CrucisOur Lady of Fátima
Our Lady of Fátima refers to a series of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, at the Cova da Iria near the town of Fátima in Portugal, over six months in 1917. Beginning on 13 May and recurring on the thirteenth of each month, the Lady, who identified herself as "the Lady of the Rosary," called the children and the world to prayer, penance, and reparation for sin, to the daily praying of the Rosary, and to devotion to her Immaculate Heart for the conversion of sinners and peace in the world.
The apparitions are especially remembered for the "Miracle of the Sun" on 13 October 1917, when a great crowd of tens of thousands reported seeing the sun spin and plunge toward the earth, and for the three-part secret entrusted to the children, touching upon a vision of hell, the fate of nations, and a suffering bishop dressed in white. Francisco and Jacinta died young and were canonized in 2017, while Lúcia became a Carmelite nun. Approved by the Church for the devotion of the faithful, Fátima is one of the most influential Marian apparitions of the modern age, celebrated on 13 May.
Selected quotes
“I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”
“Say the Rosary every day, to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.”
“I am the Lady of the Rosary.”