A recent story in the Gilroy Dispatch, Morgan Hill Times and
Hollister Free Lance reported a cross shape that had mysteriously
appeared in the window of a Gilroy residence.
A recent story in the Gilroy Dispatch, Morgan Hill Times and Hollister Free Lance reported a cross shape that had mysteriously appeared in the window of a Gilroy residence. This is an example of an “apparition,” the sudden, unexpected appearance of something. There have been many examples of religious apparitions throughout history.
When I was in Portugal last month, there was much talk about Pope Benedict XVI.
No, not because of the child-abuse scandals plaguing the Roman Catholic Church in various parts of the world right now, but because of the announcement that the Holy Father would visit Portugal in May to preside over ceremonies marking a very famous apparition of the Virgin Mary in the early 20th century.
There have been countless Marian Apparitions (sightings of Mary) over the centuries, but only 12th officially were declared “worthy of belief” by Vatican authorities. Thursday, the date of the Pope’s visit, marked the 94th anniversary of the apparition of Mary in Fatima, Portugal.
It was in the spring of 1916, while World War I was still raging, that three cousins were tending sheep near their home in Fatima, a small village about 80 miles north of the capital, Lisbon. Lucia, 10, Jacinta, 7, and Francisco, 9, saw the vision of an angel three times, which prepared them for more significant visions to come.
On May 13, 1917, Mary appeared to the three children, earning her the title of “Our Lady of Fatima.”
She requested that they return to the field at the same time on the 13th of each successive month and directed them to pray the rosary (a series of prayers recited while keeping count on a string of beads) every day with the intention of bringing peace to the world and ending the war. This is known as the “first apparition.”
The second apparition took place on the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, June 13. While promising to take Jacinta and Francisco to heaven soon, she told Lucia that she would remain in the world to share her messages with others.
The third apparition took place on July 13. This is when three “secrets” were given to the children: a vision of hell, and a request that “Russia be consecrated to my immaculate heart,” generally considered to mean converted to Catholicism. The third secret was not divulged at that time.
On Aug. 13, in the absence of the three children, 20,000 people assembled in Fatima and reported hearing thunder and seeing lightning flash in a clear, blue sky. A strangely shaped cloud appeared.
Days later, Mary appeared again to the children during the fourth apparition. She also appeared to the children six days later. The next month, she appeared before the children and a crowd of 30,000 who were praying the rosary.
On Oct. 13 Mary appeared to the children the final time. More than 70,000 people had assembled, and those present reported that the sun seemed to zigzag through the sky and spin like a wheel.
Both Francisco and Jacinta died in the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1919-20, but Lucia became a Catholic nun and lived to the age of 95, dying in 2005.
In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II came to Fatima and declared the first two children “blessed and worthy of veneration,” establishing them on the path to sainthood.
There was much controversy concerning the “third secret” imparted by Mary to the children. Information was not released by the Vatican until John Paul’s visit, when it turned out to be a vision of the death of a Pope and other religious leaders with much suffering and destruction released upon earth. Some interpreted it as prophesying chaos in the Catholic Church and a widespread decline in Christian faith among the world’s population.
Pope Benedict’s visit this month to Fatima is expected to draw at least one million pilgrims to the small city in Portugal that is now built up with many churches, shrines and other religious buildings.
As he leads the spiritual rites, memories will linger of the three young children whom tradition credits with encountering the Virgin Mary and communicating her wishes to the world.
