On Saturday, November 7, the first Saturday of the month, a date especially linked to the reparatory devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This practice originates from the apparitions that Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three visionaries of Fatima, claimed to have received in Pontevedra on December 10, 1925.
The devotion consists of performing certain pious practices during five consecutive first Saturdays, with the intention of making reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin.
The Pontevedra apparitions of 1925
After the Fatima apparitions of 1917, Lucia dos Santos entered religious life and continued to deepen the message she claimed to have received from the Virgin.
On December 10, 1925, while in Pontevedra, she claimed to have contemplated the Blessed Virgin accompanied by the Child Jesus.
According to the account transmitted by Sister Lucia, that apparition was related to the request to establish a reparatory devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The request extended one of the central aspects of the Fatima message: the conversion of sinners, prayer, and reparation for sins committed against God.
What do the five first Saturdays consist of?
The traditional practice comprises four acts performed during five consecutive first Saturdays: receiving the sacrament of confession, receiving communion, praying five mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and accompanying the Virgin for fifteen minutes through meditation on her mysteries.
All these practices must be carried out with a reparatory intention.
Confession may be made within a nearby period, in accordance with the clarifications transmitted by Sister Lucia, while maintaining the intention of fulfilling the devotion.
The fifteen minutes of meditation are distinct from the usual recitation of the Rosary and constitute one of the characteristic features of this practice.
This devotion should not be confused with that of the nine first Fridays of the month, related to the revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The purpose of the five first Saturdays is to offer acts of love, prayer, and penance in reparation for the offenses against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Fatima tradition links this practice to offenses against the Immaculate Conception, the perpetual virginity, the divine motherhood of Mary, and the veneration due to her, as well as to sins that turn people away from devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Reparation is understood within the sacramental life of the Church and the Christian’s response to God’s love.
The Sanctuary of Fatima has dedicated its pastoral program from 2025 to 2027 to the centenary of the Pontevedra and Tuy apparitions, recovering the meaning of this devotion within Marian spirituality.
The arrival of the first Saturday of November offers a new opportunity to know and practice this form of piety, linked for a century to the Fatima message.