DESCRIPTION:

The May 13, 1917, three children were pasturing their little herd they called: Lucia de Jesus, aged 10, and Francisco and Jacinta Marto, his cousins​​, 9 and 7 years.

Around midday, after praying the Rosary, as was their custom, they saw a bright light, thinking it a bolt of lightning, they decided to leave, but just below, another flash lit up the place, and on top of a small holm oak tree (where now stands the Chapel of Apparitions), "a lady brighter than the sun", from whose hands hung a white rosary.

The Lady told the three shepherds that it was necessary to pray a lot and invited them to return to the "Cova da Iria" during five consecutive months on the 13th day at that hour.

The children did so, and the 13th day of June, July, September and October, the Lady again appeared to them and spoke to them.

At the last apparition, on October 13, being present around 70,000 people, the Lady told them that was the "Lady of the Rosary" and they did a chapel in her honor.

The Sanctuary of Fatima is, in essence, a place of pilgrimage, motivated by the supernatural character of the founding event, the apparitions of Our Lady to the three shepherd.

Support for the promotion of the Message of Fatima in Portugal and in the world, is an integral part of the mission of the Sanctuary.