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Our Lady of Fatima: The Apparitions, Three Secrets, and Historical Impact | Catholic Answers Tract

 

Our Lady of Fatima: The Apparitions, Three Secrets, and Historical Impact

 

The 1917 Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima

 

The story of Our Lady of Fatima stands as one of the most important Marian sagas in modern Catholic history, illustrating anew that the Blessed Mother always leads people to her Divine Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In 1917 in Fatima, Portugal, the Blessed Virgin Mary—also known as Our Lady of Fatima, Virgen de Fatima, and Señora de Fatima—appeared to three shepherd children with a message that continues to shape Catholic life and the Church’s mission in general. At its core, the message of Fatima calls humanity to repentance, prayer, and trust in God’s mercy, especially during times of crisis.

 

The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima is celebrated annually on May 13.

 

What Is Our Lady of Fatima? What Happened at Fatima?

 

When people ask, What is Fatima? they are referring both to the place Fatima in Portugal and to the extraordinary Marian apparitions that occurred there. Fatima and its significance are rooted in a series of six apparitions that took place over several months in 1917 at the Cova da Iria, where Mary appeared to Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Sister Lucia dos Santos.

Mary identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary, emphasizing the importance of prayer, especially to pray the rosary daily. Her message unfolded against the backdrop of World War I, a time of immense suffering, and she warned that, without repentance, humanity would face even greater trials. She urged the children to pray for the conversion of sinners and to make sacrifices for the salvation of the souls of poor sinners.

 

At Mary’s request, a chapel was later built here in her honor, and today the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal stands as a global pilgrimage destination, drawing millions every year to reflect on her message.

 

Where Is Fatima?: Why Fatima Portugal Matters to the World

 

Many ask Where is Fatima? or simply wonder where Fatima is located. Fatima, Portugal lies about 80 miles north of Lisbon, the nation’s capital, and has become one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Catholic world, drawing 5-7 million pilgrims every year. What was once a quiet rural village is now home to the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church and an international shrine visited by pilgrims seeking spiritual renewal.

 

The significance of this place Fatima was confirmed dramatically on October 13, 1917, when tens of thousands witnessed the miracle of the sun, an event confirmed by the theretofore skeptical reporter of O Seculo, the local secular newspaper. This public event reinforced the credibility of the apparitions and brought worldwide attention to Our Lady of Fatima.

 

Who Is Fatima? The Identity of Our Lady of Fatima and Virgen de Fatima

 

The question, Who is Fatima? can be confusing at first, but the answer is clear: Our Lady of Fatima is the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing under a specific title connected to the Portuguese city of Fatima. As Señora de Fatima and Virgen de Fatima, she revealed herself as the Lady of the Rosary, directing our repentant attention to her Son Jesus, our merciful Savior. Indeed, to whom do we repent? Jesus. From whom do we receive forgiveness in the sacrament of confession? Jesus. Whom do we encounter in a most edifying way in receiving the Holy Eucharist? Jesus. These are fundamental elements of Mary’s messages at Fatima.

 

Her messages include references to the Child Jesus to bless the world, further highlighting that her role is always to lead souls closer to her Son. So the apparitions are not isolated events; rather, they are part of God’s ongoing call to conversion and

holiness, which his Church proclaims on his behalf to the whole world (see Matt. 28:18-20). In this regard, Mary is humanity’s spiritual mother, caring in particular for “those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” (Rev. 12:17).

 

What Are the Three Secrets of Our Lady of Fatima?

 

A central question people ask is, What are the three secrets of Our Lady of Fatima?

 

Mary revealed the secrets to the children, which Sister Lucia later recorded. They are not secrets in the sense of hidden knowledge meant to exclude others, but rather messages gradually disclosed which further call mankind back to God.

 

The first secret included a terrifying vision of hell, in which the children saw the suffering of the damned. This vision underscored the urgency of repentance and the need to pray for the souls of poor sinners in danger of damnation.

 

The second secret focused on history and devotion. Mary foretold the end of World War I but warned of another, more devastating conflict if people did not turn back to God.

