Between 13 May and 13 October 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three shepherd children near Fatima in Portugal: Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos. The apparitions took place at the Cova da Iria, near the town of Fatima, around 110 miles north of Lisbon.

During these apparitions, Our Lady called for prayer, penance, and conversion. She asked especially for the daily praying of the Rosary for peace in the world, for the end of the First World War, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia. Her message was one of hope, repentance, and trust in God.

Mary entrusted the children with three secrets. After the deaths of Francisco and Jacinta in 1919 and 1920, Lucia later revealed the first two secrets. The first concerned devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, while the second included a vision of hell and a call to prayer and sacrifice for the salvation of souls. Lucia eventually entered the Carmelite order and lived a long life of prayer until her death in 2005 at the age of 97.

In the year 2000, at the direction of Pope Saint John Paul II, the Vatican revealed the third secret. It described a vision of a “bishop dressed in white” who suffers persecution and is shot by soldiers. Many associated this with the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Square on 13 May 1981, a date the Pope himself closely linked to the protection and intercession of Our Lady of Fatima.

Devotion to Our Lady of Fatima spread rapidly throughout the world. The apparitions were officially approved by the local bishop in 1930, and in 2002 the memorial of Our Lady of Fatima was added to the General Roman Calendar of the Church.