The Immaculate Heart, Fatima and the First Saturday Devotion
The Five First Saturdays Devotion
The Five First Saturdays devotion is one of the principal points of the Fatima message. It centers on the urgent need for mankind to offer reparation and expiate for the many injuries that the Immaculate Heart of Mary suffers from the hands of both impious and indifferent men.
On the First Saturday during 5 Consecutive Months, the Devotion consists of:
Going to Confession,
Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
Saying five decades of the Rosary,
Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
All this offered in REPARATION for the sins of blasphemy and ingratitude committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
History
During the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for the Communion of Reparation of the Five First Saturdays. Consequently, she asked for the devotion in 1925 and the consecration in 1929.
"Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out."
While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sister in Pontevedra, Spain, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925 where the Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy who stood over a luminous cloud. Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder while she held on the other hand a heart pierced with thorns around it.
Sister Lucia heard the Boy say, "Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out."
Our Lady expressed her request in the following words,
"See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."
— Our Lady, December 10, 1925
A few days afterward, Sister Lucia detailed this vision in a letter addressed to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor when she resided in the Asylum of Vilar in the city of Oporto, Portugal.
Why Five Saturdays?
Sister Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason for the five Saturdays asking why not seven or nine. She answered him in a letter dated June 12, 1930. In it she related about a vision she had of Our Lord while staying in the convent chapel part of the night of the twenty-ninth to the thirtieth of the month of May, 1930. The reasons Our Lord gave were as follows:
The five first Saturdays correspond to the five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:
Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
Blasphemies against her virginity
Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
Instilling indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
Direct insults against Her sacred images
Let us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds. Devotions have intentions attached to them and knowing them adds merit and weight to the practice.
Modifications to the Five First Saturdays Devotion to facilitate its observation
The original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and receive Communion on five consecutive first Saturdays; to say five decades of the Rosary; to meditate during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary for the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparation for the sins of men.
In subsequent private visions and apparitions however, Sister Lucia presented to Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered in fulfilling some conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude, Our Lord deigned to relax the rules to make this devotion easy to observe:
Confession may be done on other days other than the First Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and has the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Even if one forgets to make the intention, it may be done on the next confession, taking advantage of the first occasion to go to confession.
Sister Lucia also clarified that it is not necessary to meditate on ALL mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays. One or several suffice.
With much latitude granted by Our Lord Himself, there is no reason for the faithful to hesitate or delay this pious practice in the spirit of reparation which the Immaculate Heart of Mary urgently asks.
This devotion is so necessary in our days
The culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one reads this. Abortion, blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad marriages, religious indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and others are just some of society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We must console Our Lady amidst all these insults and injuries to her and her Divine Son. She asks for reparation, she pleads for our prayers, she hopes for our amendment of life. Let us listen to her maternal pleas and atone for the ingratitude of men.
The First Five Saturdays devotion stimulates the spirit of reparation; it instills a tender love for the Holy Sacraments of Confession and the Blessed Eucharist. It nurtures a holy affection for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary. Above all, it is an excellent means to maintain one in the state of grace while immersed in the daily spiritual battles and prosaic existence in the neo-pagan world that we live in.
Let us not delay in observing this devotion for it too gives us hope for eternal salvation.
REFERENCE:
Solimeo, Luiz Sergio: Fatima, A Message More Urgent than Ever
(Spring Grove, PA: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property-TFP, 2008.
FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTION & OUR LADY OF FATIMA
About Our Lady of Fatima and First Saturdays
First Saturday Devotion
“To whoever embraces this devotion, I promise salvation.”
Our world faces an unprecedented political, economic, social, moral, and spiritual crisis for which there is no human solution. God loves us and foresaw these times. In 1917, He sent the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal with Heaven’s solution.
About the First Saturday Devotion
At Fatima, Our Lady pleaded, “Do not offend the Lord our God any more, for He is already too much offended!” Instead, humanity’s outrages against God have only intensified.
On July 13, 1917, Our Blessed Mother revealed that God wills to establish in the world devotion to Her Immaculate Heart. To prevent divine punishment, Our Lady would return to ask for the Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. She said:
“If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated.”
As promised, Our Lady returned to request the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays.
