The Six Apparitions of Our Lady

(MAY 13 - OCTOBER 13, 1917)¹

Sunday, May 13, 1917:
«I AM OF HEAVEN»

       On Sunday, May 13, 1917, the three little shepherds had gone to the chapel of Boleiros to assist at the first Mass, "the Mass of the souls," as they used to say then, for it was a Mass celebrated for the souls in Purgatory, which was a treasured devotion in the piety of the Portuguese. After returning home early in the morning, they left at once to feed their flocks. As a place of pasture, Lucy writes, «we had chosen that day, by chance, or rather according to a plan of Divine Providence, the property belonging to my parents, called Cova da Iria² ... For that, we had to pass through an uncultivated terrain, which doubled the length of our long road.

       After eating their meal and praying the Rosary, the children were at the point of building a wall around a bush. «Suddenly, Sister Lucy relates in her fourth Memoir, we saw a kind of lightning. "It is better to return home", I said to my cousins, "for there is lightning, and there could come a storm." - "Oh yes!"

       «Arriving more or less half-way down the slope, at the level of the top of a large holm-oak which was situated there, after walking a few more steps we saw another flash of light. On a small holm-oak there stood a Lady, all dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun, radiating a light clearer and more intense than a crystal glass filled with clear water pierced by the most burning rays of the sun. We stopped, surprised by this Apparition. We were so close that we found ourselves in the light which surrounded Her, or rather which emanated from Her, perhaps a meter and a half away, more or less.

       «Then Our Lady said to us:

       - Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.

       - Where is Your Grace from? I asked Her.

       - I am of Heaven.

       - What does Your Grace want of me?

       - I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.

       - Shall I go to Heaven too?

       - Yes, you will.

       - And Jacinta?

       - Also.

       - And Francisco?

       - Also, but he will have to say many Rosaries.³

       «I remembered then to ask about two girls who had died recently. They were friends of mine and they used to come to my home to learn weaving with my eldest sister.»

       - Is Maria das Neves⁴ already in Heaven?

       - Yes, she is.

       «It seems to me that she was about sixteen years old.»

       - And Amelia?⁵

       - She will be in Purgatory until the end of the world.

       «It seems to me that she must have been between eighteen and twenty years old.»

       - Yes, we are willing.

       «It was in pronouncing those last words (the grace of God, etc.) that Our Lady opened Her hands for the first time, and communicated to us, as by a reflection which emanated from them, a light so intense that, penetrating our heart and even to the depths of our soul, it made us see ourselves in God, Who was this light, more clearly than we see ourselves in the best mirrors.»

       «Then, moved by an interior impulse which was communicated to us, we fell on our knees and we repeated: ‘Oh Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee. My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Holy Sacrament.’]

       «The first moments passed, and Our Lady added:

       - Can You tell me whether the war will still last a long time, or if it will soon end?⁸

       - I cannot tell you yet, as I have not yet told you what I want.

       «Then She began to rise serenely, going up towards the east until She disappeared in the immensity of the sky. The light which surrounded Her seemed to open a path for Her among the stars, and for this reason we said sometimes that we had seen Heaven opening.⁹

       «The Lady of the Apparition, Lucy affirmed, seemed not to be more than 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, and 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.¹⁰»

Wednesday, June 13, 1917:
THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY PIERCED WITH THORNS

       Let us now listen to Lucy relate the Apparition in her fourth Memoir.¹¹

       «June 13, 1917. After reciting the Rosary with Jacinta, Francisco and other people present, we again saw the reflection of the light which was approaching (what we would call lightning) and then we saw Our Lady, on the holm-oak, just as in the month of May.

       - What does Your Grace want of me? I asked.

       - I asked for the cure of a sick person.

       - If he is converted, he will be cured within the year.

       [¹² - I would like to ask You to take us to Heaven.

       - Am I to stay here alone? I asked painfully.

       «It was at the moment when She pronounced those last words that She opened Her hands and communicated to us, for the second time, the reflection of that immense light. In it we saw ourselves as submerged in God. Jacinta and Francisco appeared to be in the part of that light which elevated itself to Heaven, and I in the part which spread itself on the earth.

