On the liturgical calendar, September is the month in which the Church honors Our Lady’s Nativity (Sept. 8), the Holy Name of Mary (Sept. 12), her Seven Sorrows (Sept. 15), and Our Lady of Ransom (Sept. 24).
At Fatima in 1917, September was the month before the promised miracle. It was also the month after the children were kidnapped, when−as far as the public knew−they missed their August visit with the Lady. Rather than discouraging pilgrims from the site, even more came.
Perhaps it is for all of the reasons stated above that, during the apparition of Thursday, September 13, the celestial phenomena became more pronounced. In fact, during the September Apparition, the people saw a new sign—a luminescent globe. Later, the cloud accompanying the Vision wrought itself into an incense-like pillar.
On this day, the sky was deep and blue, and entirely without a trace of cloud, as was reported by Fr. John Quaresma who, in later years, became the Vicar General of Leiria, Portugal. With two other priests, Fr. Quaresma came to Fatima, trying to ascertain the truth of the reports they had heard. He and his companions disguised themselves by wearing suit-coats. “All three were at a distance from the crowd, on the raised part of the Cova, observing events.”
Years later, a letter of Fr. Quaresma’s, written in 1932 to another priest, provides the most details of what happened during the September Apparition. From Father’s letter, we learn the following:
● For the first time, many of the onlookers saw a luminous globe, moving from east to west at midday, the exact time that the Lady always asked the children to meet her. From what is gathered by his testimony, Fr. Quaresma only saw this globe of “extraordinary light” for a brief time. Others saw it travel across the sky and descend toward the holmoak tree. As the Vision ended, witnesses again saw the globe of light, departing toward the east.
● As the globe approached the small tree, the brightness of the sun lessened, the surrounding atmosphere became a golden-yellow, and some people reported seeing stars in the sky.
● During the Apparition, a greater number of the onlookers observed a shower of small white objects−described either as petals, snowflakes, dove-shaped forms, stars, or roses−all of which gently fell from the sky and disappeared before touching the ground.
● A “pleasant looking cloud formed around the rustic arch” over the holmoak tree, where Our Lady appeared. “Rising up from the ground, it grew thicker and went up into the air until it was five or six meters high; then it disappeared like smoke that vanishes before the wind…A few moments later, similar curls of smoke were formed and disappeared in the same manner, and then a third time. Everything happened as though some invisible thurifers were incensing the Vision liturgically. These three ‘incensations’ together lasted the whole time of the apparition; that is, from ten to fifteen minutes.”
And so, from May through October 1917, the hamlet of Fatima, Portugal was graced by the presence of the Virgin Mother of God. Shining brighter than the sun, veiled and gowned in white, adorned with the Star of Esther and a luminous necklace from which hung a brighter orb, with a Rosary suspended from her right arm, the Lady promised three shepherd children, “In October, I will tell you who I am and what I want, and I will perform a miracle so that all may see and believe.” The vow was fulfilled with the most stupendous public miracle since the parting of the Red Sea. Symbolizing Christ, the Great Miracle of the Sun…is a “figure-type,” illustrating once more that “the miracles of Our Lord and the signs accomplished by Our Lady of Fatima are not only extraordinary facts which bear witness to their supernatural origin, they are also symbols rich in meaning, the sensible expressions of mystery.”