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The Fourth Apparition 19 August 1917

 

On 13 August, the day the fourth apparition was to take place, the seers could not go to Cova da Iria, as they had been abducted by the mayor of Vila Nova de Ourém, who wanted to force the secret from them. The children held fast.

At Cova da Iria, thunder followed by lightning was heard at the usual time. The spectators noticed a small white cloud that hovered over the holm oak for a few minutes. Phenomena of coloration were observed on the faces of the people, the clothing, the trees, and the ground. Our Lady had certainly come, but she had not found the seers.

On 19 August28, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, Lucia was with Francisco and another cousin at Valinhos, a property belonging to one of her uncles, when the atmospheric changes that preceded the apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria began to occur: a sudden cooling of the temperature and a waning of the sun. Feeling that something supernatural was approaching and enveloping them, Lucia sent for Jacinta, who arrived in time to see Our Lady appear – heralded as before by a bright light – over a holm oak slightly larger than the one at Cova da Iria.

Lucia: What does Your Grace wish of me?

Our Lady: I want you to continue to go to Cova da Iria on the thirteenth of each month and to continue to pray the Rosary every day. On the last month, I will perform the miracle for all to believe. 29

Lucia: What does Your Grace want done with the money that the people leave at Cova da Iria?

Our Lady: Have two portable stands made. You and Jacinta with two other girls dressed in white carry one of them, and let Francisco carry the other one with three other boys. The portable stands are for the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The money that is left over should be contributed to the chapel that they shall build. 30

Lucia: I would like to ask you for the healing of some sick persons.

Our Lady: Yes, I will cure some during the year.

"Becoming sadder, she recommended anew the practice of mortification, saying lastly, ‘Pray, pray much, and make sacrifice for sinners, for many souls go to hell because there is no one to sacrifice and pray for them.’

"As usual, she then began to rise toward the east."

The seers cut boughs off the tree over which Our Lady had appeared to them and took them home. The boughs gave off a uniquely sweet fragrance. 31

 



28 There exists some doubt regarding this date. Sister Lucia herself does not remember it precisely. In Memoirs II and IV she says that it was on the 15th. But in a letter to Dr. Goulven, she opts for the 19th, adding on the margin: "I am more inclined to this date, because if it had been on the 15th, we would have spent only one full day in prison, and I remember that we were there longer." (Reis, A Vidente de Fátima dialoga, p. 43)

During the canonical investigation of 8 July 1924, Lucia gave a detailed, day-by-day account of her imprisonment with the other seers and said that the three returned from Vila Nova de Ourém on the 16th. Thus, most authors record 19 August as the correct date, which would be the following Sunday, since the seer remembers that the apparition took place on a holy day of obligation.

However in Memoirs II and IV, as well as in the canonical investigation, Sister Lucia affirms decisively that the apparition of Valinhos occurred on the same day she returned from Vila Nova de Ourém. Now, if the apparition had actually occurred on the 19th, this would mean that the children were imprisoned for six days, since they were taken away on the 13th. But, again, this seems excessive.

Galamba de Oliveira (on page 83 of his book) decided on the 15th, explaining that Lucia might have missed the count by one day and night when she testified before the canonical commission in 1924. In sum, given Sister Lucia’s seemingly contradictory testimony, one cannot be entirely certain of the exact date of the fourth apparition. We have opted for what seems to be the most plausible.



29 At this point, De Marchi adds these words of Our Lady: "If they had not taken you to the town [meaning Vila Nova de Ourém], the miracle would be even greater."

Canon Formigão, in his interrogation on 2 November 1917, wrote down a phrase that indicates the opposite meaning: “If they had not been taken, the miracle would not have been as widely known”. This would justify the commentary in the Documentação Crítica de Fátima: “The children’s imprisonment by the local administration created an even greater expectation of the miracle announced for 13 October” (vol I, p. 18).

Neither of the two versions appears in Sister Lucia’s Memoirs.

 



30 According to Lucia's declarations to the parish priest of the parish of Fatima on 21 August 1917, which are confirmed by her replies in the canonical investigation of 8 July 1924, the reference to the chapel belongs in the fifth apparition. That is where DeMarchi includes it. (De Marchi, p. 127)



31 Memoir II, p. 150, and IV, pp. 342, 344; De Marchi, pp. 127-129; Walsh, pp. 109-110; Ayres da Fonseca, pp. 61-62; Galamba de Oliveira. p. 89.





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