The Catholic Church is marking the 100th anniversary of Our Lady's request for the Five First Saturdays devotion. Catholic leaders are encouraging the faithful to revitalize this devotion, which is linked to themes of peace, reparation, and conversion. The devotion stems from apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. St. Carlo Acutis was noted to be familiar with the requests made by Our Lady of Fatima.
5 days ago
The First Saturdays Devotion originated from apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Sister Lúcia dos Santos in Pontevedra, Spain, on December 10, 1925, marking its 100th anniversary today.1 5 6 This followed the 1917 Fatima apparitions, where Mary first mentioned reparative Communions on First Saturdays; the full details were revealed eight years later when Mary, alongside the Child Jesus, showed her Immaculate Heart surrounded by thorns, urging reparation for blasphemies against her.1 6 Sister Lúcia, then a Dorothean novice, described the vision as a call to console Mary's wounded heart amid global unrest, including communist threats in Russia.1
The devotion requires five consecutive First Saturdays: confession (within eight days before or after, if in a state of grace), reception of Holy Communion, recitation of five decades of the Rosary, and 15 minutes of meditation on Rosary mysteries, all with the intention of reparation to Mary's Immaculate Heart.1 2 3 Jesus later clarified to Sister Lúcia that the five acts address specific blasphemies: against Mary's Immaculate Conception, perpetual virginity, divine maternity, efforts to instill disrespect in children toward her, and dishonoring her images.1 Mary promised graces necessary for salvation at the hour of death for those who complete it fervently.1 5
Cardinal Raymond Burke emphasized the devotion as an expression of Mary's maternal love and a means for reparation, conversion, and world peace, backing initiatives like the "Alliance of the First Saturdays of Fatima" and a Nine Weeks of Prayer.1 2 Marian Father Donald Calloway highlighted worsening global offenses against Mary over the past century, urging priests to preach it from pulpits to foster love for her as spiritual mother.1 Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Scotland, at a Knock Shrine conference, called for full-hearted response without "half-measures," linking it to protecting souls from the devil's attacks on Mary and her children.3
Hundreds gathered at Knock Shrine in Ireland on December 6 for a conference organized by the First Saturday Apostolate, featuring talks on starting parish groups and the devotion's role in averting war, with participants like Christine O’Hara sharing graces from local practices.3 The World Apostolate of Fatima launched a virtual pilgrimage to 12 Fatima-related sites, including videos and reflections, to educate on this "forgotten" aspect of the message.1 2 In the U.S., the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe plans a December 10 Mass, while Pope Leo XIV's recent Marian Jubilee ties into broader calls for peace amid divisions and potential global conflicts.2
Leaders like David Carollo of the World Apostolate stress that practicing the devotion, as urged by Venerable Lúcia until her death, could alter world destiny and prevent wars, echoing Fatima's 1917 warnings.1 2 St. Carlo Acutis dreamed of Lúcia post-2005, where she reiterated its power for global change, a vision his mother shared to underscore its timeliness amid modern apostasy and technology's dehumanizing effects.1 Father Edward Looney and Barbara Ernster note its timeless Gospel roots, tying reparation to countering vandalism of Marian statues and societal disrespect, ultimately triumphing her Immaculate Heart for family, national, and church peace.2 3
Jesus told Sister Lúcia in 1926 that fervent completion pleases him more than indifferent multiples, allowing forgotten intentions to be renewed in confession.1 6 Despite its simplicity and flexibility, few persevere, yet events like Knock highlight successes in parish rallies and YouTube promotions, with calls to start in January to end in Mary's month of May.3 The Pontifical Shrine in Pontevedra, restored by Spain's bishops, offers a plenary indulgence through 2026 for pilgrims, reinforcing popular devotion's growth since the 1930s despite lacking Vatican canonical status.6 Organizers worldwide view this anniversary as a divine reminder to respond, promising salvation for souls and global peace through Mary's intercession.1 2 3
1: First Saturdays Devotion Turns 100, Calling Catholics Back to Mary’s Heart (National Catholic Register, 2025-12-06)
2: Faithful urged to return to Fatima message about First Saturdays devotion on its centennial (OSV News, 2025-12-08)
3: Knock Shrine event highlights urgent call to revive First Saturdays practice (Catholic News Agency, 2025-12-09)
4: Knock Shrine event highlights urgent call to revive First Saturdays practice (Catholic World Report, 2025-12-09)
5: Today is 100th anniversary of the First Saturday devotion (Aleteia, 2025-12-10)
6: 100 years ago today Our Lady appeared to Fatima visionary Sister Lucia in Pontevedra, Spain (Catholic News Agency, 2025-12-10)
Examine the theological basis of the First Saturdays devotion
The First Saturdays devotion, a cherished practice in Catholic piety, invites the faithful to honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary through specific acts of reparation performed on five consecutive first Saturdays of the month. These acts typically include receiving Holy Communion, reciting the Rosary, meditating for fifteen minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary, and going to Confession, all offered in reparation for sins against Mary's Immaculate Heart. Rooted in the 1917 apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima, Portugal, this devotion finds its theological basis in the Church's understanding of Mary's maternal role in salvation history, her intercessory power, and the call to reparation that echoes the Gospel's emphasis on conversion and mercy. Approved and promoted by popes and Church documents, it underscores the harmony between popular devotion and the liturgical life, particularly the Eucharist, as a means of drawing closer to Christ's redemptive love through Mary.
