page_title: Our Lady of Fatima
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Our Lady of Fatima / History
caption_attribution_description: A photostatic copy of a page from Ilustração Portuguesa, October 29, 1917, showing the crowd looking at the "miracle of the sun" (attributed to the Virgin Mary).
context_page_description: Our Lady of Fatima is a Roman Catholic title for the Virgin Mary due to her apparitions to three shepherd children, Lucia Santos, and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. The apparition is believed to have appeared at the town of Fátima, Portugal on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13. Her name in Portuguese is Nossa Senhora de Fátima. She is also called Our Lady of the Rosary or Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.
context_section_description: On May 13, 1917, Lucia and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were herding sheep at a location known as Cova da Iria, near their hometown village, Fatima. Lúcia described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." Amazed, Lucia and her cousins ran back to their village and told everyone what they saw. A further appearance of the Virgin Mary wre  reported to be on the thirteenth day of the month in June and July. In these, the Virgin Mary asked the children to do acts of penance and Acts of Reparation as well as personal sacrifice to save sinners. The children subsequently wore tight cords around their waists to cause themselves pain, performed self-flagellation using stinging nettles, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance. According to Lúcia's account, in the course of her appearances, the woman confided to the children three secrets, now known as the Three Secrets of Fátima.
caption: Page from Ilustração Portuguesa, 29 October 1917, showing the people looking at the miracle of the sun during the Fátima apparitions attributed to the Virgin Mary.
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