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Was the sighting “Our Lady of Fatima” in 1917 Portugal a miracle, mass hysteria, or a politically driven ruse?Let’s examine what happened and proceed from there.Three children: Lucia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos (b. 28 Mar 1907 - d. 13 Feb 2005); Francisco de Jesus Marto (b. 11 Jun 1908 - d. 4 Apr 1919); Jacinta de Jesus Marto (b, 11 Mar 1910 - d. 20 Feb 1920) all from the hamlet of Aljustrel, Portugal, were tending sheep in the nearby Cova da Iria in early spring in 1916.Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta in 1917.Lucia, in her memoirs, says that the three children were in an Olive Grove with the sheep near their parent’s property when after lunch and praying the Rosary, a strong wind began to shake the trees and they saw in a distance a bright light in the shape of a young man. When the young man was near, he told them “Do not be afraid. I am the angel of peace. Pray with me.” He knelt, bending his forehead to the ground. The children did as well and heard him say, “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.” After they repeated this three times, the angel arose and said to the children, “Pray in this way. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are ready to listen to you.” He then disappeared. This happened in the spring of 1916.In the summer of 1916, the three children were playing near the well behind the Santos home when they saw the same angel near them. He said, “What are you doing? You must pray! Pray! The hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you. You must offer your prayers and sacrifices to God the Most High.” When Lucia asked how they were to sacrifice, the angel explained and identified himself as the Angel of Portugal.In September or October of 1916, the children were tending the sheep at the Loca do Cabeco, and after praying as the angel had taught them, a light appeared above them, and they saw the Angel holding in his left hand a chalice and over it, in the air, was a host from which drops of blood fell into the chalice. The Angel leaves the chalice in the air, kneels near us and tells us to repeat a new prayer. After praying the prayer three times, the Angel rose and again took the chalice and the host in his hand. He gave the host to Lucia and the chalice to Francisco and Jacinta, saying at the same time, “Eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ terribly outraged by the ingratitude of men. Offer reparation for their sakes and console God.”In this way, the children were prepared for the visitation of the Queen of Portugal, the Immaculate Virgin Mary.Almost eight months had passed since the last apparition of the Angel during which the children continued to practice what the Angel had taught them. On 13 May 1917, the children chose to pasture their sheep at the Cova da Iria. At this time, the First World War raged in Europe and in Moscow, and Lenin was preparing the revolution that would overturn the Russian social order in November, 1917, and eventually engulf almost half the peoples on earth.After lunch, the children were playing and then decided to pray the Rosary. Shortly after beginning to pray, they were startled by a bright light which they described as “lightning in a clear sky.” Thinking a storm was approaching they debated whether they should take the sheep and go home. Preparing to do so, the were again surprised by a strange light when they were about halfway down the hill toward the road near a holm oak. There was another flash of lightning, and they saw on a holm oak, a lady dressed in white, shining brighter than the sun, giving out rays of clear and intense light. They stopped about 4 to 5 feet away and were within the light which encircled the lady. The lady said, “Please don’t be afraid of me, I’m not going to harm you.” Lucia responded, “Where are you from?” The lady responded, “I come from heaven.” Lucia asked “And what do you want of me?” The reply was, “I want you to return here on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months, and at the very same hour. Later I shall tell you who I am, and what it is that I most desire. And I shall return here yet a seventh time. “ Lucia had more questions which were answered and the lady again mentioned the war in Europe of which the children knew little or nothing. She told them to “Say the rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.” The lady then began to rise slowly in the direction of the east until she disappeared.Lucia had cautioned the others to keep their visitor a secret, correctly perceiving the difficulties they would experience if the events became known. However, seven year old Jacinta in her excitement, forgot the promise of secrecy, and told everything to her mother. The mother listened, but was skeptical. Her siblings teased her with questions and jokes. Only her father was inclined to believe her.Lucia’s mother, when she heard about it, thought her daughter to be the instigator of a fraud, if not a blasphemy. Her mother could not get Lucia to recant even under threats. She finally