Deuteronomy 13
1If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
The Catholic Church later built a shrine in Fatima, which is visited each year by millions of people from around the world. More than 100,000 people from dozens of countries routinely attend the annual commemorations of the sightings.
The pope has visited three times since becoming pontiff in 1978, spending a few minutes with Lucia during a 1991 trip to the site. He has claimed the Virgin of Fatima saved his life after he was shot by a Turkish gunman in St. Peter's Square in 1981. The attack, on May 13, coincided with the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, and John Paul credits the Virgin's intercession for his survival.
In 2000, he visited Fatima to beatify Jacinta and Francisco.
It returned for the third time in July 1915.
By now everyone in Aljustrel had heard about these incidents and joked about them. An irate Maria Rosa confronted Lucia. "Now let us see. What was it you say you saw over there?"
"I don't know, Mama," Lucia replied, "I don't know what it was."
Well, first it was the UFO. Then it was an angel. Then the Archangel Michael and the Angel of Peace,
and finally, on May 13, 1917, a visit from the Virgin Mary, who swore the children to secrecy. [Yeah,
right -- I'm going to believe a paranormal manifestation when it says who it is - why would it lie? duh - ww]
Jacinta meant to keep the promise. But, after all, she was only seven years old, and this was the biggest
thing that had ever happened to her. She just had to share it with the most important person in her life--
her mother.
"The child ran to clasp her about the knees. And out it came...'Mother, I saw Our Lady today at Cova
da Iria!'" Olimpia merely laughed. "I believe you, child. Oh, yes, you are such a good saint that you see
Our Lady!" "But I saw her!" Jacinta insisted. Something in Jacinta's tone of voice convinced Olimpia.
But tragedy was on the horizon. The Spanish influenza epidemic that ravaged Europe in 1919 arrived in Aljustrel in January. Francisco succumbed quickly. Jacinta came down with pleurisy and lingered for months.
In April 1919, she told Lucia, "Our Lady says my mother will take me to a hospital in a dark building, and that
I would not get well."
In July 1919, Manuel took his dying daughter to the hospital in Ourem. It was a white, well-lit building, and the family thought that, for once, a Jacinta prediction had not come true.
On December 29, 1919, Jacinta had a second vision of what she called "the dark hospital," telling cousin Lucia, "Our Lady told me I am going to Lisboa, to another hospital. I will die there, but someday I will return to Cova da Iria."
On February 2, 1920, Jacinta was taken to the Hospital of Dona Stefania in Lisboa. It was, just as she
predicted, a dark, dreary old building. Upon admission, she was assigned to Bed #38 in the children's ward
on the first floor. Two weeks later, on February 16, 1920, at 10:30 p.m.,Jacinta Marto passed away. She was twenty- four days shy of her tenth birthday.
The miracles, however, did not end with Jacinta's death. In 1935, her grave was opened, and the little girl's
body was found to be perfectly preserved. There was no trace of deterioration. A witness commented, "She looked as if she were sleeping."
In 1972, one of the people in attendance at a Marian apparition in Bayside, New York, USA took Polaroid photographs of strange lights in the night sky over the old Vatican pavilion at the former site of the 1964 New York World's Fair. When the Polaroid photo developed, it showed a name written in light, Jacinta, in the girl's
own handwriting.
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