Our Lady of Fatima:

The Effects of Her Appearances

The historical Jesus

It would appear that the September 13 and October 13 phenomena were heaven’s way of confirming to the world the appearances by Mary to the three children. See Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun and Our Lady of Fatima: The September 13th Miracle. Still, the doubts continue. What can we do or say to help others recognize that the appearances by Our Lady of Fatima (also known as Our Lady of the Rosary) were very real and that she is none other than the mother of Jesus? Sometimes the best way, and on occasion the only way, to assess the reality, importance and source of an event is to examine its aftermath and effects – its fruits. A sterling example would be the effects that flowed from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Let’s examine those first, and then we’ll describe the immediate and long-term effects of the visitations at Fatima.

Non-Christians sometimes assert that Jesus never even existed, and that the Gospel accounts are self-serving and not to be trusted. To support their contention, they tell us that there are no non-Christian writers living at the time of Jesus or shortly thereafter that recorded what he said and did. No one said that they reviewed reports about this Nazarene who taught that the Kingdom of God had arrived, that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

That’s not quite true.

Jewish and Roman historians and others who lived living shortly after Jesus wrote about a rapidly increasing group called Christians. Paul Barnett’s book Is the New Testament History? summarizes some of the verified effects of Jesus having lived.

Pliny. Around A.D. 110 an experienced administrator by the name of Pliny was sent by the Roman Emperor Trajan to be governor of Bithynia, a Roman province located just south of the Black Sea. He wrote to the emperor asking what to do about a group called Christians who were becoming very powerful and “spreading like a disease.” A number of them had been imprisoned and Pliny wanted advice on how to conduct their trials. What punishments were appropriate? Should the punishments be the same for young and old? Would renunciation of Jesus earn them a pardon? Pliny wrote Trajan that these Christians maintained that they assembled on a fixed day before sunrise and recite a “form of words to Christ as a god” … After this their custom was to depart, and to meet again to take food, “but ordinary and harmless food.” Some of the prisoners maintained that they had rejected Christ at least 20 years earlier and so were innocent. Barnett concludes: “Based on what Pliny wrote there can be no doubt about the existence in about A.D. 110 of a substantial body of Christians in remote Bithynia. This is a fact of history. But how do we explain this fact? How did they come to be there? Their presence was an historical effect for which there was some cause. What was it?” (Barnett page 19).

Tacitus. Tacitus was made governor of another Roman province at about the same time Pliny was appointed to Bithynia. Tacitus was also an historian. In his Annals of Imperial Rome Tacitus described how the Emperor Nero blamed the Christians for the fire that destroyed Rome in A.D. 64. Tacitus confirmed that “Christus” lived during the time of the Emperor Tiberius; that Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor when Christ died; that he was executed in Judea; that a “deadly superstition” broke out which spread from Judea to Rome. “An arrest was first made of all who confessed, then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of arson, as of hatred of the human race.” (Barnett pages 20-21). Tacitus, as was the case with Pliny, hated these Christians.

Suetonius. Suetonius lived from A.D. 69 – 140. Referring to A.D. 49 he writes that, “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [Claudius] expelled them from Rome.” Suetonius described the Christians as a “class of man given to a new and wicked superstition.” (Barnett page 23).

 Josephus. Josephus was a Jewish historian born in A.D. 37. He wrote Jewish Antiquities. All ‘scholars’ agree that Josephus confirmed in his writings that Jesus was called Christ and that his brother James was delivered up by the Jewish authorities and stoned because he had transgressed the law. There is less agreement among scholars that he wrote the following passage (the content would be troubling to non-Christians), although it exists in all manuscripts:

“About that time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of the Christians so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.”

Except for Josephus, none of these wrote directly about Christ; they wrote about the effects that Christ had upon others and how his followers within this Jewish sect kept growing despite the horrors and persecutions visited upon them. In view of these non-Christian letters and documents can there be any doubt but that a very real and extraordinary person named Jesus Christ actually lived. What flowed from Christ’s life are undeniable.

Similarly, the effects of Fatima are irrefutable.

Effects of Fatima

Fatima tells us that God continues to reveal himself and his teachings through instruments chosen by him, whether the instrument is the mother of Jesus or three small children. Earlier in salvation history, he chose fishermen, uneducated Jews and a tyrant persecuting the Church. All of them labored to help the Savior fulfill his work. Two thousand years ago in ancient Israel he used his beloved mother to introduce God the Son to the world. He continues to use her as a doorway to his love. She in turn uses the most humble and simplest of human instruments to evangelize with hard proofs and evidence for even the most skeptical – if they open their hearts. Fatima tells us that in 1917 the door to heaven was opened and, using the instrumentality of Mary, God said, “Here I am. Open your eyes and your hearts!” Although Fatima was a private revelation, it was made in a very public setting. Her appearances and messages were quite simply to help some find belief and others to sustain it. Let’s see if she was successful.

  • The lives of three illiterate and pious children were changed forever as foretold by Mary. After October 13, 1917 Jacinta was interested only in prayer for the conversion of sinners. She wanted to make herself like Jesus and suffered very much. She never complained, accepting the suffering with happiness for she believed it would help many souls escape the terrible fire of hell. She died in 1920 at the age of 9. Francisco’s only desire was to console Our Lord and Our Lady who seemed so sorrowful because of the ingratitude and sins of man. After Fatima he would devote the greater part of each day in church praying the Rosary. His last request was to receive his first communion. He died in 1919 at the age of 10. Lucia became a nun and lived to the age of 97. She died in 2005 and her story has brought the wonder of God to millions.
  • A focus on the apparitions and what they mean have continued unabated since 1917. Jesus reveals himself to those who are searching and, in this day of the internet and easy access to information, failure to know Jesus and his continuing search for us is inexcusable and means that we just don’t care enough about the love God has given us and asks from us in return.
  • Millions have been brought to Jesus Christ, either by an outright conversion or a deepening of their faith.
  • Our Lady of Fatima requested that a chapel be built in her honor. The civil authorities were opposed to the construction of a chapel. Nevertheless, from the offerings made to the children a small chapel was constructed in 1917-1918. On March 6, 1922 two bombs were planted, one in the chapel and the other at the holm oak tree where the Lady had appeared. As shown in this photograph, the roof of the chapel was blown off, but the bomb at the oak tree failed to explode. (Marchi, The True Story of Fatima, page 75). By 1958 and after 25 years of construction, Our Lady of Fatima Basilica was completed and consecrated. Then, on October 13, 2007 the Church of the Most Holy Trinity was consecrated and is reported to be the eighth largest Christian church in the world. As is always the case, the honor accorded to Mary gathered itself, was magnified and found its real destination – the Holy Trinity.
  • Fatima is a major shrine where millions of faithful and not so faithful flock every year and from whence even more millions of faithful depart. The little chapel that was constructed immediately following the appearances in 1917 is today a basilica with a central tower 213 feet high, flanked by colonnades linking it with convent and hospital buildings.

 Maybe one of Fatima’s effects will be your conversion or the strengthening of your faith – or someone you love.

Our Lady of Fatima Basilica

 

Some websites and references

Footnotes and Attributions

 Last modified September 9, 2019