Brother Michel de la Sainte
Trinité
of
the Little Brothers of the Sacred Heart THE WHOLE TRUTHABOUT FATIMA VOLUME ISCIENCE AND THE FACTS
translated by John Collorafi |
On
the cover:
Fatima:
The “Cabeço” where the Angel appeared to Lucy, Jacinta and Francisco in the
spring and the autumn of 1916.
Notes
to the reader:
The
first three volumes of Toute la Verité sur Fatima were published in the mid
1980’s, well before the public disclosure of the Third Secret on June 26, 2000.
Therefore, all references to the Third Secret in these volumes should be
interpreted within this pre-revelational context. Volume 4 of this series,
published in 2003, covers the actual Third Secret in depth.
Also
note that Brother Michel’s references to a fourth volume in this series were to
a proposed work that he never completed. This work was eventually taken up and
re-developed by Brother François after the publication of the Third Secret.
Paperback
editions of the English translation of the first three volumes may be purchased
online from Father Nicholas Gruner’s website: The Fatima Network. Sadly, this
organisation has embraced a very different interpretation of the Third Secret
from that of the Abbé de Nantes’ Catholic Counter-Reformation, on whose Fatima
studies they previously drew so heavily.
Copyright
© La Contre-Réforme Catholique, 10 260 Saint Parres-lès-Vaudes, France.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME I
SCIENCE AND THE FACTS
FOREWORD
• Science and the facts. • The Secret and the Church (1917-1942). •
The Third Secret (1942-1983).
PART ONE: THE FACTS
Section I: The divine
preparations
Chapter 1:
PORTUGAL, “LAND OF HOLY MARY”
• A “daughter” of France, under the protection of Our Lady. • Fatima and
the Crusade. • The vow to Our Lady and the two peak centuries
(1385-1580). • Three centuries under the standard of the Immaculate One.
Chapter 2: THREE
CHILDREN OF CHRISTENDOM
• The sources. • The seers’ families. • Life at Aljustrel. •
Lucy: the happy childhood of a privileged soul. • The smile of Our Lady
and her First Communion at age six. • Jacinta, a pure and ardent heart.
• Francisco, a calm and tender soul. • The trio: a supernatural
friendship.
Chapter 3: THE
ANGEL PRECURSOR
• The three apparitions of 1915. • The three great apparitions of 1916.
• “The Angel of Peace”. • “The Angel of Portugal”. • The Angel of
the Eucharist. • The message, prayer and sacrifice. • The sanctity
of the Most High. • The unique mediation of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and
Mary. • Sin and reparation. • The divine politics. • The
communion of Saints. • Appendix I: Critical appraisal of the angelic
apparitions. • Appendix II: The reality of the angelic apparitions.
Section II: The cycle of
the apparitions of Our Lady
Chapter 4: «I AM OF
HEAVEN» (SUNDAY, MAY 13)
• The sources. • Account of the apparition. • The message of May
13. • The apparition, revelation of the mysteries of the Immaculate.
• Appendix: “She was all of light”.
Chapter 5: THE
IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY PIERCED WITH THORNS (WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13)
• Before the apparition. • The apparition. • The signs. • The
revelation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. • The great trial of Lucy.
Chapter 6: THE
TWOFOLD PROPHECY: THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREAT MIRACLE AND THE SECRET (FRIDAY,
JULY 13)
• The apparition. • The great Secret. • The signs. • The
twofold message of July 13. • The prayer “O my Jesus, forgive us…” •
The prayer “O Jesus, it is for love of You…” • From July 13 to August 13:
a hidden and heroic life. • Appendix I: Critical remarks on the
revelation of the Secret. • Appendix II: The prayer for souls. The
meaning of “alminhas”.
Chapter 7: THE
BREATHTAKING COMMUNION OF SAINTS (SUNDAY, AUGUST 19)
• Freemasonry enters the picture. • “The Tinsmith”. • The events of
August 13. • In prison at Ourem. • The apparition at Valinhos.
• The message of August 19. • The life of the seers.
Chapter 8: A
WONDERFUL MARIOPHANY (THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13)
• Heaven visits the earth. • Rain of flowers, cloud, luminous globe.
• The message of the signs. • Waiting for the great miracle. •
Appendix I: The atmospheric phenomena from May 13 to September 13. •
Appendix II: Canon Formigao, first historian of Fatima.
Chapter 9: «I AM
OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY» (SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13)
• Before the apparition. • The sixth apparition. • Three visions in
the sky. • The message of October 13. • Appendix I: The multiform
vision. • Appendix II: The promise of peace, “The war will end today”.
Section III: The divine
seal, the miracle of October 13
Chapter 10: «THE
DANCE OF THE SUN»
• History, science and faith. • History: an unprecedented event. •
The sources. • The series of marvellous phenomena. • Science: an
unquestionable miracle. The natural sciences, psychology, metaphysics and
theology. • Faith: a spectacular sign. The triumph of the faith, the
proof of the apparitions, the sign of the Secret. • A sign of hope.
• Appendix I: The myth of collective hallucination. • Appendix II:
Hypotheses on the nature of the solar miracle.
PART TWO: THE CRITICAL STUDY
INTRODUCTION: THE
ELEMENTS OF THE PROBLEM
• The growth of the message. • Opposition to Fatima.
Chapter 1. THE
MODERNIST SOLUTION OF FR. DHANIS: THE SECRET CONTESTED
• The stages of the controversy. • Fr. Dhanis, the only opponent since
1945. His thesis. • Fatima I and Fatima II. • His objections
against Fatima. • Lucy is not credible. • The Secret contested.
• Refutation of Father Dhanis. • From a theological point of view. •
From the viewpoint of scientific criticism. • There are only two
solutions.
Chapter 2. THE
RATIONALIST SOLUTION OF GERARD DE SEDE
• A catalogue of objections. • The rationalist explanation. •
Refutation: Where is the fraud? • Conclusion: Proof by the absurd.
Chapter 3. THE
SOLUTION OF THE HISTORICAL CRITIQUE: THE TRUTH OF ALL OF FATIMA
• The truth of Fatima I. • Fatima II victorious over criticism. •
An illusory dichotomy. • Worthless objections. • Bad faith
unmasked. • The truth of Fatima II. • The “divine economy of the
Secret”. • Conclusion: Beyond Criticism, the Great Light of Fatima.
FOREWORD
May
13, 1917: Three children of the hamlet of Aljustrel, near Fatima in Portugal,
tend their sheep at the Cova da Iria. Lucy, the eldest of the trio, is only ten
years old, and her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta, are nine and seven. It
is hardly surprising that these cheerful and ingenuous children who were also
very pious, would become the object of the predilection of the Queen of Heaven,
who would appear to them six times in a row, from May 13 to October 13, to pass
on to them Her Message.
What
is more “natural” for us Catholics than these heavenly manifestations, to which
we are so accustomed? They recall to our minds a long and marvellous history...
That of St. Joan of Arc and her Voices, for the salvation of France. One
century later, in the New World, there was the apparition to the poor Indian
Juan Diego, the seer of Tepeyac to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe gave the signal
favour of imprinting Her Miraculous Image on his tilma, which was made of rough
cloth. Soon, under the reign of Louis XIV, the Sacred Heart will in turn
manifest itself to a humble religious of Paray-le-Monial, St. Margaret Mary.
Finally,
in the last century, an incomparable series of apparitions of the Most Holy
Virgin makes this supernatural element quite familiar to us. And we recall with
emotion the chosen souls, so simple and innocent, who had the privilege of
being Her witnesses: St. Catherine Labouré, in the chapel of rue du Bac;
Mélanie and Maximin, on the mountain of La Salette; the angelic Bernadette, at
the grotto of Massabielle, Lourdes; and at Pontmain, during the starry night of
January 17, 1871, almost all the children of the village.
The
events of Fatima fit into this harmonious sequence of supernatural apparitions
with which Heaven is accustomed to visiting the earth. Once again, God chose as
His three messengers, three children who could neither read nor write, to
remind the world of the desires of His Heart and to make known the requests of
His Most Holy Mother.
And
yet, for one who studies closely the events of Fatima, it appears clearly that
this manifestation of the Virgin Mary, the most spectacular one that ever took
place, occupies a unique and truly extraordinary place in the history of our
time.
For
here, as in the Gospel, it is by unprecedented miracles that God expresses His
Will to be heard and obeyed. From the beginning of the world, nowhere had
anyone seen the equal of these divine signs. This incomparable miracle,
predicted three months in advance as the certain proof and divine guarantee of
the apparitions and of the Message of Our Lady, took place on October 13, 1917,
in broad daylight, before seventy thousand witnesses, who were both astonished
and enraptured: the prodigious “dance of the sun”, an historical fact as
undeniable as it is stupefying, and inexplicable from the standpoint of purely
natural forces.
Fatima
is equally extraordinary for the scope of its great Secret, which is also
without precedent. Since July 13, 1917, this unique Secret, in three distinct
parts, dominates our whole history. A prophetic herald of divine chastisements
which threaten us, along with magnificent promises of salvation, on the one
condition that the simple requests of Our Lady, so clear and precise, finally
be fulfilled – this great Secret describes for us our whole past and explains
the whole present drama the world is going through: for we have witnessed and
are actually living through the time of errors, wars and persecutions stirred
up by Soviet Russia, predicted in 1917 at a time when nobody could have imagined
them.
With
a clarity that is altogether divine, the Blessed Virgin Mary there reveals to
us in the Secret everything necessary to our souls for their eternal salvation,
to our nations for their temporal well-being, and finally everything necessary
to the Church for its victory over the powers of hell, which have been
unchained. For it is surely the Church and its present crisis that is the
subject of the “third secret”, still kept hidden at the Vatican.
And
the prophecy does not stop with these tragic events of the present. It
announced that not far off is a happy conclusion, an era of peace, through the
conversion of Russia and the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Thus, it
is a marvellous and truly extraordinary message of hope.
In
short, Fatima commands our attention, as it has commanded the attention of the
Church unceasingly since 1917. It has commanded our attention right up to the
day of the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, which fell precisely
on the anniversary of the apparitions, and which led the Holy Father to Fatima
a year later, on May 13, 1982.
Faced
with the event of Fatima, nobody could remain indifferent without giving proof
of a strange levity of spirit, if not a blameworthy cowardice. No, it is clear
that we must find out, with certitude, the truth. For if it is a question of
true and supernatural apparitions, why not hear with docility this great
Message of Our Lady and give it the attention it deserves? Thus, before all
else Fatima imposes upon us the question of its veracity. And here, we must be
insistent: its veracity stems neither from sentiment, nor from faith or even
from devotion: but first of all from verifiable historical facts. This is the
spirit in which we have undertaken and conducted this whole study.
«SCIENCE
AND THE FACTS»
Our
contemporaries are right. In this area, the facts must be studied with rigor
and precision, without evading any difficulty, or dismissing any objection
without an examination. With this end in view, and to respond to this legitimate
expectation, our first volume includes a rigorous critical exposé.
When
it concerns a supernatural event of such importance – and if the apparitions of
Fatima are true in their entirety, they surely constitute the most important
supernatural event of the century – it will not be in vain to carefully examine
the various testimonies by which we come to know it, going over them with the
“fine-tooth comb” of scientific criticism, to form a just idea of their worth.
The best way to do this is to lay out in detail, with the greatest objectivity,
all the arguments of those who have pretended to destroy its credibility.
On
the subject of Fatima, this critical opposition was more violent than for any
other of the great contemporary Marian apparitions. The major texts of the
adversaries of Fatima, published in Dutch and in Italian, have never been
translated. Only the negative conclusions of these authors, summed up in 1952
in an article intended for popular consumption, have been retained and
propagated by certain theologians or publicists a priori hostile to the
apparitions and Message of Fatima, while at Rome, as we shall see, they have
continued to more or less directly influence the Popes themselves, from Pius
XII to John Paul II. Thus it is useful, and even indispensable, to go back to
the sources, to present the whole controversy with exactitude.
The
advantage of this detailed criticism, which shows the worthlessness of all the
arguments advanced against the reality of the miracles and the credibility of
the witnesses, is to make the supernatural origin of the apparitions and
Message of Fatima even more striking and unquestionable.
However
this preliminary exposé, which is necessarily somewhat arduous, may disturb
some readers, who wish to go to the historical part right away. In this case
they may begin right at the second part, entitled “The Facts” [see publisher's
note at the end of this foreword]. This will place them right at the beginning
of the fascinating history of the events of Fatima, their historical context
and the account of the apparitions, as well as the great solar miracle of
October 13, 1917.
Let
us add one more remark: perhaps some reader might object that, being favourably
disposed a priori to the apparitions of Fatima, it is impossible for us to
properly conduct an impartial critical investigation. How can we answer this
suspicion?
First
of all, it is unthinkable for us to go back on our original confidence in the
apparitions and Message of Fatima, considering the repeated approvals of the Catholic
hierarchy. We can say however that, since the decisions of the Church in this
domain have no guarantee a priori of infallibility, our confidence would have
quickly vanished had it encountered decisive criticisms. Originally the
objections against Fatima had strongly impressed us. It was only the second
time around, having weighed the objections against a broader body of evidence,
that we saw how really feeble they were.
It
was then that we understood the necessity of refuting the objections at the very
beginning of our exposition, citing all our sources [see publisher's note at
the end of this foreword]. The reader will be able to see for himself that we
set forth the most cogent arguments of the adversaries of Fatima; then we cite
the responses of its defenders, and finally we reproduce the documents
themselves. Thus nothing is stopping those who would contest the validity of
our conclusions from going back to our sources themselves, and showing – if
they can! – where our own proofs are faulty. As for saying that we cannot be
objective, since we are resolutely in favour of Fatima, that is a crude example
of the fallacy of “begging the question”: it presupposes, without any reason,
that an impartial study on Fatima cannot establish the supernatural character
of what took place there. The truth is, that after a painstaking historical
investigation, we firmly assert the authenticity of Fatima because this
conclusion objectively imposes itself by solid and indisputable proofs.
THE
SECRET AND THE CHURCH (1917-1942)
The
apparitions of Fatima are also extraordinary, as we will show in Volume II,
because of the sanctity of the little seers, which is so endearing. Francisco
and Jacinta, who have been dead since 1919 and 1920, will undoubtedly be the
first children who are not martyrs to receive the honors of the altar, to say
nothing of Lucy, who is still living today in the Carmel of Coimbra, and has
always showed herself perfectly worthy of her great mission.
Fatima
is extraordinary also for the superabundant graces of the pilgrimages there,
which in a few years effected the conversion of a whole people and its
liberation from the atheistic Masonic domination, which persecuted the Church.
The story is truly unique, and an example for our times as well.
But
the full influence of Fatima is not limited simply to Portugal in the immediate
post-war period. In 1925 and 1929, new apparitions which took place at
Pontevedra and Tuy, in Spain, where Lucy was then a religious with the
Dorothean Sisters, fulfilled the promises of the great Secret, and developed
the prophetic message. Since this time, Sister Lucy through innumerable letters
to her confessors, to various bishops and to the Popes, has continued to make
known the desires of Heaven to the authorities of the Church.
In
preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of the apparitions, (1917-1967),
Bishop Venancio of Leiria decided to publish, at least in great part, these
precious texts which until then were unknown to the public. In 1966 he
commanded Father Alonso, a Spanish Claretian priest and renowned mariologist,
to establish a critical edition. The result is a monumental work of fourteen
volumes which, alas, has still not been published, and we shall see why.
Fortunately, along with the great official critical study, whose publication
was constantly postponed, this Fatima expert was able to make known the
essential contents in numerous writings, until his untimely death on December
12, 1981. All his articles and pamphlets published from 1967 to 1981, written
in Spanish and Portuguese, are an inexhaustible gold mine of first-hand
information for us today. There were also two Portuguese experts, Father
Martins dos Reis and Father A. M. Martins, who have published since 1973
numerous letters of Sister Lucy which until then had been unpublished.1
Thus
has the historical account of Fatima been enriched and renewed many times over
since the labours of Father Barthas. It will be the aim of our second volume to
make use of all these new documents, to place them in their historical context,
and use them to better understand and explain the great Secret of Fatima. The
second volume, The Secret and the Church, will trace the developments and repercussions
of the Message of Fatima from 1917 to 1942.
THE
THIRD SECRET (1942-1983)
Finally,
the famous Secret – which should have been divulged in 1960 and still has not
been – will be the subject of the entire third volume. There especially, we
have many new facts to bring to light. Using the works of Father Alonso, which
shed a great deal of light on the history of the last part of the Secret, we
shall be able, almost with certitude, to state its true content. Indeed, today
we have such a reliable body of evidence on this text that it is now possible,
by a strictly logical demonstration, to dispel the thick, mysterious clouds
which some have tried at any price to preserve around this Secret for the last
twenty years...
*
But
if Our Lady of Fatima speaks to the Church and to the world, let us not forget
that She speaks, first of all, to each one of us. This is why we have not
confined ourselves to a simple historical examination of facts. For what good
is it to read the warnings of Heaven, if not to apply it to our own lives? Thus
the historical and critical exposition, although indispensable, is not enough.
Just
as we have sought to set forth The Whole Truth About Fatima, we have also
sought to make known and loved the great Message of Our Lady, so rich, so
attractive, more urgent than ever in view of the terrible dangers, both
spiritual and temporal, that threaten us today. For this we have generally let
Sister Lucy speak for herself: faithful to her mission of «making the Immaculate
Heart of Mary known and loved», in innumerable writings she has not ceased for
over fifty years to comment on, explain and illustrate the marvellous words of
the Queen of Heaven, with which her own soul is completely penetrated.
We
took her for our guide, so to speak, certain in this way of grasping the
essential part of this great Secret, so salutary for our souls, for our
nations, and for the Church. It is a secret rich in meaning, which introduces
us into the very mystery of the Heart of the Virgin Mary: She is the Immaculate
Mediatrix, the Mother of Mercy, Through the mediation of Her maternal Heart God
wills today, in His incomparable love of predilection for Her and in His mercy
towards us, to grant us every good thing: Heaven for our souls, peace for the
world and the Church, and the conversion and return of all nations to Her
bosom.
Certainly,
these promises are unprecedented, but in the great tribulation to come they
will help us preserve our faith, hope and charity to the very end.
Endnotes
(1)
S. Martins dos Reis, Uma Vida ao serviço de Fatima, Apêndice documental de
ineditos, p. 297-393 (1973). See also Antonio Maria Martins, S.J., Fatima,
Documentos (Porto 1976), and Cartas da Irma Lucia, p. 98-117 (Porto, 1979).
| AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO THE READERWith the kind
permission of the author, Parts I and II in the original French edition are
presented in reverse order for this English edition. This has been done by
the publisher to facilitate the English reading of this monumental, important,
and very interesting and edifying book. |
CHAPTER IPORTUGAL, “LAND OF
HOLY MARY” Jacinta,
Lucy tells us in her Memoirs, loved to sing. During the long hours of solitude
spent watching the sheep, the three shepherds of Aljustrel intoned, one by one,
the traditional dancing tunes or the beautiful chants of the Church. One song
was a favourite with them, the Salve Nobre Padroeira, which was very
popular in Portugal. It sings of the protection of the Virgin Mary as the
patroness of Her people of predilection, the little nation of Portugal.«Hail, O noble
Patron,
Of the people whom You protect,
Of the people chosen among all others,
As the people of the Lord!O Thou, glory of
our land,
Whom You have saved a thousand times!
As long as the Portuguese people exists
You will always be their love!»1 This
song evokes a marvellous history, the history of a nation completely devoted to
the Immaculate Virgin from its beginning, and which, in spite of conquest by
foreigners and a more and more suffocating Masonic domination, has remained
unshakably faithful to its Heavenly Patroness, until the eve of the great
miracle of 1917. If
Our Lady is Queen of France, She is also in all truth the Queen of valiant
Portugal, especially since 1646: eight years after the solemn consecration of
France to Our Lady by the Holy King Louis XIII, Portugal in turn officially
consecrated itself to the Immaculate Virgin by the mouth of John IV, restorer
of national independence. It
is not by chance that the Blessed Virgin reserved for France Her great
apparitions of the nineteenth century, rue du Bac, La Salette, Lourdes, Pontmain…
Nor is it by chance that little Portugal was chosen for the most spectacular
and most important of the Mariophanies. Born so to speak from France, the
“little House of Portugal”, as Camoens liked to say, imitated France all
through the ages in its tender and faithful devotion to the Blessed Virgin. By
an admirable grace of predilection, indissolubly linked with its national
vocation, Portugal, like France, had long prepared to welcome the Queen of
Heaven. Let us review the brightest episodes in this admirable alliance, forged
so early on and never broken, which made this happy country, even before Our
Lady of the Rosary came to Fatima, the “Land of Holy Mary”.
I. THE FOUNDATION OF THE KINGDOM OF MARY A “DAUGHTER” OF FRANCE. The ancient Roman
province of Lusitania was evangelized early on; in the sixth century, St.
Martin of Duma was the apostle of its countryside. But in 711, the Moors
invaded the country... And almost three centuries went by before the dawn of
deliverance came. In 1086, Alfonso VI, King of Castile and Leon, called on the
French for help, and these Crusades of the French would play an important role
in this glorious “reconquista”: In 1095, Henry, son of the Duke of Burgundy,
had delivered the whole northern part of the country, between Minho and Douro,
from Moslem domination. He then received in marriage the hand of the daughter
of the king of Castille, and possession of the whole region he had conquered
along with the title of “Count of Portugal”. A nephew of the great St. Hugh,
the powerful abbot of Cluny, Henry favoured the installation of several
daughter-houses of the French abbey. The first Archbishop of Braga after the
liberation was St. Gerard de Moissac, and his successor was Maurice Burdin.
Both were Frenchmen and monks of Cluny. Count
Henry increased his domains at the expense of the Moors, but it was his son,
Alfonso Henriques, who consolidated the independence of Portugal by his victory
over the Moors at Ourica in 1139. «His soldiers, who were for the most part
French crusaders, proclaimed him king right on the battlefield.»2
When his feudal lord, the King of Castille, protested against this usurpation,
Henriques requested and obtained the protection of Pope Innocent II as his
overlord. «Portugal was born», Barthas comments, «and it was born both French
and Roman. The Portuguese people never forgot this twofold origin.» UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY. Most important of
all, the new “conquistador” king immediately chose the Mother of God as
Patroness of his country and his new dynasty. «As founder of the kingdom»,
writes Father Oliveira Dias, «he placed it under the protection of Mary, taking
Her as Protectress and Mother of all the Portuguese, decreeing at the same time
that an annual tribute should be paid to the Church of St. Mary of Clairveaux,
in the name of its abbot, St. Bernard, and his successors. The document
recording this vow, made with the consent of his vassals and signed at the
Cathedral of Lamego on April 28, 1142, was found in the monastery of Alcobaça,
written on parchment and stamped with the royal seal.» After
St. Hugh and his Cluniacs, St. Bernard and his disciples exercised an immense
influence on the young kingdom, developing among the people a tender devotion
to Our Lady. In 1142 King Alfonso Henriques gave St. Bernard the lands on which
would be built, only a few miles from Fatima, the magnificent monastery of
Alcobaça. «When he was planning the daring conquest of Santarem, at that time
still in the hands of the Moors, the same king made a vow to erect a monastery
dedicated to the Virgin, if he was victorious in battle. This is the monastery
of Santa Maria de Alcobaça, which was given to the monks of St. Bernard.»3
Enlarged by the successors of Alfonso, it became the majestic royal monastery
that we admire nowadays. From
then on, the epic struggles of the Cross versus the Crescent of Islam would
take place under the protective standard of Santa Maria of Alcobaça. The
crusaders would carry with them a statue of Our Lady which was venerated until
the eighteenth century, in the church of Our Lady of the Martyrs, at Lisbon.
«All the conquests of King Alfonso Henriques, who founded the nation, were
undertaken and completed under the auspices of Mary», remarks Father Oliveira
Dias. FATIMA AND THE CRUSADES. Here let us point
out, that if we can believe the words of an ancient ballad, Fatima owes its clearly
Arabic name to an episode in the reconquest of Portugal which took place in
this era. Fatima, the daughter of a powerful Moslem prince of Alcacer do Sal,
was captured by a Crusader, Gonçalo Hermingues. When the Christian knight asked
the king for her hand in marriage, she converted and was baptized under the
name Oureana, from which the village of Ourem took its name. «But the beautiful
princess died young, and Don Gonçalo, in his distress, gave his life to God in
the Cistercian abbey of Alcobaça.» Not long after, the abbey founded a small
priory in the neighbouring mountains; Brother Gonçalo was sent there and took
with him the remains of his dear Fatima. The place took and kept her name.4Around the same
time was founded the sanctuary that would be so popular for centuries, in
honour of Our Lady of Nazare. Let us recognize
the fact: does any other nation exist whose very foundation is so closely
linked with the cult and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary?
