Fatima, Portugal " Our Lady of Fatima" appeared to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta between May 13 and October 13, 1917, to end with the miracle of the sun. Information on Fatima from Author Fr. Robert J. Fox and founder of Fatima Family Apostolate.

October 13th has always been my “lucky day”, ever since I was a child. Every time I looked at a digital clock and it read 10:13 I would get really excited. After I came to St. Thomas More, I found out that another girl shared this same childhood obsession! As it turned out, this girl and I were both extremely dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And, as it turned out, October 13th (10:13) is one of the most miraculous days of the last two centuries!!! Known most notably in the Catholic world for the “Miracle of the Sun” in Fatima, Portugal, October 13th was the day when 70,000 people – Catholic, atheists, international media, bystanders, and people in other villages on the Portuguese countryside – all witnessed the sun dance in the sky

Fatima, Portugal " Our Lady of Fatima "

The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, appeared 6 times to 3 sheperd children; Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta; between May 13 and October 13, 1917. She came to the little village of Fatima which had remained faithful to the Catholic Church during the recent persecutions by the government. Our Lady came with a message from God to every man, woman, and child of our century.

Our Lady of Fatima promised that the whole world would be in peace, and that many souls would go to Heaven if Her requests were listened to and obeyed.

She told us that war is a punishment for sin; that God would punish the world for its sins in our time by means of war, hunger, persecution of the Church and persecution of the Holy Father, the Pope, unless we listened to and obeyed the command of God.

At Fatima, Pope John Paul II said on May 13; " the message of Fatima is more relevant and more urgent " then when Our Lady first appeared.

The message is an anguished appeal of our Heavenly Mother, Who sees us in great danger and Who comes to offer Her help and advice. Her message is also a prophesy, a clear indication of what was about to transpire in the 20th century, and what is still going to happen infallibly in the near future, depending on our response to Her requests.

THE MIRACLE
As a great sign of the whole message truly coming from God, a marvelous miracle was worked in the sky above Fatima before 70,000 witnesses on October 13, 1917 at the time, date and place that Lucy and the other two children had prophesised in the name of Our Lady of Fatima. The children were told by Our Lady that God would perform a miracle so that people would believe in the apparitions.

The date the children was October 13, 1917, in Fatima. On that date, 70,000 people came to see the phenomenon. The miracle occured with the sun. All could stare perfectly at the sun without blinking, or even hurting heir eyes. While all were watching the sun, it rotated, got large and small, got close to the people, and got far away from them. The sun " danced ". Every single person who was there testified to seeing the sun dance, even non- believers who immediately dropped onto their knees and begged for forgiveness.

MIRACLES TODAYOur Lady of Fatima continues to work miracles today through Fatima water which is sent from Fatima, Portugal around the world. This Fatima water sprang up in Fatima at the spot the Bishop told people to dig, very near where Our Lady appeared at the Cova de Iria (the Cove of Peace) in Fatima. The water is known to cure people with sicknesses and poor health. Still, other people are cured when they go on pilgrimage to Fatima, which is about 90 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal.

A MESSAGE OF WARNING AND HOPE

If we do not heed Our Lady's warnings soon, the Her horrible prophesy may well be realized in the near future, even in our own back yards. She told us that God had chosen to use Russia as the instrument of chastisement to punish the whole world if we did not, by our obedience, prayers, and sacrifices, obtain conversion of Russia to the Catholic faith. She promises us: " If my requests are granted, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. "

But She also warned us: " If My requests are not granted, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world raising up wars and persecutions against the Church, the good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. "

She has told us that the whole world (the part surviving) will be enslaved by the atheistic tyrants of Russia.

May 13 to October 13, 1917 - The Mother of God appears to three little shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal on the 13th of six consecutive months. Our Lady gives a message of hope and warning of dangers to humanity and the faith of people of the Church. She comes as Our Lady of Light and of the Holy Eucharist. She speaks of the errors of Russia to spread to all nations. She tells of great persecutions to the Church, the Holy Father, the danger of souls falling into hell. She appears holding her Immaculate Heart in her hand and says: God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. ... 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 wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, Russia will spread her errors throughout the world, promoting wars, and persecution of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer .... Our Lady says that Francisco and Jacinta will die soon and go to heaven but Lucia must remain many years in the world to promote devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sr. Lucia is still living at the end of the second millennium. During the same six months, Our Lady is appearing in Portugal. Lenin is in Russia organizing the Bolshevik Revolution which takes over the government of Russia with the goal of conquering the world for atheism. 

