1917.05.13 | First apparition of the Mother of God in Cova da Iria, Fatima.

1917.06.13 | According to the testimony of the seer Lucia, in the second apparition the Virgin Mary showed her Immaculate Heart.

1917.07.13 | In accordance with Lucia de Jesus and Jacinta Marto, in the third apparition the Virgin Mary reveals them a Secret that they could mention only to Francisco Marto. The Secret was composed of three parts: the vision of hell, the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the persecuted Church on its way to the Cross. The first two parts were written in 1941 and publicly known after this date, and the last part written down in 1944, and published in 2000.

1917.08.10 | Artur de Oliveira Santos, mayor of the Ourém municipality, summons the parents of the seers to appear the next day at the city hall, accompanied by their own children, in order to be interrogated.

1917.08.11 | As stated by Lucia, the mayor of Ourém municipality interrogates her and urges her to reveal the Secret.

1917.08.13 | Manuel Marques Ferreira, parish priest of Fatima, after questioning Lucia, notes that she assumed the existence of a Secret revealed by the Virgin Mary, and asserts that the seer refused to declare it.

1917.08.13-15 | The three seers are taken to Ourém. According to statements made by Lucia in 1924, the children are questioned about the Secret by Artur de Oliveira Santos.

1917.08.19 | José do Vale, in the republican newspaper O Mundo, Lisbon, publishes an article in which it is stated that Lucia affirms the existence of a Secret that can only be revealed on the 13th October. This is the first publication mentioning the Secret of Fatima.

19.08.1917 | Fourth apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima (place of Valinhos).

1917.08.21 | Manuel Marques Ferreira, parish priest of Fatima, in the inquiry he made to Jacinta Marto, at the home of her parents, notes that although the seer has not revealed the content of the Secret, said that it was not bad for 'them, seers'.

1917.09.17 | Antonio dos Santos Alves, parish priest of Cortes (village of the municipality of Leiria), interrogates Jacinta Marto and Lucia de Jesus, and notes that their answer was that on the 13th June 1917 the Virgin Mary had revealed a Secret, that could not be disclosed to anyone.

1917.09.27 | Manuel Nunes Formigão informs that, when he questioned Lucia for the first time, the seer assumed that a Secret had been revealed to her by the Virgin Mary, but the Mother of God had asked her not to disclose it.

1917.10.11 | Manuel Nunes Formigão, in the act of asking the seers, insists on the question about the content of the Secret, but did not get any information about it.

1917.10.13 | Manuel Nunes Formigão, in the inquiry made to Francisco Marto, writes down that the child assumed, again, that if the Secret was revealed, the people would be sad.

1917.10.14-30 | Correspondence of various individuals, in which it is reported that the seers were pressed (with money, threats, among other things) to reveal the Secret, but they have not surrendered.

1917.10.19 | José Ferreira de Lacerda, founder and director of the newspaper O Mensageiro, in the inquiry made to the seers, notes that Lucia admitted that a Secret had been communicated to her by the Virgin Mary, and he also writes that the seer declined to reveal it.

1917.10.19 (after) | Manuel Nunes Formigão, in the inquiry made to Lucia, explains that she did not reveal the content of the Secret.

1917.10.23 (before) | In accordance with his testimony, dated from the 30th December, 1917, Luís António Vieira de Magalhães e Vasconcelos questions Lucy in the presence of a person who identified herself as the seer's aunt. This relative confirmed the existence of a Secret, and also stated that the seers, in spite of the enormous pressure they were suffering, refused to reveal its tenor and content.

1917.11.02 | Manuel Nunes Formigão questions twice Lucia and notes that the seer refused to reveal the content of the Secret; without absolute certainty, she says that the Secret had been revealed to her during the second apparition. He also asks twice Jacinta Marto, who said, without much security, that the revelation of the Secret had occurred in July.

1917.11.29 | José Ferreira de Lacerda publishes an article in the newspaper O Mensageiro, stating that the ‘three children’, interrogated by himself, had assumed that the Virgin Mary had conveyed them a Secret, which they should not 'reveal' to no one.

1918.08.06 (before) | Manuel Marques Ferreira, parish priest of Fatima, in the inquiry made by himself to Francisco Marto, gives notice of the child’s refusal in revealing the Secret.

1919.04.04 | Francisco Marto died at the home of his parents in Aljustrel (Fatima).

1919.07.01-1919.08.31 | According to the words of the I Memoir in 1935, Lucia visits Jacinta, admitted into the Hospital of Vila Nova de Ourem, who said to be very happy and want to suffer for the 'Immaculate Heart of Mary, for sinners, for the Holy Father'.

1919.08.31 ( after)-1920.01.21 | According to Lucy’s I Memoir, having returned home after the hospitalization in Ourem, Jacinta tells her that, when in Heaven, she would love the Immaculate Heart of Mary very much and would pray a lot for the Holy Father .

