PY531BSP Our Lady of Fatima #531

<p>Each beautifully designed medal is stamped in heavy gauge bronze and finished in a heavy silver plating that is thick enough to be engraved. The medals are rubbed with a soft patina to give them the distinct 'Py look.'</p> <p><strong>Our Lady of Fatima</strong>&nbsp;is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary with respect to reported apparitions of her to three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on 13 May. The three children were Lucia Santos and her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto. The title of Our Lady of the Rosary is also sometimes used in reference to the same apparition (although it was first used in 1208 for the reported apparition in the church of Prouille), because the children related that the apparition specifically identified herself as the "Lady of the Rosary". The events at Fatima gained particular fame due to their elements of prophecy and eschatology, particularly with regard to possible world war and the conversion of Russia. The reported apparitions at Fatima were officially declared "worthy of belief" by the Catholic Church</p> <p>On Sunday, 13 May 1917, ten year old Lucia Santos and her younger cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were tending sheep at a location known as the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fatima. Lucia described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." Further appearances are reported to have taken place on the thirteenth day of the month in June and July. In these the woman exhorted the children to do penance and to make sacrifices to save sinners. The children subsequently wore tight cords around their waists to cause pain, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance. Most importantly, Lucia said that the lady had asked them to pray the rosary every day, repeating many times that the rosary was the key to personal and world peace. According to Lucia's account, in the course of her appearances, the woman confided to the children three secrets, now known as the Three Secrets of Fatima.</p> <p>The first secret was a vision of Hell, not a pleasant site and where sinners will ultimately end up.</p> <p>The second secret included Mary's instructions on how to save souls from Hell and convert the world to the Catholic faith. Also prophesied the outbreak of World War II and contained the Mother of God's solemn request for the Consecration of Russia as a condition of world peace. It also predicted the inevitable triumph of Her Immaculate Heart following Russia's consecration and the conversion "of that poor nation" to the Catholic Faith.</p> <p>The third secret, a vision of the death of the Pope and other religious figures, not necessarily literally but more so the loss of faith among all the peoples of the Christian world. This is the prophecy and has become very apparent since the1960s.</p> <p>Miracle of the sun - Blessed Virgin also promised that God would work a great miracle the following October "so that all may believe." On October 13th 1917, in the presence of 70,000 eyewitnesses, a miracle was worked in the sky above Fatima at the exact moment and in the precise spot that the children had announced earlier. Witnesses recounted that the sun appeared to actually "dance" in the sky and seemed to fall to the ground before resuming its normal place in the heavens.</p> <p><span style="color: #000000;">Translation Our Lady of Fatima<br />On reverse side are the 3 children she appeared to: Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco.</span></p> <p>Picture Shown is not actual size. Approximate size of medal is smaller, about 7/8" in diameter (the size of a nickel).</p>