On Sunday,
May, 13, 1917, Lucy dos Santos, and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta
Marto were pasturing their flocks as usual. It was noon of a clear,
sunny day, when suddenly a flash of lightning cut the air -- then
another. Fearing a storm, the children quickly gathered the sheep to get
them home. Then their glances fell upon a small holm-oak tree directly
in their path. A dazzling light hovered over the topmost branches, when
-- wonder of wonders -- what should they behold but the form of a lovely
lady standing atop the tree in the light, her feet hidden in a
shimmering cloud. As Lucy later described her, "She was a lady more
brilliant than the sun."After telling the children not to be frightened, the vision said: "I come from Heaven, I want you to come here at this same hour on the 13th day of each month until October. Then I will tell you who I am and what I want." She also told them to say the Rosary every day, and to bear all the sufferings God would send them.
In June the Lady appeared again. She told the youngsters that many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them. She said Francisco and Jacinta would soon leave the world for Heaven. Holding out her heart surrounded by thorns which pierced it from all sides, Our Lady told Lucy: "God wishes you to remain in the world for some time because He wants to use you to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. I promise salvation to those who embrace it, and their souls will be loved by God as flowers placed by myself to adorn His throne."
