If you live in Ludlow, Massachusetts, you may recognize the children pictured. Each year Ludlow has a large festival called FESTA, which is a cultural event with Portuguese food, rockin’ music, local vendors, children carnivals, law enforcement, and dignitaries. Among these great things, the Catholic church hosting the event promotes an apparition speaking to two of three young children in Fátima, Portugal in 1917. Thousands attend, but who asks about the children? What did the apparition tell the children?
A Catholic press article [1] on FESTA summarizes two-fold: “The Blessed Mother told the children to pray the rosary daily for peace and to offer up their suffering for the conversion of souls.” That is precise but requires unpacking.
Fatimá painted in ceramic mosaics within a stone wall. source: ID 31755295 Rogerio Bernardo | Dreamstime.com
A more comprehensive account by John de Marchi on EWTN [2] and reviewed by the sole surviving child elaborates on the suffering aspect:
Once, returning from the Cova da Iria, they passed a pond belonging to a family named Carreira It was a dirty pool of water where some women washed their clothes and others brought their animals to drink. Jacinta was weak from ordeal: her throat and her tips were parched.
“My head aches so, Lucia; I’m terribly thirsty, I think I’ll take some of this.”
“Not from here, Jacinta, please. My mother forbids it, anyhow. She says it might make me ill. We can go and get good drinking water.”
“I don’t want to drink good water.” The little girl was determined. “If I must drink something I will take this water and offer it to our Lady.”
The refusal of fresh fruit, with its nourishment and thirst-killing juices, was another means of self-denial. Lucia tells of Jacinta accepting grapes and figs from her mother, concealing, rather than consuming them, then giving them to children they met along the road. And finally, there was the penitential cord that each child wore.
This practice began when Lucia found a length of abandoned rope. Experimenting with it, as a child will, and wrapping it around one arm, she noted the pain its tension brought. She thought about this for a little while, then spoke to the others.
“This is something we could use as a sacrifice,” she said.
“We can knot cords like this and wear them around our waists.”
It may not seem to many a happy thought, but it is a documented record of Fatima that a tightened cord around each of their waists was a daily chastisement. Even at night they did not spare themselves until our Lady, during the September apparition, told them they must not wear the cords to bed.
— The True Story of FATIMA
If you sense discomfort & apology in the author, the account Fatima in Lucia’s own Words [3] by the sole surviving child is more explicit: “This cord had three knots, and was somewhat stained with blood. I kept it hidden until I finally left my mother’s home. Then, not knowing what to do with it, I burned it, and Francisco’s as well,” and “As a matter of fact, this water was filthy. People washed their clothes in it, and the animals came there to drink and waded right into it. That was why my mother warned her children not to drink this water.”
Two, and nearly only, books featured at the fair each year are written by the same Father de Marchi, one in English and one in Portuguese. Both contain the above account in some more detail. Here a section of the Portuguese, Era uma Senhora mais Brilhante que o Sol (p. 166), within the chapter, “Rezai… E fazei sacrifícios pelos pecardores” (which when translated are the words above in the Catholic Press article):
A sede, um dos tormentos mais difíceis de suportar no estio e na nudez da serra, era uma das suas mortificações dilectas. Chegavam a passar nove dias sem beber e até um mês, o mês de Agosto!
Voltavam certa ocasião da Cova da Iria, onde tinham ido rezar o terço e, ao passar pela lagoa da Carreira, lagoa sujíssima onde se lavava roupa e os animais entravam para beber, a Jacinta diz para a Lúcia:
– Olha! Tenho tanta sede e dói-me tanto a cabeça!… Vou beber uma pouquinha desta água.
– Desta não — lhe responde a prima. — Minha mãe não quer que bebamos daqui, porque faz mal; vamos pedir uma pouquita à tia Maria dos Anjos.
– Não — interrompe a criancinha — dessa água tão boa não quero; bebia desta, porque, em vez de oferecer a Nosso Senhor a sede oferecia-Lhe o sacrifício de beber desta água suja.
…
Andando certo dia a pastorear o gado, encontram um certo bocado de corda. A Lúcia, brincando, ata-a ao braço e não tarda a notar que a corda a magoa.
– Olhem, isto faz doer; podíamos atá-la à cinta e oferecer a Deus este sacrifício.
A aspereza e grossura da corda tornavam o suplício, na verdade, horroroso. A Jacinta, mais tenrinha, devia sofrer, por vezes, atrozmente. As lágrimas soltavam-se-lhe com a força da dor, mas, quando a Lúcia a aconselhava a que tirasse a corda respondia:
– Não! Quero oferecer este sacrifício a Nossa Senhora, em reparação e pela conversão dos pecadores.
