Fatima was not known outside Portugal and Spain until the epochal event. Around midday, three young Portuguese children looking after their parents’ sheep became the custodians of three secrets which the Catholic Church makes reference to even today.
The children were Lucia Santos (1907 – 2005) and her cousins Jacinta Marto (1910 – 1920) and Francisco Marto (1907 – 1919). Jacinta and Francisco died during the European influenza, but Lucia lived to 98 years.
Pope Francis cannonised Jacinta and Francisco today in Fatima. Lucia’s is on the way too.
100 YEARS AGO — What was that great event of May 13, 1917? Lucia said that, about midday, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them for the first time.
The story of Fatima
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, appeared six times to three shepherd children — Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta — between May 13 and October 13, 1917. She came to the little village of Fatima which had remained faithful to the Catholic Church during the recent persecutions by the government.
Our Lady came with a message from God to every man, woman, and child of our century. Our Lady of Fatima promised that the whole world would be in peace, and that many souls would go to Heaven if Her requests were listened to and obeyed. She told us that war is a punishment for sin; that God would punish the world for its sins in our time by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and persecution of the Holy Father, the Pope, unless we listened to and obeyed the command of God.
The miracle
As a great sign of the whole message truly coming from God, a marvelous miracle was worked in the sky above Fatima before 70,000 witnesses on October 13, 1917, at the time, date and place that Lucy and the other two children had prophesized in the name of Our Lady of Fatima. The children were told by Our Lady that God would perform a miracle so that people would believe in the apparitions.
The date was October 13, 1917, in Fatima. On that date, 70,000 people came to see the phenomenon. The miracle occurred with the sun. All could stare perfectly at the sun without blinking, or even hurting their eyes. While all were watching the sun, it rotated, got large and small, got close to the people, and got far away from them. The sun “danced”. Every single person who was there testified to seeing the sun dance, even non- believers who immediately dropped onto their knees and begged for forgiveness.
Miracles today
Our Lady of Fatima continues to work miracles today through Fatima water which is sent from Fatima, Portugal, around the world. This Fatima water sprang up in Fatima at the spot the Bishop told people to dig, very near where Our Lady appeared at the Cova de Iria (the Cove of Peace) in Fatima. The water is known to cure people with sicknesses and poor health. Still, other people are cured when they go on pilgrimage to Fatima, which is about 90 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal.
A message of warning and hope
If we do not heed Our Lady’s warnings soon, Her horrible prophesy may well be realized in the near future, even in our own backyards. She told us that God had chosen to use Russia as the instrument of chastisement to punish the whole world if we did not, by our obedience, prayers, and sacrifices, obtain conversion of Russia to the Catholic faith. She promised us: “If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace.” But She also warned us: “If My requests are not granted, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world raising up wars and persecutions against the Church, the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.” She has told us that the whole world (the part surviving) will be enslaved by the atheistic tyrants of Russia.
The secrets
The three secrets handed to the three kids, according to the official Catholic interpretation, relate to hellfire, World War I and World War II, and Pope John Paul II assassination attempt.
Only recently, a seer from Texas, USA, predicted that World War III would start today, the 100th anniversary of the Fatima episode.
…Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II
36 YEARS AGO — Was it a coincidence that Pope John Paul II was shot by an assassin on May 13, 1981? The Blessed Mother reportedly appeared to the Pope after he was shot. Was it the reason he survived the assassin’s bullets? The Pope credited Our Lady with saving his life during the 1981 assassination attempt by a Turkish gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, which occurred on May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima.
At Fatima, during one of the May 13 anniversaries, Pope John Paul II said: “The message of Fatima is more relevant and more urgent “than when Our Lady first appeared”. The message is an anguished appeal of our Heavenly Mother, Who sees us in great danger and Who comes to offer Her help and advice. Her message is also a prophesy, a clear indication of what was about to transpire in the 20th century, and what is still going to happen infallibly in the near future, depending on our response to Her requests.
Lucia died in 2005, the year Pope John Paul II also died.
Sources: ourladyoffatima.org, Wikipedia.org