STORY OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA
APPARITION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY TO THE THREE LITTLE SEERS
PREPARATORY VISIT OF THE ANGEL TO THE LITTLE SEERS.
Before the great apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, the three children had begun to receive the unexpected visit of an angel who prepared them for their future mission.
APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA, THE QUEEN OF THE MOST HOLY ROSARY.
This historic event of our time happened in 1917 at Portugal, a country in Europe. Our Lady appeared six times consecutively to three little shepherds hailed from the little hamlet of Aljustrel, in the parish of Fatima. They were Jacinta Marto, a little girl of seven, Francisco Marto her brother, aged nine, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos aged ten. These little mountain shepherds could neither read nor write, but being brought up in a Christian manner they could pray and had learned their catechism assiduously. Lucia had made her first Holy Communion. Their parents possessed at Cova da Iria, two miles from their home, a small piece of land on which grew some evergreen Oaks.
THE FIRST APPARITION (SUNDAY, MAY 13, 1917)
“The Lady of apparition”, Lucia affirmed, “seems to be from fifteen to eighteen years of age. Her dress was of a very pure snow-whiteness. Her veil, which covered her head and most of her body, was embroidered with gold. Her face with an incomparable nobility had something of the supernatural and Divine; She seemed serene and grave, was shaded in sorrow. From Her hands joined at the height of the chest, was hanging a beautiful Rosary with beads like white ermine, resembling pearls and terminating with a crucifix. Her whole person, surrounded by a splendor more brilliant than the sun, radiated clusters of light, and especially Her face is of a beauty impossible to describe and incomparably superior to any human beauty”
MULTIPLE VISION
Then taking leave of the little seers, the Blessed Virgin opened her hands which throw beans of light towards the sun at the moment of the commencement of the solar prodigy, of which we shall speak shortly, the children see another apparition which unfolds itself beside the sun in three successive scenes.They see first the three members of the Holy family in this order: to the right of the sun and more brilliant than it, Our Lady of the Rosary in a white dress and a blue mantle and at the left dressed in red is St. Joseph with the infant Jesus blessing the world. Then Lucia saw at the right of the sun Our Divine Lord as a full-grown man, lovingly blessing the world, and at the left Our Lady of the seven Dolours is replaced by Our Lady of Mount-Carmel, with the scapular in her hand.
It has been asked why the Blessed Virgin who appeared always under the same aspect, had wished on this occasion to appear first with the Holy Family, then as Our Lady of the Seven Dolours, finally as Our Lady of Mount Camel. The usual answer, as we shall see later, is that Our Lady wished, in this manner, to impress more deeply on the minds of the faithful the tittle of Our Lady of the Rosary which she gave herself at Fatima recalling in the three successive scenes the three sets of mysteries, joyful, sorrowful and glorious, on which we meditate when we recite the Rosary.
THE GREAT SOLAR PRODIGY
“The Sun Dances”.At the end of the apparition, “The Blessed Virgin opened her hands which threw beans of light on the sun” Instinctively Lucia cried: “Oh! Look at the sun!”
No one was thinking of the sun, which had not appeared all the morning, But at the child’s exclamation, all raised their heads to see what was taking place. Then this vast multitude was able to contemplate at leisure for about twelve minutes, a grand spectacle, stupendous and truly unique.
Immediately the clouds opened wide, exposing an immense surface of blue. In the cloudless area the sun appeared at its zenith, but with a strange aspect. For though not a single cloud veiled it, yet while being very bright, it was not dazzling, and you could look straight at it at will. Everybody looked in surprise at this new kind of eclipse.
Suddenly the sun trembles, is shaken, makes some abrupt movements and finally begins to turn giddily on itself like a wheel of fire, casting in all directions, like an enormous lamp, great beams of light. These beams are in turn green, red, blue, violet, etc, and colour in a most fantastic manner the clouds, trees, rocks, the earth, the clothes and faces of this immense crowd, which extends as far as the eye can see. And while the breathless crowd, contemplates this amazing spectacle, the children see beside the sun three scenes already described.
After about four minutes the sun stops. A moment later it resumes a second time its fantastic motion and its fairy-like dance of light and colour such as could never be imagined in the most gorgeous display of fire-works. Once more after a few minutes, the sun stops its prodigious dance, as if to give the spectators a rest. After a short stop and for the third time, as if to give them an opportunity of examining the facts carefully, the sun takes up again, more varied and colourful than ever, its fantastic display of fireworks, without a doubt the most glorious and most moving that has ever been seen on this earth.
All through these unforgettable twelve minutes, during which this unique and gripping spectacle lasts the enormous multitude is there in suspense, immovable, almost in ecstasy, breathless, contemplating this moving drama, which was seen distinctly within a radius of more than twenty five miles.
This was the great miracle promised, which took place precisely at the time and place fixed, and which was to compel men to believe in the reality of the apparitions, and to obey the message which Our Lady of the Rosary brought them from heaven.
THE FALL OF THE SUN
The sight of this wonderful miracle had already well disposed all hearts and excited in them the most noble religious sentiments of lively faith in the power of God, of sincere adoration of His infinite majesty, and of absolute trust in the message of Fatima, so majestically confirmed but all this was, as it were, a preparation for the total renewal of souls.It was the terrible fall of the sun which was the culminating point of the great miracle, the most awful moment, and the most divinely moving, which finally brought many souls completely back to God by a sincere act of contrition and love.
Indeed in the midst of its crazy dance of fire and colours, like a gigantic wheel which from spinning has swung of its axis, so now the sun leaves its place in the firmament, and fallen from side to side, plunges zigzagging upon the crowd below, sending out a heat increasingly intense, and giving to the spectators a clear impression of the scene at the end of the world foretold in the Gospel, when the sun and the stars will fall in disorder upon the earth.
Then from this terrified crowd there suddenly escapes a terrible cry, an immense shout, betraying the religious terror of souls preparing seriously for death, confessing their faith and asking God pardon for their sins.
“I believe in God the Father Almighty,” cry some. “Hail Mary!” cry others.
“My God mercy!” Implore a large number. Many of the people falling on their knees in the mud, recite in a voice choking with sobs the most sincere act of contrition that has ever comes from their hearts.
Finally, stepping short in its vertiginous fall, the sun climbs back to its place, zigzagging as it had come down, and ends by gradually regaining its usual brilliance set in a limpid sky.
Moving detail: this apocalyptic scene full of majesty and terror ended with a delicate gift, which shows the motherly tenderness of the Heart of Mary for her children. Though all had been drenched to the skin, each now had the pleasant surprise of feeling quite conformable, his clothes being absolutely dry.
It is reported in Holy scripture that when Moses came down from Sinai, his face was still quite radiant with traces of the Divine colloquy. At Fatima also this vast multitude that had just witnessed wonders worthy of Sinai, departed gradually, happy, restrained, recollected, all radiant still from the Divine contact which had just renewed their souls in a baptism of faith, confidence, contrition and love, whose fiery impression will remain forever ineffaceable.
In this wonderful fact already authenticated in the official canonical process is also confirmed by Marquis da Cruz, member of the Academy who made a personal investigation of this point.
I believe in the apparitions of Our Lady Of Fatima
ReplyDeleteThank God for everything🙏
ReplyDelete