Three Little Shepherds meet Our Lady of the Rosary; Chapter Twelve - The Day it rained Flowers

CHAPTER TWELVE
THE DAY IT RAINED FLOWERS

Father Manuel Formigao, seated on a cart, was travelling towards Fatima. It was the thirteenth of September, the day on which the Lady was due to make her fifth visit to the shepherds. Father Formigao, a Professor of Theology, had been instructed by the Vicar General at Lisbon to observe the events of Fatima at close range.

There was something about the multitudes approaching Fatima which caught and held his attention. From 25 000 to 30 000 were hastening towards the Cova da Iria in order to be present at the Lady's forthcoming visit. Not a sentimental man as a rule, Father Formigao felt emotional as he observed the fervent faith of these pilgrims.

Having reached the holm oak, Lucia requested the crowd to kneel. Then all these thousands together joined in the recitation of the Rosary. Moving his beads one by one, the Vicar General of the Leiria Diocese, to which Fatima belonged, joined in their prayer. 
Before the Rosary was finished, he heard Lucia exclaim:
"There she is - I see her!"
At the same time shouts of rejoicing broke out as thousands of arms were raised towards the sky. To his amazement, the Vicar General, his eyes following the direction into which the people were motioning, discerned an oval light, moving slowly and majestically from east to west. Having arrived above the oak, the light faded. The sunlight darkened and the beautiful white cloud, noticed on previous visits, again embraced the tree and the shepherds. From then on the Portuguese people were to refer to the oval light as the Aeroplane of Light which transported Our Lady.

Then from Heaven, white objects, resembling snowflakes to some, flowers to others, came drifting down, melting a short distance from the ground. The entire sky became one of flowers. Enchanted, the people gazed at the phenomenon which was to last throughout the visit.

Meanwhile the little shepherds were wrapped up in their own joy, the Vision of Our Lady, Who was urging them to continue praying the Rosary in order to obtain an end to the war. 
Then great news:
"In October Our Lord will come also, and Our Lady of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Carmel and Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus, to bless the world. God is content with your sacricies."
Lucia recalled her promises to the pilgrims:
"They have begged me to ask many things of Thee, the cure of some sick persons, of a deaf mute."
"Yes, I shall cure some but not the others. In October I shall perform the miracle, so that all will believe."
 
Suddenly Lucia exclaimed:
"There! She is going!"

Again the sun shone brightly as it had done before the visions, the white cloud disappeared and the flowers melted away.
Quietly the crowd cleared the Cova and departed, their hearts full of these heavenly manifestations.