Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta

This vision, with the appearance of a lady of extraordinary beauty, appears to them in the open country in the midst of a cloud, always at the same spot. It speaks to them, though the children say only that the Lady had asked the little boy of 3 to learn to say the rosary^3*, and the two little girls to say it for the fatherland and for their family, adding that on 13 October she will tell them what more she wants of them.

Only there did we learn that the three children, natives of Aljustrel, a small village in the parish of Fatima, said that a Lady appeared to them on the 13th of each month, spoke with them, answered their questions, and urged them to pray the rosary and offer it to Our Lady of the Rosary.

We questioned the children to learn how the first apparition had come about. They answered simply that on 13 May, when they were pasturing their flock at the Cova da Iria, there was a great thunderstorm. They were thinking of gathering the flock and going away, when out of a flash of lightning they saw a Lady appear. Frightened, they wanted to run away, but the apparition told them not to, for it would do them no harm. Before the thunderstorm began the children had been praying their rosary, and the apparition told them to pray the rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary so that the war would abate, and to come back there every month, for it would come there for six consecutive months. — The children went back there in June and say that the Lady appeared to them and this time told them to learn to read, which the children did not do at once, because there was not, and never had been, a teacher in Fatima. Now, without anyone having asked for one, a teacher from the mobile schools^* turns up, appointed there for two years, and the children have already begun to attend school with considerable progress, above all Lucia.

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

[…]

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

[…]

The children describe the apparition as being a Lady

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

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

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

On the morning of the thirteenth of May 1917 a boy and two girls were grazing, as was their custom, a small flock of sheep belonging to their families, on a property in the Serra de Minde, in the parish of Fátima, municipality of Villa Nova d'Ourem, district of Leiria.

[…]

That day it was nearly noon by the sun^*. As was their custom, the three children, after spending a good while at their innocent games, began to pray the rosary^*, a devotion very dear to the inhabitants of that parish. They had scarcely finished when they suddenly saw the dazzling brightness of a flash of lightning shine in the air a short distance from them and, almost at the same moment, above the crown of a small holm oak, the radiant and enchanting figure of a [8] woman of extraordinary beauty appeared. Frightened by so unusual and so unexpected an occurrence, they thought of running away, but they were at once completely reassured by the kindly manner of the Apparition, who in the sweetest voice promised that she would do them no harm at all.

The Apparition seemed to be no more than eighteen years old. Her dress was of the purest snow-white, as was the mantle, edged with gold, that covered her head and most of her body. Her face, of flawless nobility of line, with an indefinable something supernatural and divine about it, was serene and grave, as if clouded by a slight shadow of sadness. From her hands, joined at the height of her breast, hung a beautiful rosary ending in a gold cross, whose beads, white as ermine, looked like pearls. From her whole figure, surrounded by a splendour brighter than the sun's, beams of light radiated, above all from her face, whose beauty was impossible to describe and incomparably superior to any human beauty.

A dialogue took place between the Apparition and Lucia, lasting about ten minutes.

Jacinta saw the Apparition and clearly heard the words she spoke to Lucia, but she never spoke to her, nor did the Apparition ever address a word to her. Francisco only saw the Apparition and never heard what she said to Lucia, although he was at the same distance and had excellent hearing.

[…]

The Apparition insistently urged everyone to do penance and pray the rosary. She told the children a secret, which they could not reveal to anyone. She promised them Heaven.

She asked for a chapel to be built in her honour at that spot and declared that on the thirteenth of October she would perform a miracle so that all the people would believe that she had really appeared there. On the thirteenth of August, moments before the time of the apparition, the children were abducted by a trick by the administrator of the municipality^*, who kept them in his house for two days, threatening them with death if they did not retract or at least reveal the secret the Apparition had entrusted to them.

That month the apparition took place on the nineteenth, at the spot called Vallinhos, when the children no longer expected it until the following month.

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

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

But if I was relying on statements of the seers that I kept in my memory, it is utterly impossible for me to state precisely, after so many years, which of the children assured me that the cross of the rosary was, or looked like, gold. Was it Francisco? Was it Jacinta? I do not know. It must be stressed that Lucia, like her cousins, sometimes said that certain parts of the vision's body or certain items of its clothing were white because of the clear, brilliant light that surrounded it and almost blinded their eyes. Page 77, Lucia: "It's that [4] she sometimes blinds". Page 94, Francisco: "I can look at her face, but only a little, because of the light".

As I told you, I examined, or rather questioned, the three separately. They all say the same without the slightest variation. The main point that I deduced from everything they tell me is “– that the apparition wants the devotion of the Rosary to be spread –”. All the little ones always say that the one who appears to them is the Lady. They do not know who she is... Only after the 6 times, on 13 October, will she tell them who she is and what she wants!!... The naturalness and ingenuousness with which they speak and tell what they saw is admirable and impressive.