Nem mesmo à noite, ao deitar, tiravam aquele cilício; foi preciso que a própria Mãe do Céu, na Aparição de Setembro, lhes viesse dizer que não consentia que tivessem a corda durante a noite.
Here is a section of the English, FATIMA from the Beginning:
Thirst is one of the worst torments during the burning summer of the serra. It was one of their favorite mortifications. They passed nine days, and on one occasion a month without drinking, and this in the month of August!
One day, returning from the Cova de Iria where they had been to say the Rosary, they passed the Carreira pond, a dirty pool of water where the women wash clothes and the animals are brought to drink. Jacinta said to Lucia:
“My head aches so, and I’m so thirsty; I think I’ll drink a little of this water.”
“No, Jacinta, not from there. My mother doesn’t want us to drink that water because it’s dirty and might make us ill. Let’s go and get some from Aunt Maria.”
“No, I don’t want to drink that good water. I’d like to drink this so that instead of offering Our Lady thirst I can offer this dirty water.”
…
One day Lucia found a piece of cord on the serra. Playing with it she knotted it round her arm and did not fail to note that it hurt.
“Here’s something that we can use for sacrifice,” she told the others. “We an knot it and put it round our waists and offer the pain.”
Even at night they did not take off those pieces of knotted cord. Our Lady, in the September Apparitions, had to tell them not to wear the cord at night.”
The two versions are not word-for-word. E.g. “did not fail to note that it hurt” does not carry the same weight or força as “As lágrimas [tears] soltavam-se-lhe com a força da dor.” Also, “instead of offering Our Lady thirst I can offer this dirty water” is in the other offered to “Nosso Senhor,” though the cord is offered to “Deus” and “Nossa Senhora,” controlling the latter in the preceding words of both:
Look, look, here’s [prickly object] something we can make sacrifices with! Whatever it might cost them, the children never lost an opportunity consoling the heart of the Mother of God.
– Olhem! Olhem! Outra coisa com que nos podemos mortificar! Por muito grandes que fossem os sacrifícios nunca os videntes se lhes furtavam, nunca deixavam passar ocasião que se lhes oferecesse de consolar o Coração Imaculado de Maria Santíssima, ofendido por tantos pecados.
So, consoling the apparition’s heart was one motive, as well as, toward the beginning of the chapter, “They wanted to convert many, if not all sinners, and labored to invent new ways by which this might be accomplished by means of every conceivable suffering.” They tied the affliction or self-harm they did on themselves with saving others from Hell, and applied their childhood creativity toward such ends, the apparition’s heart was consoled by this but constantly needed more.
According Lúcia, who the self-inflicted sufferings of the children are solely conveyed through, they did many other such things not disclosed to us, and all hidden from parents out of fear, but presented here as humility:
If Sister Lucia has not in part lifted the veil we should never have known what to heroic lengths these children went. “Why did you not speak of Out Lady’s desire for sacrifice for the conversion of sinners?” Lucia was to be asked later. “Because we were afraid they would ask us what sacrifices we did.” Humility’s own reply. Lucia’s manuscripts relate but few of these sacrifices and they nearly all refer to Jacinta…
— Fr. de Marchi, FATIMA from the Beginning [11]
Se a Irmã Lúcia de Jesus não tivesse levantado um poucochinho o véu, nós não teríamos nem por sombras adivinhado que dose de heroísmo se albergava em crianças de tão tenra idade. – Porque nunca falaram da recomendação de Virgem de oferecer sacrifícios pela conversão dos pecadores? – perguntar-se-á mais tarde à Irmã Maria das Dores. – É porque não queríamos que perguntassem que sacrifícios fazíamos. É a resposta da humildade. São poucos os actos de mortificação que a Lúcia relata no seu manuscrito e quase todos se referem à Jacinta…
— Fr. de Marchi, Era uma Senhora mais Brilhante que o Sol [12]
According to Lúcia, again who was the only one telling this, these were Jacinta’s feeling of this, apart from thelágrimas:
Jacinta and Francisco had a better time of it, and mainly because of the vigilance, honour and kindness of Ti Marto, who would allow no one to threaten, or raise a hand to his children. Behind the secure protection of her father’s love, however, Jacinta longed for the dubious delight of being pummelled black and blue.
“I wish my parents were like yours,” she told Lucia.
