Shrine of Fátima — The Complete Dossier

I. Introduction: the apparition that changed the twentieth century

The Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, in the heart of Portugal, is one of the most important Marian centres in the world and the place where the most influential Marian apparitions of the twentieth century took place. In the hamlet of Aljustrel, in the municipality of Ourém, in the district of Santarém, three little shepherds —Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto— received between 1916 and 1917 a series of supernatural visions of extraordinary spiritual and prophetic richness. The message of Fátima, centred on the prayer of the Rosary, penance and the consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, has shaped the Catholic spirituality of the twentieth century and remains an indispensable point of reference for millions of the faithful throughout the world.

On 13 October 1917, a large crowd gathered at the Cova da Iria reported observing the phenomenon known as the “Miracle of the Sun”, also covered by the Portuguese press. This collective testimony forms part of Fátima’s history. In 1930, following an ecclesiastical inquiry, the Bishop of Leiria, José Alves Correia da Silva, declared the children’s visions worthy of belief and officially authorised the cult of Our Lady of Fátima.

According to the Shrine, about 6.5 million pilgrims visited Fátima in 2025, especially on the 13th of each month, when the six apparitions of the Virgin are commemorated. The precinct of the shrine, set on a great esplanade surrounded by pines and eucalyptus trees, has grown steadily from the small chapel built in 1919 to its two basilicas, the Chapel of the Apparitions and the present complex of buildings. Fátima is, together with Lourdes, the most important Marian shrine in the Western world, and its message —«pray the Rosary every day»— remains as urgent and as necessary as it was when the Virgin first uttered it on that May morning in 1917.

II. The historical context: Portugal and the world in 1917

To understand the message of Fátima in all its depth, one must know the historical context in which the apparitions took place. The year 1917 was one of the most dramatic in contemporary history: the world was plunged into the First World War (1914-1918), the most devastating armed conflict humanity had known until then. On the battlefields of Europe, tens of thousands of soldiers were dying every day. The Russian Revolution of February 1917 had deposed Tsar Nicholas II, and in October of that same year —the very month of the Miracle of the Sun at Fátima— Lenin and the Bolsheviks would seize power, establishing the first atheist communist State in history.

Portugal, for its part, was living through a profound political, social and religious crisis in those years. In 1910, a revolution had overthrown the monarchy and proclaimed the Republic, which adopted radical anticlerical measures: the expulsion of religious, the closure of seminaries, the prohibition of religious teaching in schools, the suppression of religious feasts and the dissolution of the religious orders. The situation was particularly grave in the countryside, where the peasant communities, of deep Catholic faith, found themselves subjected to laws that attacked their most deeply rooted traditions. Portugal had entered the war in 1916 on the side of the Allies, and its troops were fighting in Flanders and on the Mozambique front. The poverty and suffering of the population were immense.

It is in this context of war, revolution, anticlericalism and suffering that the message of Fátima must be placed. It is not an apparition of private consolation, but an intervention of the Mother of God in history to convey to the world a message of urgency: the necessity of prayer —in particular the Rosary—, penance and conversion as the only paths to true peace. The Virgin announced the end of the First World War and warned that, if the world did not convert, a new and worse war would break out under the pontificate of Pius XI —although the Second World War began on 1 September 1939, during the pontificate of Pius XII—. The precision of these predictions contributed powerfully to the spread of the message of Fátima throughout the world.

III. The apparitions of the Angel of Portugal (1916)

Before the apparitions of the Virgin, the three little shepherds received in 1916 three visits from an angel who identified himself as the «Angel of Portugal» or the «Angel of Peace». These apparitions, less well known than those of the Virgin but of great theological importance, prepared the way for the Marian message and had a profound effect on the three children.

First apparition of the Angel (spring 1916)

In the spring of 1916, while the children were playing at the place known as the Loca do Cabeço —a rocky hollow on the hill of Cabeço, near Aljustrel—, a luminous figure appeared before them: a young man of about fourteen or fifteen years, «more brilliant than crystal struck by the sun», who said to them: «Do not be afraid. I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me.» He knelt down and, bowing his head to the ground, repeated three times the prayer: «My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You. I beg pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You.» He taught the children to pray this prayer, which would become known as the «Angel’s Prayer», and then said to them: «Pray thus. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.»

