On September 13, 1917, between 20,000 and 30,000 people gathered at the Cova da Iria in Fátima (Portugal) to accompany Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto at the fifth apparition of Our Lady. There was still one month left until the miracle of the sun, and the crowd that came to the site had grown considerably since the first apparitions.
Our Lady once again asked that day for the daily recitation of the Rosary to obtain the end of the war, confirmed the value of the sacrifices offered by the three little shepherds, and announced that in October she would perform “the miracle so that all may believe.”
From three little shepherds to 30,000 people
The apparitions had begun four months earlier, on May 13, when Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta were with their flock at the Cova da Iria. Our Lady then asked them to return to the same place on the 13th for the following five months.
By September, what had begun before the three children had already taken on a very different dimension. The Sanctuary estimates that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were present at the Cova da Iria on September 13, the first time the crowd exceeded twenty thousand.
Sister Lucia left in her memoirs a particularly expressive image of that day. While the three little shepherds were heading toward the place of the apparition, numerous people knelt before them to ask them to present their needs to Our Lady.
Some asked for sick children, others for the blind and people with various ailments; there were also those who prayed for family members who were at war and for the conversion of sinners.
“All the miseries of poor humanity appeared there,” Lucia would recall years later.
The encounter also came after an especially difficult month for the little shepherds. On August 13 they had been taken by the administrator of Ourém and prevented from going to the Cova da Iria. The fourth apparition finally took place six days later, on August 19, in Valinhos.
“Continue praying the Rosary every day”
The September apparition began with a request that had accompanied the previous encounters: persevere in the daily recitation of the Rosary.
“Continue praying the Rosary to Our Lady of the Rosary, every day […] to obtain the end of the war,” the Virgin said according to Sister Lucia’s memoirs collected by the Sanctuary.
Europe was then in the fourth year of the First World War. The war had been present in the requests at Fátima for months before, and the Rosary appeared repeatedly linked to the plea for peace.
The request would be heard again in October. At the last apparition, Our Lady would ask that the Rosary continue to be prayed daily and would identify herself to Lucia as Our Lady of the Rosary.
“God is pleased with your sacrifices”
The apparition of September 13 also contains a lesser-known indication about the sacrifices offered by the three children.
Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta had begun to wear a rough rope around their waists as penance. Our Lady did not reject those sacrifices. On the contrary, she began by confirming their value: “God is pleased with your sacrifices”.
She then set a specific limit: “but He does not want you to sleep with the rope; wear it only during the day.”
The indication acquires particular importance within the message of Fátima, where prayer, penance, and the offering of sacrifices for sinners occupy a constant place. Just a month earlier, in Valinhos, Our Lady had asked the children: “Pray, pray much and make sacrifices for sinners.”
In September, therefore, the penance of the little shepherds was not disavowed: their offering was confirmed and it was determined how they should practice that specific sacrifice.
The sick and petitions before Our Lady
Lucia also presented to the Virgin the numerous petitions she had received from those who came to the Cova da Iria.
“They have asked me to request many things,” the visionary explained, expressly mentioning the healing of some sick people and a deaf-mute.
The response was simple: “Some I will cure, others I will not”.
The scene is directly related to that multitude Lucia had encountered along the way. The tens of thousands of people who came to the Cova da Iria brought with them illnesses, family members sent to war, sins, and needs that they entrusted to the intercession of Our Lady.
“In October I will perform the miracle so that all may believe”
Before the apparition ended came the announcement that would further increase the expectation surrounding the next 13th.
“In October I will perform the miracle so that all may believe”, Our Lady announced.
The Virgin also indicated that in October there would appear Our Lord, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus to bless the world.
The promise of a miracle was not entirely new. It had already been announced in previous apparitions, but on September 13 it was reiterated before a Cova da Iria where tens of thousands of people were already gathered.
More than a century later, the call of Fátima to prayer and conversion continues to be part of the life of the Church. Benedict XVI recalled this during his pilgrimage to the Sanctuary in 2010 when he warned that “he is mistaken who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fátima is finished”.
Read also: Benedict XVI: “He is mistaken who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fátima is finished”
A month after that September apparition, the crowd gathered at the Cova da Iria already numbered around 70,000 people. It was October 13, 1917, and the day had arrived for which Our Lady had announced the miracle.