Mary Our Lady of Fatima in Modern Faith

Origins of the Apparition of Mary our Lady of Fatima

Mary Our Lady of Fatima originates from the apparitions in a village called Fatima, Portugal in 1917. The virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd rural children named Lucia dos Santos, she was ten years old, and her cousins Francisco, was nine years old and Jacinta Marto, seven years old.

The three rural shepherd children first saw the virgin Mary on 13th May 1917. The Lady appeared to them five more time, she did appear on the 13th of each month from May to October consecutively. Mary the mother of Jesus identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary.

Specific Message from Mary to the children

When the Lady of the Rosary appeared to the children she gave a specific message which meant to reach people in the world. She told the children to pray the rosary for peace in the world, and also offer acts of penance. Moreover, she asked the children to ask people to have devotion to the Immaculate Heart for souls to be saved from the fires of Hell. The rosary is a beautiful and simple prayer which is seen as a summary of the Gospels and can be prayed by anybody without a priest, deacon or catechist.

Moreover, the Lady gave the children three secrets which they were supposed to keep them secrets up to the time they were told. The secrets were kept secrets as the children were directed, and so the secrets remained so for years. The first secret revealed the vision of hell, where they saw sinners and demons suffering in a sea of fire. This secret was accompanied with a call to pray and convert to avoid another world war (the apparition occurred when the WWI was going on).

The second secret was about prediction of the end of the Great war ( now we know WW I ) and the beginning of another Great war (now we know it is WW II). Moreover, it revealed prediction of the expansion of communism and the persecution of the Church.

The third secret or vision was put in an envelope and was not opened up until 1960, although the secret was read in 1960, it was not made public up until the year 2000 and the vision revealed the death of the Pope who was seen being killed by a soldier and then other religious leaders; priests, religious men and women were also being killed

The Miracle of the sun

The miracle of the sun or as others call it the “dancing sun” occurred on 13th October which was also the last apparition of the six apparitions of Our Lady to the three children of Fatima. The last apparition was accompanied by the miracle which was meant to prove to the authorities, both of the government and of the Church, that what the children were telling them was true.

For this account different sources say on that day of 13th October 1917, there were about 70,000 people gathered both believers and doubters. According to the narrations of the children Our Lady first talked with the children giving them instructions of praying the rosary, stop offending the Lord Jesus and more information.

When Our Lady finished talking with the children she rose toward east while opening the palms of her hands toward the dark sky as it had just rained however the dark clouds continued to obscure the sun. Suddenly the sun appeared like it was a spinning disk of silver and the people could look at the sun with easy without hurting their eyes. And behold the sun appeared to be changing in colors and seemed to be moving towards the people. Some people run, others shouted a miracle,  a miracle…

Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Our Lady of Fatima

The apparitions of Mary Our Lady of Fatima have a cultural significance as they portray a certain spirit of humility, simplicity, redness to listen, obedience and loyalty. These attributes are some of the characters that portray what kind of individuals those children were. The children demonstrate what Mary herself sings in the Magnificat.

Spiritually the apparitions have great importance to spiritual life as Mary Our Lady of Fatima insisted on praying the rosary for saving the world. The prayer of our Lady of Fatima: “Oh My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy” Amen continues to be prayed today and influence people’s lives in modern Faith. The rosary being a simple prayer continues to be prayed every day through many ways including the living rosary.

Pilgrims & Tourists Attractions

The Shrine of Mary Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal attracts millions of pilgrims and tourists each year. The visitors want to experience, explore, pray and learn from the devotion of the virgin Mary. The devotion to Mary the mother of Jesus has always been there in the Church, however, the apparitions at Fatima rekindled the devotion to Our Lady.

Some of the sites found within Fatima and which attract visitors include: the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Basilica of the Holy Trinity, the chapel of the apparitions, candlelight procession and Homes of the visionaries of the apparitions.

Services to Pilgrims and Tourists

The Shrine of Mary Our Lady of Fatima receive Millions of pilgrims and tourists who come for pilgrimage, exploration, leisure, and much more according to their needs. The visitors can visit the Shrine year round, however, the dates of the apparitions that is the 13th of the month from May to October are more significant and so receive more visitors.

To make the pilgrimage more meaningful the visitors to the Shrine can get several services including: daily Mass, daily Rosary, candlelight procession. Moreover, pilgrims can tour the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Chapel of the Apparitions and Homes of the three visionaries.

Economic benefits to the local population

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is a religious site for pilgrimage and tourists. The Shrine receive millions of visitors from from around the world. The pilgrims contribute to local economy and even contribute to the country revenue through the use local hotels, restaurants, shops, religious souvenir shops.

Moreover, the pilgrims influence jobs creation in different industries such as marble sculpting, carpentry, civil construction. Through the arrival of massive pilgrims the local social services infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, and other services get more attention and thus keep them in the desired standards.

Conclusion on Mary Our Lady of Fatima

It is my hope the article has given you basic information about the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima and that you are now more conversant about it than before. We have seen that it is a Shrine of great importance in Roman Catholicism as the prayer of the Rosary and the prayer of Fatima continues to be prayed and influence modern faith a century later on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our Lady of Fatima is a subject of great interests to readers who have great devotion to Our Lady, Mary the mother of Jesus. Fatima and the story of the apparitions of Our Lady to the three little shepherds continues to attract the vision and interests of such people. Here are some of the questions that readers have asked online search machines:

1. Who tells well the Our Lady of Fatima story?
2. When is Our Lady of Fatima feast day?
3. What happened to the children of Fatima?
4. Where can I get Our Lady of Fatima images?
5. What was Our Lady of Fatima’s message?
6. What is the significance of Our Lady of Fatima October 13?
7. How are Our Lady of Lourdes related to our Lady of Fatima?
8. When was Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal occur?
9. How can the impact of Fatima influence my faith today?