II. THE VOW TO OUR LADY AND THE TWO PEAK CENTURIES THE VOW OF AUGUST 13, 1385 AND THE
MIRACULOUS VICTORY. As a result of dynastic troubles, in 1383 Castille
once again dominated Portugal. The prudent and pious Dom John, master of the
military order of Avis, was then acclaimed by the people of Lisbon as «regent
and defender of the kingdom». Taken by his peers to lead the national uprising
and proclaimed king, he would become the liberator of his country and the
founder of a prestigious dynasty, which would lead Portugal to greatness for
two centuries (1385-1580). But once again this was thanks to a special and
miraculous help from the Queen of Heaven, invoked with a tender fervour by the
monarch and all his people. The
instrument of the miraculous rebirth was the Blessed Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira,
a great devotee of Our Lady, «an image of both a hero and a saint, like Joan of
Arc», venerated as the most popular figure of the Portuguese golden age.5
While John of Avis hesitated in front of the more numerous Castilian army,
waiting for English reinforcements, Dom Nuno decided on August 7 to march alone
into battle. The image of Our Lady was embroidered on his standard, and he gave
his troops this war cry: «In the name of God and the Virgin Mary!» On
August 13, 1385, before meeting the most powerful armies of the King of
Castille, he drew his troops to the plateau of Fatima where John of Avis
finally rejoined him. There they solemnly invoked the protection of the Virgin
Mary, and the king, kneeling before Her image, vowed that if victory was given
them, he would build a beautiful monastery in Her honour, and make a pilgrimage
of thanksgiving to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Oliveira. «This was the first
“thirteenth” of the month celebrated in honour of Our Lady on this little
corner of the earth chosen by Her», Barthas comments. On
the next day, August 14, Vigil of the Assumption, the great victory of
Aljubarrota assured the independence of the country for two centuries, and
consolidated the foundation of the new dynasty. For Portugal, this victory
could be compared to the deliverance of Orleans by Joan of Arc. Pope Boniface IX,
in his bull of February 1391, did not hesitate to describe the victory as
miraculous, given the crushing superiority of the Spanish forces. The
king kept his promise with great magnificence. Let us quote our Portuguese
historian: «The
king went on foot (150 miles) with his knights to the sanctuary of Our Lady of
Oliveira, while in the capital, continual ceremonies of thanksgiving were
organized in honour of Our Lady. In fulfilment of his vow, the king hastened to
construct the church and monastery of Batalha, a veritable poem written in
stone, a magnificent jewel of various styles and an immortal monument of
Portugal’s gratitude to the Virgin Mary. He called it Our Lady of Victory.»6 From
this Dominican monastery, devotion to the Holy Rosary was destined to spread
all over the country. Is it not remarkable that the two monuments of national
independence, both built for the glory of the Virgin Mary, were located only a
few miles from Fatima? It
is worth adding that Blessed Nuno Pereira was Count of Ourem and feudal lord of
the region of Fatima, which is still called “the land of the Holy Count”.
«After successive victories, m which he drove the invaders from Portugal’s
frontiers, he made his profession as a Carmelite, taking the name of Brother
Nuno of Holy Mary, out of devotion to the Virgin. In gratitude for all the
victories She had given the Portuguese, he built in Her honour the great
convent of the Carmelites at Lisbon, with a church containing six chapels, all
dedicated to the Mother of God under different titles. And in the very
enclosure of the convent, he built the hermitage of Our Lady of the Assumption,
where he spent long hours in prayer.» He also built six other churches in honour
of the Virgin, the most famous of which was Our Lady of the Conception at Vila
Viçosa. On January 15, 1918, a few months after the apparitions of Fatima, Pope
Benedict XV, giving him the title of Blessed, recognized and approved the
traditional veneration that the dioceses of Portugal gave him. One
last coincidence, which Gerard de Sede did not fail to notice, and which amazes
us: it was on May 13 that at the request of John I, Pope Boniface IX ordered
all Cathedrals in Portugal to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.7 To
be sure, in 1917, at the height of the trials under the revolutionary and
Masonic persecutions, this episode, like all those we have just recalled, was
undoubtedly forgotten by most. In any case, the little seers of Aljustrel and
those around them knew nothing of them. But today, in hindsight, how can we not
see in the apparitions of Fatima, the prolongation and miraculous crowning of
this history, so full of the supernatural presence of Mary? Especially since
the great requests of Our Lady aim above all, as we shall see, to revive this
great tradition of a tender public and official devotion of a whole people,
united behind its leaders, towards its Queen, its Protectress and Mediatrix of
all spiritual and even temporal goods. And this time, not only for Portugal,
but for the whole world, which is called to become the “Land of Holy Mary”. TWO CENTURIES OF DEVOTION BY THE MONARCHY
AND PEOPLE.
Delivered from its invaders by a miracle of the Queen of Heaven, the “Land of
Holy Mary” would reach a high point of two centuries under the leadership of
prestigious monarchs (1385-1580). Crusades, great maritime discoveries,
missionary work and formation of colonies, such would be the various aspects of
an incomparable success, because it was at once Catholic, royal and
communitarian, always under the special protection of Mary, the Heavenly Padroeira. A
few names suffice to recall this spectacular apogee, which begins with the
“glorious generation”, as Camoens designates the descendants of John I. Right
into the fourteenth century they kept alive the crusading ideal, always linked
with a tender devotion to Mary. After the capture of Ceuta, in 1415, they
multiplied their expeditions to try to reconquer the largest African towns on
the shores of the Mediterranean. During the siege of Tangiers, in 1437, where
Henry the Navigator would distinguish himself once again, his infant brother
Fernando fell into the hands of the Moors. Taken as a hostage, he died like a
saint in 1448 in a prison of Fez, after having found in his devotion to Our
Lady the power to resign himself, and then the courage to die as a martyr of
the Crusade. On all Saturdays and Vigils of Our Lady’s feasts, he fasted in Her
honour. His
brother Henry the Navigator was no less devoted to Our Lady. Having conceived
the ingenious plan of sailing around Africa to “surround” the Moslems,8
he charged his fleet with the discovery of the African perimeter. On the beach
of Restelo (near Lisbon), where the majority of exploratory boats left, he
built a chapel in honour of Our Lady. «Before the famous statue of Our Lady
venerated there, Vasco de Gama, Pedro Alvares Cabral and many other daring
navigators who brought the name of Mary along with that of Portugal even to the
furthest countries of the pagan world, prayed and assisted at Mass before going
off to sea.»9 On
May 20, 1498, Vasco de Gama embarked for the Indies. Once again, the hazardous
adventure had been confided to Our Lady, and She brought it to a happy
conclusion. The infant Manuel had made a vow that he fulfilled on the return of
Vasco de Gama. To replace the little chapel built by Henry the navigator, in
1500 he began the construction of a church and monastery of hieronymites at
Belem, at the gates of Lisbon, on the right bank of the Tagus. The sanctuary of
Our Lady of Belem bears witness to the constant protection that the Virgin Mary
granted so many heroic enterprises. For the discoverers and conquerors opened
the door to an innumerable host of missionaries and martyrs. We
can scarcely imagine the great missionary zeal that animated Portugal at the
dawn of the Counter Reform, under the leadership of the great king John III
(1521-1557). Filled with enthusiasm by the letters of St. Francis Xavier, which
were burning with zeal, hundreds of Jesuits, such as the Blessed Azevedo and
his martyred companions, left the seminary of Coimbra to plant the Cross and
preach Our Lady in the Indies and in Japan, Africa and Brazil.10 Through
her navigators, her conquerors and her missionaries, “the Land of Holy Mary”
caused the Star of the Sea to be venerated in a great part of the world where
she was as yet unknown.
III. THREE CENTURIES UNDER THE STANDARD OF THE IMMACULATE ONE In
1580, with the death of the Cardinal-King, Portugal lost its national monarchy
and fell once more under Spanish domination. This new decline would be the
occasion for the solemn renewal of its ancient alliance with the Virgin Mary. THE RESTORATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND
CONSECRATION TO MARY. «On a Saturday, December 1, 1640, Portugal awoke to a
new life of independence, and proclaimed the duke of Braga king, under the name
John IV.»11 On December 8, in the royal chapel, both the Immaculate
Conception of Mary and the restoration of the monarchy and national
independence were celebrated at the same time. «Spain did not accept the fait
accompli», our Portuguese historian continues, «and war broke out between the
two countries; it went on, with one battle after another, for twenty-eight
years. The Portuguese saw in this continual series of victories a tangible
protection of the Virgin, for a people completely disarmed against a powerful
enemy, which militarily occupied the country. The Spanish were forced to
recognize the king and the independence of Portugal.» Here
we must point out a moving parallel: in 1638, King Louis XIII had consecrated
«his person, his State, his crown and his subjects to the most holy and
glorious Virgin», chosen for the «special protection of his kingdom». This act
resulted in a great wave of fervour in France, at the very moment when the
closest bonds united her to Portugal, which Louis XIII and Richelieu, who were
also at war with Spain, actively encouraged. John IV decided to follow the example
of the king of France.12 On October 20, 1646, «as a sign of love and
gratitude», he laid his royal crown at the feet of Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception. With his whole nation gathered together in the Cortes, he
proclaimed Her the Patroness of his kingdom, «hoping with great confidence in
the infinite mercy of Our Lord, who by the mediation of this Patroness and
Protectress of our kingdom and our lands, of which we have the honour to call
ourselves vassals and tributaries, shall protect and defend us against our
enemies, while considerably increasing our lands, for the glory of Christ our
God and the exaltation of the Holy Roman Catholic Faith, the conversion of
pagans and the submission of heretics.»13 THE DONATION AND VOW TO THE IMMACULATE ONE. By this solemn act,
Portugal, faithful to its own tradition, chose to consecrate itself to the
Virgin Mary under the title of Her Immaculate Conception. Henceforth the pious
monarch, followed by the enthusiasm of his whole people, never ceased to loudly
proclaim his faith in the unique privilege of Mary, anticipating by two
centuries the infallible definition of Pope Pius IX. «He bound himself by an
oath, in which the prince and the Cortes joined him, swearing to propose and
defend, even at the cost of his life, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
of Mary, on condition of the Church’s approval.»14 The
formula of this vow is so admirable that we cannot fail to give part of it:
«And if anyone dares to attempt anything against our promise, oath and
vassalage, we will consider him from this moment as no longer belonging to the
nation and we wish him to be driven from the kingdom; and if he is king (which
may God avert), may the divine malediction and ours fall on him and may he no
longer be counted among our descendants; we vow that he be cast out and
stripped of the throne by the same God who gave us the kingdom and raised us up
to the royal dignity.»15 And
to stress and perpetuate the national character of his vow, he ordered that an
inscription should be engraved in marble or some other stone above the gates of
towns, recalling this oath of the King and the Cortes in honour of the Mother
of God, «preserved from original sin»16. «At Leiria», Canon Barthas
notes, «one can still see this inscription on a building on Alcobaça Street.»17 Can
it be said that we have gone into a useless digression, far from Fatima and its
message? No, on the contrary we are at the very heart of the mystery, the most
hidden part of the secret, of which we know only a fragment: «In Portugal the
dogma of faith will always be preserved.» For if the text of the solemn vow
always to defend the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was wiped off the gates
of the towns by the liberal government of the nineteenth century or the
sectarian freemasons of the revolution of 1910, the Virgin Mary did not forget
it, and it is Her “most faithful nation” that She chose to manifest to the
world the mercy of Her Immaculate Heart. To this nation it was promised, in the
midst of the great trial to come, to preserve intact all the dogmas of the
faith. To
perpetuate the memory of his vow, the king also ordered medals to be struck in
gold and silver, bearing the image of the Immaculate Virgin, «Protectress of
the Kingdom». «Finally, a royal decree ordered all municipalities, Cathedral
chapters, and the whole clergy to take the Immaculate Virgin as their
Patroness, according to the form in the brief of Pope Urban VIII governing the
election of patron saints.»18 What other nation was better prepared
to welcome the great message of the Immaculate Heart of Mary? A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS: OUR LADY OF
SAMEIRO. In
the eighteenth century, with the miserable Marquis of Pombal and his diabolical
freemasonry, a dark night passed over the poor ‘‘Land of Holy Mary”. The good
people, however, remained faithful to their Heavenly Padroeira. In their
enthusiasm for the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in
1854, the faithful raised to the glory of their Immaculate Queen the superb
national sanctuary of Sameiro, near Braga. The work was begun in 1863, and a
magnificent statue of the Immaculate Virgin was sculpted at Rome and blessed by
Pope Pius IX himself. Jacinta told Dr. Lisboa that this was the image which
reminded her the most of Our Lady such as she had contemplated Her at Fatima.19 THE PORTUGUESE, PILGRIMS AT LOURDES. Finally, the moving
chapter where Canon Barthas describes the pilgrimages of the Portuguese people
to Lourdes20 deserves to be read. Of the foreign pilgrims to come to
Lourdes, the Portuguese were undoubtedly the first, the most numerous, and the
most fervent to come in groups, accompanied by their priests, their bishops and
archbishops. «In 1876, the patriarch of Lisbon went to the grotto», and he
returned in 1887. During the pilgrimage of May 1878, two Portuguese people were
miraculously cured. The following month King Fernando visited it with some members
of his family. Soon the Portuguese were flocking to Lourdes in the thousands,
and after the revolution of 1910, many exiles chose to live in the Marian town
that was so dear to them. Pilgrimages continued to be organized in spite of the
religious persecution raging in their country.21 A BASTION OF CATHOLICISM. In this land of
Portugal where Catholicism remained solidly implanted in the great majority of
the population, but where liberal and masonic ideas had worked a good deal of
harm, the region of Fatima remained one of the most faithful bastions of the
ancient Catholic and royal traditions. According to Canon Galamba: «The
district of Ourem (where Fatima is located), was well known for the generosity
of its inhabitants, the number of priests, and the abundance of its vocations;
it was considered one of the most precious jewels and one of the best
supporting areas for any religious action; one could count on its priests and
its faithful in any circumstances... In this troubled period (in 1911, after
the law of separation of Church and State), they were never able, either
voluntarily or by force, to make an inventory of the goods of the Church, and
to my knowledge this was a unique case in all of Portugal. The clergy and the
faithful made a formidable block.»22Yes,
it was indeed in all truth that the three little shepherds could sing the
beautiful traditional refrain, as they looked after their sheep:23 «Hail, O noble
Patron,
Of the people whom You protect,
Of the people chosen among all others,
As the people of the Lord!O Thou, glory of
our land,
Whom You have saved a thousand times!
As long as the Portuguese people exists
You will always be their love!»
Endnotes(1)
De Marchi, Testimony p. 66.
(2) Barthas, Fatima 1917-1968, p. 25-37. We have relied on this book for
many facts in his historical overview. We have also followed the excellent
article of the Portuguese Jesuit, Father José de Oliveira Dias: “Our Lady in
Portuguese Popular Piety”, in Maria, Etudes sur la Sainte Vierge, Vol.
IV, p. 611-646, Beauchesne 1956.
(3) Dias, p. 614.
(4) Barthas, Fatima, Prodigy of the XXth Century, p. 29-30.
(5) Barthas, Fatima, Unprecedented Miracle, p. 22-23.
(6) Dias, p. 615-616.
(7) Ibid., p. 616.
(8) De Sede, p. 99. The author refers to Father Martindale, The Message of
Fatima, p. 13.
(9) Cf. G. Goyau, Missions and Missionaries, p. 42-45, Bloud and Gay,
1931.
(10) Dias, p, 616.
(11) Goyau, p. 58-59.
(12) Dias, p. 623.
(13) In Vol. II, while we comment on the request for the consecration of
Russia, we will also show what magnificent fruits the consecration of France to
Our Lady produced in 1638.
(14) Act of acclamation to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Patroness of
Portugal, made by the Cortes of Lisbon in 1646. Quoted by Pius XII on May 13,
1946.
(15) Dias, p. 642.
(16) This decree was simply extending to all cities a venerable tradition that
several of them had already practiced a long time.
(17) From the Grotto to the Holm Oak, p. 181.
(18) Dias, p. 625.
(19) De Marchi, p 285.
(20) From the Grotto to the Holm Oak, p. 37-45.
(21) Finally, Canon Barthas points out a remarkable fact: «Our Lady wanted the
principal apostles of devotion to Her at Fatima to be two men who were
fervently devoted to Her apparition at Lourdes: Bishop José da Silva and Canon
Formigao.» The future Bishop of Leiria had already come to Lourdes twelve
times, and after his consecration he returned there five more times. As for
Canon Formigao, before finding out about Fatima he had thought about spreading
devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes in Portugal.
(22) Fatima a Prova, p. 25-27, quoted by De Sede, p. 85.
(23) De Marchi, (Fr. Ed.) p. 66.
 The
three shepherds photographed in front of the Marto house several days before
October 13, 1917. This photo was published by Avelino de Almeida to
illustrate his articles of the 15th and the 29th of October, 1917, in the
daily newspaper O Seculo and in the magazine Ilustraçâo portuguesa.
|
CHAPTER IITHREE CHILDREN OF
CHRISTENDOM Even
before the account of the apparitions and stupendous miracles of 1917, the
history of Fatima evokes our wonder first of all by the atmosphere of a living
Christendom in which it suddenly plunges us. To deliver Her great message
destined to enlighten our whole twentieth century, Our Lady did not choose to
appear in an industrial city, already devoured by the leprosy of pauperism,
laicism and paganism that were making inroads everywhere. No, She chose to
manifest Herself in a poor village, with a long Christian history, lost in the
great mountainous region of the Serra da Aire, about eighty miles north of
Lisbon. There, in 1917, as in many countries of our Christian Europe, the
morals, the piety and the virtues of old remained as though miraculously
preserved. This choice is an initial revelation of the predilections of the
Heart of Mary. What
is marvellous about Fatima is that, because these events are so close to our
times, and immediately aroused such an immense interest, we know everything,
even to the smallest details, about the lives and souls of the seers, about
their families, and about their village, before, during, and after the
apparitions. «THE HISTORY OF
FATIMA AS IT REALLY HAPPENED»The history of Fatima
was written long ago, and rewritten many times over.1 Let it suffice
for us to recall the works of Canon Barthas, especially his magnificent work, It
Was Three Small Children, or Fatima 1917-1968, which remains an
incomparable source of information. The recent
publication of the Memoirs of Sister Lucy in their integral and
authentic version, in 1973, necessarily reduces the value of all the partial
accounts, however good they might have been, that were done beforehand. From
now on these texts necessarily become the primary and irreplaceable source of
all histories of the apparitions, for an obvious reason: because they come from
the hand of the seer, who applied herself with extreme care to «relate the
history of Fatima as it really happened», striving only to write, so to
speak, under the movement of grace: «… I must thank God for the assistance of
the Holy Spirit, which I can feel suggesting to me what I should say or write.
If sometimes my own imagination or my own understanding suggest something to
me, I sense immediately that it is lacking the divine unction, and I stop my
work until I am sure, in the deepest recess of my soul, of what God wants me to
say in His place.»2 In fact, these
texts drawn up by Lucy, always under strict obedience, in great haste and under
heroic conditions – «in a remote corner of the attic, lit by a single skylight,
my lap serving as a table and an old trunk as a chair...»3 – these
texts have a grace of their own about them, and themselves bear witness to this
“inspiration”, this “divine unction” faithfully sought by the seer. However these four
Memoirs have a grave defect, at least for less informed readers: they do not
present us with a synthetic and chronological view of the events. This
is due only to the circumstances in which they were written: written up under
obedience, in all haste, and without a plan embracing the whole, they all
summarize, under different aspects and with a certain internal disorder, the
history of Fatima. For Sister Lucy confesses as much and excuses herself for
writing «in haste and according to what I could remember», and «without
troubling myself about the order or style».4 «I write here what I
can remember», she says again, «just like a crab, which goes first backwards,
then forward, without worrying where it is going...»5 It remains for us
then to make our choice from among all these marvellous texts; to order them,
adding the minimum of necessary explanations, and in short, to highlight them
as best as possible to allow the reader to appreciate their spontaneity and
freshness right away. Adding some subtitles can also contribute something. But
let us repeat that all these accounts taken in themselves are so perfect, so
full of their own special flavour, that we cannot do any better than quote them
literally. Any attempt at a paraphrase would lose something.6 The work of Father
de Marchi, Testimonies on the Apparitions of Fatima, can also serve as a
source-book, which happily completes the Memoirs of Lucy. The author, who
himself spent long hours at Fatima interviewing the witnesses of the events of
1917, quotes their fascinating accounts word for word. Moreover this account
has the guarantee of Sister Lucy that she «read it attentively, and was able to
point out the necessary corrections».7 Having mentioned
then these few indispensable facts, we will strive to let the witnesses
speak for themselves. This is the best way of «relating the history of
Fatima as it really happened».
ALJUSTREL: A LIVING CHRISTENDOM «Minutes from
Fatima is a group of modest houses, perhaps twenty in all, lined along a
narrow, rugged road, and separated by courtyards and gardens: this is the
hamlet of Aljustrel.»8 There lived the two families of our seers,
the dos Santos and the Marto families.
TWO EXEMPLARY FAMILIES Antonio and Maria
Rosa dos Santos had six children. In 1917, the eldest, Maria dos Anjos (26),
was already married. Then came Teresa (24), Manuel (22), the only boy, Gloria
(20) and Caroline (15). Lucy (10) was the youngest, born on March 22, 1907, and
baptized on the 30th in the parish church of Fatima. Jacinta and
Francisco were her first cousins because their mother, Olimpia de Jesus,9
was the sister of Antonio dos Santos. From a first marriage Olimpia had two
sons, Antonio and Manuel. Her second marriage was to Manuel Pedro Marto, and
the family grew with seven other children: José, Teresa, who died at the age of
two, Florinda, a second Teresa, John, then Francisco, our seer who was born on
June 11, 1908, and baptized on June 20. Finally came our little Jacinta, born
on March 11, 1910, and baptized on March 19, Feast of St. Joseph, in the church
at Fatima, in the same baptistery where Lucy and Francisco had been baptized. THE
MARTO FAMILY.
The two families, who had lived in the village a long time, were also well
esteemed there. At the time of the apparitions, Canon Formigao, who was then
entrusted with the ecclesiastical inquiry, took the testimony of one of the
distinguished members of the parish, Manuel Goncalves, an authorized witness on
the families of the seers: «The parents of Francisco and Jacinta are excellent,
profoundly Christian, respected and esteemed by all. The father has the
reputation of being the most serious man in the town. He is incapable of
deceiving anyone.»10 Ti Manuel, as those who knew him called him,
had never been to school, but he lacked neither experience nor personality. He
had fought in the war at Mozambique in 1895-1896. Father de Marchi, who
interrogated him at length, allows us to see his soul as it was, simple and
loyal, serious and wise, but humorous also. Endowed with a faithful and precise
memory, an indefatigable narrator, his testimony is of capital importance for
the historians of Fatima. This is all the more so since «his evaluations, which
were in general very judicious, were full of good sense and the spirit of
faith.»11 «Mr. Marto», relates Father de Marchi, «was
devoted to the truth. We must not “make up” things, and make them other than
what they are, he would say to me frequently. When he would hear some chapter
or passage from a book on Fatima being read, it was rare for him not to have a
correction to add, or something to be made more precise. “That’s not exactly
it!” he would exclaim. Then he would supply a mouthful of details...»12 In short, he was a
humble and limpid soul, extraordinarily endearing, as we will discover during
this whole account. Along with Olimpia, an excellent Christian whose
personality was perhaps a little more reserved, they were a very devoted couple.
This was so much the case that once when Canon Barthas attempted to photograph
her alone, Olimpia exclaimed, «do not cut me in two, wait for Manuel!»13 THE
DOS SANTOS FAMILY
was less exemplary. Olimpia herself recalled that at the time of the
apparitions, her brother was a heavy drinker. Although he was never an
alcoholic, nevertheless around 1916-1917 he began to frequent the tavern, to
the point where his neglect of the land brought hardship into the family.
