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→20th century
===20th century===
===20th century===
====Marian Apparitions in Fátima, 1917====
{{Main article|Fatima}}
On Sunday, May 13, 1917, the children were tending their sheep in another patch of land called the Cova da Iria. Seeing what they thought was a flash of lightning, they started to return home when they noticed a Lady, radiantly dressed in white, hovering over a small holmoak tree. She told them not to be afraid, that she was from Heaven and wanted them to come to the Cova da Iria for six months in succession on the 13th day. She asked the children to pray the [[Rosary]] every day, in order to obtain peace for the world and an end to the first world war, which was taking place at the time.<ref>Fatima in Lucia's own words (15th edition). Fr. Louis Kondor, SVD, editor. Secretariado Dos Pastorinhos, Fatima, Portugal. pages 174-176.</ref>
[[Image:Fatima.jpg|left]]
On July 13, 1917, Our Lady told the children: "Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times especially whenever you make a sacrifice: O Jesus, it is for the love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary."<ref>ibid. page 178.</ref> As she spoke those last words, she opened her hands and pointed to an opening in the ground. The children saw a vision of hell where demons and souls in human form, burned like embers and shrieked with pain and despair. Our Lady told them: "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world, devotion to my Immaculate Heart."<ref>ibid</ref>"To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of [[Russia]] to my Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.<ref>Letter from Sister Lucia dos Santos, transcribed by Rev. Fr. José Bernrdo Gonçalves, S.J. June 13, 1929.</ref> If my request are heeded, [[Russia]] will be converted and there will be peace.<ref>Letter from Sister Lucia dos Santos, transcribed by Rev. Fr. José Bernrdo Gonçalves, S.J. June 13, 1929.</ref> If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate [[Russia]] to me and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.<ref>Fatima in Lucia's own words (15th edition). Fr. Louis Kondor, SVD, editor. Secretariado Dos Pastorinhos, Fatima, Portugal. pages 179.</ref> When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need."<ref>ibid</ref>
The children faced much ridicule from their parents, the townspeople and even faced arrest and intimidation from the local authorities. However, increasing numbers of people did believe and accompanied them on their journeys to the Cova da Iria when they received the apparitions. Our Lady promised the children that on the 13th of October, she would perform a miracle for those who did not believe.
Francisco died on April 4, 1919 from bronchial influenza<ref>Our Lady Comes to Fatima. page 34. Leaflet Missal Company. 1987.</ref> and Jacinta died February 20, 1920 following complications from pleurisy.<ref>ibid. page 39.</ref> Lucia became a nun and continued to receive apparitions from Our Lady and Jesus. She lived to be 97 and passed away on February 13, 2005 at the Carmelite Convent in Coimbra, [[Portugal]].<ref>http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=35248</ref>
Today, Fátima is one of the world's most visited Marian sites. The site of the apparitions of Our Lady in the Cova da Iria is now called the Capelinha. During the evenings, the [[Rosary]] is said by visiting pilgrims from all over the world and a candlelight procession in the esplanade follows.
=====Miracle in the Field=====
On October 13, 1917, a crowd of thousands gathered with Lucia, Francisco and Lucia in the rainy field. Our Lady told the children that she wanted a chapel to be built on the site in her honor; she called herself the Lady of the Rosary. She asked them to continue to pray the [[Rosary]] every day. "The war is going to end," she told them, "and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.'<ref>ibid. page 182.</ref> Our Lady departed from the children and Lucia told the crowd to look at the sun. The people gathered in the Cova da Iria saw the sun turn into a huge silver disk. It spun like a wheel of fire, then rotated, casting hues of color onto the crowd below. Then, the sun fell from its orbit toward the earth, causing many people to make acts of contrition, thinking it was the end of the world. The sun though retracted and left the rain-soaked crowd dry and many of those who had arrived with infirmities, cured.<ref>Our Lady Comes to Fatima. page 31. Leaflet Missal Company. 1987.</ref> ''O Seculo'', a free-thinking newspaper would report, "...the sun has trembled...unprecedented and outside of all cosmic laws - the sun has danced..."<ref>O Seculo. October 15, 1917.</ref>
====Vatican II====
====Vatican II====