The Bailey Planet : Fatima, Portugal

Our second full day in Portugal was spent in Fatima!

Fatima is about an hour and 15 minutes from Lisbon, and you can easily get there by a bus that stops practically across the street from the Basilica. However, it's actually several kilometers away from the houses of the children, as well as another spot where a vision of Mary occurred, so it's better to have a car for this visit. And it helps if you're Catholic as it's one of the top pilgrimage sites in the world for the Catholic faithful.

Kern and Dorothy decided to take a day to themselves and tour around Lisbon (you guys... their pictures were INCREDIBLE!) but Kern snapped a quick one of all of us as we set out for the days adventures!

We had a very nice driver/guide named Daniel who took us around to see all of the sites. When you enter the town, you drive around a massive rotary that features the Monument to the Three Little Shepherds of Fatima.

The normal tour would take you to the Aljustrel area last, but it was a very hot day, so Daniel took us here first as it was cooler in the morning. Here, we saw the spot where the three children, Jacinta, her brother Francisco and their cousin Lucia first were met by the Angel of Peace, who was in the form of a teenage boy. There was a large crowd here saying the rosary in English when we arrived. Here, the angel said that they should say the following prayer three times: "My God, I believe, adore, hope and love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and who deny You love." The children saw this angel twice - in both the spring and the fall of 1916.

There are a lot of cork trees around Fatima and Portugal is the largest producer of cork in the WORLD! Superlative, check! It's illegal to cut down a cork tree in Portugal, and you can actually harvest the cork (approximately every 9 years) without damaging the tree. However, it takes about 25 years between planting the cork tree and harvesting it for the first time. Equally as slow at their growth are the many olive trees that stand around Fatima. Olive trees are SO slow at growing and maturing, that they say the olive tree isn't planted for you or me, but our children and grandchildren.

The Fatima area is basically split into two sections - the original town area, pictured above, and the new expanded area (where the Basilica is, to the north of the old town.) What you see above is the Parish Church of Fatima (founded in 1568) which is where they would have baptized the three visionaries, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta.

The Chapel of King Saint Stephen is located not far from where the children first saw the Angel of Peace. According to the website, it was "offered by Hungarian Catholics, refugees in Portugal after the soviet invasion of Hungary." There are stations of the cross leading up to this chapel that were also built by the Hungarians. The chapel itself was built starting in 1962.

If you come on a pilgrimage with your church and don't reserve a time at the Chapel of the Apparitions over by the Basilica, your mass can still be held here without a lot of fuss. The altar and surrounding pieces were all made from leftover war munitions.

The "two large ceiling mosaics by Hungarian artist Peter Prokop, are composed of small marble stones and represent the apparition of Our Lady to the three shepherds and delivery of the Hungarian crown of St. Stephen King to Our Lady" according to the Shrine of Fatima website.

On top of the Chapel of St. Stephen is a nice depiction of Christ on the Cross at Calvary.

Our walk continued on and took us to the site of the August apparitions, in the countryside known as Valinhos. On August 19, 1917, Mary appeared to the three children at this location. It wasn't in the usual spot (where the current Chapel of the Apparitions is) because the kids were actually in jail (!!) The local administrator, Artur Santos thought the children were lying and that the visions were "politically disruptive" so he kept them in the local prison for three days. Lucia's own mother didn't even believe them!

Here, Mary said, "Pray! Pray much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls are going to hell because they have nobody who prays and make sacrifices for them."

Not the holiest children (I can hear it now: "Mommy! You're so mean!") but here are my greatest gifts from God standing in the spot where the famous picture of Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia was taken.

Cameras weren't a widely available thing at the time, so the fact that they had their picture taken meant people were really interested and invested in what happened here.

Our next stop was the house of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the three visionary children. We were greeted by a nun who showed us around the main part of the house.

Jacinta and Francisco were both born in this room (where their parents slept).

Francisco died in this room of the Spanish Flu in April of 1919, and while his sister Jacinta also contracted the flu, she was moved to the local hospital. When her condition worsened, she was moved to a hospital in Lisbon where she developed pleurisy and had two ribs removed prior to her death in February of 1920. (Yes, she spent that much time in the hospital!) She was only 9 years old when she died, and later when she was canonized by Pope Francis in 2017, she became the youngest saint that was not a martyr.

Todd once again had issues with the doorways of Europe. The Marto family wasn't a tall family, by any means. In fact, even I felt tall in this house!

Daniel told us all about the kitchen and dining area which Todd did not fit in. He had to stand between the beams!

A few steps downstairs at the Marto house was a cellar of sorts, and this is where the Marto family kept oils, wine (that's the big jug on the left) and meats. There was a spot where they likely would have slaughtered a pig, and the white "fridge" on the right would have been layered with pig meat and salt, which would have allowed them to eat unspoiled meat for several months.

People came from all around to the Marto house to make requests, talk to the children, pray, etc. This little window allowed the family to greet people without bringing them into the actual house. Francisco apparently didn't love meeting with the people, so he would often hide in the attic (which I didn't get a picture of!)

I don't remember what Daniel was talking about here but legit... this family was not a tall family!

There was a rain catchment system that acted like an aqueduct from the roof running down into a well that the family had on the property.

Do you remember how we used to say that doors belonged to particular family members based on their size? Sometimes they were Mommy doors, or Natalie doors, or Grant doors. This might have been a Hattie door, for my 3-year-old niece because it was super tiny!