On December 10, 1925, She appeared to Lucia in Pontevedra, Spain. By Her side, elevated on a luminous cloud, was the Child Jesus. The Most Holy Virgin rested Her hand on Lucia’s shoulder and showed her a heart encircled by thorns, which She held in Her other hand. Our Lady said:
“Look My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making Reparation to Me.”
In 1925, indulgenced Saturday devotions to Our Lady already existed, although no indulgence carried the magnificent promise of final perseverance. Lucia asked Our Lord why He wanted to establish a new devotion consisting of five First Saturdays. He answered:
“It is true, My daughter, that many souls begin, but few persevere to the end, and those who persevere do it to receive the graces promised for it. Souls that make the Five First Saturdays with fervor and to make reparation to the Heart of your Mother in Heaven please Me more than the tepid and indifferent who make the fifteen.”
God in His goodness asks us only for five First Saturdays to obtain Our Lady’s promised graces but emphasizes that we must offer the Devotion with fervor and the intention of making reparation. Our Lord explained to Lucia why He seeks five Saturdays of reparation.
“There are five types of blasphemies and offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
Blasphemies against Her Immaculate Conception.
Blasphemies against Her Perpetual Virginity.
Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of men.
Blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference or scorn, or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother.
Offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her holy images.”
Lucia summed up why we must attach such great importance to this devotion:
“Our Good Lord in His infinite Mercy asked me … to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and to implore pardon and mercy in favor of souls who blaspheme against Her, because the Divine Mercy does not pardon these souls without reparation.”
Five Elements of the First Saturday Devotion
Every First Saturday, we should:
Make a good Confession (within 8 or so days before or after the First Saturday);
Receive Holy Communion;
Pray five decades of the Holy Rosary;
Keep Our Lady company for fifteen additional minutes while meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary; and
Offer each of the above acts in reparation for the blasphemies and offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The prophecies of Our Lady of Fatima are being realized in our times. Russia has spread her errors throughout the world. The wars of the past century have caused more death and destruction than all the wars in previous centuries combined. The Church has been terribly persecuted from without and within. The threat of the annihilation of nations looms over us as a realistic prospect.
To date, Our Lady of Fatima’s requests have not been fulfilled. While the Consecration of Russia can only be accomplished by the Pope in union with the world’s Catholic bishops, all of us can practice the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays. The First Saturday Devotion is an essential element in establishing in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Every Catholic should learn, practice, and promote this devotion.
On June 17, 1689, Our Lord requested that the King of France publicly consecrate France to His Sacred Heart. The king and his successors failed to do so. One hundred years later to the day, the king was stripped of his power and was later executed as the French Revolution spread grave errors, violence, and terror.
“Make it known to My ministers, given that they follow the example of the King of France in delaying the execution of My command, they will follow him into misfortune.”
In 1931, Our Lord appeared to Sister Lucia in Rianjo, Spain, and warned the Pope and bishops about their failure to consecrate Russia:
Accordingly, we have reason to believe that 100 years of the Church failing to fulfill the requests of Our Lady of Fatima may be portentous. The 100th anniversaries of Our Lady’s requests for the First Saturday Devotion and the Consecration of Russia are December 10, 2025, and June 13, 2029, respectively.
The First Saturday Devotion can provide the graces necessary for our salvation and help save countless souls. It is one of the most powerful spiritual exercises we can practice to gain the graces necessary for the Consecration of Russia, which will result in Russia’s conversion and a period of world peace.
As part of the Great Secret of Fatima, Our Lady promised:
“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.”
While this ultimate outcome is assured, how terrible will the spiritual and physical chastisements be, and how many souls and lives will be lost before then?
The First Saturday Devotion is the most important thing you can do each month to help bring about the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart!
After completing five First Saturdays for the graces to save our own soul, why not complete another five and offer them for someone else? Our Lady of Fatima urged us to:
“Pray and make sacrifices for sinners for many souls go to Hell because they have no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.”
In what better way can we entrust a loved one’s wayward soul to God’s infinite goodness and mercy than by interceding for that soul with the devotion requested by Our Lady of Fatima? Sister Lucia practiced this little devotion of love every month. We do well to imitate her example.
What happened to the First Saturday Challenge?
Tools to help you learn how to better practice the First Saturday Devotion.
Watch or listen to content related to the First Saturday Devotion.
Frequently asked questions regarding the First Saturday Devotion.