December 10, 1925 - Our Lady of Fatima appears to Sr. Lucia now in the convent in Pontevedra, Spain and asks for sacramental reparation of Confession and Holy Communion on First Saturdays, plus praying the Rosary with meditation on its mysteries.

First Saturdays are associated with the spiritual welfare of Russia. A spiritual bonus is promised to individuals of Marys intercession to assist at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, perform the acts of reparation requested. Reparation on every first Saturday however is encouraged for the good of mankind.

June 13, 1929 - Sister Lucia in the Convent at Tuy, Spain receives an appearance of Our Lady of Fatima to ask the Pope and bishops of the world for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart, promising by this means to prevent the spreading of its errors and to bring about its conversion.

June 13, 1929 onward to March 25, 1984 - Sister Lucia prays and sacrifices, seeking practical ways to get the Pope to have the bishops of the world join him in consecrating the world and Russia in particular to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

December 20, 1940 - Sister Lucia is permitted for the first time to write to the Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, asking for this Consecration of Russia. Pope Pius XII in subsequent years consecrates the world and later Russia but does so alone, not with the worlds bishops as required by Our Lady of Fatima.

October 31, 1942 - Pope Pius XII consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

May 13, 1946 - Pius XII through a legate crowns the image of Our Lady of Fatima and proclaims her Queen of the World. Popes begin calling Fatima Altar of the World.

October 13, 1951 - Closing ceremonies for the Holy Year of the universal Church is held at Fatima.

July 7, 1952 - Pius XII consecrates the Russian people to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

November 21, 1964 - Pope Paul VI renews Pius XII's consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart, speaking to the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council but still does it alone. Sister Lucia insists it should be collegial.

May 13, 1965 - Pope Paul VI sends a Golden Rose to Fatima, confiding the entire Church to our Ladys protection and gives official Church recognition of Fatimas significance for the universal Church.

May 13, 1967 - Pope Paul VI goes to Fatima, as the first Pope to go there as a pilgrim. There he calls for renewed consecration to the Immaculate Heart.

May 13, 1981 - Pope John Paul II is shot in St. Peters Square on May 13, anniversary of the first apparition at Fatima. During the long months of suffering and recuperation in Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father requests and studies more deeply documents relating to Fatima. His determination to consecrate Russia with bishops of the world grows stronger. In leaving the clinic he remarks: I have come to understand that the only way to save the world from war, to save it from atheism, is the conversion of Russia according to the message of Fatima.

May 12-13, 1982 - The Pope visits Fatima to thank Our Lady for sparing his life and says: In the plans of Divine Providence I also saw an appeal and, who knows, a reminder of the message which came from here 65 years ago. ... He conducted a consecration of the world and Russia at that time but many bishops did not receive the request to join him in time and Sister Lucia said it did not fulfill all the requirements.

March 25, 1984 - Pope John Paul II having sent invitations already in December 1983 to the worlds bishops, including Orthodox, to join him on March 25, 1984, he had Bishop Amaral of Fatima bring the Miraculous statue from the Cova da Iria at Fatima to the Vatican for the Collegial Consecration of the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was joined by a moral totality of the worlds bishops in the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart. The words of the cons-ecration make clear it is a collegial act with worlds bishops and also renews Pius XIIs acts of 1942 (world) and 1952 (Russia) and the consecration is for all time. [See our book Documents of Fatima for details on Consecration].

Shortly thereafter, Sister Lucia told the Papal Nuncio of Lisbon the Collegial Consecration for the conversion of Russia has been accomplished and God will keep His word. The Nuncio answers, Now we await the miracle. On the following day, Patriarch Dimitrios of Constantinople, honorary primate of the Orthodox Churches, writes a letter to the Vatican praising the consecration as a contribution to the creation of communion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.May 13, 1984 - The Holy Father speaks to 50,000 pilgrims in St. Peters Square of his affection and beatitude for Our Lady of Fatima in protecting him from the bullets three years earlier. On the same day, the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima announces that the Pope had given to the Fatima Shrine the bullet which had struck him.

