Statue of Our Lady of Fatima in Magyarbél

The statue of the Virgin Mary of Fatima is located in the garden of the Catholic church in Magyarbéli. ; One hundred years ago, on May 13, 1917, in a place called Cova da Iria (“Valley of Peace”), near Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children, ten-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins, nine-year-old Francisco and seven-year-old Jacinta Marto, saw a woman who was brighter than the sun. ; The Lady encouraged the children to pray and asked them to come to Cova da Iria on the 13th of each month. The children fulfilled the request, and the Holy Virgin appeared to them again on June, July, September and October 13. (The apparition in August took place on the 19th, because on the 13th the children were detained for interrogation.) ; During the July apparition, the children received a vision of hell. It was then that Our Lady first asked that Russia be offered to her Immaculate Heart. This offering was made by Pius XII in 1942 and repeated by Paul VI in 1964. ; The news of the apparitions spread quickly, and on the last occasion, on October 13, 1917, about 70,000 people were present in Cova da Iria. It was then that the famous “miracle of the sun” occurred: the sun grew larger, began to rotate, and then seemed to fall to the earth. ; During the apparitions, Our Lady entrusted secrets to the shepherd children. Lucia did not speak about them for a long time, and then in the 1940s, at the behest of her bishop, she wrote down the secrets. ; The first of the three secrets is a vision of hell and a prophecy of the punishments that await the world if it does not listen to Mary's warnings; the second is a revelation of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a star of hope for world peace and the salvation of souls. These secrets were made public in 1942. ; The third secret was sent by Sister Lucia in 1959 in a sealed envelope to Pope John XXIII, who, after reading it, decided not to reveal its contents. Pope John Paul II decided to make it public in 2000. ; Excerpt from the secret: “[...] we saw a bishop dressed in white, whom we felt was the Holy Father. […] he walked with stumbling steps […], reaching the top of the mountain, he knelt at the foot of the great cross, and a group of soldiers, firing at him with firearms and arrows, killed him.” ; John Paul II was assassinated in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. Regarding the coincidence between the first day of the Fatima apparitions and the date of the assassination, he stated: “I do not know who put the gun in the hands of the murderer, but I know who deflected the bullet, an invisible hand, a maternal hand, guided it.” ; A year after the assassination, the Holy Father made a pilgrimage to Fatima to give thanks to the Virgin Mary. The bullet that wounded her is still kept in the crown of the statue of Mary in Fatima. ; In response to the request of the Blessed Virgin, Pope John Paul II offered humanity to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1984. ; Francisco and Jacinta died as children in 1919 and 1920, and Pope John Paul II beatified them on May 13, 2000, during his third visit to Fatima. Their liturgical feast day is February 20. Sister Lucia died on February 13, 2005, at the age of ninety-seven. ; Fatima is the largest Marian shrine in the world, next to Lourdes, and millions of pilgrims come here every year. A chapel was built in 1918 at the site of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. A retreat house and hospital were subsequently established in the valley. Construction of the basilica began in 1928. The large square in front of the sanctuary was created in 1951.