In 1916, on three separate occasions, Lúcia dos Santos and her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, began reporting apparitions of an angel in the region of Valinhos. According to the children, these blessed visitations began on the 13 May 1917 when, while tending their family's sheep in Cova da Iria, they said they witnessed the apparition of what they later wholeheartedly believed was the Virgin Mary, and began doing penance and self-sacrifice to atone for sinners. Many flocked to Fátima and Aljustrel to witness these declared apparitions along with the children, but not before the children were jailed for being politically disruptive. These visitations culminated on the 13 October 1917 public Miracle of the Sun event, the children imparted that the apparition of Virgin Mary divulged three secrets to the children. Although the Miracle of the Sun marked the children's last claimed apparition, the region of Fátima continued to be a destination for pilgrims.