       «In the palm of the right hand of Our Lady there was a Heart, surrounded by thorns which seemed to pierce it¹⁵. We understood that it was the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, which demanded reparation.]»

Friday, July 13:
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE GREAT MIRACLE AND THE SECRET

       Let us now listen to the messenger of Heaven relate this apparition¹⁶.

       «July 13, 1917. Some moments after our arrival at the Cova da Iria, near the holm-oak, in the midst of a great crowd of people, while we were reciting the Rosary, we saw the flash of the usual light and then saw Our Lady on the holm-oak.

       - What does Your Grace want of me? I asked.

       - I should like to ask You to tell us who You are, and to work a miracle so that everyone will believe that Your Grace is appearing to us.

       «Here I made some requests which I do not remember.¹⁷ What I do remember, is that Our Lady said it was necessary to say the Rosary in order to obtain these graces throughout the year. And she continued:

       «As Our Lady spoke these last words, She opened Her hands once more, as She had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.»

       Here, in her Third Memoir, Lucy added: «that vision lasted only a moment, thanks to our Good Mother of Heaven, Who, at the first apparition, promised to bring us to Heaven. Without that, I think we would have died of terror and fear.»¹⁹

       Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:

       «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. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

       «To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If My requests are heeded, Russia²⁰ 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, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph²¹. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved etc ...²² Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him.

       «When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.»

       After this, there was a moment of silence, and then I asked:

       «Is there anything more that You want of me?»

       «No, I do not want anything more of you today.»

       Then, as before Our Lady began to ascend towards the east, until She finally disappeared in the immense distance of the firmament.

See photo of Pope John Paul II's Apostolic blessing to Father Gruner in "The International Fatima Rosary Crusade"

Monday, August 13:
«CERTAINLY OUR LADY HAS COME»

       On the 13th of August, the day chosen by Our Lady to appear at the Cova da Iria, the district Administrator went to Aljustrel, and while pretending to give the children a ride to the Cova where Our Lady was waiting for them, he took them in the opposite direction, he kidnapped them and took them to Vila Nova de Ourem. There they were detained in the town hall, then at the home of the Administrator and finally in the prison. He spared neither promises nor threats to extract the Secret from them, even to the point of threatening to boil them in oil.

       Seeing he was getting nowhere with his promises and threats the Administrator released the three little children on the 15th of August back in Fatima.

       Meanwhile on August 13th let us listen to one of the witnesses:

       «Around the holm-oak, we prayed, we sang hymns of the Church. But the little ones were late in coming, and everyone began to get impatient. Thereupon, someone came from Fatima saying that the Administrator had taken the children away.

       «There arose then a disturbance, and I do not know what would have happened if, suddenly, a clap of thunder had not made itself heard. The clap of thunder was more or less similar to that of the preceding time.

       «At the clap of thunder there followed lightning, and at once we began to notice a small cloud, very pretty, white in color, very light, which hovered some moments over the holm-oak, then rose towards the sky, and disappeared in the atmosphere²³.

       «While looking around us, we observed a strange thing, which we had already seen the previous time, and which we were going to see again in the future. The faces of the people had all the colors of the rainbow: pink, red, blue ... The trees did not appear to have branches and leaves but only flowers; everything seemed laden with flowers, and every leaf appeared to be a flower. The ground was covered with squares of different colors. Clothes were also of every color of the rainbow. The two lanterns attached to the arch appeared to be made of gold.²⁴»

       Briefly, everything had happened outwardly as if the apparition had taken place. Our Lady, it was obvious, had not missed the rendezvous. And She had manifested Her presence by imposing signs, witnessed by most of the pilgrims present that day. Manuel Gonçalves, from the hamlet of Montelo, would be able to testify to Canon Formigao on October 11: «There were many extraordinary signs. In August, almost all those who were there saw them.²⁵»

An artist’s depiction of the "Vision of Hell" shown by Our Lady to the three shepherd children of Fatima. For more information about this Vision, see the secion for "Friday, July 13" above. Also see "Hell and the Secret"