1920.01.21 | according to the words of the I Memoir in 1935, Lucia, when Jacinta was taken to Lisbon for treatment of her disease, was told by her to love the Immaculate Heart of Mary very much and “never tell the Secret to anyone, even if they kill you”.

1920.02.20 | Jacinta Marto dies in Hospital D. Estefania, Lisbon.

1922.01.05 | Lucia, now a student at the Instituto de Van Zeller (Asilo de Vilar), administered by the Sisters of St. Dorothy, writes down a document about the apparitions at the Cova da Iria, making a vague reference to the Secret.

1924.07.08 | Lucia is questioned by Manuel Nunes Formigão, Manuel Marques dos Santos and Manuel Pereira Lopes. She informs that on the 13th July, 1917, the Virgin Mary told her, and also to Jacinta, some “little words’, advising that they only reveal them to Francisco.

1925.10.14 | In an article published in the Diário de Notícias, it is reported that many believe that the Secret revealed by the Virgin Mary would relate only with the approaching death of two of the seers.

1925.12.10 | Apparition of the Virgin Mary to Lucia in Pontevedra, where she requests the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.

1926.02.15 | Apparition of the Infant Jesus to Lucia in Pontevedra. In the course of the conversation, the Infant God asks the postulant to make publicly known the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays, as it had previously been requested by the Virgin Mary (apparition in 1925).

1927.12.17 (afterwards) | Lucia writes down that on the 17th December she had received authorization from ‘Heaven’ to disclose part of the Secret.

1929.06.13 | Apparition of the Virgin Mary to Lucia in Tuy, in which she is told that the Holy Father, 'in union with all the bishops of the world”, should make the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1930.05.29 [?] | Lucia, in a letter to her confessor, insists on saying that it is very important that the Pope, accompanied by the bishops, consecrate Russia to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1930.10.13 | D. José Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, declares that the Fatima apparitions are 'credible' and makes official the cult of 'Our Lady of Fatima'.

1931.05.13 | The Portuguese bishops, at Fatima, consecrate Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1935.01.21 | Lucia, in a letter to José Bernardo Gonçalves, her confessor, stresses again the need to fulfill what had been asked five years ago: the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1935.07.29 | Lucia, in a letter to José Aparício da Silva, her confessor, urges the priest to keep on trying that Russia be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1935.12.25 | Lucy ends the writing down of the I Memoir.

1937.00.00 [?] | The Bishop of Leiria writes to Pius XI, asking him to consecrate Russia to the most Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and to approve and recommend the devotion of the Five First Saturdays.

1937.01.24 | José Bernardo Gonçalves writes to the Bishop of Leiria, and emphasizes the need that the prelate induce the pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1937.11.21 | In her II Memoir, Lucy writes that, on the 13th July, 1917, the Virgin Mary, besides the revelation of a Secret, taught her a prayer in which the required sacrifices should be offered 'in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary'.

1939.03.19-1939.06.20 | Lucia, in letters addressed to José Aparício da Silva, keeps on stressing the importance of the Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in order to ensure world peace.

1939.09.13 | The Bishop of Leiria approves the devotion of the Five First Saturdays, at Fatima.

1940.01.21 | Lucia, in a letter to José Bernardo Gonçalves, mentions again the war and Russia, lamenting that this territory has not yet been consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She lays stress again on the need of steps to the implementation of this consecration by the Pope.

1940.07.15 | In a letter to her confessor, José Bernardo Gonçalves, Lucia states that the consecration was not done by the pope in May 1940.

1940.08.18 | In a letter to her confessor, Lucia says that the non-participation of Portugal in World War II is due to the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, made by the Portuguese bishops. In the same letter, she urges the priest to exercise influence before the Pope in order to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1940.09.01 | In a letter to her confessor, José Aparício da Silva, Lúcia expressed her sadness, because the Pope has not yet consecrated the World and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1940.10.24 | Lucia writes a letter to Pope Pius XII, requesting the consecration of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (making particular reference to Russia), because peace, that way, would be secured, at least for a time.

1940.12.02 | Lucy writes another letter to Pope Pius XII soliciting the Consecration of the World (mentioning Russia in particular) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that the world can have peace.

1940.12.08 | The Portuguese bishops, in Lisbon, renew the consecration of Portugal to the Immaculate Conception and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1941.07.26 | The bishop of Leiria sends a letter to Lucia, asking her to write what she considered most important in relation to the life of Jacinta Marto. This request gave origin to the III Memoir.

1941.08.31 | Lucia finishes the draft of the III Memoir, in which she settles definitely the first two parts of the Secret. That same day, in a letter addressed to José Bernardo Gonçalves, Lucia shares her hesitations in making known the first two parts of the Secret.

1941.12.08 | Lucia brings to completion the draft of the IV Memoir, in which she mentions the first two parts of the Secret.

