Fatima: The True Story / Part 3b

For those who believe, no explanation is necessary.
For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.

—Author Unknown

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As I’ve penned in the first post of "Fatima: The True Story,” I find myself wanting to retreat to a quieter place away from the mayhem.


I’ve decided to return to my ‘roots’ and record the true story of what happened in the very small village of Fatima in 1916.

Again, as I post these excerpts, I ask that the Holy Spirit touches the hearts of many and delivers its true message therefore eliminating any pre-judged prejudices regarding Catholicism – this, in my opinion, isn’t about ‘religion’ but, rather, the message.

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The following excerpts from the book, The True Story of Fatima, are true accounts taken directly from Lucia’s memoirs and have been personally checked by her.

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…When Lucia reached home, she said not a word to anyone about the Heavenly Visitor. After supper and prayers, she listened to the reading from the New Testament and went right to bed. How different were things in her cousins’ home! The Marto's had gone to market that day to buy a pig. They were not home when Francisco and Jacinta returned from the fields. Francisco, meanwhile, busied himself in the yard but Jacinta waited at the door for her parent’s arrival. She had already forgotten Lucia’s solemn warning, “Not a word, even to your mother.” Jacinta never kept any secrets from her mother, and today, when the greatest thing on earth had happened, how could she keep it from her mother?

Finally, her mother and father came in sight, her mother walking ahead, the father guiding the little animal. “The child ran to me,” her mother described the scene, “and took hold of me as she had never before done. ‘Mother,’ she burst out excitedly, ‘I saw Our Lady today in the Cova da Iria.’ ‘My! My!’ I said. ‘Don’t tell me. You must certainly be a good little girl to see Our Lady!”

“Sad and disappointed, she followed me into the house, insisting over and over again, ‘But I did see Her!’ Then she began to tell me all that had happened, the flash, their fear, the light. She told me how beautiful and pretty the Lady was, how the Lady was surrounded by a blinding light and how the Lady asked her to say the Rosary every day. I put no stock in her words, saying ‘You are really silly. As if Our Lady would appear to a little girl like you!”

“Then I began to mix the feed for the little pig. My husband was standing by the pen, watching to see how it would get along with the other animals. After the animals were fed, he came into the house and sat by the kitchen fire to eat his supper. His brother-in-law, Antonio da Silva, was with us and all my children were there. Then, with some severity, I told Jacinta to repeat this story of Our Lady at the Cova da Iria. Right away she began, with all the simplicity in the world.”

“It was a Lady so beautiful, so pretty… dressed in white, with a chain of gold around Her neck extending down to Her breast… Her head was covered with a white mantle, yes, very white… I don’t know but it was whiter even than milk… which covered Her to the feet… all embroidered in gold… how beautiful! She kept Her hands together, in this way.’ The cold rose from the stool, joined her hands at the breast, imitating the vision. ‘She had beads between Her fingers… Oh! What a beautiful Rosary She had… all of gold, brilliant as the stars at night with a crucifix that was shining. The Lady spoke a lot with Lucia, but never with me or with Francisco. I heard everything they said. Mother, it is necessary to say the Rosary every day! The Lady said this to Lucia. She said also that She would take the three of us to Heaven, Lucia, Francisco and me, too… and many other things I don’t know, but Lucia does. And when She entered into Heaven it seemed that the doors closed with such speed that Her feet were almost caught outside.”

Francisco confirmed the words of Jacinta. The girls in the family were most interested, but the boys all laughed at the story, echoing the words of their mother, “A good little saint you are, for Our Lady to appear to you.” Antonio da Silva tried to offer his explanation, “If the children saw a Lady all dressed in white… who could it be but Our Lady?”

The father, meanwhile, was mulling it over in his mind, trying to fit together the religious principles involved. Finally he said, “Since the beginning of time, Our Lady has appeared many times and im many ways. This is what has been helping us. If the world is in bad shape today, it would be worse, had there not been cases of this sort. The power of God is great! We do not yet know what it is, but it will be something… God’s will be done.” Later he confessed, “I believed what the children said was true almost at once. Yes, I believed immediately. For I was thinking that the children had received no education, not the least. Were it not for the help of Providence, they would never even have thought of it. Did I think the children might be lying? Not at all! Francisco and Jacinta were too much opposed to untruths.” Some time later, when the Bishop of Leiria published his official decision on the matter, he did no more than develop the arguments advanced by Ti Marto over his bowl of soup. Finally, they all retired, taking the father’s advice that they should leave it in God’s hands.

When Jacinta’s mother saw the next morning some of her neighbors, she related with a smiling condescension the children’s secrets. The news caused such a sensation that in no time at all it spread all through the village, finally reaching Lucia’s family.

Maria dos Anjos was the first to hear the news. “Lucia,” she said to her sister, “I have heard people talking, saying that you saw Our Lady at the Cova da Iria. Is that true?”

“Who told you?” Lucia was so surprised that the news had gotten out. She stood there, thinking. Then, after a while, she mumbled, “And I had asked her so much not to tell anyone!”

“Why?”

“I don’t know if it is Our Lady. It was a most beautiful Lady.”

“And what did that Lady tell you?”

“She wanted us to go to the Cova da Iria for six months, without interruption, and then She would say who She is and what She wants.”

“Didn’t you ask Her who She was?”

“I asked Her where She was from; and She said to me, ‘I am from Heaven.’”

Lucia fell into great silence so that she would not have to tell anything, but Maria coaxed her so much that she told her more.

Lucia was very sad. At this point Francisco came along and confirmed Lucia’s suspicion that it was Jacinta who had wagged her tongue. Senhora Maria Rosa laughed at the whole thing. But when her eldest daughter told her was Lucia had said, she realized something serious was taking place. Calling Lucia immediately, she made her repeat the whole story. The gossip is true! She hated to believe it, but it was beginning to appear that her child was turning out to be a liar!

The afternoon of the fourteenth, the children went out as usual with their sheep. Lucia, frightened as she was by her mother’s unbelieving attitude, walked along in silence. Jacinta, too, was miserable, embarrassed because she had broken her promise to Lucia. The joy of the vision had been quickly destroyed by the ridicule and disbelief that had met their sincere account of the vision. Finally, they reached the Cova da Iria, and Jacinta sat on a rock silent, gloomy as could be. Lucia, feeling sorry at her little cousin’s grief, forced a smile and said, “Jacinta, let’s play.”

“I don’t want to play today!”

“Why?”

“Because I am thinking that the Lady told us to say the Rosary and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. Now, when we say the Rosary, we have to say every word in the Hail Mary and the Our Father.”

“Yes,” Lucia agreed, “but how are we going to make sacrifices?”

“We can give our lunch to the sheep,” Francisco suggested.

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Part 3c to follow.

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The following video, “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima - Part 03 of 10 /”, courtesy of You Tube.



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