In her memoirs to the bishop, Lucia described what she and her cousins witnessed during this central Fatima apparition, the one in which the children were given the “Great Secret” in its three distinct parts. One will note in the following memoirs the manner in which she records the Virgin’s words, especially the sentence which Fatima scholars agree introduces the Third Secret: “In Portugal, the dogma of the faith will always be preserved, etc.”−the et cetera clearly denoting that there is more to follow.
“A few moments after arriving at the Cova da Iria, near the holmoak, where a large number of people were praying the Rosary, we saw the flash of light once more, and a moment later Our Lady appeared on the holmoak.
‘What do you want of me?’ I asked.
‘I want you to come here on the 13th of next month, to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honour 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.’
‘I would like to ask you to tell us who you are, and to work a miracle so that everybody will believe that you are appearing to us.’
‘Continue to come here every month. In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle for all to see and believe.’
“I then made some requests, but I cannot recall now just what they were. What I do remember is that Our Lady said it was necessary for such people to pray the Rosary in order to obtain these graces during the year. And she continued:
‘Sacrifice yourselves for sinners, and say many times, especially whenever you make some sacrifice: O my Jesus, it is for love of Thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’
“As Our Lady spoke these last words, she opened her hands once more, as she had done during the two previous months. The rays of light seemed to penetrate the earth, and we saw as it were a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke now falling back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. (It must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals.
“Terrified and as if to plead for succor, we looked up at Our Lady, who said to us, so kindly and so sadly:
‘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 reign of Pius Xl. 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.’ [This was the aurora borealis on the night of January 25th to 26th, 1938, which Lucia considered to be the God-given sign of which the Virgin warned if her requests were not heeded. This unusual sign occurred shortly before Adolph Hitler illegally annexed Austria to Germany.]
‘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 an era of peace will be granted to the world.’
‘In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved; etc…Do not tell this to anybody. Francisco, yes, you may tell him.’”
(Again we are reminded that Francisco alone, who could see the Vision, could not hear the Virgin’s words. The same phenomenon had occurred with the Angel’s visits. Afterward, when the children were alone, Francisco would ask the two girls what the Angel or the Lady had told them.)
The Virgin’s sentence about Portugal and the dogma of the Faith, as mentioned earlier, is considered by Fatima scholars as the opening text of the Third Secret. Reason alone conveys that the “et cetera” reveals that clarifying words follow, otherwise the prophecy about Portugal and the dogma of the Faith is incomplete. After all, it has been known for decades that the “Great Secret of Fatima”, as also heretofore mentioned, is not three separate Secrets but one whole Secret, with three distinct parts.
The Third Secret also contains a Vision, which clearly relates to the missing text of Our Lady’s words: “In Portugal, the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved, etc.” It was not until June 26, 2000, that the Vatican finally released the description of what some prelates (but never any Pope) claim is the whole Third Secret (but which many logically conclude is only a part of the entire Third Secret). The following English translation is how it appears on the Vatican website:
“After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'
“And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it;’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father.’ Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.”
After the Great Secret was revealed, Lucia related that the Virgin Mary then said:
‘When you pray the Rosary, say after each mystery: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those with the greatest need of Thy mercy.’
“After this, there was a moment of silence, and then I asked: ‘Is there anything more that you want of me?’
‘No, I do not want anything more of you today.’
“Then, as before Our Lady began to ascend towards the east, until she finally disappeared in the immense distance of the firmament.”
The children were immediately surrounded by people with questions: “What did the Lady say to you? Why did you go so white? Why did you cry out in fear? What happened?”
Lucia could only answer, “It’s a secret.”