 |
 |
|
|
| The Apparitions of Fatima in 1917 were happenings
of religious and national significance which occupied many columns of the
daily press at that time. The people flocked to the Cova da lria in steady
streams, moved Perhaps by curiosity, but also by Faith and Hope.
It was a difficult period of anguished suffering, imposed by the first great World War. The Lady brighter than the Sun promised peace, but she asked for penance and prayer. And the people did pray, they came on foot, even dragged themselves along on the ground, on their knees, and they wept. Their sacrifices were real assaults on Heaven, imploring the protection of the Virgin Mary. Miracles took place, some of a physical nature, and many more of a spiritual kind. The first great pilgrimage was made by the three children on their daily journeying, amidst the disbelief of some, the threats of others, the long walks to the pasture, the voluntary sacrifices which they imposed on themselves, the interrogations to which they were subjected by the civil and religious authorities. |
 |
 |
It was a long road of six months, encouraged by
the words of Our Lady who transmitted her message to them, asking them
to pray the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace in the world.
On the 13th of October the great Miracle of the Sun occurred before 70 thousand people. The event became known throughout the whole country and beyond its boundaries abroad. Fatima became the Altar of the World. Jacinta and Francisco were called home to Our Lady, just as she had announced to them beforehand. The perfume exhaled by Jacinta’s mortal remains still inspires the souls of believers today, who hope and pray for her Beatification, as well as that of Francisco. The Church approved the Fatima apparitions in 1930,
and in 1942 Pope Pius XII made the Consecration of
|
| On 13 May 1967, Pope Paul VI visited Fatima,
and on 13 May 1982 Pope John Paul II humbly knelt before the statue of
Our Lady in the little Chapel of Apparitions.
By means of books, magazines and other publications of the world press, the Message of Fatima has been spread to the ends of the earth. Now it seems fitting that the principal episodes of this great event known as the MIRACLE OF FATIMA should be presented in corporeal form by means of three-dimension figures, inserted, as far as possible, in ,appropriate surroundings, of authentic spiritual significance, almost alive, evoking the past for those who are present and for the pilgrims of the future. This is the reason for the foundation of this Fatima Wax Museum. |
 |
