I suddenly realized the 100th icon I would write in my career as an iconographer would be the icon that celebrated the 100th Anniversary of Fatima. I had known the Anniversary of Fatima was coming up, and I had that strong Holy Spirit urge to write an icon for it, so as I noted the three icons I was already working on would be numbers 97, 98, and 99, it occurred to me Fatima would be 100. I was already feeling blessed, but there was still so much to do.

Writing icons is much more about preparation than it is actual painting. With every icon I need to spend time getting to know the subject, and this was especially so with Fatima. It is true I had an urge that told me I needed to write an icon that celebrated the 100th Anniversary, but in reality I didn’t actually know that much about Fatima. I knew there was a vision with three children in Portugal, I was pretty sure Fatima was in Portugal, and I certainly had heard about the miracle of the sun, but that was just about all I knew. So like every icon I began to do research, first on the internet, but more importantly speaking with people. I turned to a friend who I knew was a member of the World Apostolate of Fatima. After she enthusiastically spoke for over an hour about the subject, she loaded me up with books and cd’s. She also gave me some phone numbers of experts who she knew could help. That included Deacon Bob Ellis, also of the World Apostolate of Fatima, and Fr. Andrew Apostoli.

Deacon Bob and I spoke for over an hour on the phone. Afterward I had pages and pages of notes, and a real interest in the story of Fatima. As I repeatedly looked over all the notes, along with the various books and other literature, I discovered what a beautiful story Fatima is. But how do I capture that story in an icon? Where do I even begin? I then spoke with Fr. Apostoli, who affirmed the very important elements of the story of Fatima which I knew had to be included in the icon. Now I was really excited, but also overwhelmed. I was going to have to depict the visions experienced by the children, some which were really elaborate. I had no idea how I would do it. I realized it would be impossible to capture everything, so which were the most important details, and how would I display them? Deacon Bob, Fr. Apostoli, and my friend Mike Wick of the IRL, who was another valued resource, all had different ideas.I was already certain how I wanted Our Lady to look so I began there, and then I also had an idea about the children and hell, so I continued with that. But otherwise I was stuck. What to do next?

I had recently written an icon of Our Lady Undoer of Knots, and it occurred to me this is exactly the help I needed. I began the Novena to Our Lady, and then three days in I began to understand what I would be doing with Fatima. I had already sketched out many ideas which showed the various visions, too many to include, but by that third day I could sense which images I would use, how I would position them, and what changes I would need to make. I started to paint, and gradually within the one larger icon six individual smaller icons appeared. Eventually I finished, and I sent copies to Deacon Bob and Fr. Apostoli, and then I waited. Eventually both replied they were happy with the image. The call from Fr. Apostoli in particular was one I will never forget. He said the message of Fatima needed to be spread, he said it several times, and he said that message had been captured in the image. HIs affirmation meant the world to me. This is the goal of every iconographer: Put word into image. Ad majorem Dei Gloriam. For the greater glory of God.

THE ICON EXLAINEDThe Angel of Portugalin 1916, The children had their first supernatural encounter as a means of preparing them for their meetings with the Queen of Heaven. As they were looking after the sheep one day they saw a dazzlingly beautiful young man, seemingly made of light, who told them he was the Angel of Peace. He invited them to pray with him.Later on in the summer, the Angel again appeared to the children and encouraged them to pray and make sacrifices as a way of drawing down peace on their country.In the autumn the children again saw the Angel as they were looking after the sheep. He appeared before them holding a chalice in his hands, above which was suspended a host from which drops of blood were falling into the chalice. The Angel left the chalice suspended in the air and prostrated himself before it in prayer.

He then gave the host to Lucia to eat, and let Francisco and Jacinta drink from the chalice while saying: “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God.” Then he prostrated himself again in prayer before disappearing. The children did not tell anyone about these visits of the Angel, feeling an interior necessity to keep quiet about these events.

(Box 2) October 13, 1917 Miracle of the SunA crowd of 70,000 people gathered in a rainstorm for the promised apparition. Our Lady appeared and said “Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended.” Then she opened her hands and made them reflect on the sun, and as she ascended the reflection of her own light continued to be projected on the sun itself. During the miracle of the sun, many present fell in the mud and water, believing that the end of the world was taking place. 

After Our Lady had disappeared into the immense firmament, the children saw St. Joseph with the Child Jesus and Our Lady robed in white with a blue mantle beside the sun. St. Joseph and the Child Jesus appeared to bless the world, for they traced the Sign of the Cross with their hands. 

