September 13 found 30,000 people whiling away the morning hours in prayers and songs of praise of the Blessed Virgin. A great stir ran through the crowd, mostly on their knees, when the children came. People called out petitions to them to ask the Virgin to cure a son, a husband, a finance. The rosary began, the Our Fathers and Hail Marys rose with fervor from the throats of the multitude in this hallowed spot. Presently, the sky began to turn yellow gold and the brilliance of the sun to dim.
~ "She is coming! She is coming!" cried Lucy.
Excited exclamations were to be heard everywhere through the crowd.
~ "Look! Look! Over there!" Arms everywhere were pointing to the east.
Through the softened glow of the atmosphere, a beautiful globe of light was gliding towards them through the sky. It came to rest just above the green oak tree, and vanished. Then the small white cloud which denoted the Ladys resign surrounded the tree and the children. This was not all. More exclamations of wonder were rising on all sides. White flowers were falling from the sky, as numerous as rain drops, and disappearing before they touch the ground. The eyes of men and women grew misty because of this exquisite courtesy of the heavenly visitor ~ tears of mingled joy and compunction welled up and flowed copiously. What a wonderful mother is the Mother of Christ!
But the children were captivated by a sight infinitely more beautiful. Their eyes and souls were lost in the eyes and soul of the white lady. Without words, they spoke with their hearts and understood hers. Their beings dilated with immense joy as her visage, so sweet and pure, shone with love and goodness upon them.
As usual, she asked for the frequent recitation of the rosary, that the war might soon finish. In October she would come for the last time to the Cova da Iria, and joy of Joys! She would show them Jesus as a child. Saint Joseph too would come.
Lucy asked her if she approved of the wish of the people to build a chapel in this place, dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. She not only approved but showed delight at the proposal.
Then the crowd heard Lucy say that the Lady was going. The white cloud dissolved, the petals ceased to fall, and the celestial globe reappeared and sailed away majestically towards the east, mounting as it went until it was lost to view.
The interest of all Portugal was now centered on Fatima, and October 13 was a day of great expectation. The positive accounts of the masses of eye witnesses who had flocked to the last three apparitions. the signs and wonders they had seen and which confirmed the stories of the children, even the comments of the malevolent and the virulent criticism of the press aroused intense interest in the whole country. Everyone takes of the great miracle that had been foretold for the 13th of October. As the date approached, ti was evident that a crowd would be there which would dwarf all previous crowds.
The children now became subject to a new trial ~ that of answering the questions of hundreds of strangers. They were continually sought for. Jeu submitted to the ordeal, amiable and meekly, util they were exhausted. Lucy would go into her house sometimes and collapse with fatigue. It was another way of doing penance for sinners. They could no longer look after the sheep.
Whenever they could get away, they would go under the rocky brow of the hill where they were sheltering when the angel appeared, and there they would bow to earth and recite the prayer for sinners:
A sad prophetic vision, which was to become an only too familiar sight in prostrate Europe!
Another time, Jacinta saw the Holy Father in a "very big house." kneeling, holding his face in his hands, and weeping. Outside there were crowds. Some were throwing stones, and shouting imprecations. Jacinta was sad at the spectacle: To the others she said earnestly:
~ "We must pray for him all we can."
The crowds began to converge on the Cova da Iria the day before the sixth and last of the apparitions. The weather was cold, but the people cheerfully prepared to spend the night in the open, to have a better place. They were orderly and pious for the most part, groups of them reciting the rosary and singing canticles.
The parents of the children passed the day in great nervousness. Rumors were going around that if the hopes of the crowd were disappointed, there would be violence. Some advised the Martos not to accompany their children that day ~ if things dod not go well, the crowd would not touch the little children, but the older persons might be subject to violence. Maria Rosa, the Mother of Lucy, called her daughter that morning:
~ "My little one, I think we should go to confession today. They say that if the Holy Virgin does not work the miracle as you promise the people will massacre us. Let us go and prepare ourselves."
Lucy replied with tranquillity:
~ "Go, mother, if you wish. I will come with you, but not by fear of death. What the Lady has promised will happen tomorrow. Don't worry."
The morning of the 13th was cold and rainy. Asnoon approached, the rain became heavier. Nevertheless the crowds kept moving patiently towards the Cove. The ground became a sea of mud underneath the trampling feet of thousands. By 11:30 there were 50,000 people assembled.
