems to me she also said this: "Be converted, the war ends today, expect your soldiers very soon". My cousin Jacinta told me at home that the Lady spoke like this: "Be converted, for the war will end within a year". As I was thinking about the requests I wanted to make to the Lady, I did not pay close attention. I made my requests to her and she gave me the answer of the other times. Then she rose towards the east and hid in the clouds. Shortly before the Lady appeared, the rain stopped; and when she disappeared, we looked at the sun. On one side of the sun we saw the figure of a man, from the waist up, with the Child Jesus in his arms, and on the other side the Lady who had been on the holm oak. The Child Jesus was blessing the people. It occurred to me that the man must be St Joseph. There was such a great radiance that it did not let us see properly. They disappeared and then Our Lord appeared on the right side of the sun, seen only from the waist up, dressed in red, and on the other side Our Lady, dressed in purple, looking like Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord made the sign of the cross several times. It seems to me I also saw another figure, which seemed to be Our Lady of Mount Carmel^*, because she had something hanging from her right hand. Everything disappeared and I have never seen anything again, up to today".

In the interrogation to which Lúcia was subjected at eighteen years of age³⁰, when she was a boarder at the Asilo de Vilar^* in Porto, the seer says, word for word, the following: "it seems to me that the Lady also told me in this way: "be converted, the war ends today, expect your soldiers very soon. My cousin Jacinta told me at home that the Lady had spoken thus: "be converted, for the war will end within a year. As I was thinking about the requests I wanted to make to the Lady, I did not pay close attention".

Here I recall that Lúcia had once told me that the Lady gave her leave, or told her, to tell it only to Francisco and Jacinta.

In the inquiry to which she was subjected when she was a pupil at the Asilo de Vilar, in Porto, Lúcia de Jesus declared that, after the first apparition, she was visited by many people, and among them some priests, who pressed her with questions and scolded her a great deal, the people of her family telling her that she was lying and her own mother even beating her with a broom handle. She also declared, at another point in the interrogation, that after the thirteenth of August some priests who went to her house to speak to her called her a humbug.

Once, during the apparitions, Lúcia having asked the mysterious Lady who spoke to her whether she and Jacinta would go to Heaven, and having obtained an affirmative answer, asked the same question about Francisco, and the Vision replied that such great happiness would also fall to him, but that first he would have to pray the rosary many times. From that moment until he fell ill, the happy seer never again let a day pass without offering this simple homage to the Queen of Heaven.