February 1985 - Pontifical Council of the Laity writes and encourages Fr. Robert J. Fox, who years previously founded a Fatima Youth Apostolate, now to go independent with a Fatima Apostolate which becomes the Fatima Family Apostolate and the Messenger magazine was born, first called Messenger of Our Lady then Fatima Family Messenger and finally Immaculate Heart Messenger.

March 25, 1987 - Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical letter, Redemptoris Mater, in anticipation of the forthcoming Marian Year. In the encyclical, the Pope refers to the common love shared by Orthodox and Catholics for the Mother of God and the devotion shown her icons.

June 7, 1987 - The Marian Year of fourteen months began on this date, Pentecost Sunday, and extended to the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1988. The timing of the Marian Year exactly spans the two important religious celebrations in the Soviet Union, the 600th anniversary of the baptism of Lithuania and the 1000 anniversary of the baptism of St. Vladimir. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz said the noticeable easing of persecutions against religion in the Soviet Union and granting of greater religious freedoms began with the Marian Year.

September 20, 1987 - Approximately 100,000 persons, many carrying Solidarity banners, attend the annual workers pilgrimage to Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine in Poland. Lech Walesa, during his years as Solidarity leader, goes repeatedly to Zakopane, Polands major Fatima Shrine, dedicated to praying for Pope John Paul II. There he consecrates the Solidarity movement to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Pope John Paul II in his Encyclical, Centesimus Annus, credits the Solidarity movement growing and spreading out from Poland with the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

July 1989 - Sister Lucia this month began to go public in stating that the Consecration is accomplished. Previously she talked only to select persons such as the Papal Nuncio, bishop of Fatima. Now she is anxious to get her word out publicly. The Messenger is asked to publicize what Sister Lucia is saying about the Consecration.

November 9, 1989 - the Berlin Wall came down. President Gorbachev of the Soviet Union then meets with the Pope at the Vatican and promised religious freedom.

October 13, 1989 - President Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Award - Anniversary date of Fatima.

December 1, 1989 - PRESIENT Gorbachev travels to the Vatican and meets with Pope John Paul II in the Popes private library. The historic meeting, which lasts 70 minutes, is the first meeting between a Pope and a head of the Soviet state. Departing from his prepared text, Gorbachev invites the Pope to visit the Soviet Union. The two immediately experience a sense of mutual affection. The Pope later reported that Gorbachev expressed gratitude for my prayers and said prayers symbolized the spiritual order and values which he greatly needed.

December 1991 - PRESIDENT Gorbachev meets the Pope in the Vatican a second time; diplomatic relations were opened between the Vatican and Russia and Latin-rite churches were opened.

May 1, 1991- Feast of St. Joseph, the Worker - 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIIIs famous Encyclical Rerum Novarum, On the Condition of Human Labor. May Day ends as a Communist Holiday for demonstrations to show Soviet might and to win the working man away from religion.

May 13, 1990 - An attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican as his message to pilgrims at Fatima is read. He attributes the sparing of his life to Our Lady.

August 19, 1991 - 74th Anniversary of Our Ladys fourth apparition at Fatima - Communist coup attempts overthrow of Gorbachev who contributed largely to dismantling of Soviet Empire.

August 22, 1991 - Feast of the Queenship of Mary - the attempt of Communist coup to return to hard Communism is defeated.

October 12 - 13, 1991 - Fatima Anniversary. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Roman Catholic Archbishop from Moscow leads first Russian pilgrimage group to Fatima. It is televised in Russia on 150 stations and 350 radio stations. Director of Fatima Family Apostolate is asked to be present in Fatima with the Russian group.

December 8th, 1991 - Feast of the Immaculate Conception. There begins the Commonwealth of Republics, the end of the USSR. Twelve days later Yeltsin of Russia met with the Pope at the Vatican.