At its core, the First Saturdays devotion draws from the biblical portrayal of Mary as the faithful disciple who stood vigil at the foot of the Cross and during the time between Christ's death and resurrection. The Church's liturgical calendar designates Saturdays as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a tradition tracing back to the Carolingian period in the ninth century, though its precise origins remain historically obscure. This dedication highlights Mary's "maternal example and discipleship," as she, "strengthened by faith and hope, on that great Saturday on which Our Lord lay in the tomb, was the only one of the disciples to hold vigil in expectation of the Lord's resurrection." It serves as a prelude to Sunday, the weekly memorial of Christ's Resurrection, symbolizing Mary's continuous presence and operation in the life of the Church.
This vigil motif resonates with the Holy Saturday in the Paschal Triduum, a day of mingled sorrow and anticipation in the early Church, marking the close of Lenten penance and the onset of Easter joy. Early Christian practice observed a strict fast on Holy Saturday, extending forty hours before Easter, emphasizing communal waiting in faith—qualities mirrored in the First Saturdays' call to patient reparation and Eucharistic focus. Theologically, these elements position Mary not as a rival to Christ but as the perfect model of fiat, whose heart unites humanity to the salvific mysteries from the Incarnation through the Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit. As the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy explains, the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, celebrated the day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrates this "complex visceral relationship" of Mary with her Son's redemptive work.
The devotion's modern theological impetus stems from the Fatima message, where Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children—Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta—urging conversion, prayer (especially the Rosary), and reparation for sins. In her apparitions, Mary requested the First Saturdays as a specific remedy for offenses against her Immaculate Heart, including blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, and the neglect of children's devotion to her. Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on Fatima during his 2010 visit, described how Mary came from heaven to implant "the Love of God burning in her own heart" amid humanity's cycle of death and terror, asking the children: "Do you want to offer yourselves to God, to endure all the sufferings which he will send you, in an act of reparation for the sins by which he is offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?" This echoes the Gospel's imperative: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel!" (Mk 1:15), targeting interior transformation, the defeat of sin, and the pursuit of holiness.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's theological commentary on the Fatima secret further illuminates this, portraying devotion to the Immaculate Heart as embracing an attitude of heart where reason, will, and sensitivity converge in perfect unity under God's grace—the "immaculate heart" that "sees God" (cf. Mt 5:8). It is not placing Mary between oneself and Christ but imitating her as the Mother of the Lord, who directs all to her Son: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). Through this devotion, the faithful unite in consecration, reparation for personal and communal sins, and intercession for the world's salvation, ultimately referring back to Christ's Heart as the source of merciful love. Pope John Paul II emphasized this in his 1986 address on the Alliance of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, noting that entrusting oneself to Mary's Heart helps conquer evil's menace in modern hearts, practiced through a life of grace, purity, prayer, penance, and fulfillment of Christian duties.
Theologically, the First Saturdays are recontextualized within the Eucharist, avoiding overemphasis on temporal signs and instead fostering intense living of the Paschal Mystery as inspired by Mary's life. The reception of Holy Communion on these days is not a mechanical act but an opportunity to participate in Christ's sacrifice, mirroring Mary's fiat and her role in the Incarnation. This parallels the First Fridays devotion to the Sacred Heart, which promotes frequent reception of Penance and Eucharist for reparation, though the Church reminds the faithful of Sunday's primacy as the "primordial feast." Popular piety enhances this through practices like consecration of families and nations to Mary's Heart, prayer, mortification, and almsgiving—always maintaining the "invalicabile distanza" (inviolable distance) between the divine Son and his creaturely Mother.
Historical precedents bolster this foundation. The Sabbatine Privilege, associated with the Carmelite scapular, promises Mary's intercession for early liberation from purgatory, especially on Saturdays, for those who observe chastity, recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin (or substitute pious works), and abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This underscores Saturday's consecration to Mary, fostering trust in her protection through devout practices. Earlier traditions, like those promoted by St. Gerard Majella, encouraged Saturday fasting, vigils before Marian feasts, and Eucharistic adoration, viewing Mary as responsive to intense love and intercession.
While the devotion enjoys widespread approval—Pius XII extended the Immaculate Heart memorial to the universal Church in 1944, following Fatima's 25th anniversary consecration—the Church cautions against reducing it to mere credulity. Instead, it should inspire active faith, Gospel commitment, and avoidance of superstition, harmonizing with liturgy rather than supplanting it. Where sources touch on broader Saturday observances, like the Synod of Laodicea's mandate for Gospel readings on the Sabbath to edify the people, they reinforce the devotional day's role in instruction and feasting in the Lord, countering any lingering Judaizing tendencies.
In conclusion, the First Saturdays devotion is theologically grounded in Mary's scriptural discipleship, her Fatima-requested mission of reparation, and the Church's liturgical veneration of her Immaculate Heart as a conduit to Christ's mercy. It calls the faithful to a heart united in love, penance, and Eucharistic life, promising the triumph of that Heart amid worldly trials. By embracing this practice, believers not only honor Mary but deepen their communion with the Trinity, echoing her eternal vigil of hope.