Between 1925 and 1926, the Most Holy Virgin fulfilled the promise made in Fatima in 1917 and appeared to Sister Lucia in the convent of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra (Spain). There she revealed one of the most important requests of the Fatima message: the reparative devotion of the Five First Saturdays, intended for the salvation of souls in times of growing rebellion against God.
The apparition of December 10, 1925: the Heart surrounded by thorns
Lucia describes how the Virgin appeared to her accompanied by the Child Jesus. The Lady showed her a heart surrounded by thorns, a symbol of the ingratitudes and blasphemies with which it is offended. The Child spoke 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 who makes an act of reparation to remove them.”
Then the Virgin communicated the promise that would mark the spirituality of Fatima forever:
“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, confess, receive Communion, pray 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.”
Lucia immediately transmitted the request, but her confessors advised her to wait. Heaven, however, insisted.
The apparition of February 15, 1926: Jesus asks for the spread of the devotion
Months later, while performing household tasks, Lucia again encountered a child whom she soon recognized as Jesus. He asked her:
“Have you revealed to the world what the Heavenly Mother has asked of you?”
The Lord responded one by one to the objections raised by Lucia’s confessors, clarifying that the confession did not need to be on the same Saturday and could even be done later, as long as the soul had the intention of making reparation. He also stated that many souls begin the devotion, but few persevere, and that the fervent practice of the five Saturdays pleases His Heart more than simple routine repetition.
Why five Saturdays? The explanation given by Our Lord
In May 1930, Lucia received light on a question posed by her confessor: why five Saturdays and not seven or nine? Jesus explained to her that there are five types of offenses against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
- Blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception.
- Against her perpetual virginity.
- Against her divine and spiritual maternity.
- The sowing of contempt toward Her in the hearts of children.
- The outrages committed against her holy images.
These offenses require an act of reparation, which is why the devotion comprises five first Saturdays.
The gravity of sin against the Immaculate Heart
The document emphasizes that despising the Virgin and rejecting the mediation of her Immaculate Heart deeply wounds Christ Himself, to the point that “He finds no inclination in Himself to forgive” when such contempt is conscious and persistent. That is why the Virgin asked for reparation, to obtain mercy for those in danger of damnation.
1929: Our Lady in Tuy confirms the urgency
In 1929, in Tuy, the Virgin again asked for this reparative devotion with a solemn message:
“So many souls are condemned by God’s justice for sins committed against Me, that I come to ask for reparation.”
The salvation of many souls —the text states— depends on this simple and deeply Christian devotion.
A sure means to save souls: the mission entrusted to the faithful
The devotion of the Five First Saturdays, according to the desire of Jesus and Mary, is an extraordinary instrument for converting sinners and consoling the Heart of the Mother. The Immaculate Heart, constituted as the mediator of all graces, does not act without our cooperation. That is why practicing this devotion —confession, Communion, Rosary, and fifteen minutes of meditation— becomes a concrete act of charity toward souls and of reparation before God.