Lúcia sees the Lady, speaks with her and hears her. Jacinta sees the Lady, hears her, but does not speak with Her. Francisco sees the Lady, but neither speaks to her nor hears her!!!... This difference is interesting, don't you think, Prazeres??... But besides being interesting it even has a great deal of the extraordinary about it!!... To hear the little ones, to see them in their simplicity, to examine them as a whole, impresses us in an extraordinary way, and leads me to conclude that in everything they tell me there is something supernatural. Being with them strikes us with great intensity... Today, Prazeres, it is my conviction that there is an extraordinary fact which our reason cannot reach. What is it?... With still greater anxiety I await the coming 13th. What is certain is that we feel at ease with the little ones and even lose the sense of time. There is an attraction that I do not know how to explain... One of the children's most intense impressions is that of the Lady's beauty. The boy, to express his admiration, told me she was “ever so pretty”!!!... I showed him your portrait and asked: is she prettier? “Much prettier!!...”. The Lady comes all in white with gold. She does not wear any blue sash as was said. Whether she is Our Lady of Peace.... Do you remember what she said at the 2nd apparition?... That they should learn to read... Little Jacinta told me “that she was already on the row of A's”!!...

[…]

The prayer they say the Lady taught them is simple; it is as follows:

“O my Jesus, forgive me.

Deliver me from the fire of hell

Take all the little souls to heaven, especially those most in need.”

Could anything be simpler? I found it interesting that the Lady should have taught it but not recommended that they pray it.

One day, at the beginning of the apparitions, his wife was going to the Cova da Iria and asked Francisco what he was doing. He said he was making a little wall, and Lúcia and Jacinta were handing him the stones. On that occasion Lúcia said: “There's just been a flash of lightning and we're going to have rain”, and the three children went down the slope, and it was when they reached the Cova that Our Lady appeared to them on top of a holm oak which the people later stripped bare. The Lady said: “Do not be afraid, for I am from up there, from Heaven”. And it was then that she told them to come there every month and to pray the rosary.

On the morning of the thirteenth of May, nineteen hundred and seventeen, about two and a half kilometres west of the parish church of Fátima, in the council^* of Vila Nova de Ourém, district of Santarém, at the edge of the district road, in a place commonly called "Cova da Iria", three children were grazing a small flock. They were two girls and a boy. The elder of the girls, who was ten years old, was called Lúcia de Jesus, and the younger, only six years old¹, Jacinta Marto. The boy, nine years old, was named Francisco Marto. They lived in Aljustrel, one of the forty hamlets of the vast parish of Fátima, and one of those nearest to the church and the presbytery. Francisco and Jacinta were brother and sister, and Lúcia was their first cousin. Her parents were António dos Santos, who died the following year², and Maria Rosa dos Santos, and theirs were Manuel Pedro Marto and Olímpia de Jesus Marto. The children had a very rudimentary religious instruction, only Lúcia having made her first Communion. None of them could read or write. The hour of solar noon was approaching. The most cherished devotion in that region is the recitation of the rosary^*. There are few families whose head does not pray the rosary with his household at night, after the work in the fields, before supper, which is the main meal. The three children, as was their custom, prayed the rosary together, and then set about building a miniature house, using for it the loose stones that were very plentiful in the place, as they are almost everywhere in the serra de Aire^*. Suddenly a flash of lightning, of vivid and brilliant light, streaked across the sky. The children stopped their pas-[4]time and looked up in astonishment. The sky was clear and cloudless, not the slightest breeze was blowing, and the sun was shining at its full zenith. Nevertheless, Lúcia invited her cousins to go home without delay, fearing that a thunderstorm might break out. They agreed without reluctance, and all three began to drive the animals down the slope. On reaching the spot where the first fountain now stands, they saw another flash of lightning and, a few paces away, standing on a small holm oak at the place where the chapel of the apparitions was later built, the figure of a Lady, still quite young and of incomparable beauty. Frightened by the unexpected apparition, the children wanted to flee and were getting ready to do so, but a sign from the Lady held them back; she told them not to be afraid, for she would do them no harm. The Apparition seemed no more than eighteen years old. Her dress was of the purest snow-white, as was the mantle, edged with gold, that covered her head and most of her body. Her face, of irreproachable nobility of line and with an indefinable something supernatural and divine about it, was serene and grave and as if clouded by a slight shadow of sadness. From her hands, joined at the height of her breast, hung a beautiful rosary ending in a cross, whose beads, white as ermine, looked like pearls. From her whole figure, surrounded by a splendour brighter than that of the sun, beams of light radiated, especially from her face, of a beauty impossible to describe and incomparably superior to any human beauty. Between the Apparition and Lúcia there took place a dia-[4v]logue that lasted about ten minutes. The Apparition invited the children to return there every month, on the thirteenth, until the following October, assuring them that on the last day she would tell them who she was and what she wanted.

