In the spring of 1917, in the countryside of Fatima, Portugal, the Blessed Virgin Mary first started appearing to three young shepherd kids. Lucia dos Santos, Francisco and Jacinta Mato each day had to take care of a flock of sheep owned by their family. One day, as they were looking after their sheep, they suddenly saw a bright flash of something like lightning, followed quickly by another flash in the clear blue sky. They looked up and they saw a lady clothed in white, brighter than the sun, radiating a light more clear and intense than a crystal cup filled with sparkling water lit by burning sunlight. She said, 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. Lucia wanted to keep this apparition a secret. But Jacinta, the one who is known to be more talkative, could not keep this secret and told her family when she got home.
Now as the word on the street grew of the Blessed Mary ever virgin appearing to these three young kids, naturally, not many believed them. But the thing was, every time they got interrogated, the stories matched up perfectly and they seemed to be telling the truth. A great curiosity grew amongst the people, and they were waiting for the day.
of October the 13th when Mary said she would perform a miracle. On the eve of the 13th, a huge storm washed over the mountain country of Fatima but despite this, tens of thousands of people made their way to the cova where Our Lady said she would perform the miracle. When the 13th day had come, the weather turned bad again and heavy rain started to fall. Again, Mary appeared to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta.
Lucia asked, what do you want? She said, I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in my honor I am the lady of the rosary Continue always to pray the rosary every day The war is going to end and the soldiers will soon return to their homes and as Lucia explained Mary then got very sad and said do not offend the Lord our God anymore because he is already so much offended then Opening her hands, she made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended, the reflection of her own light continued to be projected on the sun itself. After she disappeared, the people then witnessed the great miracle which had been predicted. The miracle which is known today as the miracle of the sun.
The dark rain clouds broke and the sun appeared as a spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal and to cast multi-colored lights across the landscape, the people and the surrounding clouds. The Sun was then reported to have sped towards the earth before zigzagging back to its normal position.
Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became suddenly and completely dry as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling. One of the eyewitnesses, Dominic Reiss, later said, they looked as though they had just come back from the cleaners. The miracle is reported to have been seen from as far as 15-25 miles away, thus ruling out the possibility of any type of collective hallucination or mass hypnotism.
Doubters and skeptics of the kids apparitions and of Catholicism had now become.