“Then I could get beaten, too, and I would have another sacrifice to offer our Lord.” [2]
That could be another article, but briefly, it indeed is a dubious delight, to wish your parents sin against you, and not the sense in even Jesus’ suffering (“if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” in Mathew 26:39 or maybe “forgive them, they know not what they do” in Luke 23:34).
The next sentence of the True Story, quoted at top, reads:
What a contrast between these emulators of the saints and the youth of to-day which only seeks comfort, pleasure and amusement! [2]
Consider the amusement rides and concerts at FESTA (pictured at top) vs. self-harm among some youth—yes—of today, is this priest preferring the latter? What lack of contrast with some priests of today!
Is Beauty the Test of Goodness?
Here the children processed their situation this way, repeated uncritically by these adults: “it couldn’t couldn’t be the devil! People say that the devil is ugly and lives under the earth in hell, but that Lady was so beautiful, Lucia, and didn’t we see her go up into heaven?” [2] Is beauty the test of goodness? Era uma senhora mais brillhante que o sol.
Dorothy: Oh, but I’ve already told you, I’m not a witch at all! Witches are old and ugly. [Munchkins giggle] What was that? Glinda: The Munchkins. They’re laughing because I am a witch. I’m Glinda, the Witch of the North. Dorothy: You are?! Oh, I beg your pardon! But I’ve never heard of a beautiful witch before. Glinda: Only bad witches are ugly. — The Wizard of Oz
Granted, even Lúcia had been tormented by dreams of the “devil laughing at having deceived me” [3] — i.e. whether Mary and the apparition are separate — and the Catholic church describes Fátima in strong but not strongest terms (“worthy of belief”) while more doubtful on other apparitions like in Yugoslavia. These discerning spiritual teachers would surely discuss the Fall (fruit pleasing to the eye, Gen 3:6), angels of light (2 Cor 11:14), signs and wonders (Mark 13:22), and the appearance of Christ (Isa 53:2) and wolves (Mat 7:15)?
What is good food? A Fátima cookbook (I advise buying a copy), page 4, recommends using the freshest ingredients and cleaning away any dirt and insects. That’s a bold statement because the apparition “does have a way of scoffing at the hygienic fears of the meticulous,” approving rather that “They dug up the earth near the tree and rubbed the sick with it. Some people ate it and were better afterwards.” [2] Meanwhile, Dr. Alves who pushed for and obtained improvements to the water “full of dirt and microbes” [2] was not thanked.
Hail Mary! (and not us)
The children’s interaction is conveyed as follows to the common press:
“God sent his Blessed Mother to these three poor shepherd children with a message for the world – a message of mercy, love, salvation and peace… a more unified, loving humanity,” — priest conveying to a Springfield newspaper, Aug 29, 2024.[5]
Dozens of Ludlow businesses sponsor, numerous bands, even a community organization dealing with youth mental health cheered it, the ambassador of Portugal attended [7], and local police rightly rightly have a large presence at the large fair, attached to the apparition. Some may call that a system.
The grandmother of the sergeant “bought the statues in 1953 as an offering for her husband who was suffering from cancer.” source: https://www.masslive.com/news/2011/04/ludlow_police_to_forward_findi.html
There are moral lessons, and de Marchi’s account likens itself to a “story-book,” addressed to children in charming writing style. How does the Springfield, MA diocese view children hiding bloody things from parents? Discerning apparitions aside, they have had difficulty discerning good and bad clergy towards children [4], even twice the bishop at the top.
source: Ilustração Portuguesa no. 610, 29 October 1917. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChildrensofFatima.jpg
These were real kids.
This author’s interest stemmed from attending the festival in 2022 and reading the story. Also notable was a vendor there selling flags and I love Jesus signs next to signs of a particular politician peeing on another and conveying that sexual organs are weapons, as children, priests, and surely thousands of people walked by, not far from the big apparition statue. Surely you all saw that. Finding this peculiar for a church festival on various levels, and did I mention police sometimes are called against children toward the statue, I picked up the two signs and asked why people do this on each other if they love Jesus. Not able to buy a sign, I bought child statues and holy water to build a holy shrine, a testimony, that children should drink clean water. The children had been wrapped in plastic as protection from the rain that day, evidence we know what God knows.
One of the signs at the booth.
Now, Mary, the mother of Jesus of the Bible, who this is claimed to be, protected her child and fled to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15) – hail Mary! I could imagine in a very figurative way, Joseph here could be carrying a Portuguese flag, as he too protected his family and people.
