Fatima Sanctuary: Our Lady's legacy to Portugal

It was on May 13, 1917 that Our Lady revealed herself for the first time to the three little shepherds of Fatima, Lucia Santos and the siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Until that moment, there were no buildings in the Cova da Iria, nor the site was inhabited. It was a place where there were only a few trees, rocks and a small piece of land for cultivation, which belonged to Lucia's parents.

From that day on, the Little Shepherds and the village were never the same. In 1977 Fatima was elevated to a town, and twenty years later to a city. Today it has more than fifteen thousand inhabitants and holds one of the most important Marian sanctuaries in the world: the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.

The Sanctuary began to be built in 1919, with the Little Chapel of the Apparitions (Capelinha das Aparições), as a response to a request made by Our Lady to the Little Shepherds in the apparitions of 1917: "I want to tell you to make a chapel here in my honour, that I am the Lady of the Rosary," wrote Lucia in Sister Lucia's First Memoir (Primeira Memória da Irmã Lúcia).

Starting from the Little Chapel of the Apparitions, the Shrine of Fatima has been enlarged to respond to the thousands of pilgrims who visit it. Currently, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima has the Prayer Area, the Chapel of the Apparitions, the Basilica, the Colonnades and the Holy Trinity Church.

The Prayer Enclosure is an open enclosure and functions as a large Church that welcomes millions of pilgrims from all over the world to pray and praise our Mother. As a Church, it has a Cross, an Altar, a Way of the Cross, images of Saints and some other things for you to discover.

The Little Chapel of the Apparitions is affectionately called the "heart of the Sanctuary". This was the place where Our Lady spoke to the little shepherds in five of her apparitions. Over the years it has undergone some restoration work, but the changes were slight, so it maintains its original features.

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary was built at the request of Our Lady to the little shepherds. It was built on the spot where the three little shepherds used to play, when suddenly they saw a flash of lightning that frightened them and made them return home.

The Colonnade is an architectural complex consisting of 200 columns and half-columns and 14 altars.

On the colonnade you can see 17 images of saints whose congregations are present in Fatima and others of saints who, through their writings and preaching showed devotion to Our Lady.

The Holy Trinity Church, John Paul II Square, Pius XII Square, Paul VI Pastoral Center and the retreat houses of Our Lady of Carmel and Our Lady of Sorrows are also part of the Shrine.

We leave you three curiosities about the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima that you may not know:

1.

In 2022, the Sanctuary received almost five million pilgrims, with more than three thousand pilgrimages organized throughout the year.

2.          

The Basilica of the Holy Trinity is the fourth largest Catholic temple in the world in relation to its capacity.

3.          

After its construction in 1922, Little Chapel of the Apparitions was dynamited, but was soon rebuilt and restored.

4.          

In the Shrine of Fatima is a block from the Berlin Wall. The block weighs 2.6 tons and measures 3.6 by 1.2 meters and was offered by a Portuguese living in Germany.

5.          

The country with the most pilgrimages organized to the Shrine is Spain, which has 556 pilgrimages and about 32,722 pilgrims. The months in which the Portuguese are the ones who most visit the shrine are September and October.