Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima
In 1917, three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal — about 80 miles north of Lisbon — reported receiving six messages from Our Lady of Fatima, whom they identified as the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.
The messages centered on prayer, repentance, sacrifice, peace, and returning to God.
The three young heroes were:
• Lucia dos Santos (age 10)
• Francisco Marto (age 9)
• Jacinta Marto (age 7)
One reason Fatima became so influential is that the children maintained their story under enormous pressure.
At the time, Portugal’s government was strongly anti-clerical and anti-Catholic. Local authorities detained and interrogated the children, pressuring them to deny the apparitions. Instead, public interest exploded.
Soon thousands of people were traveling to this remote farming village.
Then during the July 13, 1917 apparition, Lucia predicted that a miracle would occur on October 13 “so that all may believe.”
Under storm-filled skies in rural Portugal, tens of thousands gathered.
At approximately 12:30 PM local time, before a crowd estimated as high as 70,000 people, witnesses reported seeing the sun appear to spin, pulse with color, and move dramatically across the sky in what became known as the Miracle of the Sun.
Witnesses also reported that after hours of rain and mud, both the ground and their soaked clothing appeared to dry rapidly afterward.
At Fatima, a message delivered through ordinary children culminated in one of the most witnessed supernatural claims in modern history.
Today, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima receives approximately 6.5 million visitors each year.
One of the world’s largest pilgrimage sites began with three poor shepherd children in a remote rural field.
Heroes come in all sizes and ages.
And sometimes the most powerful messages come through the most ordinary people.
