Our Lady of Fátima of the Blue Army

Asbury Marian Invocation (New Jersey)

La advocación de Our Lady of Fatima was born historically from the Marian apparitions referred to by Lucía dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto in the Cova da Iria, Fatima (Portugal), between the 13 May and 13 October 1917. The Catholic tradition identifies this advocation with the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima; their dissemination was very wide based on these testimonies and the development of the Portuguese sanctuary.

Main data

Origin and history

La advocación de Our Lady of Fatima was born historically from the Marian apparitions referred to by Lucía dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto in the Cova da Iria, Fatima (Portugal), between the 13 May and 13 October 1917. The Catholic tradition identifies this advocation with the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima; their dissemination was very wide based on these testimonies and the development of the Portuguese sanctuary.

In the case of National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima, en Asbury, Nueva Jerseythe documented history belongs to the American apostolate of Fatima: the sanctuary is the national center of World Apostolate of Fátima / Blue Army in America. The sources available for this sheet do not require a complete foundational chronology or the exact opening date of the Asbury shrine; therefore, these data no constan with safety in the sources consulted.

The relationship with Fatima is therefore understood as a devotional prolongation of the Portuguese experience: the Asbury shrine collects and promotes Fatima's message in the key of Marian apostolate, prayer and repair. The available documentation confirms its insertion into the international network of the Fatima movement, but does not allow it to attribute, without nuance, a history of its own apparitions.

The image and the sanctuary

The advocation is venerated in the National Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima de Asbury, Nueva Jersey, seat of the apostolate of World Apostolate of Fátima in America. The sources consulted confirm that there is a great Basilica of the Holy Rosary and that the place functions as the national center of the apostolate, but do not provide with certainty in this search a technical description of the main image - material, authorship or dimensions -; therefore, these data no constan.

It does know that the whole is linked to devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and the spread of the Rosary. The value of the sanctuary therefore depends not only on a specific sculptural piece, but on the liturgical and devotional use of the enclosure as a space for Marian pilgrimage and prayer.

Sponsorship and coronation

No consta un patronazgo civil or eclesiástico specific to the city of Asbury, the state of New Jersey or a specific diocese attributed to this advocation in the sources consulted. It also does not contain a documented canonical coronation of this image or advocation in the sanctuary of Asbury.

Party and devotion

The fiesta principal de Our Lady of Fatima se celebra el 13 May; in the devotional calendar linked to Fatima the date of the 13 October, memory of the so-called "miracle of the sun" in the context of the apparitions of 1917.

The devotion in Asbury is articulated around the Marian apostolate, the pilgrimage to the sanctuary and the centrality of the Rosary. The verified sources describe the place as a national center of Fatima in the United States, but do not provide reliable influx figures or firm details about local popular traditions; therefore, these extremes no constan safely in this file.

Link to the Rosary

The link with the Rosary is essential. The traditional title of the advocation itself is Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, and the global spread of Fatima was associated with the insistence on the prayer of the Rosary as a central part of his message.

In the case of the Asbury shrine, the reference to the great Basilica of the Holy Rosary It reinforces that same spiritual accent: Fatima does not only present itself as a reminder of some apparitions, but as a call to Marian prayer, to contemplation of the mysteries of Christ with Mary and to reparation.