STORY OF THE FRUSTRATED APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA

[MONDAY, AUGUST 13th 1917]

Prior to this day, there was a hoax [a joking deception] spreading through the village that the devil would appear this time at the Cova da Iria to cause the earth to open up and swallow all those who were there.  In spite of the rumor, however, many persons traveled to the holy spot, which the newspapers estimated at eighteen thousand.  Among which was Maria de Capelinha - the lady of the little chapel, she gives an eye witness account of what went on.

“I was not afraid, I knew there was nothing evil about the apparition because if there were, the people would not be praying at the Cova.  My constant prayer as I walked along was:  ‘May Our Lady guide me according to God’s Holy Will.’ The crowd at the Cova on August thirteenth was even larger than in July.

“About eleven O’clock, Lucia’s sister, Maria dos Anjos, came with some candles to light to Our Lady.  The people prayed and sang religious hymns around the holmoak.  The absence of the children made them very restless.  When it became known that the magistrate had kidnapped them, a terrible resentment went through the crowd.  There is no telling what it might have turned into, had it not thundered just then.  Some thought the thunder came from the road; others thought that it came from the holmoak; but it seemed to me that it came from a distance.  It frightened us all and many began to cry fearing they were going to be killed of course, no one was killed.

“Right after the thunder came a flash and immediately, we all noticed a little cloud very white, beautiful and bright, that came and stayed over the holmoak, it stayed a few minutes then rose towards the heavens where it disappeared.  Looking about, we noticed a strange sight that we had already seen and would see again.  Everyone’s face glowed, rose, red, blue, and all the colours of the rainbows.  The trees seemed to have no branches or leaves but were all covered with flowers; every leaf was a flower.  The ground was in little squares, each one a different colour.  Our clothes seemed to be transformed also into the colours of the rainbow.  The two vigil lanterns hanging from the arch over the holy spot appeared to be gold.

“When the signs disappeared, the people seemed to realize that Our Lady had come and not finding the children, had returned to Heaven.  They felt that Our Lady was disappointed and hence they were exceedingly upset.  Resentment grew in their hearts.   They started towards the village, clamoring against the magistrate, the Pastor and anyone they thought might have had anything to do with the arrest of the children.”

Everything had been so beautiful but the sense of frustration at not having the children for the apparition made the people see with the anger and roar out, “Let’s go to Ourem to protest. Let’s go and drench everything with blood.  We’ll get hold of the Pastor, for he is just as guilty…  And the Regedor, we’ll settle accounts with him.”
Ti Marto, meanwhile, had gone to the Cova da Iria, and when this shouting of the people grew louder and louder, though he considered both the Pastor and the Magistrate guilty he felt inspired to intervene in the tumult.

“Be calm men, be calm.”  He shouted with all his might. “Don’t hurt anyone.  Whoever deserves punishment will get it.  All this is by the power of the one above.”

Indeed, the One above also intervened to preserve for His Mother the name of Fatima forever gracious and unstained as is evidenced by the letter, which the Pastor wrote the following day for the newspapers.  It was published a few days later:

“The rumor that I was an accomplice to the sudden kidnapping of the children…. I repel as an unjust and insidious calumny… The Magistrate did not confide the secret of his intentions to me…

“And if it was providential, for such it was, that the authority succeeded in taking the children away furtively, and without resistance, no less providential was the calming of the spirits, excited by this devilish rumor, for otherwise the parish would have been mourning her Pastor today.  Certainly, it was through the Virgin Mother that this snare of the devil did not strike him dead… .

“The authority wanted the children to reveal a secret that they have told to no one… Thousand of witnesses say that the children were not necessary for the Queen of the Angels to manifest her power.  They themselves will testify to the extraordinary occurrences, which have now so deeply rooted their belief…. The Virgin Mother does not need the presence of the Pastor to show her kindness, and this itself should explain my absence and apparent indifference regarding a case so marvelous and sublime… .”