Manuel Goncalves said of him to Canon Formigao: «He rarely goes to Church, but
he does not have any evil sentiments.»14 For several years he had
not made his Easter duty, but he still attended Mass. Since he did not get
along with the parish priest, he went to Vila Nova de Ourem. However, the
education of his children never suffered on account of these deficiencies,
because his wife, Maria Rosa, made up for it with uncommon virtue. She was a
real homemaker. «Brought to sorrow, humiliated by the listlessness of her
husband, she brought up her children with great firmness, which however did not
take away the joy of their home.»15 Because of her untiring devotion
towards everybody, she enjoyed the esteem of all: «Generally», writes Lucy,
«there would be several young girls in our house who would come to weave and to
sew... They often said that the best days of their lives were the ones they had
spent in our house.» It is a valuable testimony. Very often also, the
neighbours, during their work in the fields, would leave their children with
Maria Rosa for her to take care of them. When a marriage feast would take
place, she would be asked for her services as cook. Finally she often worked as
a nurse, and with what charity! «People would come to ask her advice on
lesser symptoms, or they would ask her to come to the house if the sick person
could not move. Thus she spent days and sometimes nights in the house of the
sick person. If the illness was prolonged and the state of the sick person
demanded it, she would send my sisters to spend some nights with them, so that
the members of the family could get some rest.»16 Moreover, the
census of 1920 tells us that at Fatima, out of a total of 1179 women, only 91
knew how to write, and Maria Rosa was one of these.17 Conscious of
this privilege, she made good use of it: «On Sunday afternoon, all the young people
would gather in our courtyard... They would spend the afternoon playing, and conversing
with my sisters. At Easter-time they would pick the sugar-plums... My mother
would spend these afternoons sitting at the kitchen door which looked out over
the courtyard, where she could see everything that was going on.
Sometimes, she had a book in her hand and would be reading... For me,
she would say, there is nothing better than reading in my own house, in peace.
Books bring us so many beautiful things! And the lives of the saints are so
beautiful! «On other occasions (Lucy continues), she
would talk with some of my aunts, or the neighbours. She always kept an air
of seriousness, and everybody knew that whatever she said was like a word
of scripture, and that we had to obey her without delay. I never heard
anyone dare to say a disrespectful or unfitting word in her presence. The
people often would say that my mother was worth more than all her daughters.»18 The truth is that
Maria Rosa’s daughters resembled her, and it is surely to her that Lucy owes
her serious attitude and the natural authority she enjoyed over her companions,
even at her young age.
LIFE AT ALJUSTREL “BLESSED
ARE THE POOR...”
The two families, like the majority of the families of the parish which then
numbered 2,500 souls, spread out over twenty similar hamlets, lived by
cultivating their lands, and from their small flocks. Life was rugged and poor,
because the rocky soil of the Serra was barely fertile, except in the shallow
parts where the thicker humus would permit good harvests of wheat or maize. The
vineyards and olive trees were a good supplement to the grain cultivation. Although they were
poor, neither the Martos nor the dos Santos were in want: «Although they had
such a large family to raise, the Martos were proud that their children never
had to go barefoot, as was often the case in Portugal until quite recently.
They had a house, built for Olimpia’s first marriage, and everybody can still
see it today, with the little bedrooms, so moving in their simplicity, where
Francisco and Jacinta were confined to bed during their last illness.»19 Likewise, one can
still visit today the dos Santos house, relatively vast with its six rooms. In
the courtyard, the numerous dependencies even bear witness to a certain
comfort. The family also possessed some lands on the hill of the Cabeço and at
the Cova da Iria. In short, at the price of constant labour on the part of
everybody, – from the age of seven or eight the children were put in charge of
tending the sheep20 – the two families had enough to live on, and
their lot was not comparable to the extreme indigence of the Soubirous parents. “THEIRS
IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.” At Aljustrel they led the life of peasants,
hard and simple, but also calm and joyous, completely impregnated with a solid
piety and a profound faith, to a degree that we could hardly imagine today in
our society, which is so secularized.The heart of the
Christian life was first and foremost the Sunday Mass. Let us listen to
Olimpia, the mother of Francisco and Jacinta: «May God keep us from letting a Sunday go by
without Mass, either we or the children, as soon as they are old enough to
understand! Even if we had to go to Boleiros, to Atouguia, or even to Santa
Cararina (over six miles away), whether there is rain or thunder, I can
never remember having missed Mass, even when I was nursing my children...»21 And thus, this
whole laborious and monotonous life was given rhythm and illumined by the
sequence of the great feasts of the liturgical cycle. There was also, each
Sunday, the paternal authority of the parish priest which he exercised, without
dispute, over each of his sheep. After the departure of good Father Pena, who
was so beloved in the village, it was the young Father Ferreira who succeeded
him in 1913. Although more rigid and less appreciated, he was not obeyed any
less. For Maria Rosa, «the word of the parish priest was the word of God, and
she observed rigorously, without any discussion, the commands which he laid
down.»22 Later on we will see that, because of her unlimited
confidence in her parish priest, Maria Rosa doubted the genuineness of the
apparitions for so long. At Fatima, the
devotions for the month of Mary, the month of the Rosary and the “month of the
(poor) souls”, in honour of the departed, were all solemnly observed. At the
call of the parish priest, the church was filled each night for the recitation
of the Rosary.23 We must listen to
the whole, long testimony of Maria dos Anjos, the elder sister of Lucy, to
discover with astonishment what an incomparable Christian education our three
young seers enjoyed, for on this point the Marto parents were hardly inferior
to Maria Rosa. «It was our mother who taught us the
catechism, and she would never let us go out and play before having learned our
lesson by heart. I do not want to be ashamed, she would say, when Father will
have my children recite their catechism. But she was not ashamed, because
Father was always satisfied with us, and at the church he would even entrust us
with other children to teach, although we were still children ourselves. I was
thus no older than nine years old when I became a catechist.«But our mother was not content with the
recitation of formulas at the snap of a finger; she also wanted us to
understand Christian doctrine, and she gave us detailed explanations. To know
the catechism, and not to know the explanations makes no sense, she would say.
We also asked her many questions, and she answered as well as the priest in
church. Once I asked her how the fire of hell could not consume and destroy the
damned, like the wood one puts in the fireplace. She answered, “Then you don’t
know that if you put a bone in the fire, it will appear to burn without being
consumed?” And we, very frightened, set ourselves to reflect on that point, and
to take the resolution not to commit any sins, so as not to fall in this
terrible fire.«It was not only for us that our mother
taught the catechism. Other children also came to the house to learn it, and
not only from Aljustrel, but from Casa Velha, and even from Boleiros. Even
distinguished persons came to her to have themselves instructed.«During the month of May and the month of
the dead, as well as during Lent, we would recite the Rosary every day before
the fireplace, or in the common room. And when we would go out with the sheep,
she would recommend that we always have the Rosary in our pockets. “Over there
you will recite the Rosary in honour of Our Lady after you eat”, she would say,
“and some Our Fathers in honour of Saint Anthony, so as not to lose the
sheep”...»«And we would always add some Our Fathers
for the souls of our deceased relatives. In the morning before rising, and in
the evening, before going to bed, after having recited the act of contrition
and some Our Fathers, she would not let us forget our Guardian Angel...»«She wanted us to be humble and industrious.
And woe to us if anyone caught us in a lie! It was even one of the things she
was the most severe on. The smallest fib would immediately result in a beating
with her broom.«She taught us devotion to the things of the
Church, and especially to the Blessed Sacrament, right from the beginning.»24 THE
RELIGION OF FATIMA. High Mass on Sunday, the catechism learned by heart
and explained to children, the practice of daily family prayer, devotions to
the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady, the angels and saints, prayer for the
dead, moral education on the virtues and vices, all this in the great light of
the last ends, Judgement, Heaven and Hell, such was the religion which these
poor people lived with humility, and heroism. This was what the clergy preached
to them. Maria Rosa also read to her children the Missâo abreviada, a
manual of religion destined for the people of the country, to «prolong the
fruit of the missions». There they taught a strict religion, but one of exact
doctrine and solid devotion.25 They went right to the essentials and
all the principal truths of the faith were put in clear relief. It was clear
and limpid. What is striking is
that Our Lady, when She came to the Cova da Iria, did not propose any other
ideal. This is what Fatima is first of all: the most urgent reminder ever that
the true religion that pleases God and saves souls, is indeed this traditional
religion, still faithfully lived in the beginning of the century in many
regions, where Christendom remained very much alive. And when tomorrow, a new
Christendom will rise up over the rubble, by the grace of Our Lady of Fatima
and according to Her promise, the same dogmas, the same devotions, the same
moral doctrine will still be its soul and very essence. Everything else is a
deadly illusion. Here moreover is
the source of true peace and happiness. Our three seers who so perfectly came
into their own in this atmosphere, prove it magnificently. As her Memoirs bear
witness, Sister Lucy retains a fascinating memory of her childhood years, when
the ruggedness of her life and the severity of her mother went together, in the
most natural way, with her natural gaiety, her childish games, and the quasi-perpetual
festive atmosphere that reigned in the village, as well as her first
friendships and the first mystical graces she was favoured with. To her we must
now turn. In hearing her we will be penetrated with the irresistible charm of
this peaceful life in Christendom, and we will become acquainted with its three
most beautiful fruits: the candid and serious, joyful and profound souls of our
three little seers.
LUCY: THE HAPPY CHILDHOOD OF A PRIVILEGED SOUL A PRECOCIOUS AND
FAVOURED CHILD In her second Memoir,
which is an enthralling opening of an autobiography, Lucy writes: «It seems to me that our dear God favoured
me with the use of reason even when I was a very young child. I can remember
being conscious of my acts, even on the knees of my mother. I can remember
being put in the crib and put to sleep, to the sound of different songs. And
since I was the youngest of five daughters and one son which Our Lord was
pleased to give to my parents, I can remember various quarrels among them,
because they all wanted to take me in their arms and talk to me. At that
moment, so that no one would be victorious, my mother would take me back in her
arms, and if she was occupied and could not keep me there, she would entrust me
to my father, who in his turn would cover me with kisses and caresses.The first thing I learned was the Hail Mary
because my mother had the habit of taking me in her arms while she would teach
my sister Caroline, who was five years older than I.» Let us observe
right away, since all the witnesses agree, that Lucy was an extraordinarily
precocious child. She retains very precise memories of her very first years,
which she artfully relates, showing a real literary talent. Listen to her
relate, in such a lively and alert tone, how as a very young girl she took part
in all the feasts of the village where she was cuddled by all: «My two eldest sisters were already grown
up. My mother, knowing that I repeated everything I heard like a parrot,
wanted them to take me with them everywhere they went. They were, as we say
in our locality, the leading lights among the young people. There was not a
festival or a dance that they did not attend. At Carnival time, on St. John’s
Day, and at Christmas, there was certain to be a dance. Besides this, there was
the vintage. Then there was the olive picking, with a dance almost every day.
When the big parish festivals came round, such as the feasts of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Anthony, and so on, we always
raffled cakes; after that came a dance, without fail. We were invited to almost
all the weddings for miles around, for if they did not invite my mother to be
matron of honour, they were sure to need her for the cooking. At these
weddings, the dance went on from after the banquet until well into the next
morning. Since my sisters had to have me always with them, they took as much
trouble in dressing me up as they were wont to do for themselves. As one of
them was a dressmaker, I was always decked out in a regional costume more
elegant than that of any girl around... You would have thought that they were
dressing a doll rather than a small child. «At the dances they deposited me on top of a
wooden chest or some other tall piece of furniture, to save me from being
trampled underfoot. Once on my perch, I had to sing a number of songs to the
music of a guitar or the concertina. My sisters had already taught me to sing,
as well as to dance a few waltzes when there was a partner missing. The latter
I did with great agility, thus attracting the attention and applause of
everyone present. Some of them even rewarded me with gifts, in the hope of
pleasing my sisters.»26 “THE
WORLD BEGAN TO SMILE ON ME.” In these village balls, which retained a family
atmosphere, there was doubtless nothing gravely reprehensible. Neither the good
Father Pena, nor the austere Maria Rosa, who very shrewdly always found a
discreet means of watching over her daughters – «my mother, knowing that I
repeated everything I heard like a parrot, wanted them to take me everywhere
they went» – neither one found anything to object to. Yet, Lucy will avow
that even for her, still so young, this disordered passion for dancing was not
without danger for her soul. «To tell the truth, the world was beginning to
smile on me, and above all a passion for dancing was already sinking its roots
deep into my poor heart.»27Soon, fortunately,
things would change in the village: «Reverend Father Pena was no longer our
parish priest, and had been replaced by Reverend Father Bocinha. When this
zealous priest learned that such a pagan custom as endless dancing was only too
common in the parish, he promptly began to preach against it from the pulpit in
his Sunday sermons. In public and in private, he lost no opportunity of
attacking this bad custom. As soon as my mother heard the good priest speak
in this fashion, she forbade my sisters to attend such amusements.»«From that time on, relates Maria dos Anjos,
«cost what it might, our mother wanted us all at the house by sundown. Even on
festival days, when we would have loved to amuse ourselves like the others, nothing
doing! The supper hour was sacred.»28 «As my sisters’
example led others also to refrain from attending», Lucy adds, «this custom
gradually died out. The same thing happened among the children, who used to get
up their little dances apart.» Lucy concludes with
this anecdote which reveals clearly the exemplary docility of her mother: «Somebody remarked one day to my mother: “Up
to now, it was no sin to go to dances, but just because we have a new parish
priest, it is a sin. How can that be?” “I don’t know”, replied my mother. “All
I know is that the priest does not want dancing, so my daughters are not going
to such gatherings any more. At most, I would let them dance a bit within
the family, because the priest says there is no harm in that.”»29 EVENINGS
IN THE DOS SANTOS FAMILY. Maria Rosa excelled in making good Christian
joy reign in family life. In the evening, she would have her children spend the
time in music and singing, prayer and holy reading. «At certain times of the year, my sisters
had to go out working in the fields during the daytime, so they did their
weaving and sewing at night. Supper was followed with prayers led by my
father, and then the work began. Everyone had something to do: my sister
Maria went to the loom; my father filled the spools; Teresa and Gloria went to
their sewing; my mother took out her spinning; Caroline and I, after tidying up
the kitchen, had to help with the sewing, taking out basting, sewing on
buttons, and so forth; to keep drowsiness away, my brother played the
concertina, and we joined in singing all kinds of songs. The neighbours often
dropped in to keep us company, and although it meant losing their sleep, they
used to tell us that the very sound of our gaiety banished all their worries
and filled them with happiness. I heard different women sometimes say to my
mother: “How fortunate you are! What lovely children God has given you!”«When the time came round to harvest the
corn, we removed the husks by moonlight. There was I sitting atop a heap of
corn, and chosen to give a hug all round whenever a dark-coloured corn cob
appeared.»30«My mother was accustomed to teaching
catechism to her children during the summer at siesta time. In the winter, we
had our lesson after supper at night, gathered round the fireside, as we sat
roasting and eating chestnuts, and a sweet variety of acorns.»31«Every evening, especially in winter
(recalls Maria dos Anjos), our mother would read to us something from the Old
Testament or the Gospel, or the story of Our Lady of Nazare or Our Lady of
Lourdes... During Lent, we knew that the readings would always be on the
Passion of Our Lord. Lucy immediately would retain everything by heart, and
would then give her version to the children.»32 Let us note that
Lucy already was demonstrating unusual qualities: attentive and reflective,
with a profound piety, she was also very exuberant and overflowing with
affection. A
LOVABLE AND AFFECTIONATE CHARACTER. The few photos that we have of her, taken at
the time of the apparitions, are misleading. They show us a face that is
somewhat scowling and not very attractive. Of course, being a strong, robust
little peasant, she did not have very delicate traits. But her big, black eyes,
shining under the thick eyebrows, often lit up in a radiant smile which would
transfigure her face. If the photos did not show it, numerous witnesses assure
us, that Lucy was a very attractive and affectionate child. Let us hear her
elder sister, Maria dos Anjos: «We loved her because she was so
intelligent and affectionate. Even when she was older, when she came home
with the flock, she used to run and sit on her mother’s lap and be cuddled and
kissed. We, the elder ones, used to tease her and say: “Here comes the
cuddler!” – and we would even get cross with her. But she always did it again
the next day.»33 “THE
DEVIL WOULD HAVE BROUGHT ABOUT MY RUIN.” Her uncle, Ti Marto, had well understood the
richness of her character: «She was very outgoing, very frank and very
refined, very affectionate, even with her father. Already I predicted her
future: “You will be either very good, or very bad...”»34 Such a temperament,
and so many signs of tenderness and favour lavished on the young child could
undoubtedly, in the long run, have harmed her soul: «Amid the warmth of such affectionate and
tender caresses, I happily spent my first six years. To tell the truth, the
world was beginning to smile on me, and above all, a passion for dancing was
already sinking its roots deep into my poor heart. And I must confess that the
devil would have used this to bring about my ruin, had not the good Lord shown
His special mercy towards me.»35But thanks to the indefatigable zeal of her
mother who had already succeeded in teaching her the whole catechism when she
was not even six years old, the beautiful truths of the Faith, the Love of
Jesus, the ardent hope of receiving Him soon struck roots in her heart that
were much more profound than the first attractions of the world. The altogether
gratuitous predilection of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary would do the rest.
THE SMILE OF OUR LADY AND HER FIRST
COMMUNION AT AGE SIXAt a time when, in spite of the recent
decrees of St. Pius X, pastors were so strict about the age for first communion,
Lucy obtained the signal favour of being able to make her first communion at
the age of six.36 We must read
attentively the admirable account where Sister Lucy relates for us, so ingenuously
and with such charming candour, this first mystical grace which marked her
whole life so profoundly: «I do not know», she writes at the end of the
narration, «whether the facts I have related above about my First Communion
were a reality or a little child’s illusion.» We must admire in this passage
the prudent modesty of the seer who does not wish to give this intimate and
personal grace, received at the age of six, the same degree of certitude as the
great apparitions of 1916 and 1917. «What I do know», she goes on, «is that
they have always had, and still have today, a great influence in uniting me
to God.»37 These few pages,
which for us are reminiscent of some similar texts of St. Therese of the Child
Jesus or of Marie Noel, are one of the high points of the Memoirs, and to read
them, one does not know what to marvel at more: the smile of Our Lady to her
predestined child, or the resplendent beauty of our Church at that time, shining
with a marvellous brightness even in the tiniest hamlets of Christendom. What
fervour in those souls! What a spirit of faith penetrating the liturgy and
family customs, what divine wisdom in the arrangements, what overflowing
supernatural joy! And all this in a charming simplicity and perfectly natural
atmosphere. LUCY’S DISAPPOINTMENT. «The day which the
parish priest had appointed for the solemn First Communion of the children of
the parish38
was drawing near. In view of the fact that I knew my catechism and was already
six years old, my mother thought that perhaps I could now make my First
Communion. To this end she sent me with my sister Caroline to the catechism
instructions which the parish priest was giving to the children, in preparation
for this great day. I went, therefore, radiant with joy, hoping soon to be able
to receive my God for the first time. The priest gave his instructions, seated
in a chair up on a platform. He called me to his side, and when one or
another of the children was unable to answer his question, he told me to give
the answer instead, just to shame them. «The eve of the great day arrived, and the
priest sent word that all the children were to go to the church in the
forenoon, so that he could make the final decision as to which ones were to
make their First Communion. What was not my disappointment when he called me up
beside him, caressed me and then said I was to wait till I was seven years old!
I began to cry at once, and just as I would have done with my own mother, I
laid my head on his knees and sobbed.»THE
INTERVENTION OF GOOD FATHER CRUZ. «It happened that another priest who had been
called in to help with the confessions, entered the church just at that moment.
Seeing me in this position, he asked me the reason for my tears. On being
informed, he took me to the sacristy and examined me on the catechism and the
mystery of the Eucharist. After this, he took me by the hand and brought me to
the parish priest, saying, “Father Pena, you can let this child go to
Communion. She understands what she’s doing better than many of the others.”
“But she’s only six years old”, objected the good priest. “Never mind! I’ll
take the responsibility for that.” “All right, then”, the good priest said to
me. “Go and tell your mother that you are making your first Communion
tomorrow.”» It is not without
importance that Lucy had this rare privilege from a priest who undoubtedly will
one day be raised to the altar and who was an expert on the knowledge of souls.
We are speaking of the good Father Cruz who, in 1947, confirmed to Canon
Barthas the exactness of all the facts reported by Sister Lucy in her Memoirs.39
Now Father Cruz was known as a saint in all of Portugal, where he was going all
over preaching from parish to parish. Having become a Jesuit, he died at Lisbon
on October 1, 1948, and the renown of his sanctity was so great that the
process for his beatification was opened in the spring of 1951. In 1917, he was one
of the first priests to openly come out in favour of the apparitions. He came
back several times to Aljustrel to counsel and encourage the three seers, whom
he loved as a father. But now let us return to Lucy’s narrative: «I could never express the joy I felt. Off I
went, clapping my hands with delight, and running all the way home to give the
good news to my mother. She at once set about preparing me for the confession I
was to make that afternoon.»THE
PUBLIC CONFESSION. «My mother took me to the church, and when we arrived, I
told her that I wanted to confess to the other priest. So we went to the
sacristy, where he was sitting on a chair hearing confessions. My mother knelt
down in front of the high altar near the sacristy door, together with the other
mothers who were waiting for their children to confess in turn. Right there
before the Blessed Sacrament, my mother gave me her last recommendations. «When my turn came round, I went and knelt
at the feet of our dear Lord, represented there in the person of His minister,
imploring forgiveness for my sins. When I had finished, I noticed that everyone
was laughing. My mother called me to her and said: “My child, don’t you know
that confession is a secret matter and that it is made in a low voice?
Everybody heard you! There was only one thing nobody heard: that is what you
said at the end.” On the way home, my mother made several attempts to discover
what she called the secret of my confession. But she obtained nothing but a
stony silence.THE WORDS OF A SAINT. «I am now going to
disclose this secret of my first confession. After listening to me, the good
priest said these few words: “My child, your soul is the temple of the Holy
Spirit. Keep it always pure so that He will be able to carry on His Divine
action within it.” On hearing these words, I felt myself filled with
respect for myself, and asked the kind confessor what I ought to do. “Kneel
down there before Our Lady and ask Her, with great confidence, to take care of
your heart, to prepare it to receive Her beloved Son worthily tomorrow, and to
keep it for Him alone?”»THE
SMILE OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY. «In the church there was more than one statue
of Our Lady, but as my sisters took care of the altar of Our Lady of the
Rosary, I usually went there to pray. That is why I went there on this occasion
also, to ask Her with all the ardour of my soul, to keep my poor heart for God
alone. «As I repeated this humble prayer over and
over again, with my eyes fixed on the statue, it seemed to me that She
smiled, and with a loving look and kindly gesture, assured me that She would.
My heart was overflowing with joy, and I could scarcely utter a single word.»THE FERVENT WAIT. «My sisters stayed up that
night making me a white dress and a wreath of flowers. As for me, I was so
happy that I could not sleep, as it seemed as if the hours would never pass! I
kept on getting up to ask them if the day had come, or if they wanted me to try
on my dress, or my wreath, and so forth. «The happy day dawned at last; but nine
o’clock – how long it was in coming! I put on my white dress, and then my
sister Maria took me into the kitchen to ask pardon of my parents, to kiss
their hands, and ask their blessing. After this little ceremony, my mother
gave me her last recommendations. She told me what she wanted me to ask Our
Lord when I had received Him into my heart, and said goodbye to me in these
words: “Above all, ask Him to make you a saint!” «Her words made such an indelible impression
on my heart, that they were the very first that I said to Our Lord when I
received Him. Even today, I seem to hear the echo of my mother’s voice
repeating these words to me. I set out for the church with my sisters, and my
brother carried me all the way in his arms, so that not a speck of dust from
the road would touch me. As soon as I arrived at the church, I ran to kneel
before the altar of Our Lady to renew my petition. There I remained in
contemplation of our Lady’s smile of the previous day, until my sisters
came in search of me and took me to my appointed place. There was a large
number of children, arranged in four lines – two of boys and two of girls –
from the back of the church right up to the altar rails. Being the smallest, it
happened that I was the one nearest to the “angels” on the step by the altar
rails.»THE SACRED MOMENT. «Once the High Mass began
and the great moment drew near, my heart beat faster and faster, in expectation
of the visit of the great God who was about to descend from Heaven, to unite
Himself to my poor soul. The parish priest came down and passed among the rows
of children, distributing the Bread of Angels. I had the good fortune to be the
first one to receive. As the priest was coming down the altar steps, I felt as
though my heart would leap from my breast. But he had no sooner placed the
Divine Host on my tongue than I felt an unalterable serenity and peace. I felt
myself bathed in such a supernatural atmosphere that the presence of Our Dear
Lord became as clearly perceptible to me as if I had seen and heard Him with my
bodily senses. I then addressed my prayer to Him: “O Lord, make me a saint.