The account of the apparitions is reproduced here in summary.

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

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

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

None of them could read or write.

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

The prayer finished, they were amusing themselves building a tiny house out of loose stones when, suddenly, a flash of lightning, of vivid and brilliant light,

^a Jacinta was already seven years old. Jacinta's official date of birth is 11 March 1910.

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

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

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

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

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

On the morning of the thirteenth of May 1917, a little boy and two little girls were pasturing, as was their custom, a small flock of sheep belonging to their families, on a property in the Serra de Minde hills, in the parish of Fátima, municipality of Vila Nova de Ourém, diocese of Leiria.

The eldest of the three children, named Lúcia de Jesus, was the daughter of António dos Santos, who died the following year¹, and of Maria Rosa dos Santos, and was ten years old. The boy and the other girl, who were brother and sister, were called Francisco and Jacinta, the former being nine years old and the latter seven. Their parents were Manuel Pedro Marto and Olímpia de Jesus Marto. They were Lúcia's cousins. The houses of the two families, which, though not rich, nevertheless possessed some means, stood close to each other in the hamlet of Aljustrel, about a kilometre from the parish church of Fátima. None of the children could read or write. Their religious instruction was still very rudimentary. Only Lúcia had made her first communion.

On that memorable day the hour of astronomical noon was approaching. Following their custom, the three children, after spending a good while in innocent games, began to pray the rosary^*, a devotion very dear to the inhabitants of that parish. They had only just finished reciting it when they suddenly saw the dazzling brightness of a flash of lightning shine in the air a short distance from them, and almost simultaneously there appeared, above the crown of a small holm oak, the radiant and enchanting figure of a [8] woman of extraordinary beauty. Frightened by so unusual and unexpected an occurrence, they thought of running away, but they were at once completely reassured by the kindly attitude of the Apparition, who in a most sweet voice promised that she would do them no harm whatever.

The Apparition seemed to be no more than eighteen years old. Her dress was of the purest snowy whiteness, as was the mantle, edged with gold, that covered her head and most of her body. Her face, of an irreproachable nobility of line and with something supernatural and divine about it, appeared serene and grave and as if clouded by a slight shadow of sadness. From her hands, joined at the height of her breast, hung a lovely rosary finished with a gold cross, whose beads, ermine-white, looked like pearls. From her whole figure, surrounded by a splendour brighter than that of the sun, beams of light radiated, especially from her face, of a loveliness impossible to describe and incomparably superior to any human beauty.

A dialogue took place between the Apparition and Lúcia, which lasted about ten minutes.

Jacinta saw the Apparition and heard distinctly the words she spoke when addressing Lúcia, but she never spoke to her, nor did the Apparition address a word to her. Francisco only saw the Apparition, never hearing what she said to Lúcia, although he was at the same distance and had excellent hearing.

That day the Apparition invited the three little shepherds to return every month on the thirteenth, for six consecutive months, to that spot, commonly known by the name of Cova da Iria and situated a little more than two kilometres from the parish church of Fátima, beside the district road from Vila Nova de Ourém to Batalha.

[…]

The Apparition insistently recommended that everyone should do penance and pray the rosary. She communicated to the children a secret, which they could reveal to no one. She promised them Heaven.

She asked that a chapel be built in her honour on that spot and declared that on the thirteenth of October she would perform a miracle so that all the people would believe that she had really appeared there. On the thirteenth of August, moments before the hour of the apparition, the children were craftily abducted by the municipal administrator^*, who kept them in his house for two days, threatening them with death if they did not recant or at least reveal the secret the Apparition had entrusted to them.

That month the apparition took place on the nineteenth, at the spot called Valinhos, when the children no longer thought it would happen until the following month. On the thirteenth of October, with about seventy thousand people present from all classes and social conditions and from every part of the country, once the dialogue between Lúcia and the Apparition was over (the Apparition having declared to her that she was the Lady of the Rosary), the seer urged the bystanders to look at the sun.

On the evening of the thirteenth, when the mother arrived, they told her that Our Lady had appeared to them again, as on the thirteenth of May, and had told Lúcia that they should go there every month and do penance.

On the thirteenth of July they went there and told how Our Lady had appeared as in the previous months.

