First Saturday Devotions

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The First Saturdays Devotion is a Roman Catholic practice which, according to the visionaries, has been recommended by the Virgin Mary in several visitations, notably Our Lady of Fatima. Catholics honour the Virgin on Saturdays because they believe that as the Mother of Jesus Christ she must have suffered a great deal and had much faith on Holy Saturday, before the Resurrection on Easter. Devotees of Fátima believe that the First Saturdays help to console the sorrows of God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary for the sins of the world.

Any Catholic can practice the First Saturdays, alone or in a group. On the first Saturday of five successive months, one goes to confession, attends Saturday Mass and takes Holy Communion. Then the Rosary is recited. One remains in the church for at least fifteen minutes afterwards, meditating on the Rosary's mysteries. During this time one is considered to be visiting Jesus Christ, who, according to the doctrine of Transubstantiation, is physically present in the Eucharist.

A few consecrated Communion Hosts are always reserved in a box called a tabernacle in the sanctuary of every Catholic church. The tabernacle is empty only on Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Sister Lúcia, the only Fátima visionary to survive into adulthood, reported that the Blessed Mother came to her in her convent at Pontevedra, Spain with the following statement:

Look, my daughter, at my Heart encircled by these thorns with which men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, strive to console me, and so I announce: I promise to assist at the hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all those who, with the intention of making reparation to me, will, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the beads, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.