Second apparition of the Angel (summer 1916)

During the summer of 1916, while the children were playing in the garden of Lúcia’s family home, the Angel appeared again and said to them: «What are you doing? Pray, pray very much. The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy upon you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.» One of the children asked: «How are we to make sacrifices?» The Angel replied: «Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God in reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners. In this way you will draw peace upon your country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal. Accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.»

Third apparition of the Angel (autumn 1916)

In the autumn of 1916, at the Loca do Cabeço, the Angel appeared for the third time, bearing in his hands a golden chalice above which floated a host from which drops of blood fell into the chalice. The Angel left the chalice and the host suspended in the air, prostrated himself on the ground and prayed three times: «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 Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.» Then he gave Communion to the three children: the host to Lúcia, and the chalice to Francisco and Jacinta, saying: «Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Repair their crimes and console your God.» After this, he prostrated himself once more upon the ground, repeated the same prayer three times, and disappeared.

The apparitions of the Angel plunged the three children into a state of intense prayer and prostration that lasted several days. For Lúcia, the experience was so powerful that she could not speak of it to anyone without experiencing a kind of interior paralysis that prevented her. The angelic apparitions were made known to the public much later, in the writings Lúcia composed in religious life, and they helped to show the profound unity of the message of Fátima, which is, at its core, a call to Eucharistic adoration and to reparation.

IV. The three little shepherds

The three children came from humble farming families of the hamlet of Aljustrel, in the parish of Fátima. Lúcia was the eldest of seven children, and Francisco and Jacinta were her cousins. All were children of deeply Catholic families, raised in devotion to the Rosary and in the practice of the faith. In 1917 they were respectively ten, nine and seven years old. Their characters were very different: Lúcia was communicative and thoughtful; Francisco, contemplative and quiet, a lover of nature; Jacinta, the youngest, was lively and affectionate, and it was she who would most deeply absorb the message of penance and reparation.

News of the apparitions was at first received with scepticism and hostility, even by the children’s own families. Lúcia’s mother, Maria Rosa, firmly believed that her daughter was lying, and subjected her to interrogations and punishments to make her retract. The parish priest of Fátima himself, Father Manuel Marques Ferreira, counselled prudence. The civil authorities of the Republic, radically anticlerical, went so far as to abduct the three children on 13 August 1917 to prevent the apparition of that day, imprisoning them for three days and interrogating them separately under threats of death. Not one of the three yielded or changed their account.

V. The six apparitions of Our Lady (1917)

First apparition: 13 May 1917

On Sunday 13 May 1917, the three children were taking their flock to pasture at the Cova da Iria —a small hollow in the ground, owned by Lúcia’s parents, situated about two kilometres from Aljustrel—. It was around midday when, after a flash of intense light in a cloudless sky, they saw above a holm oak (carrasqueira) a figure of extraordinary beauty: a young lady of about sixteen years, «more brilliant than the sun», dressed in white with her mantle edged with a golden border, holding in her hands a rosary that ended in a cross of gold. The Lady said to them: «Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.» Lúcia asked her where she came from, and she replied: «I come from Heaven.» She asked them whether they were willing to offer themselves to God and to bear all the sufferings He might wish to send them as an act of reparation for sins, and they accepted. Then she said to them: «Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.» Before departing, in the brief moment as the Lady rose towards the sky, she showed them her hands, from which streamed an intense light in which the three children saw themselves reflected in God.

Second apparition: 13 June 1917

On 13 June, the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua, patron of Portugal, Our Lady appeared again before some fifty witnesses who had gathered at the Cova. Only the children saw and heard the Lady; the others perceived only the buzzing of a bee, a light cloud above the holm oak and the dimming of the sun. The Lady asked the children to come on the 13th of each month for six months, after which she would tell them what they were to do. She added: «I want you to learn to read», addressing Lúcia. She then revealed that she would soon take Francisco and Jacinta to Heaven, but that Lúcia would remain in the world to spread devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She said: «My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.» As she spoke these words, she opened her hands and cast forth a light that seemed to penetrate the children’s very souls, showing them Jesus with His Heart crowned with thorns, and Mary with her Heart encircled with flowers, both enveloped in light.

Third apparition: 13 July 1917 — The Three Secrets

On 13 July, the crowd gathered at the Cova da Iria numbered some four to five thousand people. The Lady appeared, and the witnesses again heard the characteristic buzzing and noticed that the sun dimmed slightly. In this third apparition, Our Lady entrusted to the children the three famous secrets of Fátima. She also renewed her request for prayer and penance, and added a prayer they were to say at the end of each decade of the Rosary: «O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.»

