Then a novitiate at the Dorothean convent of Pontevedra, Spain, Lúcia de Jesus Rosa dos Santos, later Maria Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart, the only survivor of the children who received the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, received a new apparacition in the form of the Virgin Mary, covered in thorns, with the Child Jesus, who addressed her first:
Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.
Virgin Mary then spoke:
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..
The apparition did not receive canonical investigation, but it is the origin, along with Fatima, of the First Saturday Devotion.
I'll admit that I tend not to be up on devotions, so I'm posting this from Catholic Answers on this one:
The Five First Saturdays Devotion is a request made by Our Lady of Fatima. The Blessed Mother promised to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all who, as an act of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the first five Saturdays of consecutive months:
- Go to confession
- Receive Holy Communion
- Say five decades of the rosary
- Keep Mary company for fifteen minutes meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the rosary
The sacramental confession can be received within twenty days either before or after the reception of Communion, as the Holy See’s Apostolic Penitentiary has decreed, provided the communicant is in a state of grace for Communion.
Reception of Holy Communion must take place within twenty-four hours of the first Saturday. The reception of Communion need not be part of participating in a Mass.
The fifteen minutes of meditation are in addition to the recitation of the Rosary.
For information on our Blessed Mother, check out Bible Mary by Fr. John Waiss.
One of the interesting things about this event, put in overall context, is that Fatima, which is by far the best remembered apparition, can be viewed as potentially one in a series of apparitions, of which it was the most signficant.
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