What Are the Three Secrets of Fatima (Part 1 of 3)

Greetings in Jesus and Mary.....

I pray all are well as we are into the fourth day of our Novena to Our Lady of Mt Carmel. We are also well into the summer months and approaching July 13th which was the 3rd apparition date of Our Queen and Mother to the three little shepherd children of Fatima. It was an important apparition date as She had revealed so much to the children that day. In fact, so much, that the authorities of Fatima kidnapped the children before the 4th apparition in August and threatened to take their lives if they did not share what Our Lady told them in July. 

What was revealed to the children Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta on July 13th, 1917?
(below taken from the World Apostolate of Fatima (Blue Army) website)....

On July 13, the three children assembled at the Cova and again saw Our Lady over the holm oak tree. Mary told them again to come each month and said, “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war, because only she can help you.”

She promised in October she would tell them who she was and perform a miracle for all to see and believe. Then continued, “Sacrifice yourselves for sinners and say many times, especially when you make some sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’” (The Sacrifice Prayer)

The First and Second Parts of the Secret:
A Vision of Hell and Prophecies
As she spoke these words, Mary opened her hands and rays of light from them seemed to penetrate the earth, revealing to the children a terrifying vision of hell full of demons and lost souls amid indescribable horrors. This vision of hell was the first of the three-part secret of Fatima. The children looked up to the sad face of the Blessed Virgin, who spoke to them kindly:

“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. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.”

“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. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted and there will be peace; 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.” 

The Third Part of the Secret will be covered tomorrow July 12th separately in another post just before the anniversary of this apparition which is July 13th. (Third Part of the Secret: An Angel with a Flaming Sword)

Our Lady told Lucia not to tell anyone about the secret at this time, apart from Francisco (who only saw Our Lady but never heard her speak.....a topic for another article. Why?)


Before the apparition ended, she gave these final words: “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 who are most in need.’” (The Decade Prayer)

So this was a truly important apparition to the children. These first two secrets were guarded very well by the children. Of course, we know that our Good God took the lives of Jacinta and Francesco to Heaven a year later. Lucia wrote these messages down in a memoir and revealed them to her superiors in 1929 who then shared them to the world. So not only was the third secret held off for the future...the first and second as well. Possibly, God was reserving knowledge of the vision of hell for a time when the dread doctrine of eternal damnation would be little thought of and discounted in the preaching of the Gospel. Although the words of Our Lord are absolutely unequivocal and unambiguous on this subject of an eternal hell of fire, the modern world closes its ears and turns away its eyes from the dreadful reality. By refusing to think of hell, the modern world imagines it has abolished hell....a pathetically unreasonable attitude to take in a matter so serious. The doctrine of hell was of course guaranteed by the miracle of the sun. None of us will be able to complain at our judgment that we did not know that hell exists. In fact, I was just at a family member's funeral recently and the wife of the deceased asked for a Rosary the night before his funeral ..... which is totally commendable today!! But she asked that the Fatima prayer at the end of the decade be avoided because not many would participate and it is no longer "standard". Are the words offensive today because of the mention of hell? Is not the Hail Mary even telling of a need for help at the hour of our death? Why pray for help at the hour of death or ask Our Lord to save us from the fires of hell? Aren't we all going to Heaven? Well, many have caught on to the Hail Mary as a prayer that also gives us a reality of  hell or  Purgatory after death for some souls and refuse the Rosary altogether.
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I will continue tomorrow on the Third Secret since this is too much for one article.

May Our Lady of Mt.. Carmel, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us!

Saints Lucia, Francesco and Jacinta, pray for us.

O my Jesus! Forgive us, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.’”

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