Our Lady of Fatima
In 1917, at Fatima in Portugal, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children, identifying herself as the Lady of the Rosary. Her message calls the world to repentance, prayer, especially the daily Rosary, and trust in God's mercy, and always leads to her Son. Her feast is May 13.
In three points
- Mary appeared at the Cova da Iria to Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta
- The miracle of the sun on October 13, 1917, was witnessed by tens of thousands
- The three secrets were a vision of hell, a prophecy about war and the Immaculate Heart, and a vision of the Church's persecution
- The message is prayer, repentance, conversion and reparation
The apparitions
In six apparitions over several months in 1917 at the Cova da Iria, Mary appeared to Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos. She called herself the Lady of the Rosary and asked for the daily Rosary, prayer for sinners and sacrifices for their salvation. Amid World War I, she warned of greater trials without repentance. At her request a chapel was built; today the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima, about 80 miles north of Lisbon, draws 5-7 million pilgrims a year. On October 13, 1917, tens of thousands witnessed the miracle of the sun, confirmed by the previously skeptical secular newspaper O Seculo.
Leading to Jesus
Fatima's message centers on Jesus: to him we repent, from him we receive forgiveness in confession, and him we receive in the Eucharist. The apparitions belong to God's call to conversion that the Church proclaims (see Matthew 28:18-20). Mary is the spiritual mother of those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus (Revelation 12:17).
The three secrets
Recorded by Sister Lucia, the secrets are not hidden knowledge but messages gradually disclosed.
- A vision of hell, showing the urgency of repentance and prayer for sinners.
- History and devotion: the end of World War I and warning of a worse war if people did not turn to God; a call to devotion to the Immaculate Heart, which would triumph, and to the consecration of Russia. Pius XII consecrated the world in 1942 and Russia in 1952; in 1984 John Paul II, with the world's bishops, consecrated the world and with it Russia. He credited Our Lady of Fatima with his survival of the 1981 assassination attempt.
- The third secret, released in 2000: a symbolic vision of persecution, including a "bishop dressed in white" who suffers. The Church interprets it as the suffering of the Church in the modern world, including the attempt on John Paul II on May 13, 1981, the anniversary of the first apparition. The Church affirms it has been fully disclosed; it calls for perseverance amid suffering (Matthew 6:33; see 10:16-22), confident that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church (Matthew 16:18-19). It should not be reduced to conspiracy theories.
The message
Mary asks for five decades of the Rosary daily, confession, Holy Communion, prayer and holy lives, reflecting God's desire that all be saved (John 3:16-17; 1 Timothy 2:4). She introduced the First Saturdays of reparation for five consecutive months. She promised, "my Immaculate Heart will triumph," a hope that sustains the faithful in war, persecution and personal struggle. The three children show that holiness is attainable for the simplest people.
The feast of Our Lady of Fatima is not a holy day of obligation.
Key Scripture
Read online with linked Scripture: catholic.id/tracts/our-lady-of-fatima/