1942.10.31 | Pius XII in Rome, via radio message transmitted to Lisbon, consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1942.12.08 | Pius XII, in Rome, renews the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1943.05.04 | Lucia, in a letter to José Bernardo Gonçalves, states that the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, made by Pius XII, remained incomplete.

1944.01.03 | Lucia writes down the document with the content concerning to the third part of the Secret about the revelation of the Virgin Mary on the 13th July, 1917. The document is subsequently sent to the bishop of Leiria, D. José Alves Correia da Silva, in a sealed envelope with the following inscription by the seer’s hand: 'By express order of Our Lady / This envelope can only be opened in/ 1960, by His Eminence the / Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon / or by His Excellency the / Bishop of Leiria'.

1945.03.02 | In a letter to José Aparício da Silva, Lucia declares that the act of consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was not conducted in accordance with the Virgin Mary’s request.

1945.12.08 | The Bishop of Leiria inserts the envelope containing the third part of the Secret in another one, closed with the episcopal seal, and in which he indicated that, after his death, it should be delivered to the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon.

1949.01.03 | Life magazine published an article on Fatima in which allusion is made to the Secret. In this article it is said that the Secret cannot be revealed until 1960.

1951.10.27 | In an article of the weekly magazine Paris Match is published a French version of a text very similar to what Lucia wrote in the III Memoir, and in which it is stated that a new war could start during the pontificate of Pius XII [sic]. It is also said that there is a document that was delivered to the Bishop of Leiria about the Secret and that it would be open in 1960.

1952.07.07 | In Rome, Pius XII consecrates the peoples of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1953.00.00 | Sebastião Martins dos Reis, in its publication Fátima, as suas Provas e os seus Problemas [Fatima, its Evidences and its Problems], calls into question the chronology (1960) presented to the release of the third part of the Secret, arguing that publicly neither Lucia nor the Bishop of Leiria had assumed that such disclosure would be made on that date.

1957.03.01 | The manuscript of the third part of the Secret, written by Lucia, was delivered to the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon by D. João Pereira Venâncio, auxiliary bishop of Leiria.

1957.04.04 | The manuscript of the third part of the Secret arrives to the Vatican, being kept in the Secret Archives of the Holy Office (now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith).

1958.06.26 | In a letter to Pope Pius XII, Lucia mentions the existence of a document inserted in a “sealed envelope that can be opened after the beginning of the year 60”.

1959.08.17 | Pope John XXIII wished to see personally the manuscript on the third part of the Secret, but decides not to reveal its tenor and content.

1960.00.00 (afterwards) | The possibility arises of coming to be disclosed the third part of the Secret.

1960.02.08 | A telegram of the ANI-Agência de Notícias e informação [News and Information Agency], citing Vatican sources, refers to the possibility that the content of the Secret never be revealed.

1965.03.27 | Pope Paul VI reads the document written by Lucia, thus taking knowledge of the third part of the Secret, but, after reading it, decides that it would not be revealed.

1981.05.13 | 64th anniversary of the first apparition of the Virgin Mary, at Fatima. In St. Peter's Square in Rome, Pope John Paul II is shot and is exposed to risk of death.

1981.06.07 | At the clinic where he was hospitalized in Rome, John Paul II puts humanity under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, through the Act of Confident Self-giving.

1981.07.18-1981.08.11 | Pope John Paul II reads the original text of the document written by Lucia on the third part of the Secret of Fatima, and also its Italian translation, but decides to send it back to the Secret Archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

1981.12.08 | In Rome, John Paul II renews the Act of Confident Sel-giving to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1982.05.12 | Lucia writes a letter to the Pope, delivered on the13th, which mentions the third part of the Secret, particularly the ominous ideological influence of Russia and the subsequent effects on the world.

1982.05.12-15 | apostolic trip of John Paul II to Portugal, as pilgrim to the Sanctuary of Fatima, where he expresses gratitude to the Virgin Mary for her maternal protection on the day of the attempt upon his life.

1984.03.25 | In St. Peter's Square in Rome, before the very and original image of Our Lady of Fatima, expressly requested for the purpose, John Paul II, in union with the bishops of the whole Church, consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1989.11.08 | In a letter to Pope John Paul II, Lucia confirms the validity of the Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, effected on the 25th March, 1984: 'Yes, it is made as Our Lady requested, since the 25th March 1984'.

2000.04.19 | Pope John Paul II sends a letter to Lucia, asking her to answer all the questions asked, in his name, by His Eminence Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

2000.04.27 | His Eminence Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, as emissary of the Pope, asks Lucia about the content of the third part of the Secret.

2000.05.13 | His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Sodano, in the end of the celebration of the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto held in Fatima, revealed the content of the third part of the Secret.

2000.06.26 | The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith publicly presented the third part of the Secret of Fatima, at a press conference presided by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, author of the theological commentary.