THE FIVE FIRST SATURDAYS DEVOTION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY
Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays
“It was during the apparition of July 13, 1917, that Our Lady of Fatima referred to the communion of reparation that she desired to be made on the first Saturday of each month. The great promise connected with the five first Saturdays however was not made known until December 10, 1925. On that day the Blessed Virgin appeared to Lucy in her cell in the convent and said: ‘See, my daughter, how my heart is encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me and announce that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months confess, receive Holy Communion, recite part of my rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on its mysteries with the intention of offering me reparation.’
“The confession may be made eight days prior to or following the Saturday on which Holy Communion is received.
“The meditation and the recitation of the rosary are separate requirements and need not be done at the same time. If the meditation is united with the rosary, one may pause for that span of time that will make up fifteen minutes to reflect devoutly on the mystery proposed either before or after the decade. Or one may simply take twice as long to recite the mysteries while one ponders meditatingly on the contents of that phase of Christ's or Mary's life that is proposed. This meditation may be extended to one, several, more, or all of the mysteries as long as the fifteen-minutes' meditation is observed.
“The intention must be to do this in order to console and thus make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
The Recitation of the Rosary
“Fatima, sometimes referred to as the Lourdes of Portugal, reiterates the message of the rosary. At Lourdes, Our Lady appeared eighteen times and invited Bernadette to recite the rosary with her. In each apparition at Fatima, six in all, Our Lady insisted on the recitation of the rosary. When she made her appearances, she held the rosary in her clasped hands. In the last great episode she identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary. To Lucy's direct question ‘Who are you and what do you want?’ Our Lady replied, ‘I am the Lady of the Rosary, and I have come to warn the faithful to amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not continue to offend Our Lord, who already is so deeply offended. They must say the rosary.’ ”
(“Are You Heeding Fatima?” By Lester M. Dooley, S.V.D., 1950)
PRAYERS TAUGHT TO THE SHEPHERD CHILDREN OF FATIMA BY OUR LADY AND THE ANGEL
“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy.” (To be said after each decade of the Rosary)
“O Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee! My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament!”
In offering their sacrifices to God, Our Lady taught them to say: “O my Jesus, it is for Thy love, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
“My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee.” (Three times)
“Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.”
THE FIFTEEN PROMISES OF MARY TO THOSE WHO RECITE THE ROSARY
(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche)
1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of Eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means!
5. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of Eternal Life.
7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9. I shall deliver from Purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12. All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire Celestial Court during their life and at the hour of death.
14. All who recite the Rosary are my Sons, and brothers of my Only Son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.