100 years ago: The first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima

On May 13, 1917, three shepherd children--Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto--reported the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima (the Virgin Mary) in Fátima, Portugal. Mary Dalke at her Living4HisGlory's Blog has two excellent and lengthy posts on the subject, which I recommend:

MAY 13, 2017 MARKS THE 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE ALLEGED APPARITIONS OF THE VIRGIN MARY AT FATIMA – LEARN TO DISCERN, DO NOT BE DECEIVED! – PART 1 OF 2 (April 23, 2017)

MAY 13, 2017 MARKS THE 100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE ALLEGED APPARITIONS OF THE VIRGIN MARY AT FATIMA – LEARN TO DISCERN, DO NOT BE DECEIVED – PART 2 – TESTING THE SPIRITS AND MESSAGES OF FATIMA AGAINST SCRIPTURE (May 6, 2017)

The only thing I have to add is that it was on May 13, 1981--the 64th anniversary of the first apparition--that Pope John Paul II was in St. Peter's Square in Rome when he was shot by would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca. The pope had just bent over to look at a small picture of the Virgin Mary that a little girl was wearing, and if he hadn't bent over at that instant, the first bullet would have struck him in the head. During his convalescence, Pope John Paul experienced a vision of Mary, who told him that she had spared his life in order to fulfill a special mission in bringing peace. On May 13, 1982, one year after his shooting, Pope John Paul made a pilgrimage to Fátima, where he prayed before a statue of Our Lady, and consecrated the world to Mary (not Christ), as she had requested. Five years later, Pope John Paul II declared a Marian year, which ran from June 7, 1987-August 15, 1988.

June 13, 2017 update: Another post from Living4His Glory's Blog:

BEYOND FATIMA – THE ALLEGED APPARITIONS OF THE VIRGIN MARY TO LUCIA SANTOS BEYOND 1917 – LEARN TO DISCERN (May 31, 2017)