All content on this page was researched and written by Fr. Frank Lomica and Claudia Williams in 2017. Permission to reproduce must be requested from Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Parish in Lakewood, CO.

1. On the day the Blessed Mother first appeared, there was a big flash of light. The children thought it was going to rain, but instead a beautiful lady appeared. She was dressed all in white and she was so bright she seemed to be dressed in light! She wore a long necklace with a ball of light at the bottom and there was a bright star on the bottom of her dress. What did she hold in her hands?
ANSWER: Rosary

2. The Blessed Mother knew that such a brilliant spectacle would probably frighten the 3 little shepherds. What was the first thing Our Lady said to them?
ANSWER: Do not be afraid! I will do you no harm.

3. Lucia asked the beautiful Lady, "Where do you come from?" What did Our Lady tell her?
ANSWER: I am from Heaven.

4. The Blessed Mother asked the children to pray and offer sacrifices for poor sinners so they would stop disobeying God and be able to go to Heaven. A good prayer to pray would be the Hail Mary. Do you know the words to the Hail Mary? What sacrifices would you make to save poor sinners?
ANSWER: Open to each child

5. The visits by the Blessed Mother made the children very happy! But many of the people in the village didn't believe the children were telling the truth and they made of fun of them. This made them very sad. Jesus suffered on the Cross so we could go to Heaven. Do you think that when we are sad, or sick, or people make fun of us, that Jesus would be happy to use our suffering to help people go to Heaven?
ANSWER: Yes

1. On May 13th at about noon, the children were in the fields pasturing their sheep when they saw a brilliant flash of light. Thinking it was going to rain, they began to pack up their things to return home. After another flash they saw "a beautiful lady from Heaven" standing above a holm oak. She appeared to be about 17 years old dressed in white and surrounded by light. The first words Our Lady spoke are said many times in the Bible. What were those words?
ANSWER: Do not be afraid!

2. Lucia asked the Lady what she wanted of them. What did the Lady say?
ANSWER: I want you to come here on the 13th day for the next 6 months at this same hour.

3. At the time of the first apparition, the children did not know that the "beautiful lady from Heaven" was the Blessed Mother. When did they find out who she really was?
ANSWER: On the 13th of October.

4. What title did the Blessed Mother use to tell the children who she was?
ANSWER: I am the Lady of the Rosary.

5. There was one thing in particular the Blessed Mother asked us to do each time she came to see the children. What was this one thing?
ANSWER: To pray the Rosary every day.

6. Our Lady asked the children if they would be willing to accept any sufferings that God might send them and to pray and offer sacrifices. The children immediately answered they would be willing to do these things. Why did Our Lady say it was necessary for them, and us, to accept sufferings, to pray, and offer sacrifices?
ANSWER: To make reparation to God for sins committed and for the conversion of sinners.

1. Our Blessed Lady first appeared to the 3 children on May 13, 1917 at about noon. It was easy to speak to her, and Lucia asked many questions about Heaven and if they would go there and about some friends who had died recently. Our Lady told Lucia that one of them, Amelia, a young woman of about 18 or 20 years would be in Purgatory until the end of time. What is Purgatory?
ANSWER: Where souls go after death to expiate for sins confessed but for which the temporal punishments have not been voluntarily satisfied by penance during their lifetime.

2. The central point of the May apparition occurs when Our Lady asks the children if they would be willing to accept any sufferings that God might choose to send them for reparation for sin and for the conversion of souls. God will never force us to accept His missions for us. He wants us to accept of our free and loving will. The Blessed Virgin knows this better than anyone as exemplified by what experience in her life?
ANSWER: The Annunciation: "I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done unto me according to your word."

3. By the time Our Lady appeared for the second time on June 13th, the children's sufferings had already begun. They suffered because of the unbelief in their families, especially Lucia whose mother became irate at her "lying" about the visit of the beautiful lady from heaven. Likewise, the people of their village shunned them due to their unbelief. They had also advanced along the road of "heroic virtue". What is "heroic virtue"?
ANSWER: Jesus Christ is the hero of all Christians. Those souls who most closely mirror His love of Father God and neighbor, and His self-giving nature, possess an almost second nature to go above and beyond the ordinary living of virtue.

4. What was the one thing Our Lady asked us to do at each of the six apparitions at Fatima, and what did she say would be the fruit of this action?
ANSWER: Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and an end to the war.

5. At the time of the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, like many of the countries in Europe, had become a secularist state run mainly by the Freemasons who were fierce haters of the Church and the priesthood. On the morning of August 13th as the children were making their way to the Cova to see Our Lady, they were taken by the administrator of the district. Convinced that the entire affair was a hoax perpetrated by the clergy for monetary gain, the administrator wanted the children to confess that they lied about the apparitions and to divulge the "secret" given to them on July 13th. He threatened them first with imprisonment and finally with death by boiling them in oil. The children responded that they were not lying, and could not tell the "secret", and if he chose to kill them they would go straight to Heaven so it didn't matter. Would you call this response on the part of the children a demonstration of "heroic virtue"? Why or why not?
ANSWER: Yes - because they, like all martyrs, refused to deny the Lord even at the cost of their own lives.

6. Word of the events at Fatima had spread throughout Portugal and beyond its borders. On September 13th, approximately 25,000 people crowded the tiny village and the Cova da Iria making it nearly impossible for the children to make their way to see Our Lady. Lucia wrote in her memoirs:
The roads were packed with people, and everyone wanted to see us and speak to us...Some climbed up to the tops of trees and walls to see us go by and shouted down to us...We managed to move forward, thanks to some gentlemen who went ahead and opened a passage for us through the multitude.
This experience had a powerful effect on her. To what biblical event did she compare it?
ANSWER: To the Gospel stories of the crowds surrounding Jesus as He made his way through the Holy Land.