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opened her hands on the three children once again
and the light streaming from them seemed to
penetrate the earth, and the children beheld a
vision of Hell. Lucia cried out in terror, calling upon Our Lady. "We could see a vast sea of
fire,"
she revealed many years later. "Plunged in the flames were demons and lost souls, as if they
were red hot coals, transparent and black or bronze colored, in human form, which floated about
in the conflagration, borne by the flames which is sued from them, with clouds of smoke, falling
on all sides as sparks fall in a great conflagration without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks
and groans of sorrow and despair that horrified us and caused us to tremble with fear. The devils
could be distinguished by horrible and loathesome forms of animals, frightful and unknown, but
transparent like black coals that have turned red hot." Full of fear, the children raised their
eyes beseechingly to the Lady, who said to them with unspeakable sadness and tenderness: "You have
seen Hell where the souls of poor sinners go. In order to save them, God wishes to establish in the
world devotion to
my Immaculate Heart. If people do what I ask, many souls will be saved and there will be peace."
Lucia later stated that although the vision lasted "but an instant," she felt they would have died
of fear and terror if Our Lady had not already
promised to take them to Heaven.