Marking the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima
With great acclaim, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal this year on May 13th, 2017.
On May 13, 1917 — 100 years ago — while tending sheep, Lucia dos Santos and her two younger cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, reported seeing a woman “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light” in the sky. The apparitions of the Virgin Mother Mary began on May 13 of that year and then again on the 13th day of five subsequent months. During these apparitions Mary identified herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary,” asking the three poor children to pray the rosary daily for the conversion of sinners. She asked for prayer, penance and the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.
The most spectacular of the apparitions was on Oct. 13, 1917, the final one, when Mary appeared with St. Joseph. The miracle was predicted beforehand by the Virgin Mary, and so a crowd of 70,000 went to the Cove in Fatima. On that day everyone present witnessed the sun spinning and dancing through the sky, displaying itself in various colors and descending on the people, drying their wet clothes and the land from the soaking rain.
Francisco and Jacinta died very young, within one or two years of the apparition. Lucia became a Carmelite nun and was 97 years old when she died. During the apparitions Mary had shown the children the vision of hell and spoke of the ending of World War I, the beginning of World War II and the need for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. The third secret of Fatima had to do with the image of a “bishop clothed in white” being shot. Then, Pope John Paul II attributed this secret to the assassination attempt by Mehmet Ali Agca of Turkey on him in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. St. John Paul II believed that this secret described the events of that day. In 1982 St. John Paul II went to Fatima and placed a bullet fragment from his body in the crown of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. John Paul II credits his survival of the assassination attempt to the Blessed Virgin Mary, describing how “a mother’s hand guided the bullet’s path.”
That same day, John Paul II beatified the two young cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, and on May 13, 2017, when Pope Francis visited Fatima to mark the 100th anniversary of the apparitions, he canonized Jacinta and Francisco, who are now the youngest, non-martyred saints in Church history. During his Papacy, Pope Benedcit XVI lifted the normal five-year waiting period to begin the process of canonization of Sister Lucia dos Santos.
Like the shrines at Our Lady of Lourdes in France and Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, millions of pilgrims travel from around the world to visit the shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. Pilgrims give thanks to Our Lady and to pray for help. Many walk to the town and some complete the last few hundred meters on their knees. The faithful come for spiritual, physical and mental healing. We all can, in a special way, receive blessings from Our Lady of Fatima by doing the First Saturdays Devotion, or the Act of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In December of 1925 Mary appeared to Sister Lucia of Fatima and promised, “to assist at the hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all those who, with the intention of making reparation to me, will on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say the rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary.” We all can participate in honoring Our Lady by commemorating the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima and receive many blessings from her even today. May Our Lady of Fatima watch over and protect all of you!