Our Lady of Fatima

This book was written in 1954 at a time when the Roman Catholic Church was a very powerful, and seemingly infallible, institution. 1954 predates Vatican II, the clergy abuse scandals, the increased role of women in ministry positions, the decline of religious vocations and the mass said in the language of the region opposed to Latin. The world was very different and Catholicism was much more cryptic and mysterious. Mary also played a larger role back then. With that being said, this book chronicles a mystery that was never solved.The book gives a backdrop to Portugal, and the world, in 1917. Church oppression, World War I, corrupt politicians, poverty and sadness are all emphasized in the little town of Fatima. Three children, uneducated, lower middle class and isolated from most of the world served as shepherds and had visions and experiences that were so fantastic no one believed them. They saw an apparition of an "angel" followed by a woman believed to be Mary, the mother of Jesus.Through their experiences, they are ridiculed, tortured, threatened, imprisoned and even kidnapped by city officials. Through the whole terrifying ordeal, their story never changes. Mary appeared to them six times and promised a miracle after the last visit. At the last visit nearly 70,000 spectators witnessed what was known as the Miracle of the Sun, and the event was so well documented and witnessed even today skeptics don't know what exactly happened for 70,000 to witness the sun hurling at them from the sky and their drenched clothes bone dry after the event.Shortly after the event, the two younger children fell ill and died, cannonzed by Pope Francis nearly a century later. The oldest became a nun and died in 2005, living into her 90s. The event doen't end with the mass vision. The story continues to this day.Mary made several predictions to the children, three in letters and others that came to pass, such as the deaths of Francisco and Jacinta. The first two documented letters involved world wars I and II. Russia would be a problem through the 20th century unless the Pope consecrates it Mary, which never happened. The third remains a mystery. This book is excellent for an account of the events, based on Sister Lucia, the oldest witness (the author interviewed her personally at her convent) but leaves the story open-ended. What happened to the third letter? What is in it? Several times in history various popes claimed to reveal the contents of the letter but no one actually saw the letter itself and the explanations are conflicting and dubious.It still remains a mystery.The event was amazing, and one of the few bona fide miracles authenticated by the Catholc Church. Some believe it was really Mary, some say demons, some even say aliens caused the visions. What we do know is that something happened in Fatima in 1917. It's a great story for anyone wanting to read about an unexplained paranormal event in recent history.The book is clearly written, and makes the reader think, especially is that reader is a Catholic and understands Catholic history. For me, the mysterious third letter is intriguing. We know it involves Russia, even if indirectly. We know popes who read it broke down and cried. We know the stories about it don't add up.If this was truly a visit from Mary herself we should have a modern interest in it, both Catholics and Protestants. Something happened. Perhaps the letter reveals the current state of the world. What I recommend is read the book, but then continue where the author left off in 1954.Be objective. The story gets even more interesting. You need not be a catholic to develop an interest in such a fascinating event. Read this book as a powerful testament of faith of three children in a corrupt world, analyze the events, read on and draw your own conclusions. Your conclusions just may shock you, and even explain what is happening this very day.. -Hep72

An exceptional book. It tells the history of Fatima as lived out by the Saints, their family, their village, and world. The author writes the history as a play or novel, introducing the children, their families, and the work, faith, and conflicts of daily life in rural 20th century Portugal. The apparitions begin and they are a mystery. Who is the Lady? Is she the childrens' illusion, lie, or real? Family, neighbors, Catholics, and anti-clerical partisans answer these questions differently. Personal conflicts arise. The children are arrested and threatened in all manner of horrors, including boiled in oil. The children remain steadfast. They meet with the Lady on the 13th day as the months pass, except in August during their arrest. As October 13 approaches, the children are hopeful and faithful to the promised miracles, but their families, village, and country remain divided--some looking forward in faith and others fearing or promising the violent repraisals when the Lady's promised miracle are shown to be a lie. As the 13th approaches, storms cover Portugal and roads and trails are wet and soggy. Nevertheless, 70,000 people converge on Fatima to witness the miracle. Even the anti-clerical press reports the news.

Larger print

This is an excellent account of Our Lady's apparitions in Fatima. One of the best published. It is a true story of the events that took place, and not an attempt of theological interpretation. This book was originally published in 1947, just 30 years after the events in Fatima. In preparation, the author interviewed many persons who were eye witnesses to the account, including the parents of Jacinta and Francisco. He also had a personal interview with Lucia, as well as many written correspondences. He makes extensive references to her memoirs. The author uses these sources to carefully reconstruct the events leading up to our Lady's apparitions, the events during the apparitions, and then after the apparitions. He also details the personalities and characteristics of the children (Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco) and their families, the political climate, the church, the culture, etc. All of which help to provide a context for the events that took place, the reactions of various persons and factions, and consequences. Without a question, the book is engaging to read, and hard to put down, and is life changing.It is a wonderful book to give to someone who is not familiar with the events of Fatima. It tells the story, and lets the reader make the interpretations. The facts speak for themselves. I purchased two copies for my children to read over the Christmas break. The youngest reading it is 11 at this time, and is enjoying it. My oldest (21) stayed up all night one night reading it, as he could not put it down.

Beautifully written story about the most important Marian apparition in all of human history.

The core text from Walsh' book is an uncorrected OCR version that Dr. Peters took from archive.org. I had to buy the book again (I hope it is the original version this time), because of the many errors in the text, especially in the Portuguese quotes. Nevertheless some interesting material has been added from the Internet at the end of the book.In my opinion Dr. Peters should have at least taken the care to get the text corrected before getting it printed. You cannot publish an OCR version without checking it against the original, especially if it contains quotes in another language. That this text conversion is so poor has also to do with the fact that old fonts were used in the printed book, letters are also very tightly spaced in the original version, and that the OCR has been done with default set to English. Any text conversion software will produce errors when reading text in another language than the one selected, especially with the difficult spelling in Portuguese.

I read this book on the airplane on my way to Fatima for the 100th Anniversary of the July 13th Apparition. I was moved and inspired and slept little the night before. I contemplated the message of Mary and the examples of lives of the 3 children. Fatima is much different today than it was described in 1917 but the procession this morning in honor of Our Lady of Fatima gives me hope and joy in Her promises.Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.William Smiley, July 13th, 2017

A very well written book, with lots of facts and insights into the people involved at the time. It is also well written to give the reader strong spiritual insight and capturing the spiritual journey of the three children and the phenomenal opposition, criticism and physical threats that they endured with enormous personal strength of character and determination. Their faith and belief in their experience can be a remarkable witness to all those who read this snapshot of a religious and political time in the world that endures even today.

I actually liked the story. Walsh takes a while to get the story started but I found this account of the Fatima apparitions informative and interesting. My problem is with the Kindle version. It is so poorly edited it is sometimes frustrating to read. The letter 'd' often, but not always, appears as 'cl', 'm' shows up as the letters 'rn', the letter 'l' appears as a lower case 'i' and so on. This can happen multiple times per page.

Amazing stuff! If it's true, and why shouldn't it be?, it's mind blowing and the Lady is such a creature! There should be salvation for all of us. Amazing the way the little boy could see her but not hear her.