Sunday, August 19:
THE APPARITION AT "VALINHOS"

        On Sunday, August 19, after assisting at the parish Mass, the three little shepherds, accompanied by several persons, left for the Cova da Iria in order to say the Rosary there. In the afternoon, Lucy and Francisco, with John, his brother a little older, took the road of Valinhos (the small valleys), to feed their flocks. It was the closest, most grassy pasture, at mid-elevation between Aljustrel and the top of the Cabeço. Let us listen to Sister Lucy relate the unexpected apparition which came to shower them with an immense joy:

       «I felt that something supernatural was approaching and enveloping us²⁶. Suspecting that Our Lady was going to appear to us, and feeling sorry that Jacinta would not be there to see Her, we asked her brother John to go and get her.²⁷» But John wanted to stay, to see Our Lady as well! Then Lucy, who had with her two coins, had an idea: «I will give you two nickels if you bring back Jacinta to me! Here is one now, and I will give you the other when you return!» He left with all haste while Francisco shouted to him: «Tell her to come running!²⁸» It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

       «In the meantime, Lucy continues, I saw with Francisco the flash of light, what we called lightning. Jacinta having arrived, an instant later, we saw Our Lady upon a holm-oak²⁹:

       - What does Your Grace want from me?

       - I want you to continue going to the Cova da Iria on the 13th, that you continue praying the Rosary every day. On the last month, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe. If they had not taken you to the city³⁰, the miracle would have been greater. Saint Joseph will come with the Child Jesus, to give peace to the world. Our Lord will come to bless the people. Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows will come also³¹.

Father Gruner, founder of the International Fatima Rosary Crusade, (see "The International Fatima Rosary Crusade") near Valinhos explaining the appearance of the Angel to Fatima pilgrims.

       - What do you want them to do with the money³² the people leave at the Cova da Iria³³?

       - Have two litters made. You will carry one with Jacinta and two other girls dressed in white; the other one Francisco is to carry, with three boys, like him, dressed in white. It will be for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. What is left over will help towards the construction of a chapel that is to be built³⁴.

       - I should like to ask you to cure some sick persons.

       - Yes, I will cure some of them during the year.

       «Then, looking more sad, Our Lady said:

       - Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them.

       «And as usual, She began to ascend towards the east.³⁵»

Thursday, September 13:
A MARVELLOUS APPARITION

       It was Lucy who recited the Rosary in a loud voice, while the people answered. Only the murmur of prayers could be heard. Suddenly, shouts of joy rang out ... some arms were raised, and showed something in the sky. "Look! ... You don’t see it?" - "Yes, I see it!" ... A luminous globe, travelling from the east to the west, gliding slowly and majestically in space ...

       ... It floated in fact towards the holm-oak of the apparition. Then, the light of the sun dimmed, the atmosphere became a yellow-gold, like the previous times. The day so darkened that some reported having seen the stars in the sky. It was then that Lucy questioned the Immaculate Virgin³⁶:

       «What does Your Grace want of me?

       - Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October, Our Lord will come as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Saint Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus in order to bless the world.³⁷

       God is satisfied with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to sleep with the rope. Wear it only during the day.³⁸

       - There is a little girl here who is a deaf-mute. Would not Your Grace wish to cure her?

       Our Lady replied that a year from now, she would be better.

       - I have many other requests, some for conversion, others for a cure.

       - I shall cure some, but others no, because Our Lord does not trust them.

       - The people would indeed like to have a chapel here.

       - With half of the money received so far, they should make litters and carry them on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; the other half can be used to build the chapel.

       Lucy then said that she offered Her two letters and a small flask of water with a fragrance which had been given her by a man of the parish of Olival. In offering them to Our Lady, she said to Her:

       - They gave me that. Does Your Grace want it?

       - That is not suitable for Heaven, Our Lady replied³⁹.

       The Fourth Memoir adds:

       - In October I will perform the miracle, so that all may believe.

