Our Lady of Fatima Portugal – Nossa Senhora de Fatima

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima Portugal – Santuario de Nossa Senhora de Fatima is one of the largest Marian shrines in the world. Our Lady of Fatima is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary according to her apparitions to three shepherd children at Fatima on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917. Fatima Portugal, receives about 4-5 million pilgrims a year.

Our Lady of Fatima prayer

Prayers taught by Our Lady

O Jesus, it is for love of You, and for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary! – O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.

Prayers taught by 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! – Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners.

See our article about the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima Portugal: What to see in one day. And why should you stay longer? And everything you wanted to know about Our Lady of Fatima statue.

“I come to Fatima with the Rosary in my hands, the Name of Mary on my lips, the Canticle of the Mercy of God in my Heart.” (John Paul II – Fátima, May 12, 1982)

Fatima Mass schedule

In the Little Chapel MASS – weekdays 08.00 – Italian 12.30 – Portuguese 15.30 – English 19.15 – Spanish MASS – Saturdays 12.30 – Portuguese 19.15 – Spanish MASS – Sundays 16.30 – Portuguese 19.15 – Spanish Hour of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary 14.00 Salutation to Our Lady. 17.00 – Saturdays Office of the Shrine – May through October Monday – Saturday – 09.00 to 18.30 Sunday – 09.00 to 18.00 Office of the Shrine – November through April Monday – Saturday – 09.00 to 18.00 Sunday – 09.00 to 17.30

What the pilgrim should see:

THE CHAPEL OF APPARITIONS

The very heart of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima. It was the first edifice constructed in the Cova da Iria, at the place of Our Lady´s Apparitions.

The exact spot is marked by a marble pillar on which the Statue of Our Lady is placed. Here converge the four million pilgrims who visit the Sanctuary each year.

PERPETUAL ADORATION CHAPEL

The Blessed Sacrament is, since January 1, 1960, exposed and adored, day and night, at the Shrine of Fatima.

On July 13, 2008, Perpetual Adoration has been transferred to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in Most Holy Trinity Church.

BERLIN WALL

At the entrance of the Sanctuary, on the south side of the Rectory, one may visit a monument of the Berlin Wall´s, consisting of a concrete segment that was part of it. (The Walls construction started during the night between the 12th. and 13th. of August 1961 and its demolition began the 9th. of November 1989)

This segment was offered by means of Virgilio Casimiro Ferreira, a Portuguese immigrant to Germany and is here placed as a grateful memorial of God´s intervention for the fall of Communism as promised at Fatima. The segment weighs 2,600 kilos (5,732 lbs.) and measures 3.60 meters (11 ft. 9 in.) high by 1.20 meters (3 ft. in.) wide.

BASILICA OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF FATIMA

Begun in 1928 and consecrated on 7 October 1953, its 15 altars are dedicated to the 15 mysteries of the Rosary.

The painting above the high altar depicts the Message of Our Lady to the little shepherds, prepared by the Angel of Portugal, through their encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. The Bishop of the diocese is shown kneeling on the left side, and the figures of Pope Pius XII (who consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1942, and whose Legate crowned the Statue of Our Lady in 1946), of Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI.

Scenes of the apparitions are represented in stained glass, as well as invocations from the Litany of Our Lady.

In the four corners of the Basilica, interior have placed the statues of the great apostles of the Rosary and of devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: St. Anthony Claret, St. Dominic of Gusman, St. John Eudes and St. Stephen, King of Hungary.

The tombs of Francisco and Jacinta are in the Basilica, and, in the chancel, are the mortal remains of D. José Alves Correia da Silva, first Bishop of Leiria after its restoration in 1920.

MONUMENT TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS (1932)

Which stands in the center of the square, over a spring found there, its waters being the instrument of many graces.

RECTORY

A building on the right side of the Esplanade, in the House of Our Lady of Carmel.

HOUSE OF OUR LADY OF CARMEL

Which is above and behind the Rectory, with accommodation for 250.

HOUSE OF OUR LADY OF DOLOURS

Situated behind the Chapel of Apparitions, it is destined to receive the Sick during the great pilgrimages, and also for retreats and accommodation for pilgrims in general, to the number of 300.

PAUL VI PASTORAL CENTER

Inaugurated on 13 May 1982, by Pope John Paul 11, as a center for study and reflection on the Message of Fatima, and of the problems of the modern world, in the light of the Gospel.

The two auditoriums have seating for 2.124 and 700 and accommodation for 400 pilgrims. Visiting is possible when there are no activities.

The Seers of Fatima Portugal

Lucia de Jesus – The main seer of the Apparitions of Fatima Portugal was born in the village of Aljustrel, parish of Fatima, on March 22, 1907. Sr. Lucy died on February 13, 2005. On June 17, 1921, she entered the College of Vilar (Porto), run by the religious Order of St. Dorothea.

Sr. Lucy came to Fatima on several occasions: May 1946; May 13, 1967; 1981, to supervise, in the Convent of St. Teresa, a series of paintings on the Apparitions; May 13, 1982; May 13, 1991; and May 13, 2000. Catholic Pilgrimage to Fatima.

Sr. Lucy died in the Convent of St. Teresa, Coimbra, on February 13, 2005. The mortal remains of the Carmelite nun were then entombed in the Convent of St. Teresa for one year, and on February 19, 2006, were translated to the Basilica in the Shrine of Fatima, where they were once again entombed, this time side by side with her cousin, the seer Blessed Jacinta Marto.

Francisco Marto – He was born on 11 June 1908, in Aljustrel. He died a saintly death on 4 April 1919, in his parent’s house. Very sensitive and contemplative, he directed all his prayer and penance towards “consoling Our Lord”. His mortal remains were buried in the parish cemetery until 13 March 1952, on which date they were translated to the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima on the eastern side.

Jacinta Marto – She was born in Aljustrel on 11 March 1910. Her holy death took place on 20 February 1920, in the Hospital of D. Estefania. In Lisbon after a long and painful illness, offering all her sufferings for the conversion of sinners, for peace in the world and for the Holy Father.

On 12 September 1935, her body was solemnly translated from the family tomb of the Baron of Alvaiazere in Ourém to the Fatima cemetery. Placed beside the mortal remains of her brother Francisco. On I May 1951, the translation of Jacinta´s mortal remains took place. With the greatest simplicity, to a new tomb prepared in the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima, on the western side.

The process of beatification of the Seers of Fatima, Francisco, and Jacinta Marto, after the first steps taken in 1945. was opened in 1952 and concluded in 1979. Francisco and Jacinta Marto were canonized as Saints in the Shrine of Fatima, on the 13th of May 2017, during the Mass of the first International Anniversary Pilgrimage of the Centennial of the Apparitions.