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Feast: May 13

Our Lady of Fatima

Pray the Rosary every day

In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children at Cova da Iria, Portugal, and asked for prayer, penance and the daily Rosary for peace in the world. The Rosary of the Dawn was born from that call.

Lucia dos Santos, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the shepherd children of Fatima, in 1917

Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta in 1917. Public domain.

Cova da Iria, 1917

The apparitions of Fatima

Lucia dos Santos (10) and her cousins Francisco (8) and Jacinta Marto (7) were tending their flock near Fatima. These are the main moments, with the words Lucia recorded in her Memoirs.

1916

The Angel of Peace

Before the apparitions of Our Lady, an angel appeared three times to the children and taught them to pray and to offer sacrifices.

“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!”

May 13, 1917

The first apparition

Above a small holm oak, the children saw a Lady dressed in white, brighter than the sun. She asked them to return on the 13th for six months in a row and asked whether they were willing to offer themselves to God.

“Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm! (…) Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world, and the end of the war.”

July 13, 1917

The secret and the First Saturdays

Our Lady showed the children a vision of hell and entrusted the secret to them. She announced that she would return to ask for the consecration of Russia and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.

“If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. (…) I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.”

October 13, 1917

The Miracle of the Sun

At the last apparition, before a great crowd gathered in the rain at Cova da Iria, the sun seemed to “dance” in the sky, as the Lisbon newspaper O Século reported the next day.

Crowd watching the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima on October 13, 1917

December 10, 1925

Pontevedra, Spain

As she had announced, Our Lady returned with the Child Jesus and asked Lucia, then a postulant with the Dorothean Sisters, for the Communion of reparation on five First Saturdays.

Read the devotion →

October 13, 1930

Approval of the Church

The Bishop of Leiria declared “worthy of belief” the visions of the children at Cova da Iria, from May to October 1917, and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Fatima.

The seers

The three shepherd children

Saint Francisco Marto

1908 – April 4, 1919

Above all he wanted to console Our Lord. He died in Aljustrel, a victim of the Spanish flu.

Saint Jacinta Marto

1910 – February 20, 1920

She offered herself tirelessly for the conversion of sinners. She died in Lisbon at the age of nine.

Sister Lucia dos Santos

1907 – February 13, 2005

A Dorothean sister and later a Carmelite, she wrote her Memoirs and passed on the message. She died at the Carmel of Coimbra.

Saint John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta at Fatima on May 13, 2000, and Pope Francis canonized them at Fatima on May 13, 2017, the centenary of the apparitions.

To pray every day

The prayers of Fatima

The prayers the Angel and Our Lady taught the shepherd children, according to Sister Lucia’s Memoirs.

1916

Prayer of the Angel

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!

May 13, 1917

Eucharistic prayer

O most Holy Trinity, I adore You! My God, my God, I love You in the most Blessed Sacrament!

July 13, 1917

Sacrifice prayer

O Jesus, it is for love of You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

July 13, 1917

After each mystery of the Rosary

O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.

To the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The consecration requested at Fatima

On March 25, 1984, in Saint Peter’s Square and in union with the bishops of the world, Saint John Paul II entrusted all men and women and all peoples to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. According to the Vatican document “The Message of Fatima” (2000), Sister Lucia personally confirmed in a letter of November 8, 1989: “Yes it has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984.”

On March 25, 2022, Pope Francis again consecrated, explicitly, Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Our Lady with the Child Jesus appearing to Sister Lucia in Pontevedra, the First Saturdays devotion

We answer the call of Fatima

Every first Saturday of the month at 6:30 a.m., we pray the Holy Rosary in procession and take part in Holy Mass with the Communion of reparation Our Lady asked for.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!