If ever humanity need help from the Almighty, it was during World War I. Pope Benedict XV made repeated (ignored) pleas for peace, as thousands were suffering and dying at the front. Seeing it was no use to deal with the humans, he turned his hopes to direct appeal for intercession to Mary. His prayers were seemingly answered in Fatima, a dusty village about seventy miles north of Lisbon.

On this day, May 13, in 1917, a week after the Pope’s appeal,  three shepherd children in Fatima — Lucia dos Santos, 9 years old, and her cousins Francisco Marto, (eight years old) and Jacinta Marto (six years old) claimed to see and speak with an luminous lady who appeared on a cloud in a pasture.

The three children were reassured by the apparition, and instructed to come back a in a month. They came back on June 13, and again on the 13th of every month through October, accompanied by crowds of worshipers, though none but the children were able to see the image of the lady. Years after, mysterious, and some would say miraculous events happened at the site. To this day, it remains one of the most oft-visited shrines devoted to Mary.