Keep my heart always pure, for You alone.” Then it seemed that in the
depths of my heart, Our Dear Lord distinctly spoke these words to me: “The
grace granted to you this day will remain living in your soul, producing fruits
of eternal life.” «I felt as though transformed in God. It was
almost one o’clock before the ceremonies were over, on account of the late
arrival of priests coming from a distance, the sermon and the renewal of
baptismal promises. My mother came looking for me, quite distressed, thinking I
might faint from weakness. But I, filled to overflowing with the Bread of
Angels, found it impossible to taste any food whatsoever. After this, I lost
the taste and attraction for the things of the world, and only felt at home in
some solitary place where, all alone, I could recall the delights of my First
Communion.»40
«THE CHILDREN
ADORED HER» «I was rarely able
to obtain this solitude», Lucy continues. In fact very often she had to take
care of the children of the neighbourhood. As Maria dos Anjos tells us: «She knew how to look after children and the
mothers used to leave them in our house when they went out to work. When I was
at my weaving and my sister Caroline at her dressmaking, we used to keep an eye
on them, but when Lucy was there, even when she was quite tiny, we didn’t have
to bother. «She loved children and they adored her.
Sometimes they would collect in our yard, a dozen or so, and she would be quite
happy decorating the little ones with flowers and leaves. She would make little
processions with saints, arranging flowers and thrones and singing hymns to Our
Lady as if she were in church. I can still remember the one she liked best: «To Heaven, to Heaven, to Heaven,
There shall I see my Mother again,
O pure Virgin, Thy tenderness
Comes to soothe my pain;
Day and night shall I sing
Of the beauty of Mary!»41 This hymn is a
Portuguese adaptation of the French, “I shall go to see Her one day”, which
made St. Bernadette weep with emotion. When she would sing it, even from before
the time of the apparitions, Lucy could not forget the smile of Our Lady.
FRANCISCO AND JACINTA: TWO EXQUISITE SOULS JACINTA: A PURE
AND ARDENT HEARTHere is how Canon Formigao introduces her: «She is called Jacinta of Jesus... Fairly
large for her age, a little slender without being scrawny, with a well
proportioned face, dark hair, modestly dressed, with a skirt reaching down to
the ankles. Her appearance is that of a child in good health, perfectly normal,
both physically and morally. Startled at the presence of strangers, she answers
only in monosyllables and in a barely perceptible tone of voice.»42 “SHE
WAS ALWAYS SO GENTLE.”
«Jacinta had a good heart, and God endowed her with a sweet and gentle
character which made her both lovable and attractive.»43 She was
noticeably the favourite of her father, who declared to Father de Marchi: «She
was always so gentle! In this respect, she was really remarkable. From the time
her mother nursed her she was always like that. She never got angry at
anything. We never raised another child like that! It was a natural gift with
her.»44That did not prevent her, as she got bigger,
from sometimes becoming capricious and moody at play, because she was lively
and passionate in everything: «The slightest quarrel which arose among the
children when at play was enough to send her pouting into a corner... Even the
coaxing and caressing that children know so well how to give on such occasions,
were still not enough to bring her back to play; she herself had to be allowed
to choose the game, and her partner as well.»45 This however was
merely the reverse side of a rich and enthusiastic temperament. Like her cousin
she was very exuberant from the very beginning, and a marvellous dancer. In the
prison of Vila Nova de Ourem, a tune from the waltz sufficed to make her forget
her tears. Above all she had a heart of gold, capable of immense affection. She
also had an astonishingly pure heart, completely docile to the baptismal grace,
which already guided her thoughts and her little childish actions. Here are
some striking examples. THE
THREE KISSES FOR JESUS. The three friends often played the game of “forfeits”
together. The rule of the game is that the loser has to do whatever the winner
tells him. As Lucy relates: «One day we were playing forfeits at my
home, and I won, so this time it was I who told her what to do. My brother was
sitting at a table, writing. I told her to give him a hug and a kiss, but she
protested: “That, no! Tell me to do some other thing. Why don’t you tell me to
go and kiss Our Lord over there?” There was a crucifix hanging on the wall.
“All right”, I answered, “get up on a chair, bring the crucifix over here, kneel
down and give Him three hugs and three kisses: one for Francisco, one for me,
and the other for yourself.” “To Our Lord, yes, I’ll give as many as you like”,
and she ran to get the crucifix. She kissed it and hugged it with such devotion
that I have never forgotten it.»46 A remarkable action
which in fact bears witness both to the crystalline purity of her soul, and her
tender love for Jesus, stupefying in a child of that age. “OUR
POOR DEAR LORD”.
The end of the story is no less touching: «Looking attentively at the figure of Our
Lord, she asked: “Why is Our Lord nailed to a cross like that?” “Because He
died for us.” “Tell me how it happened”, she said.» Lucy goes on ingenuously:
«Since it was sufficient for me to hear stories once to be able to repeat them
in all their details, I began to relate to my companions in detail the story of
Our Lord... In hearing of His sufferings, the little girl was moved and began
to cry. Many times later on she would come and ask me to tell the story again.
She would weep and grieve, saying, “Our poor dear Lord! I’ll never sin again! I
don’t want Our Lord to suffer more!”»47 This reflection of
the child already shows us what a loving, sensible and resolute heart she
had...FRANK AS GOLD. The same story shows
her to be frank and loyal, preferring to accuse herself rather than see her
cousin unjustly scolded. Lucy continues: «Just then my sister passed by, and noticed
that we had the crucifix in our hands. She took it from us and scolded us,
saying that she did not want us to touch such holy things. Jacinta got up and
approached my sister, saying: “Maria, don’t scold her! I did it. But I won’t do
it again.” My sister caressed her, and told us to go and play outside, because
we left nothing in its proper place.» The love of truth
was so profoundly anchored in her soul that the least little lie scandalized
her. Nor was she shy about reproaching whoever had fibbed, even if it was her
mother: «When her mother would not tell the truth»,
relates Mr. Marto, «when she would say, for example, that she was going to the
garden to look for some cabbage, when in fact she was going further, Jacinta
would confront her with it on her return: “So then, mother, you lied to me? You
told me you were going here, when instead you went there!... It is not nice to
lie!” “As for myself”, added Mr. Marto, “I never deceived them in this way.”»48 “I
DID NOT SEE HIM.”
Another story which Lucy relates, shows us how seriously, and how realistically
little Jacinta considered the things of faith. For the feast of Corpus Christi
Lucy’s sister Caroline would be in charge of dressing up some “little angels”
who would throw flowers before the Blessed Sacrament during the procession.
Lucy was always chosen and her cousin asked to be allowed to join her: «The two of us went along to make our
request. My sister said she could go, and tried a dress on Jacinta. At the
rehearsals, she explained how we were to strew the flowers before the Child
Jesus. “Will we see Him?”, asked Jacinta. “Yes”, replied my
sister, “the parish priest will be carrying Him.” «Jacinta jumped for joy, and kept on
asking how much longer we had to wait for the feast. The longed-for day arrived
at last, and Jacinta was beside herself with excitement. The two of us took our
places near the altar. Later, in the procession, we walked beside the canopy, each
of us with a basket of flowers. Wherever my sister had told me to strew the
flowers, I strewed mine before Jesus, but in spite of all the signs I made to
Jacinta, I couldn’t get her to strew a single one. She kept her eyes fixed
on the priest, and that was all. When the ceremony was over, my sister took
us outside the church and asked: “Jacinta, why didn’t you strew your flowers
before Jesus?” “Because I didn’t see Him.” «Jacinta then asked me: “But did you see the
Child Jesus?” “Of course not. Don’t you know that the Child Jesus in the Host
can’t be seen? He’s hidden! He’s the one we receive in Holy Communion!” “And
you, when you go to Communion, do you talk to Him?” “Yes, I do.” “Then why
don’t you see Him?” “Because He’s hidden.” “I’m going to ask my mother to let
me go to Communion too.” “The parish priest won’t let you go until you’re ten
years old.” “But you’re not ten yet, and you go to Communion!” “Because I knew
the whole catechism, and you don’t.” «After this, Jacinta and Francisco asked me
to teach them the catechism. So I became their catechist, and they learned with
exceptional enthusiasm.»49 This charming
anecdote shows that our little peasant could not be made to believe any old
thing. «She has her wits about her and she calls a spade a spade», comments Dom
Jean-Nesmy. «She is told she must see Jesus, and she looks around all
over and says she has not seen Him. When later on she will insist, in
spite of everybody, that she saw a beautiful lady, it is because she did
in fact see Her, with her own eyes!»50 Like it or not for Father
Dhanis [regarding Father Dhanis, see Part II of this book], Our Lady chose Her
witnesses well.
FRANCISCO: A CALM AND TENDER SOUL «... Francisco arrives. He is already a
little man, with a woollen cap upon his head, a very short vest, a waistcoat
revealing his shirt underneath, and his breeches. What a fine face the child
has! He has a lively glance and a mischievous look. He answers my questions
with an air of detachment.»51 A
PEACE-LOVING CHILD. Let Sister Lucy herself describe the character of her
cousin: «Apart from his features and his practice of
virtue, Francisco did not seem at all to be Jacinta’s brother. Unlike her, he
was neither capricious nor vivacious. On the contrary, he was quiet and
submissive by nature... «In our games he was quite lively, but few
of us liked to play with him as he nearly always lost. And if he won, and
somebody tried to deny him his rights as the winner, he yielded without more
ado and merely said: “You think you won? That’s all right! I don’t mind!” «I must confess that I myself did not always
feel too kindly disposed towards him, as his naturally calm temperament
exasperated my own excessive vivacity. Sometimes, I caught him by the arm, made
him sit down on the ground or on a stone, and told him to keep still; he obeyed
me as if I had real authority over him. Afterwards, I felt sorry, and went and
took him by the hand, and he would come along with me as good-humouredly as
though nothing had happened.»52 Like his father, he
was gentle, humble and patient. Always having a joyful countenance, he was
invariably polite and accommodating to all, even at the cost of considerable
sacrifices: «If one of the other children insisted on
taking away something belonging to him, he said: “Let them have it! What do I
care?” «I recall how one day, he came to my house
and was delighted to show me a handkerchief with a picture of Our Lady of
Nazare on it, which someone had brought him from the seaside. All the children
gathered round him to admire it. The handkerchief was passed from hand to hand,
and in a few minutes it disappeared. A little later, I found it myself in
another small boy’s pocket. I wanted to take it away from him, but he insisted
that it was his own, and that someone had brought him one from the beach as
well. To put an end to the quarrel, Francisco went up to him and said: “Let
him have it! What does a handkerchief matter to me?”»53 A
ROBUST AND LIVELY BOY. This does not mean, however, that he was listless or
weak-willed. If Francisco was docile to Lucy, it does not mean that his virtue
was without failings. Here we must take into account the testimony of his
father, which completes that of Sister Lucy. A robust boy in
good health, «he was more troublesome and more restless than his little sister.
He was not as patient, and for some little thing would run around like a young
bull calf.»54 He could be mischievous, and without the firm hand of
Manuel Pedro who knew how to make them obey, he too could have become
capricious: «When I saw things weren’t going well I didn’t let them get too
far! And when the two were quarrelling and I couldn’t tell where the right lay
I gave them both a box on the ear for their pains. To put sense into them I had
to be a bit strict.»55 But Manuel Pedro had great authority and
usually the threat was sufficient: «Once Francisco refused to say his prayers
and hid in the out-kitchen. I went to him and when he saw me coming he cried
out at once that he would pray! That was before Our Lady appeared. After that
he never failed to say them. In fact he and Jacinta would almost force us to
say the Rosary. «This and the chip of wood which he wanted
to put in his brother’s mouth (while he was sleeping) were the two worst things
I ever saw him do.»56 Mr. Marto could say
later on: «even after the apparitions, I always found that my children were
almost no different than the others.» We cannot but admire the purity and
extraordinary candour of their souls, and without doubt their father meant
especially that they had absolutely no air of affectation. One little
incident, reported this time by his mother Olimpia, reveals Francisco’s
delicate soul even from before the apparitions, as well as his vivacity: «One day as he was going out with the sheep,
I told him to take them to Teresa’s ground which isn’t here but near the
village. And he said at once: “No, I don’t want to do that!” I was just going
to give him a slap when he turned to me and said very seriously: “Mother, are
you teaching me to steal?...” I felt mad with anger and took him by the arm and
pushed him outside. But he didn’t go to Oiteiro! Not till the next day, after
asking permission from his godmother, who said that he and Lucy might always go
there. «He was a clever little boy and it always
surprised me how well he did the little jobs I always set him.»57 Although he was
usually calm and peaceful, this was surely not out of indolence or apathy. Far
from being a coward, he was on the contrary hardy and courageous. «He was anything but fearful. He’d go
anywhere in the dark alone at night, without the slightest hesitation. He
played with lizards, and when he came across any snakes he got them to entwine
themselves around a stick, and even poured sheep’s milk into the holes in the
rocks for them to drink. He went hunting for foxes’ holes and rabbits’ burrows,
for genets, and other creatures of the wilds.»58 HIS
PASSION: MUSIC AND SONG. Like his father, who when he was alone always seemed
absorbed in profound reflections, Francisco was a meditative soul. He had
little taste for noisy games and the shouts of his two companions: «He showed no love for dancing, as Jacinta
did; he much preferred playing the flute while the others danced.59
What Francisco enjoyed most, when we were out on the mountains together, was to
perch on top of the highest rock, and sing or play his flute. If his little
sister came down to run races with me, he stayed up there entertaining himself
with his music and song.»60 HIS
GREATEST SIN.
Along with the love of nature and the animals of the field, music was his
dominating passion. The word is not excessive, for it caused him to commit the
gravest fault of his short life: stealing a tostao (a very small coin!) from his
father to buy a music-box that he coveted. We know this because of a moving
account in the Memoirs. In 1919, shortly before dying at the age of eleven, he
was feeling very bad one morning, and he called Lucy. It is she who relates the
story: «I dressed as fast as I could and went over
there. He asked his mother and brother and sisters to leave the room, saying
that he wanted to tell me a secret, They went out, and he said to me: “I am
going to confession so that I can receive Holy Communion, and then die. I want
you to tell me if you have seen me commit any sin, and then go and ask Jacinta
if she has seen me commit any.” “You disobeyed your mother a few times”, I
answered, “when she told you to stay at home, and you ran off to be with me or
to go and hide.” “That’s true. I remember that. Now go and ask Jacinta if she
remembers anything else.” «I went, and Jacinta thought for a while,
then answered: “Well, tell him that, before Our Lady appeared to us, he
stole a coin from our father to buy a music box from Jose Marto of Casa Velha,
and when the boys from Aljustrel threw stones at those from Boleiros, he threw
some too!” «When I gave him this message from his
sister, he answered: “I’ve already confessed those, but I’ll do so again.
Maybe, it is because of these sins that I committed that Our Lord is so sad!
But even if I don’t die, I’ll never commit them again. I’m heartily sorry for
them now.”»61 A SUPERNATURAL
FRIENDSHIP After having introduced
all three, it remains for us to say how our three shepherds found themselves
together to receive the heavenly apparitions with which they would be
privileged so soon. Without a doubt
this point seemed important to Sister Lucy, because she underlines it in her
Memoirs: the formation of the trio was not her own doing: «Before the happenings of 1917 (she writes),
apart from the ties of relationship that united us, no other particular
affection led me to prefer the companionship of Jacinta and Francisco to that
of any other child. On the contrary, I sometimes found Jacinta’s company quite
disagreeable, on account of her oversensitive temperament.»62 In
another place she writes, «The affection which bound me to Francisco was just
one of kinship, and that which had its origin in the graces which Heaven
deigned to grant us... I myself did not always feel too kindly disposed towards
him…»63 It was only the
immense admiration and lively attraction of Jacinta to her older cousin which
would soon form the inseparable trio of the three seers. Lucy explains for us:
«I don’t know why, but Jacinta and her brother Francisco had a special liking
for me, and almost always came in search of me when they wanted to play. They
did not enjoy the company of the other children…»64 A little anecdote
which Lucy relates shows us what is already the supernatural character
of Jacinta’s attraction to her cousin. Lucy, as we have said, was often put in
charge of looking after the neighbourhood children. «One day, one of these little children
accused another of improper talk. My mother reproved him very severely,
pointing out that one does not say such nasty things, because they are sinful
and displease the Child Jesus; and that those who commit such sins and don’t
confess them, go to hell. The very next time the children came, she said: “Will
your mother let you come today?” “No.” “Then I’m going with Francisco over to
our yard.” “And why won’t you stay here?” “My mother doesn’t want us to stay
when those other children are here. She told us to go and play in our own yard.
She doesn’t want me to learn these nasty things, which are sins and which
the Child Jesus doesn’t like.»65 With Lucy, and only
with Lucy, the pure and ardent soul of Jacinta was fully at ease, as if Lucy
had been given to her by a supernatural disposition. Jacinta tried to remain in
her company as often as possible. This was surely a providential friendship.
For if Lucy had not become, as she herself says, «the most intimate friend and
confidante» of Jacinta, we would never have known the marvels of grace which
God worked in this exquisite soul, this «lily of candour», this «seraphim of
love», to use Lucy’s own expressions.66 A
HARD SEPARATION. In
1915, Lucy recalls, «my sister Caroline was then thirteen, and it was time for
her to go out to work. My mother, therefore, put me in charge of our flock. I
passed on the news to my two companions, and told them I would not be playing
with them anymore, but they could not bring themselves to accept such a
separation.»67 As their mother refused them permission to accompany their
cousin, each evening they went to wait for her return from the pasture. But,
Lucy adds, «while Jacinta would run to meet me as soon as she heard the
tinkling of the sheep bells, Francisco waited for me, sitting on the stone
steps leading to our front door... He came to wait for me, but this was not out
of affection for me, it was to please his sister.»68 1916:
THE TRIO OF LITTLE SHEPHERDS. By continuing to insist, Jacinta and Francisco
(who went along to please his sister), finally got what they desired: «my aunt,
hoping perhaps to be rid of such persistent requests, even though she knew the
children were too small, handed over to them the care of their own flock.
Radiant with joy, they ran to give me the news...»69 After a short
prayer, they decided each morning on a place where they could meet. «As soon as we met at the pond, we decided
where we would pasture the flock that day. We won over the sheep by sharing our
lunch with them. Then off we’d go, as happy and content as if we were going to
a festival.» “HAIL MARY!” «Jacinta loved to hear her
voice echoing down the valleys. For this reason, one of our favourite amusements
was to climb to the top of the hills, sit down on the biggest rock we could
find, and call out different names at the top of our voices. The name that
echoed back most clearly was “Maria”. Sometimes Jacinta used to say the
whole Hail Mary this way, only calling out the following word when the
preceding one had stopped re-echoing. We loved to sing, too. Interspersed among
the popular songs – of which, alas! we knew quite a number – were Jacinta’s
favourite hymns: Hail Noble Patroness, Virgin Pure, and Angels, Sing
With Me.» THE
ROSARY SPEEDED UP.
«We were very fond of dancing, and any instrument we heard being played by the
other shepherds was enough to set us off. Jacinta, tiny as she was, had a
special aptitude for dancing.» Thus the hours went by quickly, as they would
sing, dance, and play. To stop to recite a whole five decades of the Rosary
would require hard effort... So Francisco (the continuation of the story leads
us to think that it was likely him) found a convenient solution which made
everybody happy: «We had been told to say the Rosary after
our lunch, but as the whole day seemed too short for our play, we worked out a
fine way of getting through it quickly. We simply passed the beads through our
fingers, saying nothing but “Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary...” At the end of
each mystery, we paused awhile, then simply said: “Our Father”, and so, in the
twinkling of an eye, as they say, we had our Rosary finished!»70 A
LIFE SATURATED WITH THE REALITIES OF THE FAITH. Although piety and
prayer did not encumber their day or extinguish the ardour of their games,
their family education was so supernatural, their baptismal purity so well
safeguarded by the vigilance of their parents, that they already lived as it
were spontaneously in thoughts of God, whom they would consider intuitively
through the beauties of nature, which evoked their wonder. The sun, the moon,
and the stars? For them they were the lamps of Our Lord, Our Lady and the angels: «In the evening, we would wait for Our Lady
and the Angels to light their lamps. Francisco eagerly counted the stars with
us, but nothing enchanted him so much as the beauty of sunrise or sunset. As
long as he could still glimpse one last ray of the setting sun, he made no
attempt to watch for the first lamp to be lit in the sky. «“No lamp is as beautiful as Our Lord’s”, he
used to remark to Jacinta, who much preferred Our Lady’s lamp because, as she
explained, “It doesn’t hurt our eyes.” «Enraptured, he watched the sun’s rays
glinting on the window panes of the homes in the neighbouring villages, or
glistening in the drops of water which spangled the trees and furze bushes of
the serra, making them shine like so many stars; in his eyes these were a thousand
times more beautiful than the Angels’ lamps.»71 A
NEW ST. FRANCIS?
Indeed our little shepherd was a great friend of the birds, and he could not
bear to see them captured: «One day we met a little boy carrying in his
hand a small bird that he had caught. Full of compassion, Francisco promised
him two coins, if only he would let the bird fly away. The boy readily agreed.
But first he wished to see the money in his hand. Francisco ran all the way
from the Carreira pond, which lies a little distance from the Cova da Iria, to
fetch the coins, and so let the little prisoner free. Then, as he watched it
fly away, he clapped his hands for joy, and said: “Be careful! Don’t let
yourself be caught again!” «He always kept part of the bread he had for
his lunch, breaking it into crumbs and spreading them on top of the rocks, so
that the birds could eat them. “Poor wee things! You are hungry”, he said, as
though conversing with them. “Come, come and eat!” And they, keen-eyed as they
are, did not wait for the invitation, but came flocking around him. It was his
delight to see them flying back to the tree tops with their little craws full,
singing and chirping in a deafening chorus, in which Francisco joined with rare
skill.»72 As for Jacinta, she
was not less sensible to the beauties of nature. «She was enchanted to look at
the beautiful moonlit nights.» She would collect flowers, and in her excessive
affection, she would throw them to her cousin as she went to meet her. Once she
became a shepherdess, she was full of tenderness for her sheep. Here is a
charming incident: «Jacinta loved to hold the little white
lambs tightly in her arms, sitting with them on her lap, fondling them, kissing
them, and carrying them home at night on her shoulders, so that they wouldn’t
get tired. One day on her way back, she walked along in the middle of the
flock. “Jacinta, what are you doing there”, I asked her, “in the middle of the
flock?” “I want to do the same as Our Lord in that holy picture they gave
me. He’s just like this, right in the middle of them all, and He’s holding one
of them in His arms.”»73 “I
AM A POOR SHEPHERD GIRL, I ALWAYS PRAY TO MARY.” But their great
treasure was certainly the innumerable hymns whose couplets the excellent
memory of Lucy retained by heart. Perfectly adapted to the sentiments of their
souls, their very simple words nourished them and opened up to them all the
great beauties of the faith. Sometimes alone, sometimes with his sister and his
cousin, Francisco, perched on top of a rock, loved to repeat often this
beautiful hymn: «I love God in
Heaven
I love Him, too, on earth,
I love the flowers of the fields,
I love the sheep on the mountains.I am a poor
shepherd girl,
I always pray to Mary,
In the midst of my flock,
I am like the sun at noon.Together with my
lambkins,
I learn to skip and jump,
I am the joy of the serra
And the lily of the vale.»74 Here are the three
simple and pure souls for whom «the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary» had «designs
of mercy». Having become witnesses of the apparitions of Our Lady, in a very
short time grace would conduct them to heroic degrees of sacrifice and
sanctity. But before that, to
prepare their souls for the visit of the Queen of Heaven, God would send them
His Angel, as a precursor: «Behold, I send My Angel before Thy face,
who shall prepare the way before Thee.» (Mt. 11:10)
Endnotes(1)
Alonso, History of the literature on Fatima, 1967.
(2) IV, p. 123.
(3) IV, p. 122.
(4) II, p. 85.
(5) IV, p. 146.
(6) We quote the Memoirs in the English edition of Father Kondor, with
annotations by Father Alonso. Occasionally we have corrected the translation.
The roman numeral indicates the Memoir being quoted, and the arabic numeral
gives the page number.
(7) Using these sources as well as the archives of Canon Barthas, Dom
Jean-Nesmy gave us, in 1980, a well informed, clear and concise account of the
apparitions, which can be around in the first part of his book, The Truth
About Fatima. With unequalled psychological insight, he reconstructs the
atmosphere of the village, as well as the character of the seers. We are very
much indebted to him.
(8) Barthas, Fatima 1917-1968, p. 32.