 

She called for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, promising that, in the end, her heart would triumph. This included the request that the Holy Father will consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. In response, Pope Pius XII consecrated the world by himself in 1942, and Russia in 1952. Later, in 1984, Pope John Paul II consecrated the world and with it Russia, joined by the Church’s bishops worldwide as Our Lady had requested. The pope linked his survival of an assassination attempt in 1981 to the protection of Our Lady of Fatima.

What Is the Third Secret of Fatima? Has It Been Revealed?

 

Questions such as, What is the third secret of Fatima? Has the third secret of Fatima been revealed? and What is the Fatima third secret? continue to generate interest and debate. The Church officially revealed the third part of the secret in 2000. It described a symbolic vision of persecution, including a “bishop dressed in white” who suffers along with others for the Faith.

 

The Church interprets this vision as referring to the suffering of the Church in the modern world and inclusive of the attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul II, which occurred on May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first Fatima apparition. 

 

While some speculation persists, the Church affirms that the third secret has been fully disclosed and that its meaning points to perseverance in faith amid suffering, confident that Jesus will sustain his Church and lead the faithful unto eternal life (Matt. 6:33; see 10:16-22).

 

The Real Third Secret of Fatima: Clearing Up Confusion

 

Because of ongoing speculation, people often ask, What is the real third secret of Fatima? The Church emphasizes that the message of Fatima and its secrets should not be reduced to conspiracy theories or hidden warnings, including that the Church has yet to tell the real story about the third secret. Instead, the focus remains on conversion, prayer, and fidelity to Christ and his Church. Indeed, the message of the third secret is a call to remain steadfast in times of trial, confident that Jesus will remain faithful to his promise that “the gates of hell will not prevail against” his Catholic Church (Matt. 16:18-19).

 

The Message of Fatima: Prayer, Repentance, and Conversion of Sinners

 

At its heart, the message of Our Lady of Fatima is profoundly simple yet demanding. Mary calls the faithful to recite five decades of the Rosary every day, seek forgiveness through confession, receive Holy Communion, recite other prayers, and live lives of holiness in general. Her emphasis on the conversion of sinners reflects the gospel itself, reminding us that God desires all people to be saved (John 3:16-17; 1 Tim. 2:4).

 

Mary also introduced the devotion of reparation on the first Saturdays for five consecutive months, inviting believers to console her Immaculate Heart of Mary by offering acts of love and devotion. This message is not limited to a specific time or place but continues to remains relevant.

 

The Immaculate Heart of Mary Will Triumph: Hope in Fatima’s Promise

 

One of the most powerful elements of the Fatima message is the promise that “my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Despite the reality of sin and suffering, Mary assures the faithful that they will ultimately prevail in Jesus, provided we respond to and persevere in God’s grace.

 

This promise has sustained devotion to Our Lady of Fatima across generations, offering hope in times of war, persecution, and personal struggle. It reminds believers that no matter how dark the world may seem, God’s plan is one of redemption.

 

Why Our Lady of Fatima Still Matters Today

 

The message of Our Lady of Fatima remains strikingly relevant. The world continues to experience conflict, moral confusion, and spiritual unrest, much like the time of the apparitions. The call to prayer, repentance, and trust in God is as urgent now as it was in 1917—and arguably more so.

The witness of Sister Lucia and Francisco and Jacinta Marto demonstrates how even the simplest individuals can become powerful instruments of God. Their lives show that holiness is attainable and that responding to God’s call can have a global impact.

 

The Lasting Meaning of Our Lady of Fatima

 

From the fields of Fatima, Portugal to the hearts of millions worldwide, the message of Our Lady of Fatima continues to inspire faith and conversion.

 

Her message invites every person to embrace prayer, seek and offer forgiveness, and trust in God’s mercy. In a world still searching for peace, the message of Our Lady of Fatima offers a clear and hopeful path forward.

 

Pompey ‘the Great’ fake

 

by 

Damien F. Mackey

  

Conventional ancient Roman history/chronology needs to be subjected to revisionist scrutiny just as we found to have been the case with ancient Egypt

and the Near East. This article will be a continuation of efforts towards trying to determine whether the seemingly impregnable fortress of conventional

ancient Roman history is firmly based, or if it, too, might be susceptible

to breaches when revisionist pressure is applied.