This vision also vanished, making way for a vision of our Lady of Mt. Carmel. In place of an image of Our Lady of Mt Carmel the brown scapular is used as a symbol of her

First Saturday DevotionOn the evening of Thursday, December 10, 1925, after supper, Sister Lucy dos Santos received a visit by the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary in her convent cell. Showing the young nun a heart surrounded by thorns, Our Lady said to her:"See, My daughter, My heart surrounded by thorns which ungrateful men pierce at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude... Say to all those who, for five months, on the first Saturday, confess, receive Holy Communion, recite the Rosary and keep Me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, in a spirit of reparation, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls.”

In June 1929, Sr. Lucia describes the following apparition: Vision of the Trinity

" . . . . suddenly the entire convent Chapel was illuminated in a supernatural light, and a Cross of light appeared over the altar and reached the ceiling.  On the superior part the face of man was seen and his body down to the waist. A dove of light  was over his chest and nailed to the Cross was another man. Suspended in air over his waist I was able to see a chalice with a large Host. Drops of Blood from the face of Jesus Crucified and His pierced  side fell into the the chalice, dripping from the Host. Beneath the right arm on the Cross was Our Lady.  It was Our Lady of Fatima,  with her Immaculate Heart in her left hand, without thorns or roses, but with a crown of thorns and flames. Underneath the left arm on the Cross, big letters, similar to crystal water came down to the altar forming these words: Grace and Mercy.' 

Lucia said : "I understood it was the mystery of the Blessed Trinity that was revealed to me, and I

perceived inner light about this mystery which I'm unable to reveal. The Blessed Virgin told me: The time has come in which God asks the Holy Father that in union with all the bishops of the world the consecration of Russia to my Heart be made, I promise salvation through this means.' Preventing diffusion of error and advance its conversion."

The 3rd secret - In SymbolsWe saw an Angel with a flaming sword; it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice:“Penance, Penance, Penance!” ‘(In the second scene a terrible catastrophe befalls the world.)‘And we saw in an immense light that is God… a Bishop dressed in white. We had the impression it was the Holy Father. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big cross; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins, and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at

the foot of the big cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of different ranks.’(The third scene depicts the return of humanity to God.)‘Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels, each with a crystal aspersorium in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God.’

May 13, 1982 Pope John Paul II invites the bishops of the world to join him in consecrating the world and with it Russia to the Immaculate Heart. Many do not receive the invitation in time for the Pope's trip to Fatima, where he accomplishes the consecration. Sr. Lucia later says it did not fulfill the conditions.October 1983 Pope John Paul II, at the Synod of Bishops, renews the 1982 ConsecrationMarch 25, 1984 Pope John Paul II, "united with all the pastors of the Church in a particular bond whereby we constitute a body and a college," consecrates "the whole world, especially the peoples for which by reason of their situation you have particular love and solicitude." Both the Pope and Sr. Lucia initially seemed uncertain that the consecration has been fulfilled, but shortly thereafter Sr. Lucia tells the papal nuncio to Portugal that the Consecration is fulfilled.

Image of Our Lady 

Lucia said  “It was a Lady dressed all in white, “more brilliant than the sun,shedding rays of light, clear and stronger than a crystal glass filled with the most sparklingwater, pierced by the burning rays of the sun.”

Image of ChildrenOn May 13, 1917 the three children took their flocks out to pasture in the small area known as the Cova da Iria. After lunch and the rosary they  saw a bright flash of something like lightning, followed quickly by another flash in the clear blue sky.They looked up to see, in Lucia’s words, “a lady, clothed in white, brighter than the sun, radiating a light more clear and intense than a crystal cup filled with sparkling water lit by burning sunlight.” The children stood there amazed, bathed in

the light that surrounded the apparition as the Lady smiled and said: “Do not be afraid, I will not harm you.” Lucia, as the oldest, asked her where she came from.The Lady pointed to the sky and said: “I come from heaven.” Lucia then asked her what she wanted. “I have come to ask you to come here for six months on the 13th day of the month at this same hour. Later I shall say who I am and what I desire. And I shall return here yet a seventh time.”

Image of Heart

Our Lady said:  No, My daughter. Do you suffer a great deal? Dont lose heart. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.

Lucy: As Our Lady spoke these last words, She opened Her hands for the second time. In front of the palm of Our Ladys right hand was a heart encircled by thorns which pierced it. We understood that this was

the Immaculate Heart of Mary, outraged by the sins of humanity, and seeking reparation.

The vision of hellSister Lucy of Fatima Describes the Vision of Hell

At Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary told the three children that many souls go to hell because they have no one to pray or make sacrifices for them. In her Memoirs, Sister Lucy describes the vision of hell that Our Lady showed the children at Fatima:

"She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear.”