(9) It is a touching Portuguese custom to give at baptism, along with a saint’s
name, the patronage of Jesus or Mary in one of their mysteries: for example,
“Lucy of Jesus”, “Jacinta of Jesus”, Maria of the Conception, of the
Purification, of Sorrow (das Dores), etc, and now Lourdes or Fatima as well;
cf. Barthas, p. 27.
(10) De Marchi, Testimony on the Apparitions, p. 176-177.
(11) De Marchi, p. 48.
(12) De Marchi, p. 18.
(13) Dom J.-Nesmy, p. 30.
(14) De Marchi, p. 176, 49.
(15) Dom J.-Nesmy, p. 31.
(16) II, p. 57.
(17) According to Maria dos Anjos: “Our mother could read printed matter, but
she did not know how to write.” (De Marchi, p. 53).
(18) II, p. 52.
(19) Dom J.-Nesmy, p. 31.
(20) For them, going to school was out of the question. Besides, until recently
there had been no school at all.
(21) De Marchi, p. 81-82.
(22) De Marchi, p. 54.
(23) Canon Martins dos Reis, Sintese Critica, p. 38.
(24) De Marchi, p. 53-55.
(25) Cf. Dom J.-Nesmy, p. 35-36.
(26) II, p. 52.
(27) II, p. 53.
(28) De Marchi, p. 55.
(29) II, p. 65.
(30) II, p. 58.
(31) II, p. 53.
(32) De Marchi, p. 53.
(33) De Marchi, p. 50.
(34) De Marchi. p. 52.
(35) II, p. 53.
(36) We must point out that this unquestionable fact reduces to naught all the
calumnies of G. de Sede against the seer. This indeed is the sure proof, both
of her uncommon memory as well as her precocious intelligence and profound
piety.
(37) II, p. 58.
(38) This year, in 1913, it coincided with the feast of the Sacred Heart. Good
Father Pena was transferred shortly after (Memorias e Cartas, p. 465).
(39) Barthas, Fatima 1917-1968, p. 35.
(40) II, 53-56.
(41) De Marchi. p. 51, 50.
(42) Quoted by Alonso, Memoirs, (Fr. Ed.), p. 14.
(43) I, p. 21.
(44) De Marchi, p. 64.
(45) I, p. 20-21.
(46) I, p. 22-23.
(47) I, p. 23.
(48) De Marchi, p. 64.
(49) I, p. 24-25.
(50) Dom Jean-Nesmy, p. 47.
(51) This portrait of Francisco is taken from the letter of Dr. Carlos Mendes
to his fiancée, relating his visit to Fatima, on September 7, 1917. Cf.
Barthas, Fatima, Unprecedented Miracle. p. 321.
(52) IV, p. 124.
(53) IV, p. 124-125.
(54) De Marchi, p. 59.
(55) De Marchi, p. 61.
(56) De Marchi, p. 60.
(57) De Marchi, p. 61.
(58) IV, p. 143-144.
(59) IV, p. 124.
(60) IV, p. 126.
(61) IV, p. 149.
(62) I, p. 20.
(63) IV, p. 124.
(64) I, p. 21.
(65) I, p. 22.
(66) I, p. 20.
(67) I, p. 26.
(68) IV, p. 125.
(69) I, p. 26.
(70) I, p. 27.
(71) IV, p. 125.
(72) IV, p. 144.
(73) I, p. 27.
(74) IV, p. 126. CHAPTER IIITHE ANGEL
PRECURSOR Lucy had just
turned eight when her mother, in the spring of 1915, had entrusted her with
taking care of the family flock. We are going back in time a little bit, to the
period when Jacinta and Francisco, to their great sorrow, had still not
obtained from their parents the favour of going together with their cousin. To escape the
excessively noisy group of little shepherds that almost always wanted to accompany
her on the land – «I did not feel comfortable amid so much shouting», she
writes – Lucy chose three companions: Teresa Matias, her sister Maria Rosa and
Maria Justino. Teresa Matias related her memories to Father de Marchi: «Lucy was very amusing. She had a way of
getting the best out of us so that we liked to be with her. She was also very
intelligent, and could dance and sing and taught us to do the same. We always
obeyed her. We spent hours and hours dancing and singing and sometimes forgot
to eat. As well as the hymns we used to sing in church I remember one to Our
Lady of Mount Carmel which I still sing as I go about my work and which my
children have already learned.»1 It was in the
company of these three friends, doubtless chosen for their great seriousness
and their piety, that Lucy would be favoured three times, in a mysterious way,
with the apparition of the angel.
I. A PRELUDE:
THE THREE APPARITIONS OF 1915 «From what I recall
of the weather», Lucy notes, «I think that this must have happened between the
months of April and October in the year 1915.»2 The little shepherds
had led their sheep to the hill of the Cabeço: «Together with our flocks, we climbed almost
to the top of the hill. At our feet lay a wide expanse of trees – olives, oaks,
pines, holm oaks, and so on. Around midday, we ate our lunch. After this, I
invited my companions to pray the Rosary with me, to which they eagerly
agreed.»A MYSTERIOUS VISION. «We had hardly begun
when, there before our eyes, we saw a figure poised in the air before the
trees; it looked like a statue made of snow, rendered almost transparent by the
rays of the sun.»3 In another place,
Lucy describes the same vision this way: «I saw, poised in the air above the trees
that stretched down to the valley which lay at our feet, what appeared to be
a cloud in human form, and almost transparent.4 «“What is that?”, asked my companions, quite
frightened. “I don’t know!” We went on praying, with our eyes fixed on the
figure before us, and as we finished our prayer, the figure disappeared.»5 A
MYSTERIOUS, BUT AUTHENTIC APPARITION. Later on, Lucy would recognize in this
mysterious figure the same Angel that she was to contemplate again in 1916. But
this first time, the luminous figure, which appeared from afar off, neither
spoke nor even manifested itself very distinctly. «He dared not manifest
himself openly at that time», wrote Lucy. A startling vision, which is however
solidly attested, for the three companions of Lucy told about it right away,
and thus the fact became known to the village: «I resolved to say nothing, but my
companions told their families what had happened the very moment they reached
home. The news soon spread, and one day when I arrived home, my mother
questioned me: “Look here! They say you’ve seen I don’t know what, up there.
What was it you saw?” “I don’t know”, and as I could not explain it myself, I
went on: “It looked like a person wrapped in a sheet!” As l meant to say
that I couldn’t discern its features, I added: “You couldn’t make out any
eyes, or hands, on it.” My mother put an end to the whole matter with a
gesture of disgust: “Childish nonsense!”»6 Basing themselves
on the clumsy expressions used by the seers to describe the apparition, the
adversaries of Fatima wished to see in this only a «banal hallucination». But
this convenient hypothesis has no foundation. In fact the very rare examples
that the psychiatry manuals usually give to illustrate the vague and imprecise
notion of “collective hallucination”, have nothing in common with the testimony
of Lucy and her three companions. Here there is no physical exhaustion, no anxious
waiting for the saving image to finally appear, no suggestive influence of one
of the seers over the others, no divergence in the description of the object
contemplated, in short, none of the characteristics of collective
hallucination.7 On the contrary,
the astonishment of the children before a vision that they are not able to
identify and whose significance they do not understand, instead proves its
certain objectivity. It is the opposite of the hallucinatory process by which
the mental illness (for hallucination never takes place without a psychological
disorder), unduly confers real existence to its overexcited phantasms of the
senses or will. Here, the seers do not say: «We have seen an angel!» No, they
saw «something» which, in their inadequate childish language, they had a good
deal of difficulty in describing. They do it so clumsily that they become the
laughingstock of those around them. And yet, they will say that two other times
they saw the same mysterious being, «having a human form»: «After some time, we returned with our
flocks to the same place, and the very same thing happened again. My
companions once more told the whole story. After a brief interval, the same
thing was repeated. It was the third time that my mother heard all these
things being talked about outside, without my having said a single word about
them at home. She called me, therefore, quite displeased, and demanded: “Now
let us see! What is it that you girls say you saw over there?” “I don’t know,
mother. I don’t know what it is!” «Some people started making fun of us.
As I had become a little reserved for a while since my First Communion,
remembering what had happened, my sisters with a little scorn asked: “Do you
see someone wrapped in a sheet?”»8 Already in 1917
Canon Formigao had taken down the testimony of Maria Rosa, who remembered the
affair.9 In the 1960’s, the three companions of Sister Lucy were
interrogated by Father Kondor, and later on by Father Alonso. Each time, they
confirmed the account of the Memoirs of Lucy in all its details. Mysterious and
puzzling as they are, these three apparitions are not therefore any less
certainly authentic. What then can their significance be, since the Angel did
not transmit any message that year? A
SECOND “DIVINE TOUCH”. The events which followed allow us to understand.
God had chosen His messenger, and began to prepare her for her future mission
by her first mystical graces, and by the veiled announcement of great
sufferings. After the smile of
Our Lady, this new “divine touch”, this silent “contact” with the supernatural
world had to contribute to sanctifying her soul. «This apparition», Lucy
writes, «left an impression on my mind that I cannot explain.» It had lasted as
long as the recitation of the Rosary. Nevertheless, «little by little», Lucy continues,
«this impression disappeared and I believe that with time I would have
completely forgotten it, had it not been for the events which followed.»10
In the divine plan, however, it was only a simple prelude. THE
TRIAL OF SUFFERING. For the future seer, it was also a first and
sorrowful trial. Already she was learning what it costs “to have visions” and
to be the confidante of Heaven. Far from profiting from it, from finding
herself exalted and adulated, she lost everything that made up her childhood
happiness. She had been loved and cherished by all her family; now she lost
their confidence and affection. Speaking of the derision of her mother and her
sisters, Lucy insists: «I felt these contemptuous words and gestures very
keenly, as up to now I had been used to nothing but caresses. But this was
nothing, really. You see, I did not know what the good Lord had in store for me
in the future.»11 The poignant drama that the second Memoir
relates for us had just begun: crosses and family trials and loneliness went
together with the increasing favours of Heaven. Yet from this
announcement, imperceptible and veiled as it was, the intelligent and prudent
Lucy was to draw a very practical lesson: during the apparitions of 1916 and
1917, she would always seek to be quiet whenever possible, only revealing to
others the bare minimum. A year later, the
angel would manifest himself again three more times, but now it would be to the
three privileged ones of Our Lady, and in all clarity. He came as Precursor to
instruct and prepare them to receive and understand the great message of the
Queen of Angels, which they were soon to live and transmit.
II. THE MESSAGE OF THE ANGEL:
THE THREE APPARITIONS OF 1916 «Around this time Francisco and Jacinta
sought and obtained permission from their parents to start taking care of their
own flock. So I left my good companions, and I joined my cousins, Francisco and
Jacinta, instead. To avoid going to the serra with all the other shepherds, we
arranged to pasture our flocks on properties belonging to my uncle and aunt and
my parents.»12 It was when the
trio had been reunited that the three great angelic manifestations took place,
in the spring, summer and fall of 1916. «The dates I cannot set down with
certainty», Lucy writes, «because at that time I did not know how to reckon the
years, the months, or even the days of the week.»13 However, by
remembering the weather outside, she was able to indicate the season when each
of the three apparitions took place. Lucy had just turned nine, Francisco was
barely eight, and Jacinta was only six years old. «I AM THE ANGEL
OF PEACE» This morning, our
three shepherds had led their sheep to the east side of the Cabeço. Here is
Sister Lucy’s description of the events:14 «Around the middle of the morning, a fine
rain began to fall, so fine that it seemed like mist. We went up the hillside,
followed by our flocks, looking for an overhanging boulder where we could take
shelter. Thus it was for the first time that we entered this blessed hollow
among the rocks. It stood in the middle of an olive grove belonging to my
godfather Anastacio. From there, you could see the little village where I was
born, my parents’ home and the hamlets of Casa Velha and Eira da Pedra.15 «We spent the day there among the rocks, in
spite of the fact that the rain was over and the sun was shining bright and
clear. We ate our lunch and said our Rosary. I’m not sure if it was said in the
way I have already described, saying just the words “Hail Mary” and “Our
Father” on each bead, so great was our eagerness to get to our play! Our prayer
finished, we started to play “pebbles”!»“A
YOUNG MAN WHITER THAN SNOW.” «We had enjoyed the game for a few moments only,
when a strong wind began to shake the trees. We looked up, startled, to
see what was happening, for the day was unusually calm. «Then we saw coming towards us, above the
olive trees, the figure I have already spoken about. Jacinta and Francisco had
never seen it before, nor had I ever mentioned it to them. As it drew closer,
we were able to distinguish its features. It was a young man, about fourteen
or fifteen years old, whiter than snow, transparent as crystal when the sun
shines through it, and of great beauty.»“PRAY WITH ME.” «We were surprised,
absorbed, and struck dumb with amazement. On reaching us, he said: «Do not be afraid! I am the Angel of
Peace. Pray with me.» «Kneeling on the ground, he bowed down until
his forehead reached the ground. Led by a supernatural impulse, we did the
same, and repeated the words which we heard him say: «My God, I believe, I adore, I hope
and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore,
do not hope and do not love You!» «Having repeated these words three times, he
rose and said: «Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and
Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.» «Then he disappeared.» FROM
SIMPLE FAITH TO THE GRANDIOSE VISION. While tending their sheep, Lucia, Jacinta and
Francisco loved to sing this beautiful verse in honour of the angels:16«Holy Angels, sing
with me!
Holy Angels, sing with me!
I cannot give thanks enough,
Holy Angels, do it for me.»17 Is it not touching
to see the Angel making the same request of them in turn: “Pray with me”? What
a marvellous response. The devotion to the
Holy Angels was very much alive in Portugal at that time; thus the celestial
spirits were far from being unknown to our three shepherds. Morning and evening
they invoked their Guardian Angel by a short prayer: «Praised be our Guardian
Angel who watches over us night and day. May he always be in our company!»18 What a difference
however, between their simple faith, their family devotion, and the grandiose
reality of the Apparition! The descriptions Sister Lucy has given to us are
more reminiscent of the biblical theophanies than the way these things are
depicted in classical religious art. As at Horeb, when it was given to Elijah
to enter into the presence of God19, as at the Cenacle, at the
moment when the divine Spirit descended on the Apostles, or finally at
Massabielle, when the Immaculate Conception came to visit Bernadette, it is by
a sudden and mysterious wind that the Angel of Fatima announced his approach.20
«You make the winds your messengers, you walk on the wings of the wind», says
the psalmist in speaking to the Master of Creation. (Ps. 104:3) Again, what could
be more in harmony with the great tradition of the apparitions of Angels than
the first words of the Angel of Fatima: «Fear not! I am the angel of peace»?
They sound just like the words of the Gospel. In the temple of Jerusalem, in
the house of Nazareth, or in the fields of Bethlehem, as at the entrance to the
tomb of Jesus, the presence of the Angel always fills the witnesses with
astonishment, and he must first reassure them. «Fear not!» he says to Zachary
and the Blessed Virgin, to the shepherds on the night of the Nativity, and to
the holy women on the morning of the Resurrection.21 As for his
appearance, Sister Lucy affirms that he resembled a young man, of great beauty,
around fourteen or fifteen years old, whiter than snow and resplendent with a
crystal-clear light, so much so that when Canon Barthas asked, «What was he
like?» she summed up her response in this laconic expression: «Era de luz.
He was of light.»22 Here also is a completely biblical expression.
The Angel who announced the resurrection of Christ, relates St. Matthew, had an
appearance as of lightning, and his raiment was white as snow. (Mt.
28:3) And the same Evangelist, describing Our Lord transfigured on Tabor says:
«His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as snow.»
(Mt. 17:12) «God is light, and
in Him is no darkness at all» (1 Jn. 1:5), and whenever He deigns to manifest
Himself to men, by the ministry of Angels or the mediation of His Holy Mother,
He appears to us clothed in splendour, according to the beautiful verses of the
Psalm: «O Lord, my God, Thou art very great! Clothed with honour and majesty, arrayed
with light as with a cloak.» (Ps. 104:1-2) At Fatima, after each of the
apparitions (which moreover always took place at noon, as is also remarkable),
this word “Light” always comes back to the lips of the seers. THE
OVERWHELMING DIVINE PRESENCE. To this sparkling light which sometimes became
dazzling, corresponds the intensity of the supernatural atmosphere, the
overwhelming weight of the divine Presence which leaves the natural faculties
inhibited, almost paralyzed. «The supernatural atmosphere which enveloped
us, Sister Lucy writes, was so intense that for a long time we were scarcely
aware of our own existence, remaining in the same posture in which he had
left us, and continually repeating the same prayer. The presence of God made
itself felt so intimately and so intensely that we did not even venture to
speak to one another. Next day, we were still immersed in this spiritual
atmosphere, which only gradually began to disappear. «It did not occur to us to speak about
this apparition, nor did we think of recommending that it be kept secret. The
very apparition itself imposed secrecy. It was so intimate, that it was not
possible to speak of it at all. The impression it made upon us was all the
greater perhaps, in that it was the first such manifestation we had
experienced.»23 Sister Lucy tells
us that Francisco did not I have the privilege of hearing the words of the
Angel; the others had to repeat them to him. The same was true of all the other
apparitions. However, we can say that he was favoured with the essential: the
heavenly vision and the infused graces which this imparted to their souls. For
the Angel did not come merely to speak with them, he also came to fill them
with a very elevated mystical grace, by which they felt themselves penetrated
by the Divine Presence. «This apparition of the Angel, and everything that he
said and did was so intimate, so interior, so intense.»24 Besides
being the Messenger of God, the Angel also seems to have been for them the one
who mediated and revealed the Divine Presence.25 The Presence of God
is something stupendous, even crushing, for our feeble human faculties. But
this «annihilation before the Divine Presence»,26 to use the
expression of Sister Lucy, was for the three future messengers of Our Lady the
surest school of true and profound humility, which is first of all the intimate
knowledge of the infinite sanctity of God and the nothingness of the creature. In addition to the
message which the seers began to put in practice right away – «from then on, we
used to spend long periods of time, prostrate like the Angel, repeating his
words, until sometimes we fell, exhausted»27 – the visit of the
Angel also obtained for them intimate graces of peace and joy in God: «the
peace and happiness which we felt were great, but wholly interior, for our
souls were completely immersed in God. The physical weakness that came over
us was also great.»28 Make no mistake,
however; after a few days our little shepherds recovered along with their
normal state, their customary gaiety as well as their games and chants. The
extraordinary mystical graces they had just received did not metamorphosize
them into adults overnight. No, they remained true children, and at that age
(nine, eight and six!) one passes with disconcerting rapidity from one pastime
to another! And so they quickly resumed their lives as young shepherds,
doubtless with more piety, but without anything apparently to distinguish them
from the other children of Aljustrel. This secret grace,
knowledge of which they jealously kept to themselves, reinforced still more
their supernatural friendship, and prepared them to receive together new visits
from their heavenly teacher... «I AM THE ANGEL
OF PORTUGAL» “AT THE HEIGHT OF SUMMER.” «The second
apparition must have been at the height of summer, when the heat of the day was
so intense that we had to take the sheep home before noon and only let them out
again in the early evening. We went to spend the siesta hours in the shade of
the trees which surrounded the well that I have already mentioned several
times.29»PRAYER AND SACRIFICE. «We were playing on
the well. Suddenly, we saw the same Angel right beside us.» «What are you doing? Pray, pray very
much! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer
prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.» «“How are we to make sacrifices?” I asked.» «Make of everything you can a
sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He
is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. «You will thus draw down peace upon
your country. I am its Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal. «Above all, accept and bear with
submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.»30
 “The
Well” situated on the property of Lucy’s parents. It was here that “the Angel
of Portugal” appeared to the seers for the second time, in the summer of
1916. «We
chose this spot some years later for our more intimate talks, our fervent
prayers, and... our tears as well – and sometimes very bitter tears they
were. We mingled our tears with the water of the same well from which we
drank. Does this not make the well itself an image of Mary, in whose Heart we
dried out tears and drank of the purest consolation?» (I, p. 23). |
FROM HOREB TO THE CABEÇO. One must read and reread these accounts of the
apparitions of the Angel, to appreciate their conciseness and limpidity, as
well as the nobility in all the requests and attitudes. We do not find in them
an ounce of vulgarity, nothing incongruous, childish or banal. Nor is there
anything emphatic or artificial, which would betray the voice of a theologian.
No, there are nothing but profound truths, expressed simply, with vigour. Since the words of
the Angel, pronounced during each of his three apparitions, form a whole,
perfectly coherent, later on we will look more closely at the most important
parts of this angelic catechesis. Let us consider
here a tiny detail, which is reminiscent of the great biblical theophanies. It
is the interpellation, so abrupt and eloquent, that the Angel addresses to the
children while they are playing. They are found word for word in the book of
Kings, when the Voice of God spoke to Elijah, at Mount Horeb: «What are you
doing, Elijah?» (1 Kg. 19:9 & 13) It was the same with the seers of Fatima:
«What are you doing? Pray! Pray much!» The lesson was not
in vain. In the autumn, when he came for the last time, to distribute to them
the Bread of Angels, the children were no longer playing, but prostrate on the
ground, repeating the prayer which the Angel had taught them. “THE
ANGEL IS MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ALL THAT!” Francisco himself, who could not hear his words
and could only understand them with difficulty when Lucy repeated them, was
captivated by the beauty of the Angel and the intensity of the supernatural
light which accompanied it. Here is the moving account: «At the second apparition of the Angel, down
by the well, Francisco waited a few moments after it was over, then asked: «“You spoke to the Angel. What did he say to
you?” “Didn’t you hear?” “No. I could see that he was talking to you. I heard
what you said to him, but what he said to you, I don’t know.” «As the supernatural atmosphere in which the
Angel left us had not yet entirely disappeared, I told him to ask Jacinta or
myself next day. “Jacinta, you tell me what the Angel said.” “I’ll tell you
tomorrow. Today I can’t talk about it.” «Next day, as soon as he came up to me, he
asked me: “Did you sleep last night? I kept thinking about the Angel, and
what he could have said.” I then told him all that the Angel had said at
the first and second apparitions. But it seemed that he had not received an
understanding of all that the words meant, for he asked: “Who is the Most High?
What is the meaning of: ‘The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the
voice of your supplications...?” «Having received an answer, he remained deep
in thought for a while, and then broke in with another question. But my mind
was not yet free, so I told him to wait until the next day, because at that
moment I was unable to speak! He waited quite contentedly, but he did not let
slip the very next opportunity of asking more questions. This made Jacinta say
to him: “Listen! We shouldn’t talk much about these things.” «When we spoke about the Angel, I don’t know
what it was that we felt. “I don’t know how I feel”, Jacinta said. “I can no
longer talk, or sing, or play. I haven’t enough strength for anything.”
“Neither have I”, replied Francisco, “but what of it? The Angel is more
beautiful than all this. Let’s think about him.”»31 THE ANGEL OF THE
EUCHARIST «The third
apparition must have taken place in October, or towards the end of September,
as we were no longer returning for siesta.» On this day the three shepherds had
pastured their flocks at the Pregueira, a small olive grove which
belonged to the dos Santos, on the south side of the Cabeço. «After our lunch, we decided to go and pray
in the hollow among the rocks on the opposite side of the hill.32 To
get there, we went around the slope, and had to climb over some rocks above the
Pregueira. The sheep could only scramble over these rocks with great
difficulty. «As soon as we arrived there, we knelt down,
with our foreheads touching the ground, and began to repeat the prayer of the
Angel: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You...” «I don't know how many times we repeated
this prayer, when an extraordinary light shone upon us. We sprang up to see
what was happening, and beheld the Angel. He was holding a chalice in his
left hand, with the Host suspended above it, from which some drops of Blood
fell into the chalice. «Leaving the Chalice and the Host suspended
in the air, the Angel knelt down beside us and made us repeat three times: «Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of
Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for
the sacrileges, outrages and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And
through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.» «Then, rising, he took the Chalice and the
Host in his hands. He gave the Sacred Host to me, and shared the Blood from the
Chalice between Jacinta and Francisco, saying as he did so:«Take and drink the Body and Blood of
Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men! Make reparation for their
crimes and console your God.» «Once again, he prostrated on the ground and
repeated with us, three times more, the same prayer, “Most Holy Trinity...”,
and then disappeared. «Moved by a supernatural force which
enveloped us, we had imitated the Angel in everything, that is, we prostrated
as he did and repeated the prayers that he said... «We remained a long time in this position,
repeating the same words over and over again.33 «It was Francisco who realized that it was
getting dark, and drew our attention to the fact, and thought we should take
our flocks back home.»34 “I
FELT THAT GOD WAS IN ME.” There is a very clear gradation in the
apparitions of the Angel, and the third, which was spent entirely in the
miraculous Communion given to the seers, truly marks the high point. On that
day they had a sort of “Eucharistic theophany”, during which it was
given to them to contemplate the drops of Precious Blood falling from the
Sacred Host into the chalice. Lucy insists again
this time on the state of physical exhaustion in which the angelic apparition
plunged them: «In the third apparition, the presence of
the supernatural was still more intense. For several days, even Francisco
did not dare to talk. He said later on, “I love to see the Angel, but the
trouble is that later on, we are incapable of doing anything. I could not
even walk any more, I didn’t know what was the matter!”» It was a grace so
sublime, and so intimate, that Francisco, all absorbed in God, did not have a
clear consciousness of the mystical grace that he had received and felt in a
confused way: «Once the first few days were over, and we
had returned to normal, Francisco asked: “The Angel gave you Holy Communion,
but what was it that he gave to Jacinta and me?” “It was Holy Communion, too”,
replied Jacinta, with inexpressible joy. “Didn’t you see that it was the Blood
that fell from the Host?” “I felt that God was within me, but I did not know
how.”«Then, prostrating on the ground, he and his
sister remained for a long time, saying over and over again the prayer of the
Angel: “Most Holy Trinity...”»35
III. A LIVING
CATECHISM When after some
time the supernatural atmosphere in which the visits of the Angel had plunged
them disappeared, there remained for the three seers, along with the durable
fruits of such sublime mystical graces, a clear message, fully adapted to their
understanding, summed up in the pressing recommendation of the Angel of Arneiro
[this refers to the name of the property where the family well was located]: “Offer
without ceasing prayers and sacrifices to the Most High!” Without delaying,
they would soon put it into practice with a marvellous generosity, thus
preparing their hearts without knowing it for the still greater graces which
Our Lady was reserving for them. THEIR
HEROIC PRAYER. “Pray!
