Our Lady of Fatima Plaque

Product Description

Our Lady of Fatima Plaque (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora de Fátima) depicts a popular devotion based on Mary’s apparitions to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal, on May 13,1917 on the thirteenth day of the next five months. The three children were Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto. The events at Fátima gained in notoriety because of the three Fátima secrets, prophecies about the world’s future (especially in regard to World War II and possible future world wars) and the call to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Successive Popes have authoritatively fostered this Marian veneration among the faithful. Saint Pope John Paul II even credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life after he was almost assassinated in 1981 on Wednesday, May 13 (the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima). This is a wonderful gift for a birthday, baptism, confirmation, and for all with a deep devotion to Our Lady of Fátima.

A Wall Plaque in Two Sizes

This plaque comes in three sizes: small (p231k – 2 x 1.8 inches) and large (p869g – 7.9 x 6.3 inches). This solid bronze plaque will hang with ease at home or in the office on any wall. Designed and cast in Germany by a world renowned bronzesmith – this plaque is the perfect gift for that special “Fatima” in your life!

Our Lady of Fátima – The Miracle of the Sun

This beautiful bronze plaque depicts the shepherd children, Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, all praying together before the apparition of Mary with St. Joseph and the Christ Child. The children are gathered here with 30,000 to 100,000 onlookers for the final apparition on October 13, 1917 – the day of the “Miracle of the Sun” – when the sun appeared to change in appearance and dance around in the sky(for more, go to History/Story tab).

from Wikipedia:  The “Miracle of the Sun” on October 13, 1917

As early as July 1917 it was claimed that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on October 13, so that all would believe. What happened then became known as the “Miracle of the Sun”. A huge crowd, variously estimated between 30,000 and 100,000, including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered at the Cova da Iria. The incessant rain had ceased and there was a thin layer of cloud. Lúcia, seeing light rising from the lady’s hands and the sun appearing as a silver disk, called out “look at the sun”. She later had no memory of saying this. Witnesses later spoke of the sun appearing to change colors and rotate like a wheel. Witnesses gave widely varying descriptions of the “sun’s dance”. Poet Afonso Lopes Vieira and schoolteacher Delfina Lopes (with her students and other witnesses in the town of Alburita), reported that the solar phenomenon was visible up to forty kilometers away.

Columnist Avelino de Almeida of O Seculo (Portugal’s most influential newspaper, which was pro-government in policy and avowedly anti-clerical), reported the following: “Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws – the sun ‘danced’ according to the typical expression of the people.” Eye specialist Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem reported “The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat.” The special reporter for the October 17, 1917 edition of the Lisbon daily, O Dia, reported the following, “…the silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy purple light was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds…The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands…people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they.”

No movement or other phenomenon of the sun was recorded by scientists at the time. Not all witnesses reported seeing the sun “dance”. Some people only saw the radiant colors, and others, including some believers, saw nothing at all.

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