hauled Lucia off to the parish priest, Fr. Ferreira who had no more success than the mother. Lucia’s father, who was not religious, was indifferent, attributing all of it to the fancies of women. As the children waited for the few weeks until the next scheduled appointment with the lady, they found they had few believers and many detractors.In Portugal the 13th of June is a great feast especially for children. It is the feast of St. Anthony of Lisbon better known as St. Anthony of Padua. Lucia’s parents thought that the festivities at the parish church in Fatima would distract Lucia from her appointment at the Cova. However, Lucia was not swayed and she and the Marto children proceeded to the Cova. There was a small crowd waiting for them. After praying the Rosary, they again saw the light approaching and the lady on the holm oak. Lucia again asked what was wanted of her. She was told to come to the same place on the thirteenth of the next month, and pray the Rosary daily adding a prayer at the end of each one of the mysteries. The downside was that the children’s families were becoming alarmed, especially the mothers, and the parish priest opined that the apparitions might not be real, but from the devil.As the July date approached, Lucia was troubled by the words of the pastor that the apparitions might be from the devil. Lucia told Jacinta that she intended not to go. However, on the 13th, Lucia was at the Cova with the other two children. The lightning again took place and Lucia asked the beautiful lady who she was and replied that she was to come every month on the 13th and in October she would reveal who she was and would perform a miracle so that all might believe. The lady told the children to make sacrifices for sinners and pray for them. The children were then shown a vision of Hell, and were told that the current war would end, but if men do not refrain from offending God, a more terrible war would begin in the pontificate of Pius XI. They were instructed not to tell anyone of this vision.The August apparition took place on the 19th as the civil Administrator of the district in which Fatima was located took the children into custody under the false pretense of giving them and their parent a ride in his automobile to see the parish priest and then to the Cova. Instead, he left the parents at the parish house and took the children to the district headquarters in Vila Nova de Ourem, some 9 miles away. He tried bribes, threats of death and locking them in a cell with other “criminals” in order to get them to recant their story. It was to no avail. Despite their ages, their belief in the Lady was unshakeable.Meanwhile, in the Cova at noon on the 13th the characteristic external signs of the apparition appeared for the benefit of the crowd, the greatest crowd to that time. After they ended the crowd dispersed, as yet unaware of the trickery of the government. The trial of the children, however, continued for two days, to the consternation of their families On August 15, the Administrator had them driven back to Fatima and deposited on the steps of the rectory. The people, who had just come from Mass, were outraged and threatened the driver and then the Administrator who arrived a short time later. This was the only time there was a serious effort by the civil authorities to interfere with the Lady.On Sunday the 19th Lucia, her brother John, and Francisco, were grazing the sheep at a place known as Valinhos near where the angel had appeared twice. About 4 o’clock, Lucia had a feeling the Lady would appear and paid John a couple of pennies to go and get Jacinta. When Jacinta arrived, the Lady appeared. Lucia again asked “What do you want of me?” She was told to come again to the Cova da Iria on the 13th of the following month and to pray the Rosary every day. Lucia then asked what should be done with offerings of money that people leave at the Cova. She was told to have two litters for carrying statues made for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Lucia and Jacinta with two other girls were to be dressed in white to carry one of them while Francisco, with three boys dressed in white were to carry the other. What was left over would help towards the construction of a chapel to be built at the Cova.On 13 Sep 1917, despite the ridicule and jokes by the press, more than 30,000 people gathered in the Cova. Whether drawn by devotion or curiosity, they prayed the rosary while waiting for the arrival of the visionaries and the vision. When the time came, they could hear Lucia say, “What do you want of me?”She was told to continue to say the Rosary every day and to be at the Cova in October when Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. St. Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to bless the world. Lucia said she had many petitions asking for help, and was told that a little girl who was deaf and dumb would improve within the year, and that some others would be cured and some not. The Lady also promised that she would perform a miracle so that all may believe in October.It rained throughout the night of 12–13 October soaking the ground and the people who made their way to Fatima by the thousands. They arrived by foot, by cart and by automobile. The children made their way to the Cova amid the adulation and skepticism which had followed them since May. Critics questioned their veracity and the punctuality of the Lady, who had promised to arrive at noon. It was well passed noon by the official time, but when the sun arrived at it zenith, the Lady appeared.Lucia again asked, “What do you want of me?” She was told that the Lady wanted a chapel built there in her honor, and to pray the Rosary every day. She was also told that the war would end soon, and the soldiers would return to their homes.Lucia then asked, “Will you tell me your name?” The response was “I am the Lady of the Rosary.” Lucia then said, “I have many petitions from many people. Will you grant them?” The Lady replied, “Some I shall grant, and others I must deny. People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend our Lord any more, for He is already too much offended!”As the Lady of the Rosary rises toward the east she turns the palms of her hands toward the dark sky. While the rain had stopped, dark clouds continued to obscure the sun, which suddenly bursts through them and is seen to be a soft spinning disk of silver. The shout went up, “Look at the sun!”There were two distinct apparitions seen, that of the phenomenon of the sun seen by the 70,000 or so spectators and that beheld by the children alone. As described by Lucia, the children saw St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus seemed to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When, a little later, this apparition disappeared, I saw Our Lord and Our lady; it seemed to me to that it was Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as St. Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and I saw Our Lady once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Carmel. Only Lucia saw Our Lady of Carmel presaging her entrance into Carmel some years later.“People then began to ask each other what they had seen. The great majority admitted to having seen the trembling and the dancing of the sun; others affirmed that they saw the face of the Blessed Virgin; others, again, swore that the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel and that it lowered itself to the earth as if to burn it in its rays. Some said they saw it change colors successively....”O Seculo (a pro-government, anti-clerical, Lisbon paper)“The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands. The blue faded slowly, and then the light seemed to pass through yellow glass. Yellow stains fell against white handkerchiefs, against the dark skirts of the women. They were repeated on the trees, on the stones and on the serra. People wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they.”O Dia (another Lisbon daily, edition of 17 October 1917)On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the predictions of the children, I was enchanted by a remarkable spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it from this veranda....Alfonso Lopes Vieira (observed from a distance of nearly 25 miles away)These are a few of the eye witness accounts. Some are from the Cova and others are from various places away from the Cova.The apparitions, as reported by the children, began in 1916 when they were 9, 8 and 6 respectively. The apparitions of the Lady were approximately 1 year later. The children did not recant their story despite disapproval by parents, scoffing by siblings, doubts by the parish priest, and most tellingly, 3 days arrest and threats by the civil Administrator. I do not see how such young children would have stuck to a story they did not fervently believe in. Even with belief, their refusal to recant is extraordinary. I seriously doubt I would have had the fortitude to stand up to that much pressure, especially at that age.As for the miracle of the sun, I think mass hysteria can be ruled out as the witnesses consisted of believers, non-believers and members of a largely hostile press. Even given that mass hysteria could have affected the people gathered at the Cova, the same can hardly be said of people who reported the same phenomenon from a distance of up to 25 miles away.The phenomenon cannot be explained as natural as the sun seemed to hurtle toward the ground at one point scaring the daylights out of the observers. Reports are also made of people who were wet from the rain who were dry after the sun performed its tricks.A plot by the Government hardly seems likely as the representative on the scene, the civil Administrator for the district was hostile. The government in Lisbon was the Portuguese Republican Party which had come to power in 1910. The Party was hostile to the monarchists, Catholics and socialists. They certainly would not promote anything to help the Catholics.My wife and I spent a week at the Cova in January of 1983 or 1984. I am sure of the month, but not the year. It was an unforgettable moving experience for us both.Source: 100 Years of Fatima Fatima 100th Anniversary - Apparitions