Pray a great deal!” the Angel had said to them. But he had added a gesture
to these words and given them the example. They felt moved to imitate him,
repeating unceasingly, prostrate on the ground like him, the two beautiful
prayers he had taught them. This would be their first act of mortification,
which they carried even to the point of heroism: «From this moment on (summer 1916), writes
Sister Lucy, we had begun to offer to the Lord everything that mortified us,
but without looking to impose particular penances on ourselves, except to pass entire
hours prostrated on the ground, repeating the prayer which the Angel had
taught us...»36
«We remained prostrate a long time, sometimes repeating these prayers even to
the point of exhaustion.»37 Sometimes poor
Francisco could go on no longer: «Afterwards, when we prostrated to say that
prayer, he was the first to feel the strain of such a posture; but he remained
kneeling, or sitting, and still praying until we had finished. Later he said:
“I am not able to stay like that for a long time, like you. My back aches so
much that I can’t do it.”»38 THE
NOVITIATE OF SUFFERING. However, it was God Himself who would send His chosen
ones the most meritorious sacrifices. In reading the Memoirs of Sister Lucy it
becomes clear that the overwhelming trials that were to overcome her family
coincided almost exactly with the time of the first apparitions. Little by
little, the family atmosphere grew more unhappy, and this was all the more
painful for the seer because until then she had known unalloyed joy in the
midst of her family that she tenderly cherished, and which cherished her in
return. The sorrow of her mother (and here we see the generosity of her filial
love), would intimately affect her: «During this period, my two eldest sisters
left home, after receiving the sacrament of matrimony. My father had fallen
into bad company, and let his weakness get the better of him; this meant the
loss of some of our property. When my mother realized that our means of
livelihood were diminishing, she resolved to send my two sisters, Gloria and
Caroline, to work as servants. At home, there remained only my brother, to look
after our few remaining fields; my mother to take care of the house; and
myself, to take our sheep out to pasture. «My poor mother seemed just drowned in the
depths of distress. When we gathered round the fire at night time, waiting for
my father to come in to supper, my mother would look at her daughters’ empty
places and exclaim with profound sadness: “My God, where has all the joy of
our home gone?” Then, resting her head on a little table beside her, she
would burst into bitter tears. My brother and I wept with her. It was
one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed. What with longing for my
sisters, and seeing my mother so miserable, I felt my heart was just breaking.»39 All the more so
when a new trial came on the horizon: «At that time my brother Manuel reached the
age for enlistment in the army. Since his health was excellent, there was every
reason to expect that he would be drafted. Besides, there was a war on and it
would be difficult to obtain his exemption from military service.» It was a new source
of distress for poor Maria Rosa. «Although I was only a child, I understood
perfectly the situation we were in. Then I remembered the Angel’s words: “Above
all, accept submissively the sacrifices that the Lord will send you.” At
such times, I used to withdraw to a solitary place, so as not to add to my
mother’s suffering, by letting her see my own. This place, usually, was our
well. There, on my knees, leaning over the edge of the stone slabs that covered
the well, my tears mingled with the water below, and I offered my suffering
to God. Sometimes, Jacinta and Francisco would come and find me like this,
in bitter grief. As my voice was choked with sobs and I couldn’t say a word,
they shared my suffering to such a degree that they also wept copious tears.»40 These hard trials
did not leave the seers overwhelmed; the Angel had announced these sufferings
to the children, and he had invited them to offer their sufferings, in
reparation for the sins of men, for the consolation of God, and the conversion
of sinners. By an infused grace, the words of the Angel had penetrated very
profoundly into their souls: «These words were indelibly impressed upon
our minds. They were like a light which made us understand who God is, how
He loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, how pleasing
it is to Him and how, on account of it, He gives the grace of conversion to
sinners. It was for this reason that we began, from then on, to offer to the
Lord all that mortified us...»41 Thanks to the
ministry of the Angel, who had become their teacher and catechist, the
shepherds learned to pray and offer their sacrifices. Sanctified by the Bread
of Angels, they were ready from then on to welcome the Queen of Heaven, and
bear witness to Her apparitions and message even to the point of heroism. As for the
apparitions of the Angel, because they were above all destined for the
sanctification of their souls, moved by grace they kept them rigorously secret.
IV. A CATECHESIS FOR OUR TIMES A
PROPHETIC MESSAGE?
The message of the Angel, which was destined in the first place for the three
seers, was not to remain forever reserved for them alone. When the moment came
that it could be understood in the great light of the message of Our Lady, and
situated in its rightful place in the revelations of Fatima, Sister Lucy felt
supernaturally moved to make it known. She wrote a detailed account of these
apparitions in 1937, in her second Memoir.42 This was done to make
it understood that the Angelic words were destined for us also... For our part we
must meditate on these wonderful words and profit by them. Even before
considering the unheard of miracles by which God Himself guaranteed the whole
of the message and indicated to us its primordial importance, the words of the
Angel impress themselves on our attention because of their own content. By
their simplicity and their great richness, by their doctrine, so traditional
and yet so fresh and original, and in their clear accentuation of certain
aspects of dogma, they already demonstrate their supernatural origin. This
message, so sober in its expression and burning with love in its content, could
not have been invented by any human imagination, not by any theologian, or even
by the seer herself. It can only be a heavenly message, «the language of the
angels», as St. Joan of Arc said. When St. Joan was asked, «How did you know
that it was St. Michael that appeared to you?» she answered, «I knew it by his
manner of speaking and the language of the Angels.»43 At Fatima, the
words of the Angel, brief as they are, already present themselves as a first
formulation, a first synthesis of the unique message, which constitutes for our
century a condensation of the Gospel, or better still, by its precise and
dogmatic character, a catechism, perfectly adapted to our times of
apostasy. So true is this that it sometimes appears, as we will see, quasi
prophetic. With our three
shepherds, «let us become little children again», according to the Gospel, and
let us be taught by the Messenger of Heaven.
THE SANCTITY OF THE MOST HIGH The Angel reminds
us first of all of the greatness, the adorable sanctity of our God. From the
Angel’s very first visit, right after he reassured the children, who were
seized with fear and astonishment by the sight of his glittering light, the
Angel «knelt on the earth and bowed his forehead to the ground», to pray
to God. Preaching by his example, having prostrated himself in this way he
pronounced three times the beautiful “theological prayer”, composed of acts of
faith, hope and charity, to which is added an act of adoration. In the autumn, before
the Chalice and Host suspended in mid-air, the Angel bowed down to the ground
and his first words are again an act of adoration: «Most Holy Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly...» After distributing
Communion to the children, he bowed down again. At Lourdes, Bernadette had
learned through a supernatural mimicry, how to make a beautiful and worthy sign
of the cross like the Blessed Virgin; here, the children learned from the Angel
for all times this gesture of adoration: «Moved by the supernatural force
which enveloped us, we imitated the Angel in everything», writes Lucy;
«that is, we bowed down like him and repeated the same prayers that he said.» «Our Father...
hallowed be Thy name... on earth as it is in Heaven!» In Heaven, such as it was
granted to St. John to contemplate: «all the angels stood round the throne...
they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God...» (Apoc. 7:11)
In the hour of His agony, Jesus Himself «fell down on the ground and prayed».
(Mk. 14:35) «He knelt down and prayed», St. Luke tells us (Lk. 22:41). Fatima
recalls the Gospel to us: God is Holy, He wishes to be adored.44
What a lesson for modern man who, in his foolish pride and self-worship,
refuses to bend the knee before his God! THE
HOLY TRINITY.
This God that the Angel adores is the only true God, revealed by Jesus Christ
and taught by the Holy Catholic Church, the One and Triune God, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. If one of the two prayers taught by the Angel is explicitly
addressed to the Holy Trinity, the Angel venerates the Trinity in another way
also, discreetly, but in conformity with the liturgical tradition of the
Church, by his triple Kyrie, his triple Sanctus. In the spring,
he repeats three times the prayer, «My God, I believe...» In the autumn, he
repeats the Trinitarian prayer of Eucharistic offering three times before
distributing Communion to the children and three times afterwards. Certainly it
is not by chance either that the Angel appeared three times in 1915 and three
times in 1916. The shepherds well
remembered this angelic lesson when, on May 13, 1917, in their mystical joy at
seeing themselves transformed in God, they exclaimed spontaneously: «O Most
Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed
Sacrament!» This presence of the mystery of the Holy Trinity would culminate at
Tuy, on June 13, 1929, in the stupendous Trinitarian vision which completed and
crowned the cycle of the apparitions of Fatima. This insistence is
more urgent than ever now, when an extravagant ecumenism pretends to reduce our
faith in God to the cold, anti-Christ and anti-Trinitarian monotheism of
Judaism and Islam. THE UNIQUE
MEDIATION OF THE HOLY HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY Another remarkable
fact is that in each of the three apparitions, the Angel already mentions the
Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, as though linked to one another by an indissoluble
union. The account of the first apparition even presents a striking phrase
which seems to have been hardly noticed. After having taught this completely
God-centred prayer, «My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You», the
Angel added: «Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the
voice of your supplications.» We pray to God, and it is the Holy Hearts of
Jesus and Mary that hear and answer our prayers! How could it better express
the truth that we can only go to God and please Him by this unique and
universal mediation? Similarly, in the
summer of 1916, when the Angel announces to the three seers their future
vocation, it is the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary that appear in the foreground
as the inseparable mediators of the «Father of Mercies», the unique author of
all predestination: «The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary», he tells them,
«have designs of Mercy on you.» Finally the third
time, in the prayer of Eucharistic offering, it is by «the infinite merits
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary» that the
Angel begs «the conversion of poor sinners» of the Holy Trinity. With this constant
thought of the mediation of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we are already
at the very centre of the Message of Fatima.
SIN AND REPARATION Another truth of
faith, less and less well known, which the Angel of Fatima recalls with
insistence, is the extreme gravity of sin and the necessity to make
reparation through love. It is remarkable that in each of the three
apparitions he recommends a reparatory practice: first prayer, then
sacrifice, and finally the Eucharistic offering and the Communion of
reparation. PRAYER
OF REPARATION.
The first message of the Angel is completely summed up in the prayer which he
taught the children. Besides being an act of faith, hope and charity, and a
prayer of adoration, it is at the same time a reparatory supplication:
it invites us to consider the immense injury done to God by all those who do
not believe in Him, do not adore Him, do not hope in Him and do not love Him.
It also places before our eyes the immensity of the sins of men. For all these
faults, reparation must be made. How is this done? By asking pardon in the name
of sinners, in substituting oneself for them to obtain mercy for them: «I
ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and
do not love You.» THE
SACRIFICE OF REPARATION. The apparition of the Angel at the well of Lucy’s
family, in the summer of 1916, is completely devoted to teaching the children the
practice of sacrifice, offered in reparation to God for «the sins by which He
is offended». Let us cite once again this essential message, to which will soon
be added the teaching of Our Lady on reparation to Her Immaculate Heart. The
Fatima doctrine of reparation, taken as a whole, shows a perfect and complete
equilibrium. It is first of all to the “Most High”, to God our Father, outraged
by our sins, that we must address our acts of reparation: «Offer unceasingly prayers and sacrifices to
the Most High... Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to
God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in
supplication for the conversion of sinners... Above all, accept and bear with
submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.«These words were indelibly impressed upon
our minds. They were like a light which made us understand who God is, how He
loves us and desires to be loved, the value of sacrifice, how pleasing it is
to Him and how, on account of it, He grants the grace of conversion to sinners.»45 THE
PERFECT ACT OF REPARATION: THE EUCHARISTIC OFFERING. With the prayer of
offering which he taught the children and the Holy Communion he distributed to
them, the mystery of the Holy Eucharist is the principal revelation of the last
apparition of the Angel. The sins for which
he invites us to make reparation are «the outrages, sacrileges and
indifference» with regard to Jesus, «present in all the tabernacles of the
earth». How can we not be struck by the strong tenor of the words he pronounces
while distributing Holy Communion to the children: «Take and drink the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their
crimes and console your God.» Indeed, what gravity there is in these
offences against Jesus in the sacrament of His Love! Two years after the
death of St. Pius X, who had worked so hard for the development of the cult of
the Eucharist in the Church, one might have thought them excessive. But in the
last twenty years, however, the truth of these words has been striking! The beautiful
reparatory prayer itself, then, becomes more relevant than ever. It is an
offering to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, of Jesus present in all the
tabernacles of the earth. The faithful soul thus unites itself spiritually to
Jesus Christ, offering Himself at Mass, as the unique Priest and unique Victim,
in a sacrifice of satisfaction and propitiation for the salvation of the
multitude. Of course, it is in His unique and perfect Person as the Son of God
and Saviour, that He offers Himself for us to His Father. Recalling the diverse
Realities whose Presence we affirm in the tabernacle, far from being an
enumeration of cold scholasticism, evokes on the contrary, in an expressive
way, His sorrowful Passion: His Body delivered up for us, His Blood poured out,
His Soul in agony and as it were abandoned by God, and finally His Divinity,
which pardons and has mercy.46 This sacrificial
character is
reinforced still more by an important aspect of the vision: the children could
contemplate some drops of the Precious Blood flowing from the Sacred Host and
falling into the chalice. This is of capital importance for the theologians
themselves, often disposed to minimize the realism, both of the bodily presence
of Jesus as well as the Sacrificial Act of the Mass. The vision at the Cabeço,
on the contrary, expresses them forcefully.47 To sum up, to the
infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we join those of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary His Mother, our Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix, to offer them
together to the Heavenly Father and obtain from Him the conversion of sinners.
What theological riches there are in this brief formula of prayer! THE
COMMUNION OF REPARATION. After the offering of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
to the Heavenly Father, the Angel teaches the children the practice of the Communion
of reparation, which Our Lord had already requested so insistently of St.
Margaret Mary. The angelic formula, so expressive, ought to be learned by
heart: «Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged
by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God.» This formula, first
of all, has a remarkable theological precision: Lucy shall receive the Host,
and Jacinta and Francisco the Blood of the Chalice, but to all three the Angel
says: «Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ», to show that whoever
communicates under either species, receives Jesus Christ whole and entire, His
Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. It also brings to
mind, in striking fashion, how Jesus is outraged in the sacrament of His Love.
And along the lines of the message of Paray-le-Monial, it shows us that the
most excellent, the most perfect expiation we can make for these
“indifferences” and “crimes”, is to go to Communion in the spirit of
reparation, to “console our God”. This practice is so important that Our Lady
will ask for it again with more precise details at Pontevedra, December 10,
1925. «SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME TO
ME!» Here is still
another important aspect of the message of Fatima: the prayers, penances, and
above all Communions of little children are very precious in the eyes of God.
They have a great value for Him to console His outraged Heart, to repair the
crimes and ingratitude of sinners, and finally to obtain from His Mercy the
grace of their conversion. SAINT
PIUS X AND FATIMA.
And in the first place, had not the Angel come to bring a heavenly confirmation
to the recent decision of St. Pius X on the subject of early Communion for
children?48 The liberating decree Quam singulari Christus had
been published on August 8, 1910, but it met with an obstinate resistance in a
certain part of the clergy. The good Father Cruz and Father Pena, by granting
Lucy in 1913 permission to make her First Communion at the age of six, were
only docilely applying the directives of St. Pius X. However, the new
parish priest at Fatima, Father Manuel Marques Ferreira, like many priests at
the time, was still tinged with the remains of Jansenism. He did not want to
hear of First Communion before the age of ten. In the autumn of 1916, Jacinta
had just turned six and a half and her brother Francisco eight, and Father Ferreira
still did not want to admit either one to the Holy Table. In the spring of
1918, he would refuse to admit Francisco, on the pretext that he did not know
the answer to a catechism question. But Heaven had already judged otherwise;
Jacinta and Francisco, without the knowledge of their parish priest, had
already made their First Communion! A
REAL COMMUNION. In
fact, although they had never dared to go to Communion in Church without the
authorization of their parish priest, Jacinta and Francisco were sure that they
had truly received Communion from the hand of the Angel, at the Cabeço.
Although extraordinary and miraculous, their Communion was none the less real,
as Lucy has always affirmed without hesitation. «Do you think you really
communicated that day as at the Holy Table?» Canon Barthas asked her. «I think
so», she answered, «because I felt the contact of the Host as in ordinary
Communions.»49 As for where this
Host and consecrated Chalice came from, it would undoubtedly be useless and
presumptuous to hypothesize, since nothing in the words of the Angel sheds any
light on this mystery. Let us only note, with Canon Barthas, that one could ask
the same question for all the saints who received Communion from the hands of
an Angel, such as St. Stanislaus Kostka, St. Raymond Nonnatus, and St. Gerard
Majella, among many others. THE DIVINE
POLITICSThis word is exact,
because the Angel precursor, one year before the great prophetic secret of Our
Lady, already speaks to our three shepherds... of politics! Yes, of politics,
because not only does he allude to the war then ravaging Europe, but he also
indicates its causes and the sure remedies for obtaining peace. At the moment when
the Angel spoke to them for the first time, in the spring of 1916, Portugal had
just entered the war. In February, Parliament decided to honour the English
request to seize German ships. War thus became inevitable. Germany declared war
on Portugal on March 9, and Austria-Hungary did so a few days later. The
government of Lisbon decided to prepare to send an army to the French front.50 The first words of
the Angel, in this context of war, are already a message of hope: «Do not
fear», he tells them, «I am the Angel of Peace.» Does he not announce,
at this moment, that the Divine intervention will soon put an end to the
horrible war? When he comes back
for the second time, in the middle of summer, his words are more explicit.
After having insistently requested prayers and sacrifices, he adds immediately:
«In this way, you will obtain peace for your country.» SIN,
WAR AND PEACE.
Let us note well that the Messenger of Heaven did not ask for prayers for
peace. No, he asked the three shepherds to pray and sacrifice «in
reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and in supplication for the
conversion of sinners». What a profound theology! The number one enemy, the
only real cause of war, is always... sin. War is simply the divine
chastisement for it. Such is the first “political” teaching of the message of
Fatima, a message characterized by a precise theology and profound realism. Is
not war always the natural and inescapable fruit of the sins of men? Of the pride,
ambition, and rapacity of the one side? Of the sensuality, insouciance, treason
and blindness of the others?This is why the «Angel of Peace» teaches
that the remedy is first of all supernatural. When the crimes of men have been
repaired for and the Justice of God appeased, when the chastisement shall have
led sinners to conversion, then and then alone shall peace follow. It is a hard
and little known truth, but it is the enduring lesson of Sacred History. FOR
CATHOLIC PATRIOTISM. Fortunately, we are not alone in loving and defending
our dear countries, when they are threatened or put to the sword. God Himself
from the heights of Heaven watches over them with love and confides their
salvation to His Angels. Offer to God prayers and sacrifices of reparation,
teaches the Angel at the Cabeço, «in this way you will obtain peace for your
country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal.» What a
consoling revelation. Our nations, or at least the ancient Christian countries,
are not profane societies, abandoned by God to chance and the accidents of
history. Baptized and formed little by little over the centuries by His
benevolent Providence, they are willed by God and assured, in spite of their
falls and their impieties (which are chastised with justice and through mercy),
of His unfailing protection, through the ministry of His Angels. “I
AM THE THE GUARDIAN ANGEL OF PORTUGAL.” Who is this «Angel of Peace» that came to
Fatima as a precursor of Our Lady? We cannot say with certitude, since he chose
not to reveal his name explicitly. We might point out
however that good Portuguese historians are inclined to recognize in him St.
Michael the Archangel, their patron and protector, who had always been
venerated as the Guardian Angel of their country. In fact, King Alfonso
Henriques, founder of the nation and of the dynasty, having been baptized in a
chapel dedicated to St. Michael, chose the Archangel as the special protector
of his armies and his kingdom. Since that time, the chapel of the royal palace
was always dedicated to him. The nation remained
faithful in its devotion towards the Archangel, to the point where in 1514, at
the request of King Manuel I, Pope Leo X granted his nation a special feast in
honour of the «Guardian Angel of Portugal», which was solemnly celebrated on
the third Sunday of July. At the national monastery at Batalha, where all the
kings of the Avis dynasty since John I had been buried, the monks chanted each
day an antiphon and prayer in honour of St. Michael, the Guardian Angel of Portugal.51 During the
liturgical reform of Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914), the feast in honour of
Portugal’s Guardian Angel, which had fallen into disuse, was finally
suppressed. The Portuguese bishops understood the significance of this point,
and obtained the re-establishment of this feast from Pope Pius XII. Since that
time the feast has been solemnly celebrated on June 10, the national holiday
commemorating the death of Camoens, the poet who extolled the golden age of
Catholic Portugal – when under the monarchy it was also a colonial and
missionary power. This same day was
also chosen, quite appropriately, for the great youth pilgrimage, which for
several years has brought together thousands of children at Fatima. “MICHAEL,
THE ANGEL OF PEACE.” Father Martins dos Reis has observed that the other
title by which the Angel of Fatima revealed himself – «I am the Angel of
Peace» – also suggests his identification with St. Michael the Archangel.
Indeed, «in the Portuguese tradition, where he is quite prominent, St. Michael
is often called the Angel of Peace, especially in the liturgical office of St.
Elizabeth of Portugal.» In addition, in the
Roman Breviary as well as in the litanies, the Archangel is also invoked under
these titles: «Auctor pacis» (Author of Peace) and «Angelus pacis
Michael» (Michael, the Angel of Peace). As the hymn for Lauds of September
29 says: «May Michael, the Angel of Peace, come from Heaven into our homes,
bringing fair peace with him and banishing wars to hell.» Why then, one might
ask, did not the Archangel wish to identify himself clearly, as he had done to
Joan of Arc, saying to her: «I am Michael, protector of France»? Perhaps quite
simply to better call to mind this traditional truth, that all the Christian
nations, along with their proper vocation, also have their Angel guardian,
charged with watching over their temporal and supernatural prosperity. The
explicit revelation of his name might have given the impression that Portugal
enjoyed an exceptional privilege in this regard, while the simple mention of
his function as “Guardian Angel of Portugal”, retains the universal character
of this protection for Christian nations.
IN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS AND ANGELS... AND
OF “POOR SINNERS” Usually, when they
intervene in the New Testament or in the lives of the Saints, the Angels are
nothing more than the messengers of God, charged by Him with transmitting a
message to men. And that is all. The three angelic
apparitions of 1916 are much more than that. At the Cabeço, it is truly Heaven
that opens up, to plunge the three little seers in ecstasy into its great
supernatural light. But it is also the Church triumphant which, in the person
of the Angel, unites itself to the Church praying here below. «Pray with me»,
says the Angel to the children, but he embraces all our intentions and our
humble manner of acting. «He prostrates himself near us», notes Lucy.
