The Visionaries:
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LUCÍA DE JESÚS was born on March 22nd, 1907.
On June 17th, 1921 she entered the College of Vilar (Porte) which was run by the religious of the Order of St. Dorothy. From there she moved to Tuy. On March 24th, 1948 she entered the Carmelite Convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra, Portugal, taking the name of Sr. Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart.
On May 1st, 1949 she made solemn vows. She passed away in the Convent of St. Teresa, in Coimbra, on February 13th, 2005.
FRANCISCO MARTO was born on June 11, 1908 in Aljustrel. He died a saintly death on April 4, 1919 in his parents’ house. Very sensitive and contemplative, he directed all his prayer and penance towards "consoling Our Lord".
JACINTA MARTO was born in Aljustrel on March 11, 1910. Her holy death took place on February 20, 1920, in the Hospital of D. Estefania, in Lisbon, after a long and painful illness. She offered all her sufferings for the conversion of sinners, for peace in the world and for the Holy Father.
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First apparition: May 13th, 1917
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The first apparition took place on May 13, 1917. Lucia (10 years old) and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta (9 and 7 years old) were pasturing their little flock in the Cova da Iria. About midday, after praying the Rosary, as was their custom, they suddenly saw a brilliant light. Thinking it to be lightning, they decided to go home. But as they went down the slope another flash lit up the place, and they saw on top of a holm oak (where the Chapel of Apparitions now stands), "a Lady more brilliant than the sun", from whose hands hung a white rosary.
The Lady told the three little shepherds that it was necessary to pray much, and she invited them to return to the Cova da Iria during five consecutive months, on the 13th day of the month. And the children did so.
In August, the apparition took place at Valinhos, because on the 13th the children had been carried off by the local Administrator to Vila Nova de Ourém.
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Last Apparition: October 13th, 1917
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The last apparition took place on October 13th. About 70,000 people were present. The Lady said to them that she was the "Lady of the Rosary" and that a chapel was to be built there in her honor. After the apparition all present witnessed the miracle of the sun. The sun, resembling a silver disc, could be gazed at without difficulty and, whirling on itself like a wheel of fire, it seemed about to fall upon the earth.
Afterwards, when Lucia was a Religious Sister of Saint Dorothy, Our Lady appeared to her again on December 10, 1925, February 15, 1926 and the night of the June 13-14, 1929. She requested the devotion of the five first Saturdays, specifying the conditions: to pray the Rosary, meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary, confess and receive Holy Communion, in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the Consecration of Russia to the same Immaculate Heart..
Prayers
Amongst the prayers that the Angel and Our Blessed Mother taught the children were these:
From the Angel: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!”
From Our Lady: “O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.”.