Apparition of May 13,
1917
Leading their flock out
from Aljustrel on the morning of the 13th of May, the feast of Our Lady of the
Blessed Sacrament, the three children passed Fátima, where the parish church
and cemetery could be found, and proceeded a kilometer or so north to
the slopes of the Cova. Here they allowed their sheep to graze as they played
in the pasture land sprinkled with the occasional oak tree. After having had
their lunch about noon they decided to pray a rosary, although in a
somewhat truncated fashion, saying only the first words of each prayer.
Shortly, they were startled by what they later described as "lightening in
a clear sky." Thinking that a storm might be approaching
they debated whether they should take the sheep and go home. Preparing to do so
they were again surprised by a strange light.
And we began to go down the slope driving the sheep towards the road. When we were half-way down, near a holm oak there [the large tree which today is encircled with an iron fence], we saw another flash of lightening, and after a few steps we saw on a holm oak [a small one lower on the hillside] a lady dressed in white, shining brighter thanthe sun, giving out rays of clear and intense light, just like a crystal goblet full of pure water when the fiery sun passes through it. We stopped astounded by the Apparition. We were so near that we were in the light that encircled her, or which she radiated, perhaps a meter and a half away [4-5 feet].
Please don't be afraid
of me, I'm not going to harm you.
Lucia responded for all
three, as she would throughout the apparitions.
"Where are you
from?"
I come from heaven.
The Lady wore a pure
white mantle, edged with gold and which fell to her feet. In her hands the
beads of a rosary shone like stars, with its crucifix the most radiant gem of
all. Still, Lucia felt no fear. The Lady's presence produced in her only
gladness and confident joy.
"And what do you
want of me?"
I want you to return
here on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months, and at the very
same hour. Later I shall tell you who I am, and what it is that I most desire.
And I shall return here yet a seventh time.
"And shall I go to
heaven?"
Yes, you will.
"And
Jacinta?"
She will go too.
"And
Francisco?"
Francisco, too, my dear,
but he will first have many Rosaries to say.
For a few moments the
Lady looked at Francisco with compassion, tinged with a little sadness. Lucia
then remembered some friends who had died.
"Is Maria Neves in
heaven?"
Yes, she is.
"And
Amelia?"
She is in
purgatory. She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.
Will you offer
yourselves to God, and bear all the sufferings He sends you? In atonement for
all the sins that offend Him? And for the conversion of sinners?
"Oh, we will, we
will!"
Then you will have a
great deal to suffer, but the grace of God will be with you and will strengthen
you.
Lucia relates that as
the Lady pronounced these words, she opened her hands, and we were bathed
in a heavenly light that appeared to come directly from her hands. The light's
reality cut into our hearts and our souls, and we knew somehow that this light
was God, and we could see ourselves embraced in it. By an interior impulse of
grace we fell to our knees, repeating in our hearts: "Oh, Holy Trinity,
we adore You. My God, my God, I love You in the Blessed Sacrament."
The children remained
kneeling in the flood of this wondrous light, until the Lady spoke again,
mentioning the war in Europe, of which they had little or no knowledge.
Say the Rosary every
day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.
After that she began to
rise slowly in the direction of the east, until she disappeared in the immense
distance. The light that encircles Her seemed to make a way amidst the stars,
and that is why we sometimes said we had seen the heavens open.
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