       And She began to ascend, disappearing as usual.⁴⁰»

Saturday, October 13:
«I AM OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY»

       On October 13, at noon, solar time, when the apparition of the miracle was to occur, at the Cova da Iria there were from fifty to seventy thousand persons.

       Suddenly, «Lucy looked towards the east and said to Jacinta: "Oh, Jacinta! Kneel down, Our Lady is arriving! I have already seen the lightning!"⁴¹» Our Lady was appearing above the holm-oak. And Lucy, that time, fell as into an ecstasy: «Jacinta, then gave Lucy a nudge with her elbow, and said to her: "Speak, Lucy, Our Lady is already there!" Then Lucy came to herself, breathed twice deeply, as someone who had no more breath, and began her conversation with Our Lady.⁴²

       - What does Your Grace want of me?

       - I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in My honor. I am The Lady of the Rosary. May you continue always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end⁴³ and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.

       - I have many things to ask You: to cure some sick people, to convert some sinners, etc.

       - Some yes, others no. They must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins.

       And taking on a more sorrowful air:

       - Do not offend the Lord Our God any more, for He is already too much offended⁴⁴!»

FOOTNOTES:

1) This chapter is a summary of "The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume I", Part I, Chapters 4-9, pages 109-322.

2) Probably shortly after the apparitions of 1917, the newspaper "O Mensageiro" gave this description of the Cova da Iria: «The place called Cova da Iria is horrible ... rather dry, without water, the mountain of Fatima or of Reguengo has nothing admirable: oak trees, piling up of rocks, pine-groves, and here and there, a cultivated patch. It is a basin without a horizon when one passes by the road which goes from Fatima to Ourem. There is a highland vegetation.» (Quoted by A. de Matos, "8 dias com as videntes da Cova da Iria em 1917," page 85)

3) The Virgin of Fatima, always measured in Her demands, did not ask Francisco to "recite many 15 Decade Rosaries," as some authors say. Sister Lucy, having lived for a long time in Spain, often used the language of the country, and then she spoke of ‘Rosary’, which designates at the same time, in Spanish, -5 decades of the Rosary, ‘the Beads’, and the Rosary, properly called, of the 15 decades. "If I addressed a Spaniard, Lucy explained, it is possible that, in place of ‘the Beads’ I wrote ‘Rosary’, because in that country the ‘Beads’ is called ‘the Rosary’. ("A Vidente de Fatima dialoga", page 40). From there the confusion comes. When Lucy was asked if Our Lady carried on Her arm a full Rosary or just ‘the Beads’, she replied simply: «What do you want? I did not count the decades!» (Barthas, Fat. 1917-1968, page 69, "Beads or Rosary?"). Even if, as Canon Barthas remarks, the primitive interrogators carry simply the words: «He too must say his Beads», the definitive formula of Sister Lucy: «He will have to say many ‘Beads’», corresponds better to the manner in which the three seers understood the request of Our Lady.

4) Maria das Neves died on Feb. 26, 1917. See Fernando Leite, "Les Apparitions de Fatima", Tequi, 1987, page 8.

5) Amelia died March 28, 1917. See Leite, op. cit.

6) We indicate between brackets the parts of the message kept secret by the seers at the moment of the apparitions and revealed only later by Lucy.

7) «... and to make amends for the blasphemies and for all the offenses made to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,» added Father da Fonseca in his version of the message. Father Alonso, completely regretting that unwarranted interpolation, thinks nevertheless that «from the first apparition, there has been a veritable manifestation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary». He supports that among other factors, from the fact that Sister Lucy has never asked Father da Fonseca for the suppression of that phrase added by him in the text of the Memoirs (cf. "Fatima et le Coeur Immaculé de Marie" in "Marie sous le symbole du Coeur." [MSC], Téqui, 1973, pages 30-33).

8) That last question and her reply are not quoted in the Memoirs of Lucy. But they are found in the interrogation of the seers effected by the Curé of Fatima at the end of May, 1917. Their authenticity is therefore certain.