Our next stop was the childhood home of the only surviving (to adulthood) member of the trio, Lucia dos Santos. This section of her home was closed for renovations but you can see the type of home she lived in as a child.

Lucia lived to be 97 years old (almost 98!), passing away in 2005 and due to the apparitions, she became a nun and spent most of her life in the Carmelite convent. In one of the apparitions, Mary told the three children that Jacinta and Francisco would not live much longer, but Lucia would live a long life.

This is the room Lucia and her brother and sisters were born in.

We also stopped at Arneiro's Well, which was in the backyard of Lucia's house. This is where she saw the second apparition of the Angel in the summer of 1916. The next year, Jacinta also had a vision here, of the Pope on his knees, crying and praying (which many say foretold the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II). There is a well back here, where they would get their water, and the children were out here playing during siesta one day when they saw the Angel.

Walking back toward Lucia's house, a small line had formed to see the inside of the home. Meanwhile, Daniel was nice enough to go get the van and pick us up so we could go grab some souvenirs before lunch!

Leaving the souvenir shop, we could see another wildfire brewing on the horizon.

Daniel took us to the O Pereira Restaurant in Fatima for a yummy lunch.

Naturally, we had a Super Bock or two!

The group pic at lunch in Fatima!

Lynne had quite a time with the wine in Portugal. She would ask for a glass of white wine, and inevitably, the entire bottle would show up. She drank a couple of glasses here, and was only charged 3 Euro 50! Incredible! I like the wine chiller they used, too!

Todd and I ordered the steak in olive oil with garlic and it was AWESOME. It came with a huge plate of rice and fries, too. The kids also ordered this and they really liked it!

After lunch, we headed toward the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, which was dedicated in 1953. It's officially a minor basilica - and there are only 4 major basilicas, all of which are in Rome, so that designation isn't a big deal in the Catholic church.

All three of the children are buried inside of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. The statue here is one of Saint Jacinta, although both girls are buried here on this side of the church. Lucia is not yet a saint, because she only "recently" passed away in 2005 and the path to sainthood is a long one, post mortem. However, her cousins Jacinta and Francisco were both canonized by Pope Francis in May of 2017. In February of 2017, Lucia was given the title "Servant of God" which is a step closer in the sainthood process. Next up, a potential saint would be styled, "Venerable" before "Blessed" which both precede sainthood.

I love the ceiling over the altar at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The whole altar area is beautiful, floor to ceiling. It's very traditional compared to the more modern Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity across the square.

Also buried in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary is Francisco, on the right side of the altar (if you're facing it). I love the sculpture on the wall with the little birds surrounding him. So sweet.

The prayer square between the two Basilicas is huge - in the distance, you can see the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, the newest of the two churches. On the far right, you can see a large oak tree next to the Chapel of the Apparitions (where all of the people are gathered). When the three children passed this tree, they saw the lightning bolts that preceded the first vision of Mary. This tree is called, "Azinheira Grande" and it's been designated as a "tree of public interest" by the government of Portugal!

Natalie got to visit both Fatima and Medjugorje with her godmother, Kathleen! That's so special!

The Colonnade that surrounds the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary has 200 columns and 14 altars and was designed to look like St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

We decided to go light some candles for our loved ones, particularly for Nana, Grammi and Bean. Only... Todd didn't realize that step was there and almost went tumbling into the fire. Because that's a real fire burning in there - which makes a hot day even hotter. Glad to see Mary was there to scoop him up so he didn't earn any charred body parts on this trip! Kathleen caught the whole thing on video, too!

Pius XII square in between the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (here) and the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity (behind us) is massive. In the center stands the Monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. There used to be a spring here, where all of the pilgrims would get water during their visit, but they have since covered that up.

You can definitely see here how the Colonnade appears to look a lot like the Vatican and St. Peter's Square!

We wanted to go visit the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, so we set off up the hill to check it out. You can see a large, modern crucifix on the left. This High Cross is 34 meters high!

I'm sticking my tongue out to his heat!

Consecrated in 2007, the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity is MUCH more modern (and to be honest, a little stranger!) than the Basilica across the square. I was getting a serious Picasso vibe from all of this.

The 50 meter wide (by 10 meter high) mosaic on the wall behind the altar is spectacular though. According to the website, "In the front side of the altar, there is a piece of marble from the tomb of the Apostle Peter."

The Chapel of the Apparitions is the most important site in all of Fatima, where the children were visited by Mary in May, June, July, September and October of 1917. We were lucky enough to get a weekday mass (which are slightly shortened) and communion here in English! It was here during the October apparition that the "Miracle of the Sun" occurred. Even those were non-believers (as in, there were reporters and photographers who were there) saw the sun appear to dance or zig-zag in the sky, lurch towards the Earth, and emanate multicolored lights and radiant colors from above for about 10 minutes. As you know, there wasn't social media or the internet back then - but about 30,000-40,000 people (some accounts are higher) showed up on October 13 after they had learned of the visions on the 13th day of the previous five months (minus August cause the children were in jail!) Some say it was possibly a sun dog (you can google that) but many say it was a miracle due to the large number of people who witnessed it.

The combination of jet lag, an early start to the day, and the heat means Grant and Mommy passed out in the back seat of Daniel's van on the way back to Lisbon! What a fantastic day we had, though!

We rallied for dinner though, and joined Kern and Dorothy at Club Zingara (not really a club!) for dinner. It's a tiny place, so the eight of us were spread out among three tables. Grant and Natalie weren't starving, so they had some nachos and then Grant declared that this was the best meal of the trip, ha!