The story of Fatima began in the spring of 1916. Lucia Santos and her two cousins Francisco and Jacinto Marto were tending their family’s flocks when an angel appeared to them. He called himself the Angel of Peace and told the children that Jesus and Mary desired to pour out mercy on them.
The next year, Our Lady herself came to the children. In a series of apparitions from May 13 to October 13, she warned humanity to cease offending God. She gave the children a prophetic secret that foretold the rise of Communist Russia and the persecution of the Church. She asked the faithful to pray the Rosary every day and for the Pope to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart-a task St. John Paul II, carried out in 1984.
During the last vision, October 13, 1917. Mary performed “The Miracle of the Sun.” The crowds at Fatima and even ten miles away, saw the sun spin in the sky and plummet to the earth. This astounding miracle served to confirm everything the children had said. And it is a call for us to live the message of Fatima today-through prayer, penance and devotion to her Immaculate heart.
The Fatima Prayer (Decade Prayer)
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.
Mary told the children that people should add this prayer to the end of each decade of the Rosary.
The Pardon Prayer
My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee. I beg pardon for all those that do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee. Amen.
This prayer was given to the children by the Angel of Peace that visited them in 1916, the year before Mary appeared to them.
The Angel’s Prayer
O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee 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 indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners. Amen.
This is another prayer given to them by the Angel of Peace. There was a Eucharistic host and chalice suspended in the air, and the angel led them in kneeling before it and praying this prayer.
The Eucharistic Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Amen.
When Mary appeared to the children for the first time on May 13, 1917, she said, “You will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” According to Sr. Lucia, a bright light shone all around them, and without thinking about it, they all started reciting this prayer.
The Sacrifice Prayer
O Jesus, it is for the love of Thee, in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for the conversion of poor sinners (that I do this). Amen.
Mary gave the children this prayer, as well as the Fatima Prayer/Decade Prayer, on June 13th, 1917. The prayer is meant to be recited when you are offering up suffering to God.
Pope Francis dedicated his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima. After becoming the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis also formally renewed the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on October 13, 2013, the anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, known as the Miracle of the Sun.
For the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima – May 13, 2017 – Pope Francis traveled to the apparition site in commemoration of the centenary, stopping to pray in front of the children’s tombs. At the candlelit vigil celebration, the pope led tens of thousands of pilgrims in praying the rosary. The next day, an estimated 500,000 people attended the feast day mass at which Pope Francis canonized Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