In this same apparition, the Lady made a promise of universal significance: «In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.»

Fourth apparition: 19 August 1917 — At Valinhos

The apparition of 13 August did not take place at the Cova da Iria, because on that day the civil authorities under the administrator of Ourém, Artur Santos —a radical anticlerical—, had abducted the three children and were holding them imprisoned at Vila Nova de Ourém, in order to prevent the apparition and to extract from them the revelation of the secrets. Interrogated separately and threatened with being boiled alive in oil, the three children remained absolutely steadfast.

On 19 August, while the children were grazing their flock at Valinhos, not far from Aljustrel, Our Lady appeared and said to them: «Come on the 13th of next month to the Cova da Iria and continue to pray the Rosary every day. Pray, pray very much and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to hell because they have no one to make sacrifices and pray for them.» She also said that because of the abduction, the miracle promised for October would be less great. She likewise announced that she wished two chapels to be built with the money from the offerings.

Fifth apparition: 13 September 1917

On 13 September, the crowd at the Cova numbered some twenty-five to thirty thousand people. Many witnesses observed that the sun grew dim, that a rain of flower petals fell from the sky, vanishing before they reached the ground, and that a luminous globe moved slowly from the east towards the holm oak and disappeared at the moment the children said Our Lady was departing. The Lady said: «Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. In October Our Lord Jesus Christ will come as well, and Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Saint Joseph will come with the Child Jesus to bless the world. God is pleased with your sacrifices, but He does not want you to sleep with the rope on; wear the rope only during the day.»

Sixth apparition: 13 October 1917 — The Miracle of the Sun

On 13 October 1917, despite the heavy rain that had fallen all morning, a crowd of between 70,000 and 100,000 people —which witnesses at the scene estimated at between 60,000 and 100,000— gathered at the Cova da Iria. Lúcia asked everyone to put down their umbrellas and to look at the sky. There were three separate visions: first, the Most Holy Virgin of the Rosary, who told Lúcia that they must pray the Rosary every day in order to obtain peace, that the war would soon end and that the soldiers would return to their homes; then, the Holy Family —Saint Joseph with the Child Jesus, and Our Lady of Sorrows—; and finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. At the end of the third vision, as the Lady ascended into the sky, the great prodigy took place: the Miracle of the Sun.

VI. The Three Secrets of Fátima

The «unknown light» of the Second Secret

Sister Lucia wrote that the sign announced in the second secret — «a night illumined by an unknown light» — occurred on the night of 25 to 26 January 1938, when an extraordinary aurora borealis, of unheard-of intensity, was visible across much of Europe and was observed with astonishment by the press throughout the continent. Sister Lucia, who was then in the Carmel of Tui (Spain), recognised it as the sign that had been announced. Two months later, on 13 March 1938, Hitler invaded Austria. The Second World War had begun.

VII. The Miracle of the Sun — 13 October 1917

The Miracle of the Sun is the most extraordinary and best documented event in the history of Marian apparitions, not only because of the number of witnesses — between 70,000 and 100,000 people — but also because it was observed and described by sceptical and unbelieving witnesses, among them journalists from the leading Portuguese newspapers who had come expressly to ridicule the supposed miracle.

The 13th of October 1917 had dawned bitterly cold, with a persistent rain that had soaked the crowd gathered at the Cova. At twelve noon, legal time, Lucia asked everyone to look at the sun. Suddenly the clouds parted, and the sun appeared in the sky as a brilliant disc that did not dazzle, of a colour the witnesses described as «pearl», «silvery» or «opaque white». It then began to «dance»: it spun upon itself at great speed, casting out rays of light of different colours — red, green, yellow, blue — which tinged the people and objects in the crowd with those same hues. It stopped and spun again several times, over some ten to twelve minutes.

Then, at the climactic moment, the sun «broke loose» from its place in the sky and began to plunge in a zigzag towards the earth, in what the witnesses described as a spiral or the motion of a falling leaf. The heat it gave off was so intense that the people, terrified, believed the end of the world had come: many fell to their knees, others fled, others prayed aloud. When the sun halted and returned to its place, the people found, to their astonishment, that their clothes, thoroughly drenched by the morning’s rain, were perfectly dry.

The phenomenon was observed not only at the Cova da Iria but also in nearby towns and villages, at distances of up to forty kilometres, by witnesses who knew nothing of what was happening at the Cova. The priest Joaquim Lourenço, who was nine years old in 1917 and lived in Alburitel, eighteen kilometres from Fátima, declared years later that he had seen the sun spin and descend from the yard of his school, together with all his schoolmates and the schoolmistress, who was anticlerical.

