Our Lady of Fátima
Our Lady of Fátima (formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of the Lord Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal. The three children were Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. José Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, declared the events worthy of belief on 13 October 1930.
Quotes
[edit]- ‘'Fatima, Portugal, July 13, 1917’'
Lucia raised her wide eyes to the sky and saw the Lady descending. The apparition came from the east, as on the two previous occasions: a bright dot emerging from the depths of a cloud-covered sky. It approached quickly, gliding without fluctuation, and its figure shone with light as soon as it settled on the holm oak, a couple of meters above the ground. The Lady stood, her crystallized image enveloped in a glow that seemed to shine brighter than the sun. Faced with such blinding beauty, Lucia lowered her gaze.
- Steve Berry, Il terzo segreto, translation into Italian by Carla Gaiba, Editrice Nord, 2005. ISBN 978-88-429-1409-9
- Although there are cases in which not only “images” of Hell were shown (which, in my opinion, is the case with the vision of Hell by the children of Fatima), but certain chosen ones had the subjective certainty that a number of men are already lost, nevertheless in them (and this is the purpose of the Revelation) the desire to oppose what has been shown to them, to annul it, far prevails over the idea that, in the face of what has been contemplated as lost, there is nothing more to be done.
- Hans Urs von Balthasar, Sperare per tutti (translated into Italian by Maria and Luigi Frattini), with the addition of Breve discorso sull'inferno (translation by Carlo Danna), and Apocatastasi (translation by Ellero Babini), Jaca Book, Milano, 1997, p. 152. ISBN 978-88-16-30323-2
- Interviewer: Why did a great Mariologist like Renè Laurentin never deal with Fatima? Because he considered it difficult. Lourdes was a straightforward apparition, while Fatima had several parts and, above all, a disclosure of secrets much later in the years. So he decided not to be called upon to investigate that event. He said this with great cultural independence even to the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, sent directly by the Portuguese patriarch, who would have made everything possible available to him to study the phenomenon. And then too many political passions had been unleashed on Fatima, which in his opinion would have hindered his work... [Laurentin was] a good and easy-going man, always available, and he was not only a Mariologist and the greatest expert on Lourdes.
- Vittorio Messori, in Andrea Zambrano, I tuffi in Senna col mio amico Laurentin, il fastidio dei teologi e la certezza su Medjugorie, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, 13 September 2017.
- Mary is everywhere: Marigolds are named for her. Hail Mary passes save football games. The image in Mexico of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most reproduced female likenesses ever. Mary draws millions each year to shrines such as Fátima, in Portugal, and Knock, in Ireland, sustaining religious tourism estimated to be worth billions of dollars a year and providing thousands of jobs. She inspired the creation of many great works of art and architecture (Michelangelo’s “Pietà,” Notre Dame Cathedral), as well as poetry, liturgy, and music (Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin). And she is the spiritual confidante of billions of people, no matter how isolated or forgotten.
Muslims as well as Christians consider her to be holy above all women, and her name “Maryam” appears more often in the Koran than “Mary” does in the Bible. In the New Testament Mary speaks only four times, beginning with the Annunciation, when, according to Luke’s Gospel, the angel Gabriel appears to her and says she will bear “the Son of the Most High.” Mary answers, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.” Her only extended speech, also in Luke, is the lyrical Magnificat, uttered in early pregnancy: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”
Indeed they have.
- Maureen Orth, “How the Virgin Mary Became the World’s Most Powerful Woman”, (12/2015)
- (About the Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II) Interviewer: Was he really convinced that he had been saved by Our Lady? Cardinal Re: Of course. The Governorate of the Vatican posed the question of how to commemorate in St. Peter's Square that dramatic event that took place there. The Pope's answer was immediate: an image of Our Lady was to be placed in memory of the attack. He was convinced that the Blessed Virgin Mary had been present on 13 May to guide the bullet, so that the Pope would survive. Thus, since 8 December 1981, anyone arriving at St. Peter's Square has seen a mosaic of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus in her arms, and at her feet the title Mater Ecclesiae and the coat of arms of John Paul II, with the motto Totus tuus, dominating from a ledge of the Apostolic Palace.
- Interviewer: Did the Pope actually say that Our Lady had "guided the bullet"? Cardinal Re: Yes. The bullet went through him without hitting any vital parts. I can add a detail: two days after the assassination attempt, it was realised that the index finger of the Pope's left hand had suffered a blow, so much so that one phalanx was paralysed. One hypothesis that came to mind was that the bullet had grazed, by superior intervention, the finger of the Pope's hand, as he was waving with open arms. That grazing of the finger deflected downwards the trajectory of the bullet, which passed through the intestine without hitting vital parts and exited, falling and remaining in the jeep. Now that bullet is embedded in Our Lady's crown at Fatima.
- From an interview of Aldo Cazzullo to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, «La mia vita con Giovanni Paolo II. Ecco perché, malato, non si dimise», Il Corriere della Sera (May 17, 2020)
