The Rosary and Fatima

On six occasions between 13 May 1917 and 13 October 1917, Our Blessed Mother appeared to three peasant children at Fatima, Portugal with a message of repentance, peace, conversion and faith for all humanity. An important part of her message was the Holy Rosary.

At each of her six appearances to the three peasant children, Our Blessed Mother urged us to pray the Rosary every day. “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and an end to the war,” she said at her first appearance on 13 May 1917. Our Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima in the midst of a catastrophic world war. According to Our Blessed Mother, prayer was key to ending not only the First World War but also to restoring peace for the world. On 13 July, she told the children: “I want you to continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war because only she can help you.” Then at her last appearance on 13 October 1917, she announced, “I am the Lady of the Rosary.”

During her 13 June 1917, Our Blessed Mother taught us a new prayer to be added to the Rosary. She said, “And after each one of the mysteries, my children, I want you to pray in this way: ‘O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.’”  See https://www.ncregister.com/features/mary-s-fatima-messages-to-the-shepherd-children 

The Rosary plays an important role in another of Our Blessed Mother’s directives to us, namely the First Saturdays Devotion. She conveyed this devotion during her 13 July 1917 appearance. This devotion is observed on five consecutive First Saturdays and consists of 1) experiencing the Sacrament of Reconciliation, 2) receiving the Holy Eucharist, 3) praying five decades of the Rosary and 4) meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary for 15 minutes. As you can see, two of the four elements of the First Saturday Devotion involve the Rosary. The purpose of this devotion is to offer reparation for the blasphemies and ingratitude committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. See https://americaneedsfatima.org/prayers/the-five-first-saturdays-devotion 

Why is the Rosary so important a prayer? Pope St. John Paul II speaks to that in his 2003 Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae. “The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christo-centric prayer,” he wrote Pope St. John Paul II. “In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium.”

Pope St. John Paul II had a great love for Our Blessed Mother and the Holy Rosary. He recognized the importance of her appearances at Fatima and the message that she brought to this sinful world. “In harmony with the tradition of many centuries, the Lady of the message indicates the Rosary, which can rightly be defined as ‘Mary's prayer’: the prayer in which she feels particularly united with us. She herself prays with us,” he said during his Homily when he celebrated Mass in Fatima on 13 May 1982…the one year anniversary of the attempt on his life in Saint Peter’s Square. See https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/message-of-marys-maternal-love-8659

The Holy Rosary is an integral part of Our Blessed Mother’s message at Fatima, a message that was given through three humble peasant children for the world at large. The world of 1917 was a world in desperate need of her motherly intercession and her message of peace, repentance, conversion and faith. That message is no less needed today.

Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, pray for us.