Il 13 October of 1917 around seventy thousand people, coming from all over Portugal, they gather at the “Cova de Iria” (Fatima). For many weeks the news of the appearance of the "Lady" and the miracle that she promised to perform has spread. Among the common people there are also nobles, engineers, medici, I noticed e, Obviously, journalists and photographers.
From the sky, completely covered in clouds, an incessant rain falls. Escorted by family members, Francesco arrives, Jacinta and Lucia, the three little seers. They reach, with difficulty, the holm oak on which it usually rests “Lady” and they begin to pray the Rosary. At noon, even though the rain continues to fall, Lucia gives the order to close the umbrellas and the crowd obeys. A few moments later the “Lady” appears, brighter than usual. Everyone present notices a small white cloud moving around the group.
Lucia asks: «Who are you and what do you want from me?». This time the celestial Lady replies that she is the Madonna of the Rosary and that she wants a chapel to be built in that place in her honor. He recommends always reciting the Rosary and announces to Lucia that he would heal some of the sick people present, then he concludes: «Everyone needs to convert, that they ask for forgiveness of their sins and that they no longer offend Our Lord who is too offended".
After saying this, he opens his hands which are reflected in the sun. At this point, While Lucia shouts: «Look at the sun!», the miracle that she had asked for so that everyone would believe occurs: The thick clouds break apart and the sun appears and begins to rotate, to change color, to dance in the sky and then to progressively get closer to the earth, as if it were about to fall.
We report the testimony of Dr. Almeida Garrett:
«Suddenly I heard the clamor of hundreds of voices and saw that the crowd was scattering at my feet... turning their backs to the place where, until that moment, his anticipation was concentrated and he was looking towards the sun on the other side. I also turned towards the point that attracted everyone's gaze and I could see the sun appear like a very clear disk, with clear contours, which shone without offending the sight. It could not be confused with the sun seen through a fog (which wasn't there at the time) because it was neither veiled nor attenuated. In Fatima it maintained its light and its heat and stood out in the sky with its clear outlines, like a large card table. The most amazing thing was being able to contemplate the solar disk, for a long time, shining with light and heat, without hurting your eyes or damaging your retina. We heard a clamor, the anguished cry of the entire crowd. The sun, Indeed, maintaining its rapid rotational movements, it seemed to be free to move in the firmament, and to push yourself, blood red, towards the earth, threatening to destroy us with its enormous mass. They were truly terrible seconds.".
The Bishop of Leiria, he wrote so in his Pastoral Letter on the cult of Our Lady of Fatima: «The solar phenomenon of 13 October 1917, reported and described in the newspapers of the time, it was extremely wonderful and left an indelible impression on those who had the happiness of attending it. This phenomenon, which no astronomical observatory has recorded, and therefore not natural, it has been noticed by people of all categories and social classes, believers and unbelievers, journalists from the main Portuguese newspapers, and again by individuals several kilometers away from the place where it occurred; which dispels any explanation of collective illusion".
The children Giacinta and Francesco, as predicted by Our Lady, after much suffering, they go to Heaven. Not so Lucia (keeper of the third secret), to which the Madonna says: «God wants you to remain in the world to make my Immaculate Heart known... Then you too will come to Heaven».
From Il Timone del 13/10/2016
