The Five First Saturdays devotion is one of the principal points of the Fatima message. It centers on the urgent need for mankind to offer reparation and expiate for the many injuries that the Immaculate Heart of Mary suffers from the hands of both impious and indifferent men.
On the First Saturday during 5 Consecutive Months, the Devotion consists of:
1. Going to Confession,
2. Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
3. Saying five decades of the Rosary,
4. Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
2. Receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion,
3. Saying five decades of the Rosary,
4. Meditating for 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary.
All this offered in REPARATION for the sins of blasphemy and ingratitude committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
History
During the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for the Communion of Reparation of the Five First Saturdays. Consequently, she asked for the devotion in 1925 and the consecration in 1929.
While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sister in Pontevedra, Portugal, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925 where the Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy who stood over a luminous cloud. Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder while she held on the other hand a heart pierced with thorns around it.
Sister Lucia heard the Boy say, "Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out."
Our Lady expressed her request in the following words,
"See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."
A few days afterward, Sister Lucia detailed this vision in a letter addressed to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor when she resided in the Asylum of Vilar in the city of Oporto, Portugal.
Why Five Saturdays?
Sister Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason for the five Saturdays asking why not seven or nine. She answered him in a letter dated June 12, 1930. In it she related about a vision she had of Our Lord while staying in the convent chapel part of the night of the twenty-ninth to the thirtieth of the month of May, 1930. The reasons Our Lord gave were as follows:
The five first Saturdays correspond to the five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:
a. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
b. Blasphemies against her virginity
c. Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
d. Instilling , indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
e. Direct insults against Her sacred images
Let us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds. Devotions have intentions attached to them and knowing them adds merit and weight to the practice.
Modifications to the Five First Saturdays Devotion to facilitate its observation
The original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and receive Communion on five consecutive first Saturdays; to say five decades of the Rosary; to meditate during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary for the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparation for the sins of men.
In subsequent private visions and apparitions however, Sister Lucia presented to Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered in fulfilling some conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude, Our Lord deigned to relax the rules to make this devotion easy to observe:
- Confession may be done on other days other than the First Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and has the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
- Even if one forgets to make the intention, it may be done on the next confession, taking advantage of the first occasion to go to confession.
- Sister Lucia also clarified that it is not necessary to meditate on ALL mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays. One or several suffice.
This devotion is so necessary in our days
The culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one reads this. Abortion, blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad marriages, religious indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and others are just some of society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We must console Our Lady amidst all these insults and injuries to her and her Divine Son. She asks for reparation, she pleads for our prayers, she hopes for our amendment of life. Let us listen to her maternal pleas and atone for the ingratitude of men.
The First Five Saturdays devotion stimulates the spirit of reparation; it instills a tender love for the Holy Sacraments of Confession and the Blessed Eucharist. It nurtures a holy affection for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary. Above all, it is an excellent means to maintain one in the state of grace while immersed in the daily spiritual battles and prosaic existence in the neo-pagan world that we live in.
Let us not delay in observing this devotion for it too gives us hope for eternal salvation.
REFERENCE:
Solimeo, Luiz Sergio, Fatima, A Message More Urgent than Ever
(Spring Grove, PA: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property-TFP, 2008.)
Also Read:
Heavenly
Child, lovable Mary, the Eternal Father delights in your birth, for He
beholds in your coming into this world one of His creatures who is so
perfect that she will become the worthy Mother of His divine Son.
O
Chosen One among the daughters of Adam, admirable Mary, the Son of God
delights in your birth, for He beholds the one chosen to be His Mother,
and oh! such a beloved Mother.
O
Chosen One among the daughters of Adam, lovable Mary, the Eternal Word
takes delight in your birth, for He sees the source of His Immaculate
Blood.
O
Chosen One among the daughters of Adam, admirable Mary, the Redeemer,
promised to mankind from the beginning of the world, takes delight in
your birth, for He sees the one who is destined to become the
Co-redemptress of souls by uniting her tears to the Blood shed on the
Cross to save mankind.
Resplendent
Lily of Paradise, lovable Mary, the Holy Spirit takes delight in your
birth for He sees in you the soul never stained by sin, which would
forever be His worthy Temple.
