As early as the Second, or the June, Apparition, our Blessed Lady said to Lucia, ‘Jesus wishes to make use of you to have me acknowledged and loved. He wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart'. She added, later in the interview, ‘Don't be discouraged. I will never forsake you. My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the road that will lead you to God'. In Dr Marchi's account, he writes, ‘With these last words she opened her hands, as she had on the previous occasion, and again communicated to them the light that streamed in two rays from her palms, enveloping the children in its heavenly radiance'.

In her Memoir (IV) Lucia records: ‘Before the palm of the right hand of our Lady was a heart encircled by thorns which seemed to have pierced it like nails'.