The other day I was in the middle of writing my next post in the St. Louis De Montfort series but had an unfortunate incident occur. I spilled a glass of water all over my laptop and the thing died on the spot. Once I get a new laptop and retrieve all of my materials and data that had been stored in the old one, I will resume writing that post and future posts in the De Montfort series. In the meantime, I think I’m going to do something a little different and write about Our Lady of Fatima.
First Apparition of the Angel
The first apparition of the Angel occurred in the spring or summer of 1916 in a place (or cave) on a hill of Cabeço, near Aljustrel. Lucia, who many years later became Sister Lucy, said the following:
Second Apparition of the Angel
The second apparition occurred in the summer of 1916 over the well at the house of Lucy’s parents, near where the children were drinking. Sister Lucy narrated what the Angel said to her and her cousins:
‘What are you doing? Pray! pray a great deal! The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have merciful designs for you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High!’
‘How must we sacrifice?’ I asked.
‘Of all you can, offer a sacrifice to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and as a supplication for the conversion of sinners. In this way draw peace upon your country. I am the Guardian Angel of Portugal. Above all, accept and endure with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.’
And he disappeared.
These words of the Angel were so impressed upon our souls like light that they made us understand who is God, how much He loves us and wishes to be loved, the value of sacrifice and how it pleases God, and how, in view of it, He converts sinners. (Cf. Memoirs II, p. 116; IV, pp. 320 and 322; de Marchi, p. 53; Walsh, p. 42; Ayres da Fonseca, pp. 121-122; Galamba de Oliveira, pp. 57-58).
Third Apparition of the Angel
The third apparition occurred at the end of the summer or the beginning of the fall of 1916, once again in Loca do Cabeço. In Sister Lucy’s words:
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The apparitions of the Angel in 1916 were preceded by three other visions, from April to October of 1915, at which Lucy and three other little shepherd girls, Maria Rosa Matias, Teresa Matias, and Maria Justino saw, also on the hill at Cabeço, something suspended in the air over the grove of trees. Sister Lucy said it was like “a kind of cloud whiter than snow, somewhat transparent with human configuration.” She said it was “a figure like a statue made of snow that the rays from the sun had turned somewhat transparent.” (CF. Memoirs II, p. 110; IV, pp. 316 and 318; de Marchi, pp. 50-51; Walsh, pp. 27-28; Ayres da Fonseca, p. 119; Galamba de Oliveira, p. 51).
The next post will be about the apparitions of the Blessed Mother.