May 13 | Our Lady of Fatima

Welcome, young history buffs and curious minds, to My Daily Saint, the podcast that digs deep into the incredible lives of the saints, those remarkable people who shaped history and continue to inspire us today. Forget dusty old portraits and boring stories. Today, step back into the year 1917. World War I is raging, and people are wondering if peace would ever return. Now, zoom in on a quiet, rocky field in Portugal. Three small Portuguese children are out in the pasture, simply tending to a flock of sheep.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, they are greeted by a blindingly beautiful, resplendent figure. It is a woman glowing with light, wearing a bright white mantle with gold trim, and holding a rosary in her hands. She tells the terrified children, please don't be afraid of me, I'm not going to harm you, and reveals that she has come straight from heaven. This isn't a fairy tale or a movie script. This is the fascinating and highly dramatic true story of Our Lady of Fatima and the three young shepherds who were chosen to change the world.

Their names were Lucia dos Santos, who was just 9 years old, and her two younger cousins, 8-year-old Francisco Marto and 6-year-old Jacinta Marto. During that first mind-blowing visit on May 13th, the mysterious lady gave the young kids a mission. She simply asked them to say the rosary every day to bring peace to the world and an end to the war. But she also gave them some tough news. She told the children that they would experience great suffering in their lives, but she promised that they would eventually go to heaven.

For little Francisco and Jacinta, she said the wait was going to be a long one. Wouldn't be long, and they would go very soon. But for nine-year-old Lucia, she would have to wait a while. Over the following months, this heavenly lady visited the children six times in total.

Every single time, she urgently requested them to pray and make sacrifices for sinners. She didn't treat them like fragile babies, either. She showed these young kids terrifying visions of hell, and she shared deep, mysterious secrets about the future.

Many of these secrets actually predicted the immense suffering the world would face throughout her life. the struggles of the 20th century. But she also gave them an incredibly powerful message of ultimate hope, declaring, my immaculate heart will triumph. This bold statement reminded everyone that the ultimate war for the soul of the world was already won.

Now, you'd think people would be thrilled for these kids, right? Wrong. The children faced intense disbelief and persecution from all corners throughout the months of the apparitions. People thought they were lying or making it up for attention. The local authorities were so threatened by the claims of these little kids that they actually locked them up, forcing them to spend a night in prison. Imagine being six, eight, and nine years old and getting thrown in a prison. Dark jail cell just because you refused to deny the beautiful lady you saw?

But the kids stood their ground. The date was October 13th, the day of her last visit. Word of the apparitions had spread like wildfire. A massive, unbelievable crowd of 70,000 people trekked out to the field, standing in the pouring rain, just to witness the apparition. They were totally soaked. to the skin, shivering and waiting in thick mud. Suddenly, the lady appeared to the children and finally revealed her identity to them, proclaiming, I am the Lady of the Rosary.

What the crowd witnessed next is known as one of the greatest public miracles in modern history. The heavy rain instantly stopped, the dark clouds broke apart, and the massive crowd looked up to witness an immense miracle. The sun literally appeared to dance in the sky. It spun around, changed into brilliant, crazy colors, and then seemed to briefly plunge And as if that wasn't enough to make 70,000 jaws drop, when the sun went back to normal, everyone realized something mathematically impossible. The heavy rain that had just soaked them completely?

It was gone. The ground, the giant crowd, and all of their clothes were instantly left as dry as a bone. The aftermath of these epic events unfolded just as the Lady of the Rosary had predicted. The visionary siblings, Jacinta and Francisco, both died not long after the apparitions. But Lucia lived a very long life, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun, and spending her days bearing witness to Our Lady of Fatima's message until she passed away in the year 2005.

Today, the messages and apparitions of Fatima have received formal approval from the Catholic Church. That once muddy field has become a massive global pilgrimage site, where many incredible miracles and physical healings have occurred. Our Lady of Fatima is highly venerated as the Patroness of Portugal, and people all over the world look to her as a patroness of global peace.

Jacinta and Francisco, who are now recognized as saints by the church, are often considered patron saints of bodily ills, captives, and people ridiculed for their piety, which makes total sense given they were thrown in jail for their beliefs.

You probably aren't tending sheep in a rocky field, and you hopefully won't be thrown in jail for your faith anytime soon. But remember the core request the Lady of the Rosary gave to those children? She asked them to say the Rosary every day to bring peace to the world and an end to the war. She also asked them to pray and sacrifice for sinners. Take a few minutes out of your day today to pray for peace. Whether you pray a full rosary, just a single decade, or even just take a quick but quiet moment to offer a sincere prayer for an end to the conflicts happening in the world today, your prayers matter.

The Lady of the Rosary proved that even the quiet prayers of middle schoolers and kids your age can literally help change the course of history. Thank you for joining us on My Daily Saint. We look forward to sharing another incredible story of faith and courage with you tomorrow.