Fatima for October |
The Miracle of the Sun
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared six times to three poor shepherd children near the village of Fatima in west-central Portugal. At the first apparition in May, the oldest child, Lucia, had asked the woman where she came from. The Lady pointed to the sky and said: "I come from heaven." Lucia then asked her what she wanted: "I have come to ask you to come here for six months on the 13th day of the month, at this same hour. Later I shall say who I am and what I desire."
Now, all too soon, it was 13th October. "I want a chapel built here in my honour. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. The war will end soon, and the soldiers will return to their homes." "Will you tell me your name?" asked Lucia. Then followed the dramatic "miracle of the sun", witnessed by an estimated crowd of 70,000 people present, and by countless people living miles beyond the apparition site.
Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta Some of the vast crowd who witnessed the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima in October 1917 on the occasion of Our Lady's sixth and final apparition (Newspaper Photo of the time) One onlooker there, Maria de Capelinha, wrote:
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