This week sees the one-year anniversary of the death of Lucia Dos Santos who in 1917, as a 10 year old, claimed to have had a series of apparitions in a field near Fatima Portugal. (A year earlier than this she also claimed to have seen Jesus. This is one of the only reported apparitions of the son of God)
The apparitions at Fatima Portugal took place on the 13th day of each month from May to October 1917. There were 3 witnesses to the apparitions and they were all children. 10 year old Lucia Dos Santos and her two cousins, 9 year old Francisco Marto and his baby sister Jacinta only 7 years of age. From the very beginning much of what was reported as being the children’s recollections were actually ‘interpretations’ by those desperate to take the spotlight during what must have been exciting times for these simple villagers. During the apparition of July 13th Our Lady gave the children a message. The children were not frightened as they listened. There were no visions of hell and the words used by the Virgin Mary were not cryptic so as to confuse a child. Each of the Shepherd children stood motionless as they heard Our Lady explain that three events would occur. The children were told that they could tell their parents of the first two predictions. As Our Lady began to reveal the third event she turned to Lucia and said, "only you can hear me now child." Lucia would later record the 3rd secret of Fatima on two small pieces of plain notepaper and request that her note be delivered to Rome and handed to the Holy Father with instructions that the message be relayed to all Catholics. The message from Our Lady was never made public.
Filmmaker Mel Gibson has secured the rights to 'Stealing from Angels' a book based on the Vatican break-in of 1978, which may reveal for the first time the true message of Fatima. More information here:
3rdsecretoffatima.com
Sister Francis May is secretary of the Fatima Foundation of Portugal