9) Fourth Memoir, pages 156-160. The Fourth Memoir presents the account of the apparitions of Our Lady in more detailed fashion. For the historical critique of the sources, see "The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume I", pages 111 and 278-283.

10) Report of the canonical commission, quoted in "Francisco de Fatima", page 48. In May, 1946, at Fatima, Canon Galamba who accompanied Lucy on the places of the apparitions, heard her «describe again the past events.» «In answering some somewhat crafty questions, he reports, Lucy emphasized the objective reality of those apparitions, denying the possibility of dream or illusion: "No, I was wide awake and I saw as I now see Your Reverence", she said.» (Fatima Altar do Mundo, II, page 133). page 177.

11) Fourth Memoir, pages 160-161.

12) We indicate between brackets the parts of the message kept secret by the seers at the moment of the apparitions and revealed only later by Lucy.

13) Here the text of the Memoir is incomplete. In an anterior account, written at the end of 1927 for her confessor, Father Aparicio, Sister Lucy added the sentence following, of primary importance.

14) Fourth Memoir, Appendix I, page 195.

15) Sister Lucy has stipulated, elsewhere, that «the Immaculate Heart of Mary was surrounded as by a stalk of wild furze» (See "A Vidente de Fatima dialoga", page 60).

16) Sister Lucy wrote it on two occasions, in her Third and Fourth Memoirs. We fused those two accounts into one single one ("The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume I", pages 180-183; Fourth Memoir, pages 161-166).

17) We find echo of these requests in the Ferreira report and with other witnesses. Lucy asked for several cures, some conversions. Our Lady promised that She would cure some, but not others. «As for the crippled son of Maria Carreira, She would not cure him, and he would remain poor. But he must recite the Rosary every day with his family, and he will be able to earn his livelihood. One of those who had recommended themselves to Our Lady, a sick person from Atouguia, had asked to soon go to Heaven. "Let him not be in too much of a hurry, replied Our Lady, I know very well when I should come to get him".» (Father John DeMarchi, page 114)

18) That prayer, which Lucy would reveal in a writing dated May 13, 1936 (Documentos, page 461), then in 1937, in her Second Memoir (page 70), is not part of the great Secret.

19) "The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume III", page 154. Questioned by the Bishop of Viseu, dom. J.P. da Silva, Lucy gives the following details: «Did the vision of Hell last a long time?» - «I could not make an exact calculation; it seemed short.» - «Did you hear the cries or did you rather guess by their faces that they were shouting?» - «I heard the shrieks.» - «Did you see Hell from very far or very close?» - «It seemed to me that it was quite close.» (Quoted in "Francisco de Fatima", page 68)

20) Lucy always maintains having heard «a Rusia.» In 1917, she did not yet know the meaning of that word. Canon Barthas pointed out that significant fact in his works (See Fatima 1917-1968, page 94). Father Alonso is also formal: «In 1917, not only was Lucy ignorant of the geographical and political reality of Russia, but she did not even know the name.» Our expert adds that «when she was questioned by her director, Father Gonçalves, to find out how it came about that she knew Russia or that she remembered the name of Russia..., Lucy replied: ‘I had only heard about the Galicians and Spaniards; and I did not know the name of any other nation. But what we perceived in the course of those apparitions of Our Lady stayed so engraved in us, that we could never forget it. For that reason I know very well, and with certainty, that Our Lady spoke expressly about Russia in July 1917’.» (Father Alonso, Fatima Ante la Esfinge [FAE], page 92; that letter is elsewhere presented in the unedited work of Father Alonso, on page 50, see Father Fernandez, "La consagración de Rusia"..., in "Estudios Marianos", Volume II, 1986, page 293). Lucy is sure also of having heard «no reinado de Pio XI.» «We did not know then, she would confide to Father Jongen in 1946, what was a Pope or a King. But the Most Holy Virgin spoke of Pius XI» (Médiatrice et Reine, May 1946, page 11). Lucy, reporting what she had heard, wrote in her Memoirs: «Piu» (see infra, page 62, manuscript of the Fourth Memoir), for in Portuguese pio and piu are pronounced the same way: piou.

