Fátima — Our Lady of the Rosary
Three shepherd children, six apparitions, one hundred thousand witnesses
Sixteen episodes on the apparitions of Our Lady to three Portuguese children at Cova da Iria in 1917. From the angel's first visit in the spring of 1916 to the Miracle of the Sun before one hundred thousand witnesses in October of that year. From the kidnapping by the Mason mayor to the early deaths of the little shepherds. From the three secrets kept in the Vatican to the bullet John Paul II places in the crown of the Lady. A hundred and six years of Church history, from the silence of the secret to the canonization of the two children on the centennial.
16 episodes · Narrated in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and German
Episode 1 is free
Episodes
- 01
The Three Children
Aljustrel, 1916. In a rural hamlet in Portugal, Lúcia and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta tend sheep. Lúcia will later say that an angel appeared to them that year.
- 02
The Angel of Peace
1916. According to Lúcia, the Angel of Portugal visits the three children three times, teaches them two prayers, and brings a chalice with a host, from which drops of blood fall.
- 03
The Thirteenth of May
1917. A spring Sunday. Three children tend the sheep at the Cova da Iria. They say they saw a Lady above a small holm oak.
- 04
“I Will Take Them Soon”
June 1917. The children return to the Cova da Iria. According to Lúcia, the Lady says she will soon take Lúcia’s cousins to Heaven.
- 05
The Secret
July 1917. According to Lúcia, the Lady shows the children hell and entrusts them with a secret that will only be written down decades later.
- 06
The Kidnapping
August 1917. The municipal administrator of Vila Nova de Ourém takes the three children away. In jail, they are told they will be fried. They do not reveal the secret.
- 07
Valinhos
Sunday, August 19, 1917. According to the children, the Lady appears at Valinhos, near Aljustrel, above another holm oak.
- 08
The Miracle of the Sun
October 13, 1917. Tens of thousands of people at the Cova da Iria. Torrential rain. At noon, many say they saw the sun dance.
- 09
The Death of the Children
1918 to 1920. The influenza pandemic reaches Aljustrel. Francisco dies at home. Jacinta dies in Lisbon.
- 10
The Chapel and the Bishop
1919 to 1930. A mason builds the little chapel. Bombs partly destroy it. The Bishop of Leiria recognizes the apparitions.
- 11
Pontevedra and Tuy
1921 to 1929. Lúcia in Porto and in Spanish convents. According to Lúcia, the Lady asks for the First Saturdays devotion. Then, the consecration of Russia.
- 12
The Second World War and Pius XII
1942. The world war devastates Europe. Pius XII consecrates the world to Mary. But without naming Russia.
- 13
The Carmel of Coimbra
1948 to 1978. Lúcia enters the Carmel of Saint Teresa in Coimbra. Nearly fifty-seven years in the cloister. The secret reaches two Popes.
- 14
May 13, 1981
Saint Peter's Square. Exactly sixty-four years after the first apparition. A Turk pulls the trigger.
- 15
June 26, 2000
The Vatican reveals the text kept for more than half a century. A bishop in white, fallen. Cardinal Ratzinger interprets.
- 16
The Little Saints
2008 to 2023. One hundred years after the first apparition, two shepherd children become saints. Russia and Ukraine are consecrated to the Immaculate Heart.
How this series was researched
The narration and the place and date labels were broken down into factual claims and checked against sources: 313 claims in this series were checked against a cited source. Where the sources did not support a claim, the text was corrected or reduced to what the sources actually say.
A second, independent check then went through the whole series again.
The text was reviewed separately in each of the five languages it is narrated in.
Main sources
- Memórias da Irmã Lúcia — Lúcia de Jesus dos Santos (1935–1941)
- Como o sol bailou ao meio dia em Fátima (O Século) — Avelino de Almeida (1917)
- Carta pastoral sobre o culto de Nossa Senhora de Fátima — D. José Alves Correia da Silva (1930)
- Documentação Crítica de Fátima — Santuário de Fátima (1992–2013)
- The Message of Fatima — Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (2000)
- Homily for the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta — John Paul II (2000)
Tradition and debate
Where the sources are thin or disagree, the series says so. For example:
- The date of the angel's first appearance is uncertain; Lúcia placed it, though not with certainty, on a spring day in 1916.
- The administrator's reason for taking the children away to Vila Nova de Ourém, to put an end to the “clerical speculation” around them, is known from his own later writing.
- The figure of fifteen to twenty thousand people at the Cova da Iria in September 1917 is one witness's estimate.
Read more on the Journal
Why October Is the Month of the Rosary
Lepanto in 1571, Leo XIII's eleven encyclicals, and Fátima on 13 October 1917 — how October became the Rosary month, what the Church actually claims about it, and a realistic way to keep it.
The Saint Michael Prayer — Text, History, and How to Pray It
The prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel: the full text, who Michael is in Scripture, why Leo XIII wrote it in 1886, what the famous 'vision' story really rests on, and how the prayer is used today.
How to Pray the Rosary — A Step-by-Step Guide
A clear, beginner-friendly walk-through of how to pray the Rosary — the bead layout, the prayers, the order, and the four sets of Mysteries for each day of the week.
The Message of Fátima — What Our Lady Asked in 1917
In 1917 Our Lady appeared six times to three shepherd children near Fátima — calling the world to conversion, the Rosary, penance, and devotion to her Immaculate Heart.
