Our Lady appeared from May to October, 1917. News of Fatima spread more and more when people learned through the children that a miracle was to happen. On October 13, 1917, seventy to one hundred thousand pilgrims came to the Cova da Iria. It was pouring down rain and everything was very muddy.
The children's families were very uncertain and feared that if the miracle did not take place, the people would want to kill the three children. Once there, moved by an interior impulse, one of the children, Lucia, asked the people to shut their umbrellas and pray a Rosary. Soon after that, there was a flash of light, and Our Lady appeared above the oak tree.
"What do you want of me?" asked Lucia.
"I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in my honor.
I am the Lady of the Rosary.
Continue always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes."
Lucia said to Our Lady: "I have many things to ask you: the cure of some sick persons, the conversion of sinners, and other things . . . "
"Some yes, but not others. They must amend their lives and ask forgiveness for their sins." Looking very sad, Our Lady said: "Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended."
Then, opening her hands, she made them reflect onto the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her own light continued to be projected on the sun itself.
Lucia cried out to the people to look at the sun. Her aim was not to call their attention to the sun, because she was not even aware of their presence. She was moved to do so under the guidance of an interior impulse.
After Our Lady had disappeared into the distance, Saint Joseph appeared with the Child Jesus and Our Lady was robed in white with a blue mantle, beside the sun. Saint Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. When this apparition disappeared, Our Lord and Our Lady appeared; it seemed that it was Our Lady of Sorrows. Our Lord appeared to bless the world in the same manner as Saint Joseph had done. This apparition also vanished, and Our Lady appeared once more, this time resembling Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, holding the child Jesus in one hand and the brown scapular in the other hand.
The rain stopped and a thick mass of clouds broke. The sun looked like a disc of dull silver, and began dancing wildly. The people shouted out: "MIRACLE!" It seems that the majority of the people saw the sun trembling and dancing, whirling around; it descended almost low enough to burn the earth with its rays. It shone with an intensity never before seen, but was not blinding. This lasted only an instant. Then the immense ball began to "dance". The sun began to spin rapidly like a gigantic circle of fire. Then it stopped momentarily, only to begin spinning again. Its rim became scarlet; whirling, it scattered red flames across the sky. Their light was reflected on the ground, on the trees, on the bushes, and on the very faces and clothing of the people, which took on brilliant hues and changing colors.
After performing a zigzag bizarre pattern three times, the globe of fire seemed to tremble, shake, and then plunge in a zigzag toward the terrified crowd. All this lasted about ten minutes. Finally, the sun zigzagged back to its original place and once again became still and brilliant, shining with its everyday brightness. The cycle of the apparitions had ended. Many people noticed that their clothes, soaking wet from the rain, had suddenly dried. The miracle of the sun was also seen by numerous witnesses up to twenty-five miles away from the place of the apparition. Many thought the end of the world had come, as the sun seemed to fall upon them. People reported color changes in objects on earth, caused by the rays of the sun. Some expressed sorrow for their sins aloud. Some who had come to ridicule the children now believed.
This was the great Miracle of the Sun which Our Lady had performed so that all may believe.
Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of the Rosary, this prayer ministry is consecrated and entrusted to Jesus through you. Pray for us and all those for whom we pray.
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