21) In the Third and Fourth Memoirs, the texts of the prophecy of the secret are word for word identical. With that difference, nevertheless, that in the Fourth Memoir, Sister Lucy added the last sentence: «In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,» which is logically situated just before the conclusion: «In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph.»

22) At this point in the words of Our Lady is located the Third Part of the Secret, written by Lucy in 1944 and which has not yet been divulged.

23) Other witnesses affirm more precisely that the cloud remained visible for about ten minutes, as on July 13. About that cloud, read also the testimony of Manuel Gonçalves: «There was not the least bit of dust in the air. That cloud darkened the air which seemed hazy.» (Father John DeMarchi, pages 176-177).

24) Father John DeMarchi, page 136.

25) Ibid., page 176.

26) She had also remarked on the habitual phenomena which preceded the arrival of Our Lady: the light lowered, and already a first "lightning" had been seen.

27) Fourth Memoir, page 166.

28) Father John DeMarchi, page 150; Fourth Memoir, page 166.

29) The account of the Fourth Memoir (page 174) and of the Father Ferreira interrogation, (Documentos, pages 500-501) complete each other fortunately. The dialogue which we quote is entirely borrowed from these two sources.

30) Reference to the imprisonment of Vila Nova de Ourem.

31) The Father Ferreira report carries this: «Our Lady of the Rosary will come with a little Angel on each side. Our Lady of Sorrows will also come with an arch of flowers all around Her.» That announcement could also be understood under a conditional form: «Saint Joseph would have come...,» etc.

32) On Aug. 13, in the enthusiasm of the extraordinary signs which they had just contemplated, the pilgrims deposited offerings near the flowers which Maria Carreira had placed on a small table quite near the place of apparitions. But no one wanted to take charge of that money. When they had come to tell Lucy’s father that he should pick it up and keep it as compensation for the loss of his terrain, he had replied: «May God keep me from preserving this money. It does not belong to me. It belongs to Our Lady. I do not want anyone from my home to keep even just five pennies. As for the loss of the terrain, it is Our Lady Who ought to pay me for it, and She will help us.» (See Fifth Memoir, Portuguese, page 212). In addition, Maria Carreira was constrained to keep that money, which was very repugnant to her, and made her extremely uneasy. On Sunday, Aug. 19, on going out from the Mass, she had charged Lucy to ask Our Lady what She wants done with it. It was then in her name that Lucy asked that question.

33) The Father Ferreira interrogation carries in a more direct and charming manner: «That money that You have, what do You wish us to do with it?»

34) It is probable that Sister Lucy attributes here to Our Lady words which She would pronounce only on Sept. 13.

35) Fourth Memoir, page 166.

36) The dialogue which follows is entirely borrowed from the two text-sources of the Fourth Memoir (pages 167-168) and of the Father Ferreira report.

37) Father Ferreira report: «For the last day, Saint Joseph will come with the Child Jesus to give peace to the world, and Our Lord to give His Blessing to the people.»

38) "The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume II," pages 124-125; Fourth Memoir, page 168.

39) Father Ferreira report.

40) Fourth Memoir, page 168.

41) Father John DeMarchi, page 192.

42) We will follow the account of the Fourth Memoir (pages 168-170) which corresponds sufficiently to that of the Father Ferreira report, although the words of Our Lady are not cited in the same order.

43) We do not know whether Our Lady said: «The war will finish today» or «The war is going to finish.» That question has been dealt with thoroughly in The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume I, pages 307-319. We simply present the conclusion of that study. A whole series of sure witnesses permit thinking that Our Lady has rather declared: «The war is going to finish.» However, it is not impossible as well that Our Lady had pronounced that disputed phrase, «The war will finish today,» but in a context such as it would stipulate the exact meaning. The Most Holy Virgin would have said: «That men convert, and the war will finish today.» The two propositions are tied to each other, the word of Our Lady was not an arresting prophecy of the sudden ceasing of hostilities, but a conditional promise to grant peace as soon as men conform to Her wishes.

44) "The Whole Truth About Fatima, Volume I", page 291.

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