They were hushed and expectant in the pouring rain when the children came with their parents. To Lucy's joy, her mother and father were on either side of her ~ it was the first time that they had come.
~ "If Lucy must die, we will die with her," they had said.
But Lucy had no place in her mind for fear or doubt. Her only anxiety was that the crowd could not see well crouching as they were under their umbrellas. She turned to the people standing about and asked them to close them. The request ran quickly through the multitude and soon they stood stoically in the beating rain. The rosary began . . . Between each decade they sang a hymn. The might voice of the multitude reverberated in the hills and rose to heaven.
On the store of midday, there was a brilliant flash in the sky, and Lucy cried:
Whenever they could get away, they would go under the rocky brow of the hill where they were sheltering when the angel appeared, and there they would bow to earth and recite the prayer for sinners:
O my Jesus, pardon us our sins, preserve us from the fires of hell, and bring all souls to heaven, especially those who have the most need of your mercy.On day Jainta cried out to Lucy: ~ "Look! Don't you see all the roads, all the paths, and all the fields full of people who are crying with hunger and have nothing to eat? . . . "
A sad prophetic vision, which was to become an only too familiar sight in prostrate Europe!
Another time, Jacinta saw the Holy Father in a "very big house." kneeling, holding his face in his hands, and weeping. Outside there were crowds. Some were throwing stones, and shouting imprecations. Jacinta was sad at the spectacle: To the others she said earnestly:
~ "We must pray for him all we can."
The crowds began to converge on the Cova da Iria the day before the sixth and last of the apparitions. The weather was cold, but the people cheerfully prepared to spend the night in the open, to have a better place. They were orderly and pious for the most part, groups of them reciting the rosary and singing canticles.
The parents of the children passed the day in great nervousness. Rumors were going around that if the hopes of the crowd were disappointed, there would be violence. Some advised the Martos not to accompany their children that day ~ if things dod not go well, the crowd would not touch the little children, but the older persons might be subject to violence. Maria Rosa, the Mother of Lucy, called her daughter that morning:
~ "My little one, I think we should go to confession today. They say that if the Holy Virgin does not work the miracle as you promise the people will massacre us. Let us go and prepare ourselves."
Lucy replied with tranquillity:
~ "Go, mother, if you wish. I will come with you, but not by fear of death. What the Lady has promised will happen tomorrow. Don't worry."
The morning of the 13th was cold and rainy. Asnoon approached, the rain became heavier. Nevertheless the crowds kept moving patiently towards the Cove. The ground became a sea of mud underneath the trampling feet of thousands. By 11:30 there were 50,000 people assembled.
They were hushed and expectant in the pouring rain when the children came with their parents. To Lucy's joy, her mother and father were on either side of her ~ it was the first time that they had come.
~ "If Lucy must die, we will die with her," they had said.
But Lucy had no place in her mind for fear or doubt. Her only anxiety was that the crowd could not see well crouching as they were under their umbrellas. She turned to the people standing about and asked them to close them. The request ran quickly through the multitude and soon they stood stoically in the beating rain. The rosary began . . . Between each decade they sang a hymn. The might voice of the multitude reverberated in the hills and rose to heaven.
On the store of midday, there was a brilliant flash in the sky, and Lucy cried:
~ "See! See! She is coming!"
Those who were near enough saw the faces of the children illuminated as by a heavenly light. A thrill ran through the crowd as they saw the little white cloud form about the children. This time, instead of being motionless, the cloud rose in the air, then formed again round the children and rose a second time, and a third, giving the impression of successive clouds of incense ascending.
The first thing Lucy thought of was to ask the Lady to fulfill the promise she had given them in the first apparition: to divulge her name. The answer came, sweet, full and clear:
~ "I AM OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY."She added:~ "I have come to exhort the faithful to change their lives, not to afflict by sin our Lord, who is so much offended; to recite the holy Rosary, to amend their lives and do penance for their sins."
The lovely Vision spoke again of the chapel to be built, and assured them that if men would repent, the was would finish soon and their prayers would be heard.
Finally, she said goodbye to the children. Then she rose in the air. Simultaneously. the clouds parted to reveal the sun and the rain stopped. The Lady still remained visible to the children in a position beside the sun. She parted her hands now in the exquisitely gracious and maternal gesture which the children had come to know as the prelude to some vision. Then:
~ "Look! Look . . . at the sun!" Lucy's voice shrilled.
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