Our Lady of Fátima

Between May and October, 1917, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in the fields outside Fatima, Portugal. She would come and speak to them on the 13th of every month, in what was to become one of the world's best known Marian apparitions.

On her last visit, a crowd of 70,000 people (including, the story goes, members of the sceptical, anti-religious press) witnessed the great Miracle of Fatima: some people in the crowd said that the sun began dancing around in the sky and went completely dark for several minutes before returning to its proper place, although there is no independent verification of this incident and no movement of the sun was registered by scientists at the time.

Most of the interest in Fatima, however, revolves around the famous Three Secrets of Fatima, which include remarkable visions of the future. The first described a horrific vision of Hell, while the second foretold the end of World War I, the beginning of World War II and called for the "Consecration of the Sacred Heart of Russia." Many believe Pope John Paul II fulfilled this request by giving a blessing over Russia shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The third secret was kept under wraps by the Vatican until Easter 2000 -- despite the Virgin's declaration that it could be released to the public in 1960. This naturally led to much speculation over its contents; many believed it concerns either corruption within the church or else contains details of an assassination plot against the Pope. The secret was belived by some to refer to the assassination of the Pope and the conversion of Russia. The secret is described as foretelling the 1981 assassination attempt against the Pope, who was wounded when a Turkish gunmen opened fire in St. Peter's Square. The shooting occurred on May 13, the date of the first of the reported Fatima visions.

Of the three children, siblings Francisco and Jacinta Martos and their cousin Lucia dos Santos, only Lucia is still alive. She lives in the convent of the Carmelite Sisters of Coimbra, which she first entered in 1928. Francisco and Jacinta Martos both perished in the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919, and were declared "venerable" (two steps away from sainthood) in 1989. On May 13, 2000 both were declared blessed. (See Canonization for more on that process.)

The cult of the Lady of Fatima was used by the authoritarian Antonio Salazar regime to bolster himself in power and persecute liberal opposition. This long period of dictatorship was even referred to as the time of Fado, Fatima, and Football.

-- [[1]] - Official Vatican Statement releasing the third secret of Fatima