  

 

Introduction

 

That the received Roman history may not be as formidably secure as may have been thought I hope that I have demonstrated – without initially having considered it to have been necessary – in articles such as:

 

Rome surprisingly minimal in Bible

 

(11) Rome surprisingly minimal in Bible

 

Horrible Histories. Retracting Romans

 

(12) Horrible Histories. Retracting Romans

 

Jesus Christ was the Model for some legends surrounding Julius Caesar

 

(12) Jesus Christ was the Model for some legends surrounding Julius Caesar

 

Found me arriving at the conclusion that the renowned ‘Julius Caesar’ was largely –

if not entirely – a composite figure, based upon, among others, Jesus Christ;

Alexander the Great; and Octavius (Augustus).

 

Time to consider Hadrian, that ‘mirror-image’ of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus

 

(12) Time to consider Hadrian, that 'mirror-image' of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus

 

Plutarch and Petrarch

 

(12) Plutarch and Petrarch

 

and various other related articles.

 

My revision (based on the efforts of many) has already successfully undertaken some necessary folding of Egyptian and Babylonian history.

For respective examples of this, see my:

 

Egypt’s Old and Middle Kingdoms Far Closer in Time than Conventionally Thought

 

(12) Egypt's Old and Middle Kingdoms far closer in time than conventionally thought

 

and

 

Aligning Neo-Babylonia with the Book of Daniel

 

(12) Aligning Neo-Babylonia with the Book of Daniel

 

Apart from the inestimable benefit of getting rid of those artificial ‘Dark Ages’ – cf. Peter James et al., Centuries of Darkness (1990), being a leader in the field here – such revisionism can serve to make more realistic certain ancient genealogies. For instance, it was found that the conventional Egyptian history, in the case of some detailed genealogies of officials serving a string of named pharaohs, ends up with a whole lot of octogenarian persons, or older, still actively functioning in office.

 

Similarly does the received Roman Imperial chronology create aged but still active characters: e.g. John the Evangelist, in his 90’s (according to a tradition) vigorously chasing a young man on horseback; Yohanan ben Zakkai still going at 120 (highly unlikely), straddling the supposedly two Jewish Revolts.

 

Now, reverting back to the Roman Republican period again, I turn to a brief consideration of Julius Caesar’s supposedly famous contemporary and fellow triumvir, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, or, as we know him better, Pompey ‘the Great’.

 

Is Pompey also a composite?

 

If there is any value in the conclusions that I reached about ‘Julius Caesar’ in my article, “Jesus Christ was the Model for some legends surrounding Julius Caesar”, then that, I believe, must put extreme pressure on the validity of ‘Pompey the Great’ himself, Caesar’s fellow triumvir (along with Crassus).

More especially so as Pompey, too, like Julius Caesar, was (as we shall now learn) likened to Alexander the Great – Pompey perhaps even more explicitly so than Caesar was.

 

Nic Fields tells of it in Warlords of Republican Rome. Caesar versus Pompey (2008, p. 67):

 

Meteoric Rise

 

His flatterers, so it was said, likened Pompey to Alexander the Great, and whether because of this or not, the Macedonian king would appear to have been constantly in his mind. His respect for the fairer sex is comparable with Alexander’s, and Plutarch mentions that when the concubines of Mithridates were brought to him he merely restored them to their parents and families. …. Similarly he treated the corpse of Mithridates in a kingly way, as Alexander treated the corpse of Dareios, and ‘provided for the expenses of the funeral and directed that the remains should receive royal interment’. …. Also, like Alexander, he founded many cities and repaired many damaged towns, searched for the ocean that was thought to surround the world, and rewarded his soldiers munificently. Finally, Appian adds that in his third triumph he was said to have worn ‘a cloak of Alexander the Great’. ….

