Now, Your Excellency, here we are at the 13th October. You already know all that happened on that day. Of all the words spoken at this Apparition, the ones most deeply engraved upon my heart were those of the request made by our Heavenly Mother: “Do not offend the Lord our God any longer. He is already so much offended!” How loving a complaint, how tender a request! Who will grant me to make it echo through the whole world, so that all the children of Our Mother in Heaven may hear the sound of her voice!
The rumor had spread that the authorities intended to explode a bomb quite close to the Apparition. This did not frighten me in the least. I spoke of it to my cousins. “How wonderful!” we exclaimed. “If we were granted the grace of going up to Heaven from there, together with Our Lady!” My parents, however, were very much afraid, and for the first time they wished to accompany me, saying that if their daughter was going to die, they wanted to die by her side. My father then took me by the hand to the place of the Apparitions. But from the moment of the Apparition itself, I did not set eyes on him again until I was back home with the family that night.
I spent the afternoon of that day with my cousins. We were like some curious creature that the multitudes wanted to see and observe. By night time I was really exhausted after so many questions and interrogations. These did not even end with nightfall. Several people, who had been unable to question me, remained over till the following day, awaiting their turn. Some of them even tried to talk to me that night but, overcome by weariness, I just dropped down and fell asleep on the floor. Thank God, human respect and self-love were, at the time, still unknown to me. For that reason, I was as much at ease with any person at all, as I was with my parents.
On the following days, or rather, to be accurate, on the following days, the questionings continued. Almost every day, from then on, people went to the Cova da Iria to implore the protection of our heavenly Mother. Everybody wanted to see the seers, to put questions to them, and to recite the Rosary with them. At times, I was so tired of saying the same thing over and over again, and also of praying, that I looked for any pretext for excusing myself, and making my escape. But those poor people were so insistent, that I had to make an effort, and indeed no small effort, in order to satisfy them. I then repeated my usual prayer deep down in my heart: “O my God, it is for love of Thee, in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the conversion of sinners, and for the Holy Father!”