At dawn on 13 September, all the roads leading to Fatima were full of people. By noon there were around 30,000 people waiting for the apparition. Lucy was very impressed by the simplicity of faith and generosity of the people who came from far to ask Our Lady for graces or simply to honour Her. Arriving at the Cova da Iria, Lucy started to say the rosary with the people.

This time many of them saw Our Lady arriving.

Fr. Quaresma, who later became the Vicar General of the diocese of Leiria, was present on 13 September with two other priests: “With great astonishment I saw, clearly and distinctly, a luminous globe, which moved from the east to the west, gliding slowly and majestically through the space. My friends also looked and had the good fortune to enjoy the same unexpected and delightful vision. Suddenly the globe, with its extraordinary light, disappeared. Near to us was a little girl dressed like Lucia and more or less the same age. She continued to cry out happily: ‘I still see it! Now it's coming down...’”

Then the sun's brightness diminished and the atmosphere became golden yellow. Some people even reported being able to distinguish the stars in the sky.

‘Lucia: What do you want from me?

Our Lady: Continue to say the Rosary to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord will come, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Carmel. Saint Joseph will appear with the Child Jesus to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime.

Lucia: I was told to ask you many things, the cure of some sick people, of a deaf-mute …

Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some, but not others, because Our Lord does not trust them.

Lucia: The people would like to have a chapel here.

Our Lady: With half the money, make litters to be carried in procession on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary; the other half is for the chapel.

Then Lucy said that she offered Her two letters and a little bottle of perfumed water that had been offered by a man from the parish of Olival. As she offered them to Our Lady, she said to Her:

I have been given these things. Do you want them?

Our Lady: Those are not needed in Heaven. In October, I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.

Then Our Lady began to rise as usual, and disappeared. ‘

During the time of the apparition, the majority of the pilgrims had enjoyed a marvelous spectacle: they saw falling from Heaven a shower of white petals, or round, shining snowflakes which slowly descended and disappeared as they approached the ground. Another sign of Her presence was a “pleasant looking cloud formed around the rustic arch which dominated the little tree-stump. Rising up from the ground, it grew thicker and went up into the air until it was five or six meters high; then it disappeared like smoke that vanished before the wind… Everything happened as though some invisible thurifers were incensing the Vision liturgically”. In his letter approving devotion of Fatima, the Bishop of Leiria declared this phenomenon as “humanly speaking inexplicable”.

At the end of the apparition, again the luminous globe could be seen going up into the air and leaving the Cova da Iria in the direction of the east. Fr. Quaresma concludes: “The children had contemplated the very Mother of God, while to us it had been given to see the means of transport — which brought Her from Heaven to the inhospitable waste of the Serra de Aire”.

To become a true "Apostle of Fatima"

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