Our Lady of Fátima is an apparition of Mary that appeared multiple times to three shepherd children in a small village in Portugal. These apparitions took place between May and October 1917, right in the middle of World War I.
The first apparition happened on May 13th, 1917. “A woman in all white, more brilliant than the sun” appeared to the three children. Our Lady asked the children, "Do you wish to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings that He may please to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and to ask for the conversion of sinners?" The children responded with a simple “Yes”. Our Lady told the children "Then you will have much to suffer. But the grace of God will be your comfort." Again the Lady spoke, saying "Say the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war."
Our Lady would then go on to appear to the three children on the 13th of each month for six straight months, always telling them "I want you to come here on the thirteenth day of the coming month and to recite five decades of the Rosary every day." Each month, more and more people would come to see Our Lady’s apparitions. However, only the three children were able to see Our Lady. One of the children asked Our Lady to provide a sign for those who did not believe that she had come.
On the day of the last apparition, October 13th, a crowd of 70,000 had come. Our Lady told the children, "Have them build a Chapel here in My honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Let them continue to say the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes." Our Lady ascended from the children’s vision, and the crowd of 70,000 saw something strange. The sun had begun to dance in the sky with a multitude of colors. Although it had been raining during the time of the apparition, the crowd found that the ground and their clothes had dried. This had marked the last of the public apparitions of Fátima, but the three children would still see Our Lady from time to time.
Prayer to Our Lady of Fatima
O Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of the most holy Rosary, you were pleased to appear to the children of Fatima and reveal a glorious message. We implore you, inspire in our hearts a fervent love for the recitation of the Rosary. By meditating on the mysteries of the redemption that are recalled therein may we obtain the graces and virtues that we ask, through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