The ecclesiastical investigation, directed by the Bishop of Leiria, gathered more than two thousand sworn testimonies. The phenomenon was described as «the only miracle in history that met the conditions of being perfectly perceptible to thousands of witnesses of every condition, including unbelievers, in full daylight and in the open air». In 1930, the Bishop of Leiria declared it «worthy of belief» and authorised the official devotion to Our Lady of Fátima.

VIII. History of the Shrine

The early years (1917-1930)

Immediately after the apparitions, the Cova da Iria became a place of spontaneous pilgrimage. At the spot of the holm oak where the Virgin had appeared, the faithful left flowers, candles and votive offerings. Lucia’s family built a small wooden platform there to protect the holm oak. In 1918, the holm oak was mutilated by devotees who wished to carry away fragments as relics.

In 1919 the first chapel was built at the Cova, known as the «Capelinha das Aparições» (Little Chapel of the Apparitions), on the exact spot where the holm oak had stood. It was a small and simple structure, some six metres by four, which proved insufficient from the very first moment in the face of the influx of pilgrims. It was inaugurated by the Bishop of Leiria, D. José Alves Correia da Silva, on 13 May 1920.

During the 1920s, the shrine was the target of several bomb attacks by anticlerical elements. The gravest occurred on 6 March 1922, when a bomb completely destroyed the chapel. It was swiftly rebuilt, with the help of the pilgrims, and blessed on 13 May 1922. In 1930, the Bishop of Leiria issued the decree of official recognition of the apparitions, which declared the visions of the little shepherds «worthy of belief» and authorised the liturgical devotion to Our Lady of Fátima.

The construction of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (1928-1953)

The project for a great basilica was approved in 1928. The design, in a neoclassical style with Gothic and Baroque elements, was the work of the architect Gerardus van Krieken and later of Guilherme Rebelo de Andrade. Work began in 1928 and proved laborious: the basilica was consecrated on 7 October 1953, the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary. The bell tower, 65 metres high, is topped by a crown surmounted by a Cross. Inside the basilica lie the tombs of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, transferred here in 1952 and 1951 respectively from the cemetery of Fátima.

The Papal Pilgrimages: John Paul II (1982, 1991, 2000)

John Paul II had a profound and personal relationship with the Shrine of Fátima. On 13 May 1981, he was the victim of an assassination attempt in St Peter’s Square: the Turk Ali Agca shot him twice and he came close to death. John Paul II attributed his survival to the intercession of Our Lady of Fátima: «One hand fired, and another hand guided the bullet,» he said. The following year, on 13 May 1982, he went on pilgrimage to Fátima to give thanks. During the visit, he presented the bullet that had been removed from his body so that it might be set into the crown of the image of Our Lady, where it remains to this day. In 1991 he returned once more, on the tenth anniversary of the attempt on his life. On 13 May 2000, he presided over the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta Marto before a crowd of more than 600,000 people, and that same day the full text of the Third Secret was made public.

The Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity (2007)

The great esplanade of the shrine, which can hold a million people, needed a church in which the Eucharist could be celebrated indoors during the great pilgrimages. In 2004, Pope John Paul II blessed the first stone of the new Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, designed by the Greek architect Alexandros Tombazis. The building, circular in plan, with seating for 8,633 faithful and an interior decoration of mosaics of extraordinary quality, was inaugurated on 12 October 2007 by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, representing Pope Benedict XVI.

The Canonisation of Francisco and Jacinta (2017)

On 13 May 2017, on the centenary of the apparitions, Pope Francis presided over the canonisation of Francisco and Jacinta Marto before more than 500,000 people on the esplanade of the shrine. It was the first time in history that children had been canonised without being martyrs.