What a marvellous and moving proximity! The three
apparitions of 1916 are also eloquent testimony of the perfect unity of the
Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church. Far from seeming absorbed in an
ethereal contemplation, the Angel on the contrary shows himself preoccupied
with our human affairs, with the salvation of sinners, with the war ravaging
Europe, and with the peace of the tiny nation of which he is the guardian, full
of love. There is nothing
more alien to the Message of Fatima than a merely individualistic piety. The
three little shepherds of the obscure hamlet of Aljustrel were still only nine,
eight and six years old, they knew neither how to read nor write, they were
ignorant of practically everything having to do with the world and the great
political events of that time, and yet the Angel of Portugal, just as Saint
Michael once spoke to St. Joan «of the great misfortune which was befalling the
kingdom of France», opens their pure souls to the thought of the war which was
ravaging their country; already he wants to make them solicitous for the
salvation of sinners and he invites them to make reparation for them. Thus at Fatima,
from the beginning of the heavenly apparitions, we enter into the mystery of
the communion of saints, which extends quite far, even to the poorest of
sinners. We must all go to Heaven together, under the benevolent protection
of the Angels, and by the unique mediation of the Holy Hearts of Jesus and
Mary. Here are the essential truths, already revealed by the Angel in 1916, and
which Our Lady would come to affirm again, developing these truths with more
precision while She unveiled, on July 13, 1917, the great design of Divine
Mercy for our times. APPENDIX ICRITICAL APPRAISALThis
long silence of the three seers was, as we have said, the only serious
objection, an objection constantly repeated against the authenticity of the
apparitions of the Angel in 1916. Why did Sister Lucy wait until 1937 to write
the detailed accounts of them that we, have cited? It is easy for us now, in
completing the answers we have already given, to shed all the light one might
desire on this difficulty. It
is true that, from 1916 to 1917, the three seers kept the most absolute silence
on the angelic manifestations. Why? How was it possible? Sister Lucy has frequently
explained. First of all it was because of the painful experience of 1915. «This
was a lesson for me»,1 she confided to
Father Jongen. Even more importantly it was because of the intense, almost
overwhelming, supernatural atmosphere which moved them irresistibly to silence:
«The apparition itself imposed on us the secret»,2
she wrote. But
after the apparitions of Our Lady, when she was able to confide, on several
occasions Lucy explicitly revealed what happened in 1916. This is a proven
fact, which we can solidly establish. A SERIES OF
IRREFUTABLE TESTIMONIES 1.
On these first disclosures, going back to the years 1917-1922, Sister Lucy, in
her conversation with Father Jongen, states categorically: «“It is not true
that we spoke to no one about these apparitions.” “To whom did you speak
about them?” “In the first place to the archpriest of Olival. He enjoyed my
complete confidence, I hid nothing from him. He recommended that I say nothing
to anybody.”»3 Unfortunately, the
parish priest of Olival died in 1924, before having had the chance to confirm
the fact. However, there are other witnesses. 2.
Lucy also affirms that she spoke about it to her bishop, Bishop da Silva.
«He also recommended that I keep it secret», she assures us. To explain
her silence and to justify it, Sister Lucy, in one of her memoirs, reminds her
bishop of the fact and the order received: «For me to keep silent», she wrote
to him, «was even the first order and the first counsel that God deigned to
give me by means of Your Excellency.»4 Here
is a decisive declaration, for it was published and known by historians even
during the lifetime of the Bishop of Leiria. Thus, the seer dared to take him
publicly as a witness of her assertions. Although this manifested rather his
own negligence or his indecision, Bishop da Silva himself avowed to Canon
Barthas that «he knew of these facts for a long time».5 This amounted to
recognizing that he had in effect given an order to Lucy, in 1921 or 1922, to
continue to keep silence on the apparitions of the Angel. These
concordant testimonies are undeniable... unless one were to say – which is
absurd – that both Lucy and Bishop da Silva were two brazen liars, who together
decided to cynically deceive the public. That does not hold water! 3.
For his part, Canon Formigao, who is above all suspicion, testified both
to Father de Marchi as well as to Canon Barthas, that early on he had received
the confidences of Sister Lucy on the apparitions of the Angel. But he also
recommended silence, «fearing that these accounts of wonders would only
increase the defiance and incredulity towards the supernatural events of
Fatima, and he also believed that, at that moment, there was no direct utility
for the message itself.» No doubt he was wrong, but that is not the question.6 From
then on, Sister Lucy felt bound by obedience. Accused later on of having
delayed the disclosure of these facts, her defence was easy: «I always obeyed»,7
she would content herself in saying. 4.
And yet we can cite a fourth testimony which corroborates the preceding
ones. It is Father Martins dos Reis, who had the merit of being the first to
recall it. He himself could prove, if it was necessary, that Lucy remembered
perfectly, word for word, the prayers of the Angel and that she recited them
already in 1921-1922. In fact, at that time, without of course betraying the
secret of their origin, she taught them to one of her intimate friends of Asilo
de Vilar. Here is the testimony of this companion of Lucy, who was then called
Maria das Dores:8 «One day they were
both in the workshop, embroidering some lacework for a rochet. It was noon, the
hour at which the “Directress” and the “Ladies” (the Dorothean Sisters) were
having their usual devotions in the chapel of the house. «At
a certain point in the conversation, Maria das Dores said to her companion: “If
you like, I can teach you a prayer which serves as a preparation and
thanksgiving for Communion, because it contains acts of faith, hope and charity
which are very brief and beautiful.” “What is it?” “It goes like this: O My
God, I believe, etc.” “This prayer is very beautiful, where did you learn it?”
“It is recited a lot in my country.”» A
little later, Lucy taught the same companion, who had become director of the
apostolate of prayer, the prayer of the Angel to the Holy Trinity. «It was in
October, 1922, because she remembers precisely that it was a few days after she
had begun her work as director. Again this time it was Maria das Dores who took
the initiative. “If you like, I can teach you a very nice prayer, because it is
precisely for making reparation to the Most Holy Trinity: Most Holy Trinity,
etc.” “But how is it that you know such beautiful prayers?” “They are recited
where I come from...”» «And
they added nothing more, neither the companion nor Maria das Dores, the one
remaining in her ignorance, and the other with her secret.»Father
Alonso, who quotes this account, draws the conclusion: «This testimony,
which we have been able to verify personally, merits total assent... When
we think of the witness, we must recognize that she is incapable of inventing
the account and its minutely described details.»9
THE TESTIMONY OF
LUCY “THESE
WORDS WERE INDELIBLY IMPRESSED UPON OUR MINDS.” This confirms Lucy’s assurance
of having kept an exact recollection of the message of the Angel. In 1937, in
her second Memoir, she firmly declared: «his words were impressed upon our
minds in such a way that we never forgot them.»10
She repeats the same answer to Father Jongen: «Immediately after the apparition
of the Angel, we began to say the prayers he had taught us.» When asked by
William Thomas Walsh on July 15, 1946, if she had quoted the words of the Angel
«exactly as they were pronounced» or «only giving the general sense», Sister
Lucy responded still more clearly: «the words of the Angel were said with such
insistence and precision, and in such a penetrating supernatural atmosphere,
that it was impossible to forget them. They impressed themselves exactly, in
an indelible manner, in our memory.»11 “THE
BLESSED HOLLOW OF THE CABEÇO.” Lucy not only remembers the angelic vision and
the message received, she has fixed for all times in her memory the exact place
where the Angel appeared: «On May 21, 1946, thirty years after the events of
the Cabeço, coming back to see the “Loca” of the apparitions of the Angel»,
Canon Barthas reports, «she went without hesitation to the little circle of
rocks which we call the “loca”, contrary to the indications of those who
accompanied her, who were guiding her towards the “grotto”, which is a hundred
metres further on. Until then this had been presented to the pilgrims as the
site of the first and third apparitions of the Angel. Moreover, she
indicated without the least hesitation the places where each and every one of the
little circumstances associated with the angelic apparitions took place.12
This would be unthinkable on the hypothesis that the whole thing was made up
later on! FROM
JOAN OF ARC TO LUCY OF FATIMA. Does not the calm realism of Lucy’s testimony
remind us of Joan of Arc, who also enjoyed angelic apparitions? «Do you see St.
Michael and the Angels in real, bodily form?» one of her judges asked her. And
Joan answered quite ingenuously: «I see them with my bodily eyes, as I see
you, and when they depart from me, I weep, and I could certainly wish that
they take me with them.» «In what form, size, appearance and clothing does St.
Michael appear to you?» another asked her. «He was in the form of a real
gentleman... I believe as firmly the things that St. Michael, who appeared
to me, said and did, as I believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered His
passion and death for us.» What imperturbable assurance! And
yet, at that very time, Joan had not spoken about her visions to anybody, not
to her parents, nor to her parish priest. She only made them known later on,
when her mission demanded it, and «only to Robert de Baudricourt and to my
king», she declared to her judges.13 Sister
Lucy does not have any hesitation either on the reality of the Angel of the
Cabeço. On February 4, 1946, at Tuy in Spain, Father Jongen came to interrogate
her, taking up the same objections as Father Dhanis: «Are you certain,
absolutely certain, that the Angel appeared to you?» «I saw him», she
answered simply. «The Sister pronounces these words», notes Father Jongen,
«with the calmness, tranquillity, and assurance of someone saying that he had
seen the sun rise or set...»14 APPENDIX IITHE REALITY OF THE
ANGELIC APPARITIONS AN «IMAGINARY VISION»
OR «SENSIBLE APPARITION»? Being
founded on such solid testimonies, the angelic manifestations at Fatima are
unquestionably authentic. Thus they suppose a supernatural intervention, but
its nature remains to be discovered. The question is not without importance. VISIONS
AND APPARITIONS. Father Dhanis, using the distinction which has become
classical in mystical theology between three kinds of visions, sensible,
imaginative or intellectual, strives to settle the question always in the same
sense: to the extent the apparitions of Fatima are authentic, according to him,
they are of course, “imaginative visions”.1
Then one need only give this category of visions recognized as supernatural the
ambiguous title of “imaginary visions”, so that their downgrading in the eyes of
the worldly is complete.
What
exactly is the truth? A brief review of the traditional distinction will permit
us to make some enlightening clarifications on the apparitions at the Cabeço.2
Sensible,
imaginative and intellectual visions are all real and objective in the sense
that they are not the natural fruit of a diseased imagination, and thus they
always imply a divine intervention. But this is different in each case:
In
the intellectual vision, an intense light is produced directly by God in
the spiritual part of the soul, without the accompaniment of any image.
The
imaginative vision, which is even more clumsily called “imaginary”, is
on the contrary provoked by a sensible representation, directly produced by God
in the imagination. The visions of St. John in the Apocalypse, and supernatural
dreams, for example, come into this category.
On
the contrary, in sensible or corporeal visions, there is no question of
a simple subjective vision or an intellectual intuition. It is a sensible
object, exterior to the subject, that provokes the perception. We must
speak of an “apparition” properly speaking, if there is a
manifestation of a glorious body, Jesus or the Most Holy Virgin, or an assumed
body, when an Angel or deceased soul appears. But in both cases there is always
a concrete reality, situated in natural space and acting from without on the
external senses of the seer.3
“AN
EXTERIOR APPARITION.” Well! Contrary to the gratuitous allegations of Father
Dhanis, we can affirm that the seers of Fatima had the very clear impression of
contemplating an object really exterior to them. Several details of the account
of Sister Lucy give us clear indications, which permit us to recognize the
manifestations of the Angel in 1916 as “apparitions” properly
speaking, that is “sensible visions”.
The
great blast of wind which announced the first coming of the Angel appeared to
the children as an objective physical phenomenon: «We were playing only for a
few moments, when a strong wind began to shake the trees. We looked up,
startled, to see what was happening, for the day was unusually calm.» In
addition, they saw the Angel, this time coming from a distance: «Then we saw coming
towards us, above the olive trees, the figure I have already spoken
about... As it drew closer, we were able to distinguish its traits. It
was a young man, whiter than snow... On reaching us, he said...»4
This situating of the Angel in space, this precise localization within the
framework of nature seems significant to us. Unless we imagine, with Descartes,
a “deceiving God”, or some kind of “evil genie”, how can we think that a God of
truth, in genuine supernatural manifestations, could give His witnesses visions
which would lead them invincibly to believe in their exterior reality, when in
fact it was only a simple phantasm?
Finally,
on the subject of the Communion received from the hands of the Angel, Sister
Lucy declared: «I felt the contact of the Host.» We certainly cannot
speak of an imaginary Communion here, and therefore the whole apparition
must be put in the category of “sensible visions”.5
THE
SIGN OF A PRESENCE. Shall we say that the corporeal appearance really assumed
by the Angel is misleading, inasmuch as it risks concealing its nature as a
pure invisible Spirit? No! For this aspect is completely secondary, and
scarcely of any importance to us. What is important is the manifestation of his
very near and concrete presence, as a real person, similar to us, a
creature of God like us, and entrusted by Him with a mission for our salvation.
Thus, the Angel was present “in person” at the Cabeço, and the shining
figure of light that the three shepherds contemplated, although it was not
“his” body, expressed in a marvellous way his personal presence, and his
spiritual nature, so superior to our carnal condition.
«THIS
IS MY BLOOD... POURED OUT FOR YOU»
At
the Cabeço, during the last angelic apparition, before the children received
Communion, Lucy the Host and Jacinta and Francisco from the chalice, they saw «some
drops of Blood» flow from the Host and fall into the chalice. How are we to
interpret this Eucharistic miracle? Did the seers contemplate the true Blood
of Christ, substantially present in the sacrament? They believed so, and it
seems to go without saying, for this is what makes all the rich significance of
this apparition eminently concrete, as we have seen.
No,
the three shepherds were not mistaken, nor were they led into error: it is
indeed the Blood of Our Saviour that they saw flowing from the Host into the
chalice, and not simply «an appearance of blood».
In
this way Jesus shows that His Flesh is truly our Bread, and His Blood is our
spiritual Wine, and He invites us to nourish ourselves with It and drink from
It, for our salvation.6
Hence
it is evident that, in His Divine Will and the supernatural capacities of His
Glorious Body – immense potentialities that we can not limit a priori –,
the risen Jesus can also, at will, manifest Himself to us in the Eucharist,
not only under the sacramental appearances of bread and wine, but also under
the regular appearances of His Body or Blood.
This
was the case at the Cabeço, where He showed the three children in ecstasy the
reality of His Blood poured out, which redeems us and purifies us of our
faults, true Blood, present in the Sacrament as He was on Calvary. And when,
for their Communion, He takes on the species of wine, it is to induce us, in an
urgent manner, to drink His Blood which is drink indeed, an inebriating Wine,
the pledge and foretaste of eternal life.
Such
a Eucharistic miracle thus appears as a true and marvellous illustration of the
most profound reality of the mystery. We ourselves, at every Mass, can
think of the apparition which the three seers of the Cabeço received. We can
thus adore with them, with the eyes of faith, the Person of Jesus Christ our
Saviour, Priest and Victim, pouring into the chalice all the Blood of His
Body, offered to His Father in sacrifice, for us and for many, unto the
remission of sins.
Endnotes
(1) De Marchi, (Orig.), p. 70.
(2) IV, p. 155.
(3) II, p. 59.
(4) IV, p. 155.
(5) II, p. 59-60.
(6) II, p. 59-60.
(7) To understand how inadequate this ambiguous notion is for giving a natural
explanation of the apparitions of the Angel or Our Lady, or the dance of the
sun, see the study of H. F. Ellenberger, Psychoses Collectives, which is
an authoritative source on this matter. (Encyclopédie medico-chirurgicale,
1967).
(8) II, p. 60.
(9) When Lucy was interrogated on October 19, 1917, she was exhausted by the
uninterrupted series of interrogations, and tried to elude the question. Then,
embarrassed, she answered inexactly.
(10) IV, p. 155.
(11) II, p. 60.
(12) II, p. 60.
(13) IV, p. 155.
(14) She has given us two accounts of the apparitions of the Angel, one in the
second Memoir, p. 60-65, and the other in the fourth, p. 154-158.
(15) This blessed hollow, or Loca de Cabeço, which Lucy sometimes
calls the Lapa, is not a grotto. It is simply a tiny hollow surrounded
by rocks and trees. “This hiding place is so well formed that it afforded an
ideal protection from both the rain and the burning sun.” (I, p. 37.) A
beautiful set of sculptures was made there in memory of the last apparition of
the Angel.
(16) II, p. 60-62; IV, p. 154-156.
(17) De Marchi, (Orig. Ed.) p. 66.
(18) According to Maria dos Anjos. (De Marchi, Fr. Ed.) p. 54.
(19) 1 Kg. 19:12.
(20) “Then I went back towards the grotto and began taking off my shoes”,
writes Bernadette. “Scarcely had I begun doing so when I heard a noise which
sounded like a gust of wind. Then I turned my head to the side of the level
ground (the side opposite the grotto). I saw that the trees did not move. Then,
I continued taking off my shoes. I heard the same noise again... and as
I looked towards the grotto, I saw a Lady in white.” (Apparition of February
11, 1858).
(21) Lk. 1:12 & 30; Mt. 28:5.
(22) Fatima 1917-1968, p. 51.
(23) Here let us point out a slight contradiction, which no doubt only a more
detailed interrogation of the seer would resolve in a completely satisfactory
manner. Lucy indeed wrote in her second Memoir: “I immediately recommended
to my cousins to keep the secret and this time, thanks to God, they did as I
wished.” (II, p. 64, Fr. Ed.). Does Sister Lucy confuse this with the same
recommendation to keep silence which she certainly made after the apparition of
May 13? It is possible. It is also plausible that, when she explains with
insistence that the Apparition itself imposed silence, and thus made any
resolution in this vein superfluous, she forces her thought a bit, forgetting
that at least the first time, she may have invited her cousins to keep quiet.
See the interview with Father Jongen: “After the apparition of the Angel at the
Cabeço, we decided to say nothing to anybody.” (De Marchi, Orig., p. 342.)
(24) Sister Lucy to William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, p. 218.
(25) Recall the doctrine of St. Augustine on the mediation of the Angels in the
theophanies of the Old Testament (De Trinitate, III, 11; cf. Acts 7:35,
38 & 53), or the impression of the holy stigmata impressed on St. Francis
of Assisi by a Seraph.
(26) IV, p. 128, 158.
(27) p. 62.
(28) IV, p. 157-158.
(29) This is a cistern located at the bottom of the dos Santos garden called
the Arneiro. Along with the hollow of Cabeço, “the well”
was to become the favourite spot of the children, where they loved to gather to
pray.
(30) IV, p. 156, and II, p. 62, 64.
(31) IV, p. 127-128.
(32) Once again it is at the “blessed hollow” of the Cabeço, where the Angel
had appeared to them in the spring.
(33) II, p. 64-65, and IV, p. 156-157.
(34) IV, p. 128.
(35) IV, p. 128.
(36) IV, p. 156-157.
(37) II, p. 64.
(38) IV, p. 127.
(39) II, p. 65-66.
(40) II, p. 66.
(41) IV, p. 156.
(42) In May 1936, she had already written a first account, almost identical to
the one found in the Memoirs, written for Father Gonçalves, her confessor (Memorias
e Cartas, p. 457-461).
(43) Régine Pernoud, Jeanne d’Arc par elle-même et par ses témoins, p.
31.
(44) As the Angel says to St. John in the Apocalypse: “Conservus tuus sum...
Deum adora.” (I am a fellow servant like you. Worship God.)
(45) IV, p. 156.
(46) In a beautiful prayer of St. Gertrude, we find the same offering of the
Body, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ to the adorable Trinity, in reparation
for all the sins of the world: “On the solemn feast of the Epiphany, following
the example of the three Kings, this holy soul offered to God, in the form of myrrh,
the Body of Christ with all His sufferings and all His passion. Through
the merits of the Passion, for the glory of God she wished to wipe out the sins
of all men, from the time of Adam until the last man. Likewise, instead of
incense, she offered the Soul of Christ, full of devotion with all the
acts of His spiritual life, to make up for the negligences of the whole
universe. In the same way, again, in place of gold, she offered the most
perfect Divinity of Christ, with all the delights It enjoys, to make up for
the negligences of all creatures. The Lord appeared to her once more presenting
this offering, as choice gifts, to the ever adorable Trinity. (Le
Héraut de l’Amour Divin, book IV, chap. VI, p. 16).
Father Dhanis stressed that the Fatima prayer was
inexact, and innovated dangerously by offering in reparation, not only the
humanity of Christ, but also His Divinity. The great mystic of Helfta (in the
thirteenth century!) was not of the same opinion. Nor was St. John Eudes, in
whose writings we find many analogous formulas. And they at least had
experienced what they were talking about! As for the cold Christology of Father
Dhanis, which obscures the essential point of the mystery, that is, the
personal and divine-human unity of the Incarnate Word, making the distinction
between the two natures into a dichotomy, and virtually turning His humanity
into a separate person – it is Nestorian in tendency and merits a good many
reservations.
Let us quote only these few surprising lines: “The
series of realities present under the holy species (the Body, Blood, Soul and
Divinity of Jesus), do not correspond to what we can offer in the Eucharist...”
According to Father Dhanis, it is only the humanity of Christ that we can offer
to God. (cf. Streven, p. 145).
But in the Mass, is it not Jesus Himself who
offers Himself to His Father, His minister only acting in His name, in
persona Christi? And what He offers is not His abstracted human nature, but
His Sacrifice, which is the supreme Act of His person as Incarnate Son
of God and Redeemer.
(47) See, at the end of this chapter, Appendix II, “This is My Blood poured out
for you.”
(48) In his decree, the holy Pope encouraged and even ordered the early
communion of children. Until the thirteenth century in the West – and even
today in the Eastern Rites – was it not a custom to give children the Eucharist
under the species of wine, on the day of their baptism? After recalling this
venerable custom, the Pope decreed that from then on children would be admitted
to the holy Table beginning with the age of reason, “that is, about the age of
seven, or a little later, or even a little earlier”, and made it clear
that “a full and perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine was not necessary.” It
was enough for the child to “be able to distinguish the Eucharistic bread from
ordinary and corporeal bread, so as to approach the holy Table with the
devotion befitting their age.” (Acts of St. Pius X, Doc. cath., t. V, p.258
sq.)
(49) Fatima 1917-1968, p. 51-52; Sister Lucy made a similar reply to
William Thomas Walsh in Our Lady of Fatima, p. 218.
(50) Cf. Cerbelaud Salagnac, Fatima et notre temps, p. 49.
(51) We borrow these few historical facts from Canon Barthas, Fatima
1917-1968, who sums up the long demonstration of Father Martins dos Reis, Na
Orbita, p. 131-140.
Appendix I
(1) De Marchi, p.341 (Orig.).
(2) IV, p. 154.
(3) De Marchi, p.341 (Orig.).
(4) IV, p. 154.
(5) Fatima 1917-1968, p. 50.
(6) p. 49.
(7) IV, p. 153, and again to Father Jongen or William Thomas Walsh.
(8) This account is from Father Sebastiao Martins dos Reis (Na Orbita de
Fatima, p. 128-129). Father J. M. Alonso quotes it in “El Corazon
Immaculado de Maria”, p. 291 in Ephemerides Mariologicae, 1972.
(9) El Corazon Immaculado de Maria, p. 291.
(10) II, p. 62.
(11) William Thomas Walsh, Our Lady of Fatima, p. 219.
(12) Barthas, Fatima 1917-1968, p. 50.
(13) Régine Pernoud, Jeanne d’Arc par elle-même et par ses Témoins, p.
218, 204, 31.
(14) Quoted by De Marchi, p. 341 (Orig.).
Appendix II
(1) Streven, p. 139-140.
(2) Cf. A. Poulain, Des grâces d’oraison, traité de théologie mystique,
chap. XX, p. 293 sq. (1906); Msgr. A. Farges, Les Phénomènes mystiques,
traité de théologie mystique, Vol. II, chap. I, p. 7-34 (Lethielleux,
1923).
(3) The notion of “sensible vision”, although it expresses with exactness the
extrinsic character of the Apparition, entirely loses the miraculous and
mysterious character of the objective supernatural fact and its perception,
especially since alongside the seers, other people saw nothing.
On the other hand, it goes without saying that
concrete cases, in their abundant richness and supernatural reality, do not fit
in the narrow category of an abstract distinction. Thus Msgr. Farges notes, the
three types of visions, far from excluding each other, can sometimes be
combined in the same complex vision, which will be characterized and
denominated by its dominant note.” (op. cit., p. 10)
Although this distinction is sometimes delicate in its
application, it is nevertheless true and enlightening. Many authors claim to
dispense with it entirely, although they bring no new contribution to the
question at all; they remain in the most total incoherence, which almost leads
them to the a priori denial of all exterior apparitions, which they
judge useless if not absolutely impossible. (Cf. in True and False
Apparitions in the Church, the article by Father Laurentin, “Function and
status of apparitions”, p. 153-205.) Others go so far as to reduce all
supernatural visions to ordinary psychic or pathological experiences (Cf. in
the same work, the incredible conference of Marc Oraison, which is as worthless
from the scientific viewpoint as the theological viewpoint, p. 127-151).
