MARYS for May #13 – Our Lady of Fatima

The Apparition at Fatima

Unknown artist, Mass-produced holy card, mid-20th century

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the children.” Matthew 11:25

Nearly a century ago, during the darkest days of World War I, the sun danced in the sky above a remote, rural village in Portugal called Fatima, a name ultimately derived from the Arabic word for “peace.” This “Miracle of the Sun,” witnessed by a crowd of over 70,000 people, was the culmination of a series of apparitions by the Blessed Mother to three very young peasant children that began on May 13, 1917. Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco reported seeing a lady "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun". Astonished by what they had seen and heard, they ran back to their village and told everyone.

Our images of Our Lady of Fatima are based on the descriptions given by Lúcia, the only one of the visionaries to reach adulthood. In the official statues at the shrine, endlessly replicated, Mary stands, slender and stooped, dressed in white. She holds a rosary draped over her arm or gestures towards her Immaculate Heart. A pair of golden roses is sometimes shown at her feet. There are no masterworks of art depicting these events. No poet or theologian was needed to spread her message. The astonished children went back to their village and told their families and friends of the Lady and her message. These told still others, and soon the whole world knew of the Lady “brighter than the sun” and of her pleas for prayer and peace.

As our image suggests, soon the message to the three young shepherds reached all the way to the chief shepherd in Rome. In 1946, Pope Pius XII “crowned” the statue in Fatima as a sign of papal approbation.  On May 13, 1981, an assassin shot point blank at the young Pope John Paul II. “It was a mother’s hand that guided the bullet’s path,” was the saint’s assessment of his miraculous escape from death.  Later he sent one of the deadly bullets to Fatima to be placed in the Virgin’s crown. On October 13, 2013, the 96th anniversary of the dancing sun, that crowned statue of Our Lady of Fatima was carried into St. Peter’s square as part of the culmination of the Year of Faith as Pope Francis consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. “Guard our lives in your arms,” he said. “Bless and strengthen every desire for goodness; revive and grow faith; sustain and illuminate hope; arouse and enliven charity; guide all of us on the path of holiness.”   

The meaning of Fatima and its “secrets” has given rise to much learned debate and speculation, but Mary’s message was simple enough for three children to comprehend and convey: pray for peace, do penance for sin. Another thing is also very clear. The lady “brighter than the sun” wore no crown. While she shares the glory of her Son in heaven, Mary remains the poor, humble woman of Nazareth who comes among her people as one of them. As in so many of her apparitions, she shows her preferential love for children and for the poor. She speaks not in the elegant language of official documents but in the direct and unrefined dialect of the people.  She goes to the margins, the edges of society, to bring the message of her Son to his people. This is truly “popular” devotion, the devotion of a poor woman for her own people and of the people for their Mother.

Pope Francis' Prayer of Consecration before Our Lady of Fatima

Holy Mary Virgin of Fatima, with renewed gratitude for your maternal presence

we join our voice to that of all the generations who call you blessed.

We celebrate in you the works of God,

who never tires of looking down with mercy upon humanity,

afflicted with the wound of sin, to heal it and save it.

Accept with the benevolence of a Mother the act of consecration

that we perform today with confidence,

before this image of you that is so dear to us.

We are certain that each of us is precious in your eyes

and that nothing of all that lives in our hearts is unknown to you.

We let ourselves be touched by your most sweet regard

and we welcome the consoling caress of your smile.

Hold our life in your arms: bless and strengthen every desire for good;

revive and nourish faith; sustain and enlighten hope;

awaken and animate charity; guide all of us along the path of holiness.

Teach us your own preferential love for the little and the poor,

for the excluded and the suffering, for sinners and the downhearted:

bring everyone under your protection and entrust everyone

to your beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus.

Amen.