By Matthew Scarince
Last December for the centennial anniversary of Our Lady’s request for the First Saturday devotion in reparation to her Immaculate Heart, we launched an extremely successful First Saturday Pilgrimage Program. Filmed on-location in Fatima, throughout Portugal, and Spain, with stunning cinematography and gentle voice-over meditations from our chaplain Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher CFR, this unique virtual experience has brought Fatima to the homes of thousands across our country and globally. And while the first five Saturdays of this 12-month pilgrimage have already passed, we are not stopping there. This devotion is so important that we encourage you to keep going and finish the year with us.
Our next pilgrimage stop (this Saturday, August 1st) brings us to the heart and center of Our Lady’s request for this devotion: the convent of the Dorothean Sisters at Pontevedra in Spain. It was here that Our Lady and the Child Jesus appeared to Sister Lucia on December 10, 1925, to reveal their desire for this devotion of mercy and prompt her to do all that she could to spread it. In this moment, Sister Lucia surely would have recalled the July 13, 1917, apparition in which Our Lady said she would come back to ask for the Communions of Reparation on first Saturdays as a means to prevent the “worse war” that would come and the errors of Russia that would create untold suffering.
Although Mary’s request was for five consecutive first Saturdays, we are asked to go further and continue to show our love and commitment to her Immaculate Heart by doing this devotion every month. The world is in need of souls willing to make these acts of reparation, especially for the sake of world peace and salvation of souls. Are you willing to receive Communion, go to confession, and pray and meditate on the rosary every first Saturday of the year?
In the first five episodes of our Virtual Pilgrimage, we brought you to the most famous locations in the lives of the three Fatima children. You got to visit their homes and village, the sites of the angel apparitions and the six apparitions from May to October 1917. These are of extreme importance, but they are not the full story of Fatima.
Now for the rest of the year, experience first-hand Lucia’s hidden life after Fatima. Through this Virtual Pilgrimage, you will be drawn into her life and journey, including the final Fatima apparitions in Pontevedra and Tuy, Spain. From there, she returned to Portugal to embrace the contemplative life of a Carmelite nun, never ceasing to promote and encourage others in spreading the devotion to the Immaculate Heart.
If you haven’t yet started your virtual pilgrimage experience, or if you have set it aside after only watching the first five episodes, we invite you to start anew. This devotional experience is designed to be evergreen, and once the centennial year of the Pontevedra apparition is complete, these videos and the accompanying passport will remain available to all who wish to start or continue their devotion. Our timeless approach to this project can be seen in the beautiful video work and calming narration, which invoke a slow, meditative journey set apart from the bustle and concerns of our modern, news driven world. By making this Virtual Pilgrimage with us, we hope you will be drawn back in time to experience not only the simple lives of the Fatima children, but their trials, hopes, and faith, and through this, feel a revival in your own devotional life.
The First Saturday Virtual Pilgrimage program is available for free on our website and our YouTube channel, while the accompanying passport to track your spiritual progress is available from our online giftshop for a nominal price of $3. While the program has been a great success thus far, there is always more to be done in bringing about the Triumph of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. Please share our program with family members, friends, and your local parish. The videos and meditations are well-suited for group participation at your church as well as for individual contemplation.
Don’t forget, an Extraordinary Marian Jubilee Year indulgence has been granted to those who visit our shrine, the Blue Army Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Asbury, New Jersey (ends Dec. 10, 2026). This indulgence is otherwise only available to visitors of the shrine in Pontevedra, Spain.
Our apostolate is dedicated to spreading the message of Fatima and we truly believe that it is more relevant now than ever. Sister Lucia said in 1993, the First Saturday devotion is more necessary now to combat the atheism that had spread from Russia’s Communist rule. We can certainly see how this is rapidly spreading in our United States today. And soon after she died in 2005, she made known to St. Carlo Acutis in a dream that the First Saturday devotion is very important; it can change the destiny of the world.
COMING SOON ON HALLOW
Since this devotion really can change the destiny of the world, we are excited to announce that a Five First Saturday Rosary and Meditation series will soon launch on Hallow, the world’s most popular prayer app with more than 30 million users in 150 countries.
May the First Saturday devotion continue to spread and light a fire in the hearts of millions – the fire that does not burn, according to St. Jacinta and St. Francisco, but causes us to love Jesus and Mary more.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Matthew Scarince is a Communications Associate at the World Apostolate of Fatima/Our Lady’s Blue Army.