(4) II, p. 62.
(5) We will have to return to this question of the mode of reality of the
apparitions, after the account of the apparitions of Our Lady at the Cova da
Iria.
(6) CRC no. 116, April 1977. This study was taken up again in a conference:
“The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”, Passion Sunday 1982, 1:30 p.m., Maison Saint
Joseph.
See the exposition St. Thomas gives on Eucharistic
miracles, Summa Theologiae, Part Three, question 76, art. 8. On the
immense capabilities, the amazing (and for us unimaginable) capabilities of the
risen Body of Christ, see the study of our Father, “The Mystery of the
Resurrection”, CRC 71, August 1973. “His new condition frees Him from the
servitude of old and gives Him a spiritual liberty, where His Body is the most
perfect instrument of His will of presence and action, multiplied tenfold... In
its new state, the Body of Christ remains this absolute instrument of presence,
relations, of appropriation, but raised to an incredible perfection... In all
His Soul, by the infinitely perfect means of His Body, He becomes present
wherever the priests call Him down... this is the Eucharist and its ubiquity.”
CHAPTER IV
«I AM OF HEAVEN»
(SUNDAY, MAY 13)
Several
months had already gone by since the first apparition of the Angel and our
three seers, in spite of the trials of the dos Santos family, had returned to
their singing and their games, «with the same gusto and the same liberty of
spirit as before». Winter had passed, and in these beautiful spring days, all
three had gone together to take care of their sheep. May 13, 1917, dawned
bright and fair, like so many other days before it.1
I.
THE EVENTS
It
was the Sunday preceding the Ascension. Early in the morning, the shepherds had
gone to the chapel of Boleiros to attend the first Mass, “the Mass of the poor
souls”, as it was called then, for it was a Mass celebrated for the souls in
Purgatory, a devotion so dear to the piety of the Portuguese.
Scarcely
had they returned home when they went out again to feed their sheep. «That day,
by chance – if in the designs of Providence there can be such a thing as chance
– we chose to pasture our flock on some land belonging to my parents, called Cova
da Iria», Lucy writes. «This meant we had to cross a barren stretch of
moorland to get there, which made the journey doubly long. We had to go slowly
to give the sheep a chance to graze along the way, so it was almost noon when
we arrived.»2 After eating lunch and reciting the Rosary, they moved
their sheep a little higher up the hill and began to play. Before listening to
the account of Sister Lucy in the fourth Memoir, we must make some remarks on
the history of the apparitions of 1917.
A
SHORT CRITICAL NOTE
The
oldest source is the report of Father Ferreira, parish priest of Fatima, who
interrogated the children after each of the apparitions, in the following days.
His extreme introspection, if not declared hostility, are a sure guarantee of
objectivity.3 The minutely detailed interrogations of Canon
Formigao, which took place on September 27, October 11, 13 and 19, and finally
November 2, 1917, continue to be of the greatest interest, and we shall come
back to them.4
Lucy
wrote for the first time the account of the six apparitions on January 5, 1922,
no doubt at the urging of Msgr. Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor at Asilo de
Vilar. This document, of capital importance for critical purposes, was
published for the first time in 1973.5
We
also find more precise details on the apparitions of 1917 in different letters
of Sister Lucy to her confessors.6
Finally
let us point out that although they come later on, the most complete accounts,
and even the surest ones from the critical point of view, are those of the
Memoirs of Sister Lucy.7 This seems contrary to the normal laws of
criticism, but here are the reasons:
1.
At the moment of the apparitions, the seers, who were aged ten, nine and seven,
could neither read nor write. Although this is an incomparable guarantee for
the complete authenticity of the message, which they could not have invented in
any way, when it came time to describe the apparition, or even to explain it in
words, their excessively rudimentary knowledge was a real hindrance for them.
Moreover,
as we will see, they did not always understand the decisive importance of the
interrogations they were made to undergo, and to preserve their secrets or
escape from inopportune questions, they sometimes answered, to use Sister
Lucy’s own expression, «without attributing to it any great importance» and too
hastily, without making a sufficient effort to remember exactly.8
2.
Because of the secrets they had to keep, they were bound to also hide whatever
could more or less touch on them. This explains their frequent embarrassment,
hesitations, or even apparent contradictions. In hindsight we can only admire
how they succeeded in making known whatever could be disclosed and keeping
secret whatever had to remain so. But this was often a very delicate matter.
3.
From this we may conclude, since there is no reason to suspect the testimony of
Sister Lucy, that the accounts written by her after she received from Heaven
permission to reveal practically everything, are naturally the clearest and the
most coherent, and even permit us to clarify many hesitations or ambiguities of
the previous responses.
Here
then is how Sister Lucy, in her fourth Memoir, relates the first apparition of
Our Lady:
“A
WOMAN MORE BRILLIANT THAN THE SUN.” «High up on the slope of the Cova da Iria,
I was playing with Jacinta and Francisco at building a little stone wall around
a clump of furze. Suddenly we saw what seemed to be a flash of lightning.
–
We’d better go home, I said to my cousins, that’s lightning; we may have a
thunderstorm.
–
Yes, indeed! they answered.
We
began to go down the slope, hurrying the sheep along towards the road. We were
more or less halfway down the slope, and almost level with a large holm oak
tree that stood there, when we saw another flash of lightning. We had only gone
a few steps further when, there before us on a small holm oak, we beheld a Lady
all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated a light
more clear and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when
the rays of the burning sun shine through it.
We
stopped, astounded, before the apparition. We were so close, just a few feet
from Her, that we were bathed in the light that surrounded Her, or rather,
which radiated from Her. Then Our Lady spoke to us:
–
Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.
–
Where does Your Grace come from?9
–
I am of Heaven.
THE
CELESTIAL RENDEZVOUS.
–
What does Your Grace want of me?
–
I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the
13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I
want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.
THE
VOCATION TO HEAVEN.
–
Shall I go to Heaven too?
–
Yes, you will.
–
And Jacinta?
–
She will go also.
–
And Francisco?
–
He will go there too, but he will have to say many Rosaries.
Then
I remembered to ask about two girls who had died recently. They were friends of
mine and used to come to my home to learn weaving with my eldest sister.
–
Is Maria das Neves in Heaven?
–
Yes, she is.
(I
think she was about 16 years old.)
–
And Amelia?
–
She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.
(It
seems to me that she was between 18 and 20 years of age.)
[THE
VOCATION OF SUFFERING.10
–
Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He
wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is
offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?11
–
Yes, we are willing.
–
Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be
your comfort.]
[THE
VISION IN GOD. «As She pronounced these last words, “the grace of God will be
your comfort”, Our Lady opened Her hands for the first time, communicating to
us a light so intense that, as it streamed from Her hands, its rays penetrated
our hearts and the innermost depths of our souls, making us see ourselves in
God, Who was that light, more clearly than we see ourselves in the best of
mirrors.
«Then,
moved by an inner impulse that was also communicated to us, we fell to our
knees, repeating in our hearts: “O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God,
my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament.”»]
“QUEEN
OF PEACE.” «After a few moments, Our Lady spoke again:
–
Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world, and
the end of the war.
–
Can you tell me if the war will go on a long time, or will it end soon?12
–
I cannot tell you that yet, because I have not yet said what I want.»
HEAVEN
OPENS UP. «Then She began to rise serenely, going up towards the east, until
She disappeared in the immensity of space. The light that surrounded Her seemed
to open up a path before Her in the firmament, and for this reason we sometimes
said that we saw Heaven opening.»
Once
the apparition disappeared, Francisco was the first to notice that the sheep
had strayed and invaded a field of green plants. Fortunately, there was no
damage! «Luckily», wrote Sister Lucy ingenuously, «we did not see any eaten.»13
Our
Lady appeared on the little holm oak for about ten minutes: «I do not believe
that She ever remained long enough to recite a Rosary»,14 said Lucy.
What is astonishing, but quite well at attested,15 is that Francisco
saw the Blessed Virgin perfectly, but did not hear Her words. He only
understood the questions of Lucy. As for Jacinta, who saw and heard everything,
she never brought herself to speak to the apparition. Thus Lucy was the only
one to have the privilege of speaking with Her.
The
fact has been commented on but it must be stressed that this unexpected
disparity, this gradation in the relations with Our Lady, is in itself a
certain proof of authenticity. For never could anyone, neither the seers nor
any impostor, have dreamed of making up this difference which is baffling at
first, but, when we reflect on it, testifies decisively in favour of the
sincerity of the three little seers.
AFTER
THE APPARITION: AN OVERFLOWING JOY
The
apparition had filled the three children with an immense joy, and a holy
cheerfulness. They had never known anything like it, because the manifestations
of the Angel in 1916 had had a completely different effect on their souls. As
Sister Lucy explains: «The apparition of Our Lady plunged us once more into the
atmosphere of the supernatural, but this time more gently. Instead of that
annihilation in the Divine Presence, which exhausted us even physically, it
left us filled with peace and expansive joy, which did not prevent us from
speaking afterwards of what had happened.»16 «We felt the same intimate
joy, the same peace and happiness», writes Sister Lucy in another place, «but
instead of physical exhaustion, an expansive ease of movement: instead of this
annihilation in the Divine Presence, a joyful exultation; instead of the
difficulty in speaking, we felt a certain communicative enthusiasm.»17
Francisco
did not have to wait several days before learning the message of the Most Holy
Virgin:
«Afterwards,
we told Francisco all that Our Lady had said. He was overjoyed and expressed
the happiness he felt when he heard of the promise that he would go to Heaven.
Crossing his hands on his breast, he exclaimed, “Oh, my dear Our Lady! I’ll say
as many Rosaries as You want!”»18
As
for Jacinta, she could not contain her joy: «That very afternoon, while we
remained thoughtful and rapt in wonder, Jacinta kept breaking into enthusiastic
exclamations: “Oh, what a beautiful Lady!” “I can see what’s going to happen”,
I said, “you’ll end up saying that to somebody else.” “No, I won’t”, she
answered, “don’t worry.”»19
With
Sister Lucy, there was another sentiment in addition to her profound joy: What
was her mother going to think, when she heard talk of apparitions again?
And
since Our Lady had not asked them to make known what She had said, the prudent
Lucy, foreseeing all the problems that could follow, thought quite sensibly
that it would be better if they kept quiet. We shall see that several months
later, she would come to regret that her cousin had spoken in spite of her
strong recommendations to keep silence... Indeed it was Jacinta, Lucy relates,
who, «unable to contain herself for joy, broke our agreement to keep the
whole matter to ourselves».20
THE
FIRST ACCOUNTS OF THE APPARITION
Jacinta
did not have to wait long to break her promise! That Sunday, right after the
Mass, the Marto parents had left for Batalha to buy a pig. In the evening, when
the children returned from the Cova da Iria, they had not come back yet.
Jacinta stood near the gate waiting for them, and as soon as she saw her
mother, she ran to greet her:
«My
little daughter ran to meet me and clutched me round the knees in a way she had
never done before. “Mother”, she cried excitedly, “I saw Our Lady today, in the
Cova da Iria!” “That’s likely, isn’t it!” I said. “I suppose you’re a saint to
be seeing Our Lady!” Jacinta seemed downcast at what I said, but she came into
the house with me, saying again: “But I saw Her!” Then she told me what had
happened, of the lightning and their fear because of it... of the light... and
the beautiful Lady surrounded by light so dazzling you could hardly look at
Her... of the Rosary which they were to say every day…»21
Once
they were at the table, Jacinta, always full of enthusiasm, began telling what
happened.22 When she had finished, her mother asked Francisco, who
had himself said nothing. He then confirmed everything his sister had said. «As
for me», he told Lucy the next day, «when my mother asked me if it was true, I
had to say that it was, so as not to tell a lie.»23
What
charming candour in our two seers! It was so manifest that among the numerous guests
gathered around Olimpia’s table – that night, besides Ti Marto and the eight
children, Antonio dos Santos, his brother-in-law and Lucy’s father, were
present –, several of them were shaken up and began to see that perhaps
something extraordinary had really happened at the Cova da Iria.
Although
Jacinta’s older brothers and Ti Olimpia continued to make fun of her, the
fathers of the two families remained pensive... They knew very well the
sincerity of their children, and could not imagine them lying to such a degree.
«If
the little ones saw a lady in white», said Antonio, «what could that be except
Our Lady?» There was good sense in this remark. As for Ti Marto, later on he
would confide to Father de Marchi his reflections of that time:
«From
the beginning of the world, Our Lady has been appearing, at different times and
in different ways. These have been the important things. If there had not been
such things, the world would be even worse than it is. The power of God is very
great. We do not understand everything, but let God’s Will be done.
«From
the beginning I somehow felt that the children were speaking the truth. Yes, I
think I believed them from the first. It seemed to me extraordinary since the
children had no instruction whatever about such things, at least hardly
anything. If they had not been helped by Providence, how could they have said
such things? And if they were lying? Oh, my Jesus! I knew that Jacinta and
Francisco never lied!...»24
A
peasant with much good sense and experience, Ti Marto was not a man of
exaggerated credulity. But his sense of the supernatural, and no doubt his true
humility were the reason why the apparitions met no obstacle to belief in his
soul. One day when somebody asked him if he did not feel a little pride, since
his children had seen Our Lady, he answered, without any affectation: «Our Lady
had decided to come here, in our country. She could have come someplace else...
She just happened to come to my children!»25 But although Ti Marto
felt moved to believe in the reality of the apparitions, he was careful not to
show it right away. On June 13, we find him still indecisive, wishing neither
to go against his children, nor to publicly give credence to their claim.
While
he waited, the news spread rapidly. The next morning Olimpia mentioned it to a
few neighbours, who promptly passed on the news to Maria dos Anjos, Lucy’s
elder sister. What a surprise for the little seer to see their secret
discovered so soon! When questioned by her sister, Lucy in her turn had to tell
what happened, with sorrow but so as to avoid lying.26
In
the meantime, Francisco and Jacinta arrived. Francisco was also very sorrowful,
and he told his cousin how Jacinta had spoken up the evening before, at dinner.
«Jacinta
listened to the accusation without saying anything. “You see, that’s just what
I thought would happen”, said Lucy. “There was something within me that
wouldn’t let me keep quiet”, Jacinta said, with tears in her eyes. “Well,
don’t cry now, and don’t tell anything else to anybody about what the Lady said
to us.” “But I’ve already told them.” “And what did you say?” “I said that the
Lady promised to take us to Heaven.” “To think you told them that!” “Forgive
me. I won’t tell anybody anything ever again!”»27
In
the future, it is true, after this one fortunate and providential indiscretion,
she kept her promise... But it was too late! The whole village would know.
When
Maria Rosa found out, at first she did not take it seriously, «but when I told
her what Lucy had said to me», continues Maria dos Anjos, «she began to attach
some importance to it, and she went right away to ask Lucy about it. The little
one told our mother what she had said to me.»28
PRAYER
AND SACRIFICES
When
Lucy was interrogated, with humble prudence she declined to affirm
categorically that it was the Blessed Virgin, but in vain. Lucy certainly
thought this was the case, and all three recognized it without hesitation.
Their lives as little shepherds would be transformed even more profoundly than
after the visits of the Angel, which were spaced out at greater length, and
more unexpected. This time, from month to month the three would live in
expectation of the next heavenly visit.
«From
then on», says Lucy, «Francisco made a habit of moving away from us, as though
going for a walk. When we called him and asked him what he was doing, he raised
his hand and showed me his Rosary. If we told him to come and play, and say the
Rosary with us afterwards, he replied: “I’ll pray then as well. Don’t you
remember that Our Lady said I must pray many Rosaries?”»29
They
also remembered the suffering and sacrifices asked of them:
«“And
how shall we make sacrifices?” Right away Francisco found a good sacrifice:
“Let us give our lunch to the sheep, and make the sacrifice of doing without
it.” In a couple of minutes, the contents of our lunch bag had been divided
among the sheep. So that day, we fasted as strictly as the most austere
Carthusian!»30
Thus
did they remember the words of the Blessed Virgin, and strove to accomplish Her
requests, which are summed up in two words: prayer and sacrifice.
Let
us interrupt our account of the events now for a moment, and attentively
re-examine this first message of Our Lady. Along with the message of July 13,
it is the richest in content and already it evokes most of the themes that the
Blessed Virgin returned to in the other five apparitions.
II.
THE MESSAGE OF MAY 13
«DO
NOT FEAR... I AM OF HEAVEN!»
«Do
not fear! I will do you no harm.» These were the first words of Our Lady to the
three surprised and frightened shepherds. Lucy had often spoken of this fear
which seized them during the first appariton,31 but in her Memoirs,
seeing that she had often been misunderstood, she gives this clarification:
«The
fear which we felt was not really fear of Our Lady, but rather fear of the
thunderstorm which we thought was coming, and it was this that we sought to
escape. The Apparitions of Our Lady inspired neither fear nor fright, but
only surprise.
«When
I was asked if I had experienced fear, and I said that we had, I was referring
to the fear we felt when we saw the flashes of lightning and thought that a
thunderstorm was at hand. It was from this that we wished to escape, as we were
used to seeing lightning only when it thundered.32
«After
these initial words of reassurance, «Do not fear», it is Lucy who, full of good
sense, and not without courage, or rather under the effects of a Divine
inspiration, dares to ask the Vision:
«Where
does Your Grace33 come from?» Then Our Lady gave Her first reply,
unexpected but remarkable in its conciseness: «I am of Heaven!» She did
not say, exactly, «I come from Heaven», which would be true, but banal. No, She
said, «I am of Heaven!» and this short phrase which is the first of Her great
message, resounds in our ears like a discreet echo of the first phrase of the
Our Father: «Our Father, who art in Heaven...» Our Mother also, by a very
special grace from the Father of Mercies, can proclaim in Her turn, in all
truth: «I am of Heaven!» For these words are evocative of the very mystery
connected with Her person...34
Indeed
what other creature could attribute to itself such an origin, if not the
Immaculate Virgin, the Heavenly One, the “divine Mary”, as St. Louis Marie
Grignion de Montfort was wont to say? Is not every human creature first of all
a descendant of Eve and heir of Adam before becoming later on, when grace is
recovered, a child of God and temple of the Holy Spirit? By Her Immaculate
Conception, with Jesus Her Son, Mary is the only one in our human lineage to be
an exception from the common rule, in being, so to speak, “of Heaven” before
being “of the earth”.
For
the whole of Her ineffable mystery consists in this, that She is the beloved
and only Daughter of the Father, the Spouse of the Word of God and the Sanctuary
of their Spirit of Love, in the very act of Her conception, because She was
predestined to become the worthy Mother of the Saviour and the new Eve, mother
of a new human race. Thus, it is the most intimate secret of Her person that
the crystalline phrase of May 13, 1917, «I am of Heaven», evokes for us. It
also reminds us of Her solemn declaration at the grotto of Massabielle: «I am
the Immaculate Conception.» An admirable formula, whose astonishing grammatical
structure would become the object of incessant contemplation for St. Maximilian
Kolbe.
THE
HEAVENLY RENDEZVOUS
«And
what does Your Grace want of me?» asked Lucy, always practical, concrete and
realistic.35 «I have come to ask you to come here for six months in
succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I
am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.»
Our
Lady kept this heavenly rendezvous In the four following apparitions preceding
October 13, she will recall this request with insistence. Indeed, what wisdom
in this choice of place and time! G. de Sede saw in this a sure sign that it
could be neither the product of chance, nor of the imagination of the three
illiterate children. In fact, in these few phrases of Our Lady the inspired
plan of the most frequented pilgrimage in the world is already traced out.
And
first of all the place! This Cova da Iria, no doubt so named in honour of St.
Irene, the little martyr of purity, massacred at Tomar, around twenty
kilometres away, on the order of a suitor she had refused. Yes, Lucy had every
reason to stress that her choice of a pasture this morning of May 13 was
utterly providential. «Having originally taken a path that would have led to
the hamlet of Gouveia, Lucy suddenly decided that the pasture that day would be
at the Cova da Iria…» The vast basin with the harmonious name would become the
immense domain of the sanctuary of Mary...
A
touching coincidence, often pointed out, is that when Our Lady appeared, the
children were playing at building; they were making a little stone wall around
a clump of furze. At that spot, remarks Canon Barthas, «in a few years they
would begin building the great Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima, as though our
shepherds had already laid the foundations.»36 At the very spot that
Francisco was building, the first stone was laid, and it is also here that the
body of Jacinta lies. “Locus iste sanctus est...” Holy is this place.
MAY
13 AND ITS CORRELATION WITH OTHER MARIAN THEMES. The choice of the date appears
equally remarkable. Did not Our Lady choose a day that had already long been
dedicated to Her? It was on May 13 that the Pope granted the request of John I,
that in the “Land of Holy Mary” all its cathedrals would henceforth be
dedicated to Her as to its Heavenly Patron.37
Moreover,
May 13 was also a feast of Mary, and doubly so. On this date at Rome there was
once celebrated an event of great symbolic importance. On May 13, 610, Pope
Boniface IV had consecrated the ancient Pantheon (which for five centuries had
been dedicated to all the gods of paganism)38 to the Mother of God
and all the martyrs.
For
some years May 13 had also been the feast of Our Lady of the Blessed
Sacrament, a devotion so dear to St. Julian Eymard and Pope St. Pius X, who
authorized its celebration, and granted indulgences to a prayer in Her honour,
as well as the invocation: “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us!”39
Is
it necessary to recall that, when the three seers felt themselves as though
wrapped in God, they exclaimed: “O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You. My God, my
God, I love You in the Most Blessed Sacrament.”? Did they receive then,
by the mediation of Mary, some light on the Divine Eucharistic Presence? It is
possible and the correlation would be even clearer.
THE
CYCLE OF THE SIX APPARITIONS. «... here, for six months in succession, on the
13th day, at this same hour.» This leads us from May 13 to October 13, and also
describes the cycle of apparitions between the two months dedicated to Our
Lady, the month of May and the month of the Rosary. No doubt also it is this
regularity, this precision of the heavenly rendezvous, which more than anything
else favoured the increase in the crowds coming to the Cova da Iria. What
firmness in this promise of Our Lady, by which all sincere and upright minds
found themselves as though held in suspense until October 13... For the Blessed
Virgin had added: «Then I will tell you who I am and what I want.»40
Therefore,
after the apparition of October 13, the children had no hesitation in answering
questions: «Will Our Lady appear again?»41 Canon Formigao asked that
very evening. And Lucy answered: «I do not expect Her to appear again...» Thus
it is quite clear that the apparitions formed a unique and well-defined cycle.42
And yet, the Blessed Virgin had added another promise...
“AFTERWARDS,
I WILL COME BACK HERE A SEVENTH TIME.” This last sentence, long omitted by
historians,43 no doubt because of its mysterious character, remains
for us uncertain in meaning to this day.
In
1946, during a brief stay at Fatima, Sister Lucy confided to Canon Galamba44
that Our Lady had appeared to her at the Cova da Iria on June 16, 1921, when
she stopped there early in the morning before leaving for the college of Vilar,
at Porto. It was a silent apparition, solely to comfort the little seer on this
day, when she believed she was leaving Aljustrel and the Cova da Iria forever.
Was
this apparition the seventh one announced on May 13, 1917? Certain authors
think so, and it is possible.45 But has Sister Lucy affirmed it categorically?
We do not know. While waiting for the decisive documents we cannot dismiss a
priori the hypothesis of Father Martins dos Reis: «In spite of its material
coincidence», he writes, «it is very doubtful that this seventh apparition, so
strictly individual, corresponds to the seventh apparition promised on May 13,
1917. If we consider the first six, this promised seventh apparition seems to
require and imply recipients and an audience of an equally general and
collective character. We do not know what Lucy thinks of this, or even, as is
most probable, whether she has concrete reasons for giving a judgment on this
question...
«Is
this promised apparition in relation with the third part of the secret?... When
the whole mystery of Fatima shall be completed?»46
According
to this hypothesis, may we not hope that when all Her requests shall have been
fully accomplished by the Holy Father and all the bishops of the world, Our
Lady, full of kindness, will manifest Herself a seventh time in the Cova da
Iria to mark the dawn of Her triumph?
THE
VOCATION OF HEAVEN
THE
MOST BEAUTIFUL PROMISE. Once the heavenly rendezvous had been fixed, the
dialogue continued again.