IX. The Popes and Fátima

• Benedict XV (1914-1922): Although he did not know of the apparitions of Fátima, on 5 August 1915 —that is, before the apparitions— he introduced an invocation to Mary as «Queen of Peace» into the Litany of Loreto, which many scholars read as a providential response to the outbreak of the Great War. He was the first Pope to receive reports of the apparitions, but he died before he could pronounce on them officially.
• Pius XI (1922-1939): He is the Pope to whom Our Lady referred in the Second Secret when she said that a worse war would begin during his pontificate. The Second World War began on 1 September 1939, during the pontificate of Pius XII; relating this date to the account transmitted by Lúcia requires distinguishing devotional interpretation from historical chronology. He was the first Pope to see the official recognition of the apparitions (1930).
• Pius XII (1939-1958): He consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 31 October 1942, although Sister Lúcia considered that the formula was not the one Our Lady had asked for, as it did not mention Russia explicitly. In 1952 he consecrated Russia specifically to the Immaculate Heart, but again not in union with all the bishops of the world. He instituted the feast day of Our Lady of Fátima for the universal Church on 13 May 1946.
• John XXIII (1958-1963): He read the Third Secret in 1959 and decided not to publish it. He privately visited the image of Our Lady of Fátima when it was taken to Rome for the Marian Congress of 1954.
• Paul VI (1963-1978): He read the Third Secret and likewise decided not to publish it. He went on pilgrimage to Fátima on 13 May 1967, on the fiftieth anniversary of the apparitions, and met Sister Lúcia. He was the first Pope to visit the shrine in person.
• John Paul II (1978-2005): He has the most intense relationship with Fátima of all the popes. See the previous section.
• Benedict XVI (2005-2013): He went on pilgrimage to Fátima on 12-13 May 2010, on the tenth anniversary of the beatification of the shepherd children. He declared that the message of Fátima «has not lost its relevance» and that the Third Secret reveals «the reality of evil and the power of the martyrs».
• Francis (2013-present): He presided over the canonisation of Francisco and Jacinta on 13 May 2017. He has repeatedly expressed his devotion to Our Lady of Fátima and has consecrated the world to her Immaculate Heart.

Official sources: Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: The Message of Fátima; Shrine statistics for 2025.

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X. The Message of Fátima: Prayer, Penance and Consecration

The message of Fátima has a profound inner unity that sets it apart from other Marian apparitions. It is not a message of private devotion, but an appeal addressed to the whole Church and to the whole world. Its principal elements are:

The Daily Rosary

In every apparition, Our Lady repeated the same request: «Pray the Rosary every day.» She did not say «often» or «when you can»: she said «every day». The Rosary is the centre and the sinew of the message of Fátima. Our Lady presented herself as «Our Lady of the Rosary» in the sixth apparition. John Paul II, in the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (2002), added the five Luminous Mysteries and wrote: «The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer. Marvellous in its simplicity and in its depth.»

Penance and Reparation

«Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?» Our Lady asked for reparation for sins and the voluntary offering of sufferings and sacrifices. Jacinta, the youngest, was the one who lived this aspect of the message most literally: in the last months of her life, gravely ill, she refused painkillers and offered her pains for sinners.

The Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart

Our Lady asked that the Pope, in union with all the bishops of the world, consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart. This request gave rise to a long history of debate as to whether or not it had been fulfilled. On 25 March 1984, John Paul II carried out in St Peter’s Square a solemn consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in the presence of all the bishops of the world, who had been invited to join in the act. Sister Lúcia, questioned afterwards, confirmed that this consecration had been accepted in Heaven. On 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, and in December 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved.

The First Saturdays of the Month

On 10 December 1925, Sister Lúcia, by then a religious, had a vision of Our Lady with the Child Jesus in which Mary asked her for the «Communion of the First Saturdays»: for five consecutive months, on the first Saturday of each month, to receive Communion in a state of grace, pray a Rosary, meditate for fifteen minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary and go to confession with the intention of making reparation for the offences against the Immaculate Heart. In return, Our Lady promised to assist at the hour of death.

Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The Immaculate Heart of Mary is the doctrinal centre of the message of Fátima. It is not a sentimental devotion, but an invitation to trust in Mary’s spiritual motherhood within the plan of salvation. Our Lady promised: «In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.» This promise of final victory has been one of the great pillars of hope for Catholics throughout the twentieth century.

XI. Facts about the Shrine Today

The Image of Our Lady of Fátima

The original image was carved from Fátima pine wood by the sculptor José Ferreira Thedim in 1920, following Lucia’s indications. It stands 1.10 metres tall, is clothed in a white silk mantle embroidered in gold, and is crowned with a crown of gold and precious stones. In 1942, Pope Pius XII crowned it pontifically as Queen of the World, and since then the image has travelled all over the world on Marian pilgrimages.

XII. Prayer to Our Lady of Fátima

🙏 Our Lady of Fátima, Queen of the Rosary, pray for us and for the world.

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Related: Lourdes Dossier · Guadalupe Dossier · Czestochowa Dossier · Pray the Rosary