Anniversary of the 1st Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima

Today is a very special day here at the Fatima Shrine.

7:00 pm this evening, we will have a Rosary, followed by a Mass at 7:30 pm. All are invited to join us on this exciting anniversary of the 1st Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.

On May 13, 1917, three young Portuguese shepherd children, Lúcia dos Santos (age 10) and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, were tending sheep in the Cova da Iria near Fátima when two flashes of light drew their eyes to a small oak tree, above which stood a radiant young woman clothed in white. Calm and beautiful beyond description, she told the children she came from Heaven and asked them to return to that same spot on the 13th of each month for six months, promising to reveal her identity and desires in October. She called them to pray the Rosary daily for peace and the end of World War I, and asked if they were willing to offer their sufferings to God for the conversion of sinners, to which they joyfully agreed. She then rose slowly into the eastern sky and disappeared, leaving the awestruck children forever changed.