Flight to Egypt (source: clipart-library.com/clipart/1768570.htm)
Palavras Finais
The apparition also made certain demands on the Church concerning her heart and promises toward personal salvation and world peace:
“My daughter, look at my Heart encircled with the thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you at least try to console me and announce in my name that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to me.” — Conveyed by Lucia, December 10, 1925 [10]
There are other dimensions to this: There’s an article on its interaction with the political history of Portugal [6] (the ambassador of Portugal attending [7]), the “consecration of Russia” relation to world peace, the “bullet” John Paul II mentioned at the FESTA worship service, and the “third secret.” We can dwell much in those intrigues, but it’s not the most important thing.
In a sea of doubt and unanswerable questions, I find it helpful to ask the knowns: What do you know, can stand firmly on? Is it the motherly instinct concerning children drinking dirty water and using bloody things? What the Catholic church does not doubt, nor other churches for that matter, is that God conquered sin and death for his children when he came down to Earth, was executed on a cross at the hands of mankind but defeated that death. For many, this cross is foundational, Paul’s “but we preach Christ crucified.” It is the grace of God toward you. It is the character of the Christian life. It conveys the sense of a prisoner on his side pardoned and rope burned, despite those who would retie it on us less a seven year old, meant for better than eating dirt like the snake in the garden [8]. The child whose mother Mary fled [9] later gave his first recorded sermon (Matthew 5-7), on a foundation for a house, to stand against the coming rain and wind “huffing and puffing to blow that house down,” e.g. the forgive us and the hunger and thirst rather for righteousness.
Barre, Massachusetts. Among many inscriptions, even “honor mother with Love,” is a well with faded scripture (John 4).
Q/A
Is God good? I could see that asked after reading this article. That is not addressed comprehensively here, but I will make one observation, this question itself. This sense within you that all here is not well, but where did that itself come from? This investigation was reduced my faith in the goodness of man, what I thought even the local community would have concerned itself, words plainly in front of us.
What about the miracle of the sun? That is not addressed comprehensively here, but I’ll just observe that whether it happened is a different question of if we assume it happened what it implies. Matthew 24:24 is often cited in other contexts, for example.
How to view Mary? Again, with different views between Catholic, Orthodox, Protestants, Muslims, etc., but, to start, not like a priest who says don’t tell parents or conceives a world where that is the ideal. Matthew 2:13-14.
What about the rosary? It figures prominently in this story, as mentioned at top. Some include Fatima prayers in the rosary. A study of all the prayers in the New Testament, Psalms, etc. could be interesting.
How is sin addressed? The practice in this story of people, children in particular, inflicting self-suffering to bring others out of Hell is not something the stories in the New Testament include. The closest to this may be Christ, whose suffering was not from himself.
What is beauty? Things like Genesis 50:20, the culmination of the first book, after asking if God is good, Gen 18:22-33. There are beautiful stores, filled with tears, happy ones.
This list may be expanded in the future, topics that may be relevant to this discussion.
[8] Gen 3:14,19; Micah 7:17-19 – The serpent (Satan) was debased on his belly toward the ground to “eat” or lick dust, as the expression goes, and man too returned to dust in the ground, both due to sin, until the serpent’s head was crushed underfoot.
[9] To her credit, my own mother removed me from my childhood church, where we used to sing This Little Light of Mine, due to what a few men were doing to their wives, the body of Christ.
Sumol Compal: Single Integrated Report 2023 (page 72 or 93): “we follow the evolution of standards and invest in the certification (> Chap. 9.3) of the food safety system of our plants, choosing the BRCGS – Global Standard for Food Safety standard….For the second consecutive year, at Sumol Compal, we marked World Food Safety Day, celebrated on June 7th. As part of this initiative, we organized a talk on the theme ‘Impact of evolving standards in the food industry.’ This event had the participation of 99 employees, providing them with the opportunity to hear from experts on the topic…” — Now that’s a cause for sainthood, ‘cuz I drank one.
Natural Mineral Water | Types of Water | Água de Luso – “Luso Natural Mineral Water, with 170 years of history, originates from the depths of the Bussaco Mountain Range, circulating untouched by man, along a natural course of rocks that purify and filter the water.” In 1903, “the Chemical Engineer Charles Lepierre conducted, for the first time, the bacteriological analysis of the Luso thermal spring water and classified it as “Very pure or extremely pure water.” I’ll drink that.
fatima-ludlow.org – Serving Ludlow on community topics such as water, apparitions, and social commentary, an independent perspective biased toward Jesus.
