Maria Rosa

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

– I came to know of that fact through the family of the other children, because Lúcia advised her companions to say nothing for fear they would be scolded. Only after being questioned by me did she say what she had seen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[…]

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

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

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

– Many people have come almost every day.

It was from the family of the other two seers, Francisco and Jacinta, her nephew and niece, that she learned that Our Lady had appeared to her daughter the first time, because Lúcia had advised her companions to say nothing, for fear of being scolded. Lúcia only said what she had seen after being questioned by her mother. At first she did not believe in the children's sincerity. Faced with the crowds flocking to the Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of each month, her wish was to prevent her daughter from going to that place on those days. Only with great reluctance, and guided by the advice of people of authority, who counselled her to leave her daughter free to do as she pleased, did she bring herself to allow her to go. Fearing that her daughter was deceiving the people with false statements, although she did not take her for a liar, she severely reproached her for her conduct, threatening her several times with a beating, and on one occasion, in one of the first months of the apparitions, she even struck her with a slipper, calling her an impostor.

[…]

Lúcia's mother, when she was told that her daughter had been arrested, answered: "If it was from God, God will protect them; if they lied, they won't keep it up!...". And while many people wept with pity or indignation, she kept the serenity of a truly Christian soul.

But on the thirteenth of June people at once gathered to accompany her, and so she did not go. That day, among the people accompanying her were two women from Boleiros. She let her daughter go. She dressed her better because from there she was going to the feast of Saint Anthony at the parish church. The mother went to the feast to hear Mass. On the way she met a group of five or six people who were going from Fátima to Aljustrel. Thinking they wanted to go to the feast, she said to them: “You're mistaken, the feast is that way”. “We haven't come for the feast,” they retorted, “we've come in search of three children who say they have seen Our Lady”. She was surprised at the answer and asked them where they were from. They said they were from Carrascos. She did not admit to them that she was the mother of one of the children. They asked where the children were.

She answered that they were in Aljustrel and went on to Mass. She grew more and more thoughtful, thinking that she was doing wrong in not going to the place of the apparitions, because they might beat the children for lying, but she did not want to undergo the shame she would be exposed to if there was nothing. The children, as soon as it was all over, went to Fátima. When people were coming out of Mass they were already there, with many people around them.

At her sister-in-law's house, when they heard the people shouting, she said: “What can be going on there?” Lúcia's mother looked at the sun and said: “The sun looks different”.

On the thirteenth of August Lúcia went out in the morning with the sheep, and when she came back the house was already full of people. She meant to go to the Cova da Iria, as in the previous months, but the administrator took her to Ourém, the news of the arrest being told to the mother by her sister-in-law, who, on her way to the Cova da Iria, heard that the administrator had made off with the children. Lúcia's mother was hurt but did not fret, because she knew they would not eat the children, thinking at the same time that if they were lying they deserved some punishment, and that if they were telling the truth Our Lady would defend them. Afterwards, in the afternoon, many people came trying to comfort her, saying that they were now going away more believing, because it was the first day on which the signs appeared. Jacinta's brothers went by bicycle to see what was going on in Ourém and came back saying that they had seen the children playing on the administrator's veranda, and that he was treating them well. The administrator came to bring them back to Fátima on the fifteenth in a carriage and put them on the parish priest's veranda. Lúcia's mother, who was there, came home with her daughter. 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. The administrator said that the people had an illness from having seen signs, and her brother-in-law Marto told him that in that case a great many people were ill.

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, she having been at home with the cattle at noon. 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.

On the thirteenth of October the mother went to the place for the first time, despite the parish priest's advice to the contrary. They went to dress the little girls at her sister-in-law's house, because a lady from Pombalinho brought some dresses, veils and garlands. Lúcia's mother went with the children. But, as there were so many people going, she lost sight of them. At the Cova da Iria she pushed her way through and ended up right next to them. As people were saying that they would kill them, that they would cut them to pieces, and as on the other hand she would be so sorry if everything ended and she saw nothing, she decided to go. The children said what time the apparition would take place and wanted to go so as to be there at that time. On the last occasion they waited a quarter of an hour by the holm oak before the apparition began. All three were standing. Jacinta's mother was close by. People behind were saying that there would be nothing, because the hour was passing and nothing extraordinary was happening. 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, naturally 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). It was then that the people began to look up. Lúcia's mother looked and saw the sun three times spinning and coming down, and one could look at it. All the people were looking and shouting. The people were saying: “Look, look!” Lúcia's mother even feared that the children might be ill-treated. A doctor from Torres Novas⁹ picked her daughter up in his arms and made off with her towards the road. The mother did not know whether it was for good or ill. She came to her sister-in-law's house, the house filling with people, and then went to her own house.