 

It is interesting to learn that the original name of king Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’, who, like Pompey, supposedly, would desecrate the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, was likewise a “Mithridates”:

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Antiochus_IV_Epiphanes

 

Nic Fields again on p. 98:

 

In a sense Pompey personified Roman imperialism, where absolute destruction was followed by the construction of stable empire and the rule of law. It also, not coincidentally, raised him to a pinnacle of glory and wealth. The client–rulers who swelled the train of Rome also swelled his own. He received extraordinary honours from the communities of the east, as ‘saviour and benefactor of the People and of all Asia, guardian of land and sea’. …. There was an obvious precedent for all this. As the elder Pliny later wrote, Pompey’s victories ‘equalled in brilliance the exploits of Alexander the Great’. Without a doubt, so Pliny continues, the proudest boast of our ‘Roman Alexander’ would be that ‘he found Asia on the rim of Rome’s possessions, and left it in the centre’. ….

 

Pompey is even supposed to have gone so far as to have tried to emulate Alexander’s distinctive appearance:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/cleopatra/pompey.html

 

The marble bust of Pompey is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen). Its somewhat incongruous appearance, the round face and small lidded eyes beneath the leonine mane of hair, is because Pompey, the most powerful Roman of his day, sought a comparison with Alexander the Great, whose distinctive portraits were characterized by a thoughtful facial expression and, more iconographically, locks of hair brushed back high from the forehead, a stylistic form known as anastole, from the Greek “to put back.”

 

Did Pompey absorb – like I have argued may have been the case with Julius Caesar – not only Alexander-like characteristics, but also general Hellenistic ones?

 

And might that mean that the famous event of Pompey’s desecration (by his presence therein) of the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, supposedly in 63 BC:

http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12264-pompey-the-great

 

The capture of the Temple mount was accompanied by great slaughter. The priests who were officiating despite the battle were massacred by the Roman soldiers, and many committed suicide; while 12,000 people besides were killed.

 

 

Pompey himself entered the Temple, but he was so awed by its sanctity that he left the treasure and the costly vessels untouched (“Ant.” xiv. 4, § 4; “B. J.” i. 7, § 6; Cicero, “Pro Flacco,” § 67). The leaders of the war party were executed, and the city and country were laid under tribute. A deadly blow was struck at the Jews when Pompey separated from Judea the coast cities from Raphia to Dora, as well as all the Hellenic cities in the east-Jordan country, and the so-called Decapolis, besides Scythopolis and Samaria, all of which were incorporated in the new province of Syria. ….

 

may in fact be a muddled version of that real historical incident when king Antiochus (Mithridates) ‘Epiphanes’ most infamously desecrated the holy Temple in Jerusalem (2 Maccabees 5:15-18).

 

Republic spilling into Empire

 

 

What a complete mess is conventional ancient history!

Kingdoms, dynasties and rulers duplicated, or triplicated.

History and culture having a “strange afterglow” centuries later. 

Impossible “Dark Ages” procrusteanising time periods by extension. 

BC characters and events mysteriously projected into AD 'time’. 

And, in this case, the Roman Republic flopping over into its Empire.

 

Dolly Parton put it well: “It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it” (9 to 5).

 

 

There is that strange re-duplication, about 60 years later, of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome.

 

But it seems that the history books also ‘know’ of a ‘third’ bloody capture of Jerusalem in Roman history - one which is thought, however, to have preceded the other supposedly two assaults by Rome in the Neronic and Hadrianic (so-called) imperial eras. It is considered to have occurred in Republican times, in 63 BC, when Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey ‘the Great’), one time ally of Julius Caesar, captured Jerusalem and killed 12,000 Jews.

 

This is quite a massive event, to say the least, yet it is often mentioned only in passing.

 

Strange that it is nowhere referred to in the Bible.

 

Hence, I suspect that there also needs to be a folding of some Roman Republican history with early Roman Imperial history. There was, for example:

 

(i)  a Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) also at the time of Caligula (see A. Barrett, Caligula - the Corruption of Power, p. 237) about a century after (presumably) the Republican Pompey. And there was then also a

 

(ii)    Marcus Crassus; the same name as the ‘earlier’ Pompey’s fellow consul (see Mackay, p. 135). Moreover, Caligula may have been murdered by a

 

(iii)  Cassius Longinus (Barrett, p. 162); the same name as the chief conspirator against Julius Caesar.

 

All very strange indeed and desperately needing to be explained. ….