"In 1917, in Fátima, Portugal, three shepherd children claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared before them and spoke the words, "Do not be afraid." Stephen Harrigan first heard the story of Our Lady of Fátima when he was a young boy in Texas in the 1950's, struggling to come to grips with a religion, Catholicism, that captured him, thrilled him, and simultaneously terrified him, as well as with the notion of sin and of what actually happened in Fátima in the early part of the 20th century, one of the most important mysteries in the Catholic pantheon. Sorrowful Mysteries is a detailed and extraordinary examination of the appearance of Our Lady of Fátima, an attempt to unravel and put into perspective the lives of the three children-how it changed them and what happened to them after the life-altering event, a peering into the Catholic religion itself, and Harrigan's own personal relationship with the power of his childhood religion"-- Provided by publisher.