The First Saturdays Devotion
A maternal appeal from the Blessed Virgin Mary to Sister Lucia of Fatima echoes to this day throughout the Catholic world:
let us make reparation to the Heart of our Mother, so wounded by the sins of humanity!
Why the First Saturday Devotion?
In her third apparition in Fatima, July 13, 1917, the Blessed Virgin asked that Communions of reparation be made on the first Saturdays for five consecutive months.
The Blessed Virgin appeared to Sister Lucia again on December 10, 1925, at the convent of the Dorothean sisters in Pontevedra, Spain, with the Infant Jesus, saying:
“Look, my daughter, at my Heart surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, try to console me, and tell all those who [practice] the first Saturday [Devotion] I promise to assist at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls.
Our Lord told Sister Lucia the reason for five Saturdays: “My daughter, the reason is simple: there are five kinds of offenses and blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
- Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
- Against her virginity;
- Against Her Divine Maternity and, at the same time, refusing to recognize her as the mother of men
- The blasphemy of those who seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference, contempt or even hatred for this Immaculate Mother
- Those who directly insult her in her Holy Images.” (Cf. Memórias e Cartas da Irmã Lúcia, Porto, 1973).
Attending to the appeal of the Blessed Virgin
Though many did not want to hear Our Lady’s words in Fatima, her appeal is renewed to each one of those who bear the title of Mary’s children.
The Heralds of the Gospel desire the immense grace of being counted among her children and authentic devotees.
For this reason, for almost twenty five years they have been renewing the devotion requested by the Blessed Virgin every month, with the aim of not only making reparation for the offenses committed against Her, but also, in some way, “anticipating” the triumph of her Immaculate Heart.
The First Saturday Devotion promoted by the Heralds of the Gospel in a variety of parishes, fulfills all the conditions outlined by Our Lady in their entirety. These are:
- Confession.
- Holy Communion.
- Recitation of five decades of the Rosary.
- A fifteen minute meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary.
All these with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Moreover and unique to the Heralds of the Gospel, a magnificent crowning of the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima takes place during the act of reparation of the First Saturdays. This ceremony is the initiative of Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, founder of the Heralds of the Gospel.
This crowning seeks to represent the ceremony held in Heaven proclaiming Mary as Queen of all creation, awaiting the glorious day, promised by her to the three little shepherds, when her reign will be established over the face of the earth.
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