Day 6 - 10 May / 10 October

In Fatima… On Friday July 13th 1917 Our Lady appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco for the third time. News of the children’s experiences had travelled far beyond Fatima and so a crowd of three or four thousand people were waiting for the children at the Cova da Iria, many of them on their knees praying the rosary. As soon as the children arrived and knelt before the holm oak tree they saw flashes of light and a moment later the beautiful Lady was standing on the little tree.

Again Lucia asked, “What do you want of me?” The Lady replied:  “I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue to pray the rosary every day, in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of war, because only she can help you.”

Lucia then said, “I would like to ask you to tell us who you are, and to work a miracle so that everybody will believe that you are appearing to us.” 

The Lady replied, “Continue to come here every month. In October I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe. Sacrifice yourself for sinners, and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” 

Now, for the third time, the Lady opened her hands to emit the light of God. But this time the vision the children were shown was not the rapturous sight of themselves immersed in God’s heavenly presence, but a vision of hell. 

Lucia later described what they saw: “The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the burning sea, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to unknown animals, blackened and transparent like burning coals. Terrified, we looked up at the Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly: 

“You have seen hell where the poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light [this occurred on January 25, 1938], know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine and persecutions of the Church and the Holy Father. 

To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”

After this the Lady showed the children another vision known afterwards as the third secret. Then the Lady said, “When you pray the rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.” After a silence, Lucia asked: “Is there anything more that you want of me?” 

The Lady replied, “No, I do not want any more of you today”. 

Then she rose towards the east and disappeared into the sky.

Reflection…  After this most dramatic vision we perhaps naturally ask ourselves, “Was it right to show the children the terrifying vision of hell?” We need to remember that this harrowing vision only happened after a year of preparation, with the Angel of Peace and visions of heaven in the May/June apparitions, during which the Lady had already promised the children that they would go to heaven. The vision of hell was necessary so as to convince the children of the urgency of the mission being entrusted to them. Jacinta, in particular, was powerfully affected by the vision after which she dedicated her life to doing all she could through penance and prayer to save souls.

The vision also reminds us of something we have lost sight of in recent years - that hell is a real place and that there is a real danger that many will end up there if there is not real conversion. The messages of Jesus (Mark 1:15), John the Baptist (Mat. 3:1-2) and Peter (Acts 2:38) were all the same: “Repent!” Jesus defined the Church’s mission as preaching “repentance, for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47). 

Yet every pope from Pius XII to Francis has said “the sin of our times is the loss of the sense of sin.” The refusal to repent - the belief that sin doesn’t really matter - is at the heart of the major moral disasters of our time, from abortion to human trafficking, pornography to gang crime. Those who see no wrong can do 

terrible things.

The vision of hell is also a necessary corrective to the presumptuous expectation that we are all going to heaven no matter what. It is true that God wants to forgive everybody. But one thing stops him: our refusal to repent. The meaning of all of this was not lost on the three shepherd children. They learned that it was absolutely urgent that they console Jesus, do penance, convert sinners and consecrate their lives to Mary. 

July 13th is only part of their story - a story that includes far more consolation than condemnation and was meant for every generation, including ours.