First Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima: May 13th, 1917

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Today is the 107th Anniversary of Our Lady's appearance to the Children of Fatima!

The following is gratefully taken from today's Bulletin from the Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary:

Our Lady of Fátima
Feast Day - Today, May 13th

Today is a special feast day of our Blessed Lady, and the anniversary of her first appearance at Fátima, Portugal. On Sunday, May 13th, 1917, the world changed, and no one noticed.

It was a bright, sun-filled midday at the Cova da Iria, and its rocky hillsides were sprinkled with wildflowers, when three young children: Lucia dos Santos, with her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, beheld the vision of a beautiful woman dressed in white and surrounded with brilliant light who claimed to be from heaven. She continued appearing to the same children at the same location for the following five months. Finally, in October, she revealed herself as The Lady of the Rosary and performed the largest spectacle ever witnessed in Church history, which became known as The Miracle of the Sun.

After a long Church investigation, the apparitions and miracle were officially approved; deemed as authentic supernatural appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and worthy of belief.

In her interviews after the apparitions, Lucia described this vision of Our Lady as being "full of light" and that "the light that surrounded her was more beautiful than the light of the sun, and more brilliant” …also stating that, “As she pronounced the words: ‘the grace of God will be your comfort’, Our Lady opened her hands, communicating to us a light so intense that, as it streamed from her hands, its rays penetrated our hearts and the innermost depths of our souls, making us see ourselves in God, Who was that light, better than we see ourselves in the best of mirrors.”

In his account of the apparition in the book, The Whole Truth About Fatima, Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité expounds on this astonishing phenomenon in detail:

"Thus, we note that this first vision of Our Lady, 'All of Light' reveals a fundamental truth, essential to the understanding of the Fátima Message. It was her risen body in all the splendor of its glory in which she manifested herself. Once again, there is perfect agreement between the testimony of the three shepherds and that of Holy Scripture. The evangelist writes of the transfigured Jesus: 'His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light.' (Mt. 17: 2) In the great vision of the glorious Christ which opens the Apocalypse, Jesus appears to the Disciple as a Son of man, whose face was ‘like the sun shining at full strength”. (Apoc. 1: 16) When He throws Saul down to the ground on the road to Damascus, it is once again in the same light. 'At midday', the Apostle relates, 'I saw on my way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining round me and those who journeyed with me.' (Acts 26: 13) The light was so bright that he lost his sight."

"The sun is only the image of the divine light with which the risen Bodies of Jesus and Mary shine. It was thus that the Virgin appeared at Fátima, like the Spouse in the Canticle of Canticles, 'fair as the moon, bright as the sun' (Cant. 6: 10), and also like the Woman of the Apocalypse, 'a woman clothed with the sun'. (Apoc. 12: 1) By her apparitions at the Cova, the Blessed Virgin confirms for us, that as Mother of the 'Sun of Justice', she has been clothed with the divine Light since her Assumption. While remaining a creature and fully human, she has penetrated, so to speak, into the sphere of the divinity."

“In this we can see a delicate sign of the care of the Mother of God, wishing to signify to her children that she is indeed the “Catholic” Virgin, of whom they sing with love when they offer praises in her honor: She is the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Spouse of the Word of God, the living Sanctuary of the Spirit of Love and of Light. She is the perfect figure and personification of the Church, the Virgin who has risen up to heaven in glory, in body and soul. She is the Queen of heaven and earth, who has already been introduced into the great Light of God. Here, it is the Immaculate One who flashes forth the light and power of God! The Blessed Virgin wishes to teach us of her role as Mediatrix of all graces”

In all of her apparitions, Our Lady was very sad: "People must stop offending God, because He is already too much offended." She conveyed a message with precise requests, warnings and promises concerning the Faith and the world; predicting that if her requests were not honored, many souls would be lost; and that mankind would suffer dire consequences. However, if her requests were fulfilled, the world would be granted a great period of peace.

With each visit, Our Lady especially insisted that we pray the daily Rosary. During her June appearance, the young seers witnessed the greatest manifestation ever given of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; when the Blessed Virgin presented her Heart completely encircled by piercing thorns, while she tenderly explained:

“Jesus wishes to establish the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. I promise salvation to those who embrace it, and their souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by myself to adorn His throne.”

Again, Our Lady affirmed the importance of this devotion during the following month, when after instructing the children to sacrifice themselves for sinners, so to save them from the fires of hell, she showed them a frightful vision of the damned, saying:

"You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart."

Sadly, most Catholics today doubt about the existence of hell; while most believe that the Blessed Virgin's message has been relegated to the past and that it no longer pertains to the modern world. But they are terribly mistaken. Hell exists, as Our Lady so vividly revealed; and her message is more relevant now than it ever was.

Such misguided perceptions are due, in great part, to the tragic effects of Modernism infested within the Church, and the current state of apostasy and diabolic confusion which this heresy has fostered, all of which Our Lady gravely spoke about at Fátima. She especially gave to the world a very stern warning:

“If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, and various nations will be annihilated.”

With tensions currently boiling over in Ukraine and Palestine, the drums of world war are beating louder each day, so we can readily see how the reality of this ominous message could suddenly explode upon us all.

In 1946, the great American historian, Professor William Thomas Walsh, interviewed Sr. Lucia at her convent in Portugal. During that conversation, Professor Walsh specifically asked her about the consequences of not fulfilling Our Lady’s requests:

“In your opinion, will every country, without exception, be overcome by Communism?” Sr. Lucia answered: “Yes.” Wanting to be positive about her answer, Professor Walsh emphatically repeated the question by adding: “And does that mean the United States of America too?” Sr. Lucia answered: “Yes.”

Truly, Our Lady's warning of a Divine chastisement certainly seems much more certain than ever. But, while chaos and global unrest should sound an alarm, it should not induce in souls the terror and fear advanced on so many worldly levels. Father Hewko reminds us how: "Children of God do not live by fear. We fear to offend God, but don't live by fear."

Let’s flashback now to Father's sermon of Our Lady’s first visit given on last year’s feast day; words which still ring true today. Whether souls realize it or not, the world around us connects directly to the message of Fatima: