Fátima ao detalhe | 13 junho 1917 | Aliança de Santa Maria

JUNE 13, 1917
FÁTIMA IN DETAIL

Sr. Maria Benedita Costa, asm
Sister of the Covenant of St. Mary

Contrary to what was initially agreed between Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia, the Apparition in May quickly became known not only among the family of the little shepherds, but also among the population of Fatima and the neighboring towns. That's why, unlike the previous month, on June 13, the Apparition not only didn't take place in the tranquillity of “a normal day” grazing the family's flocks - it was St. Anthony's Day and, therefore, the parish festival[2] - but neither did it take place in the privacy and intimacy of the “group of three” because, according to reports from the time, “about sixty people gathered there”[3].

Once again, we have dispensed with the narrative of the Apparition and its dialogue, which has been widely publicized in the Memories of Sister Lucia I[4], In order to focus on the story of the narrative that “surrounds” the Apparition and allows us to understand in greater depth the dialog that takes place within it.

The narrative of this Apparition, far from being something static and watertight, produced and fixed at a given moment, presents itself to us as something dynamic, verbalized/shared as it is progressively experienced and understood, which is why the short accounts of the 1917 interrogations, Lucia's first written account of the Apparitions, and the official interrogation of the canonical process[5] - which refer to little more than the request that the seers learn to read and the request to cure some sick people - conceal what, at the time, they already kept as a “secret” - although without the formal request that they do so - given the deeply intimate and personal nature of the content of the Apparition[6].

Only 10 years later - after the Pontevedra Apparitions, in which the content of this apparition, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, was developing and deepening, and part of the content of the dialogue, the premature death of Francisco and Jacinta, had already taken place - did Lucia report for the first time the entirety of the dialogue with Our Lady, which she would later set down definitively in the writing of her Fourth Memoir (8/12/1941).

However, although all the content of the Apparition has already been fully revealed, the depth of its meaning is progressively prayed over and meditated on by Lucia who, as she penetrates the depth of its meaning, on several occasions records in writing her understanding and experience of these realities, as happens in the information processes for the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta[7] and in his last posthumously published writing, “How I see the message”[8], in which she gives us her mature interpretation - humanly and spiritually - of the events she experienced as a child.

[1] For the sake of accessibility of sources for those who wish to delve deeper into the subject, we cite them from the work of Luciano Coelho Cristino (CRISTINO, L. C., The Apparitions of Fatima: a reconstruction based on documents(Fátima, Santuário de Fátima, 2017, 1st ed.), in which each Apparition was treated individually from the point of view of the documentary sources.

[2] Cf. JESUS, Lúcia de, Memories of Sister Lucia I, Fatima, Secretariat of the Little Shepherds, 2007, 13th edition, p. 82.

[3] Cf. CRISTINO, L. C., The Apparitions..., p. 39.

[4] JESUS, Lúcia de, Memories..., p.175-176.

[5] These documents, as well as others of equal importance, can be consulted in full at: DOCUMENTATION Critical of Fatima: Selection of Documents (1917-1930). Text setting, introductions and notes by Luciano Coelho Cristino. Fátima: Shrine of Fátima, 2013.

[6] The explanation of the various reasons that led the seers to consider part of the content of this apparition as “secret” is clearly explained in: CRISTINO, L. C., The Apparitions..., p. 41-42.

[7] Cf. CRISTINO, L. C., The Apparitions..., p. 45-46.

[8] JESUS, Lúcia de, How I see the message, through time and events, Coimbra: Carmelo; Fátima: Secretariado dos Pastorinhos, 2006, p. 42-44.

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