The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima - Plot

Plot

It is 1917, and Portugal is feeling the aftereffects of a storm of antireligious sentiment and the violent overthrow of the government in the 5 October 1910 revolution. Churches in Lisbon are boarded up. Many priests, monks and friars are shown being fingerprinted, photographed and registered as (possible) criminals before being jailed. The rural town of Fatima is small enough to have escaped much of this persecution; their church remains open, and most of the people are reasonably devout.

Watching their flocks and playing in a field outside town on May 15 (the actual date of the first apparition was May 13), Lucia dos Santos (Susan Whitney) and her cousins Jacinta Marto (Sherry Jackson) and Francisco Marto (Sammy Ogg) decide to pray their version of the Rosary by yelling out, "Hail Mary!" but not finishing the prayer. In the midst of this activity they hear a clap of thunder and see a flash of lightning. Thinking it is about to rain, the children gather their sheep and head for home. Another flash of lightning causes them to run straight into an unusual "cloud of light" surrounding a little tree on which a lady stands. Speaking slowly and gently, the lady asks them to return on the 13th of each month and to offer their sufferings to God for the salvation of sinners. She entreats them to say the Rosary for world peace. Later, they encounter their agnostic friend Hugo (Gilbert Roland) who tells them it is best not to reveal the vision to anyone else, but of course on returning home, Jacinta immediately divulges her sightings.

Jacinta and Francisco's parents believe the story, but Lucia's mother reacts with disgust and subjects her daughter to emotional and physical abuse. She forbids Lucia to return to the Cova, but Lucia does so anyway on the next month's appearance (June 13), and is told then that her cousins will die and go to heaven "soon", while she will live a long life in holy service. The parish priest suggests the visions might be from Satan. The local authorities close the Fatima church until the priest can convince the parishioners that no visions have or will happen. The next month, on July 13, the lady appears again, predicting "another and worse war" (World War II) will happen if the world doesn't stop sinning. She also predicts evil will come from Russia if that country is unconverted. Kidnapped by provincial administrator Arturo Santos, (who is not related to Lucia dos Santos), the children are threatened with death if they don't change their story. Trying to frighten them, he has first Jacinta, then Francisco dragged into another room. Jacinta's terrified screams convince Lucia that her cousins are dead, but she refuses to deny what she's seen. Warning her that she's about to experience "the full treatment", Santos reunites her with her cousins, who are very much alive, then throws them all in jail. There they find Hugo, who stands by them as they convince all the prisoners to join in the Rosary.

Unable to find any prosecutable evidence, Arturo (Frank Silvera) frees the children, who find that the entire population of Fatima has been standing outside waiting for them.

On October 13, when the lady promised "a sign that will make them believe," about forty thousand people arrive, waiting through a torrential downpour. At precisely noon the clouds part and the sun shines brightly upon all the people—then the sun shifts through a rainbow of colors and appears to drop toward the ground, in what many have described as the Miracle of the Sun. Many people panic, some pray or watch calmly, and a few disabled people are healed. As the sun returns to normal we see Hugo standing in the middle of the kneeling crowd, his hat still on. Removing it, he says "Only the fool sayeth there is no God."

A short epilogue shows the huge basilica where the tree once stood. At the end of the movie, it is (around 1952) and they are in a big, new basilica (where the cova once was). Inside, Lucia is a nun praying before the tomb where her cousins are buried, with the converted Hugo at her side.