We learned afterwards that the children, set free on the 15th, said that on the 19th they had been favoured with a new apparition, not at the Cova da Iria but at Valinhos, where they were pasturing the flock. That the Lady had again urged them to pray the rosary in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary so that the war would abate, and that because they had been arrested on the 13th the same signs would not be seen the following month, and that the miracle would be better known. But that She would come on 13 September to the Cova da Iria, and that the children should go there too.

On the 19th^* Our Lady appeared to the said children in another place, telling them that because they had been imprisoned the miracle had been more visible. That is exactly how I heard them put it.

What is certain, however, is that on the way back from Ourém he had already told the children that he would arrest them again if they went to the Cova da Iria once more.

When the administrator took the road to Ourém, Lúcia and Jacinta told him that the Cova da Iria was not in that direction, to which he replied in these terms: “I'm taking you to the house of the parish priest of Ourém who wants to question you, and afterwards you'll come by motor car, you'll still arrive in time”. As soon as they arrived, they asked him to take them to the parish priest's house, but the administrator said that first they must eat, to which they agreed.

The children seemed as cheerful as before and ready to play, saying that they had been asked many questions and that a doctor had come to examine them.

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

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

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

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

The little girls said that Our Lady of the Rosary appeared. Then (when the sun gave the sign) St. Joseph appeared. The little girls said that he had said that today, or soon, the flag of peace would be raised¹⁶; that they should say the rosary, for soon they would have our troops back here^*; that they should do penance and change their lives because otherwise the world would come to an end.

The girls said that Our Lady said that the war was ending, and that she wanted a chapel there.

The children got up, smiling, and explained to their eager listeners that the “Lady” had told them that peace would come soon and that our brave soldiers, who are fighting heroically in France, would not be long in coming home.

Our Lady said that she was the Lady of the Rosary, who came to bring peace, that [3] the war would end this very year and that we would soon have our soldiers^* back here. That a chapel should be built for her there, that we should pray the rosary a great deal, and that we should mend our ways because we have greatly offended God!!!

Three little shepherds (a boy and two girls) say that a Lady of extreme beauty appears to them. The visions have occurred on the 13th of each month since May.

The children are unpolished and not very talkative. Before the visions, real or alleged, they answer questions with great difficulty. Immediately afterwards they speak with much more firmness and ease. Trustworthy persons who heard them on the 13th just past say that the children declared that Our Lady had appeared to them once more that day, urging the faithful to do penance, to pray a great deal and to build her a modest chapel at the place of the apparitions, and promising peace soon and the return of the Portuguese soldiers^*.

One of the little girls says: Our Lady is there already! Close your umbrellas and pray...

[…]

Shortly afterwards the little girls told what Our Lady had said to them:

— The war is ending any day now; soon our soldiers will return to Portugal; people must be good to one another; pray the rosary and build a chapel, for I am the Lady of the Rosary.

The little girls do not expect Our Lady to appear again.

She told them to pray the rosary a great deal to make amends to her Son, who was much offended.

Our Lady stood on the holm-oak shrub and not on clouds.

She had her hands joined and opened them to speak (like Our Lady of Graces^*), with a rosary hanging from her hands. It was after Our Lady disappeared, when they looked at the Sun, that they saw Her there with St. Joseph blessing the people, and the child Jesus. But only half-length and in different colours.

I was with the two little girls, who were dressed in white with very simple little crowns on their little heads. They told me that Our Lady appeared to them with St. Joseph and the Child beside her; she said that she was the Lady of the Rosary, that they should pray it a great deal, that this was a warning, but that if they did not repent and went on offending her Divine Son, He would send a great punishment on Portugal.

The two little girls, separately, described the vision in the same way; and Lucia, who at her young age might have been expected to lose her head amid all the commotion around her, kept telling everyone in a clear, calm voice, as she passed by (in her father's arms) — what Our Lady had said to her

Lúcia, aged 10 or 11, is the one who speaks; the others, Jacinta, the youngest, and Francisco, who are brother and sister and cousins of Lúcia, said they had seen a very beautiful Lady, dressed all in white, with a cloud at her feet.

[…]

Their aspiration was more modest; in very simple words they now merely stated that they had seen a very beautiful Lady, with hands joined and dressed in white, who told them that at that place they should have a chapel built there named after Our Lady of the Rosary; that people should stop offending God, who was already too much offended! That the war was going to end, and that our soldiers would come home.

Previously, the same Lady had told them something that the little shepherdess Lucia cannot reveal.

Almost as we were leaving I met my friend Emílio Infante da Câmara, who told me he had gone to see the shepherd girls and that they had said that the war would end soon, or that it would end in eight days' time (I cannot say which). He also told me they were dressed in first-Communion “toiletes”^*.