Most
Beautiful Branch of the tree of David, most admirable Mary, whose birth
was such a consolation to St. Joachim and St. Anne who were delighted
to be the parents of so holy a child, may your birth be the consolation
of my soul, by obtaining for me from God, victory over the world and
detachment from all the things of this earth.
Resplendent
Morning Star, lovable Mary, your birth was the cause of great joy to
the angels, for they beheld in you the Mother of the Redeemer of the
world, who by His Death would repair the loss sustained by the fall of
rebellions angels in paradise.
Brilliant
Aurora of Heaven, lovable Mary, your birth brought great consolation to
the souls of the saints detained in limbo, for it announced the
approach of the Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ, who would enlighten their
darkness and then conduct them to paradise.
Mediatrix
between God and mankind, admirable Mary, by your birth you perfected
the joy of all the children of Adam, who, through you, have received the
Author of Grace, for He has made you the treasurer of all the graces
which are imparted to us.
The
Order of Our Lady of Ransom and Mercy had been founded in the year 1218
at the request of the Holy Mother of God for the purpose of ransoming
Christians held captive by the Moors. Its members pledged themselves to
pay the ransom demanded for the release of these Christians by their
Muslim captors or, when unable to do so, would offer themselves to be
held as hostages in their place, with the promise of future payment.
Margaret
Ward was born a gentleman's daughter at Congleton in Cheshire, England,
and for a time lived as a lady's companion in the house of a lady of
distinction named Whitall, then residing in London.
Shortly
after he had baptized Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, John the
Baptist had denounced Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee, to his face. For
thirty years the dissolute ruler had indulged himself and his every
whim, while holding court in his palace overlooking the Dead Sea. His
latest crime: Herod had divorced his own wife and married Herodias, the
wife of his elder brother Philip.
Augustine
was born on November 13, 354 at Tagaste, on the northern coast of
Africa, in what is now Algeria. He was raised as a Christian by his
mother, Monica, despite his father, Patricius, being a pagan. His
mother’s example of fervent faith was a strong influence on the young
boy, one that would follow him throughout his life.
With
his son, and the friends who had accompanied him into retirement, he
was baptized on Easter Sunday in 387 by St. Ambrose. His ordination to
the priesthood in 391 was followed by his consecration as Bishop of
Hippo four years later. His priestly and episcopal ministries were both
admirably fruitful: he fought heresy with lionlike tenacity, challenged
heretics to public debates, attended Church councils, and was a
prodigious writer and zealous preacher. One of the greatest theologians
of all time, among his extant works can be found more than 300 sermons,
500 letters, and numerous other writings on a wide variety of topics.
Whilst refuting a Pelagian heretic, Augustine was stricken with a fatal
illness. For three months he suffered with unconquerable patience amid
continuous prayer, and died on August 28 in the year 430.
Monica
was born in 332 in Tagaste, North Africa. Although her parents were
Christians, they gave her in marriage to a local pagan official. A
violent and immoral man, Monica's married life with Patricius was far
from being a happy one, especially as her husband's mother, who lived
with them, seems to have been of a like disposition with himself. His
wife’s almsdeeds and her habits of prayer annoyed him, but it is said
that he always held her in a sort of reverence. Monica’s persistent
prayers and untiring sweetness finally won out and, in 370, both her
husband and mother-in-law converted to Christianity.
Born
at Le Blanc in France in 1773, Elizabeth was the daughter of Antoine
Bichier, the Seigneur of Ages and a public official, and Marie Augier de
Moussac, whose father was a politician. She spent much of her childhood
at the convent at Poitiers.
With
Fr. André Fournet’s spiritual guidance and assistance, Elizabeth found
her true vocation. In 1806, she established a religious congregation of
women to care for the sick and aged, for the education of children and
to offer reparation for the blasphemies and sacrileges committed against
the Most Blessed Sacrament during the French Revolution. The
congregation was officially recognized by the diocese in 1816 and named
“Daughters of the Cross.”
In
Louis IX of France were united the qualities of a just and upright
sovereign, a fearless warrior, and a saint. This crusader king was a
living embodiment of the medieval noble: he lived for the welfare of his
subjects and the glory of God.
After
six years in captivity, he was released and returned to France to
resume his sovereign role. He was involved intimately in the lives of
his people. He had a passion for justice, and changed the "King's court"
of his ancestors into a popular court, where, seated in his palace or
under a spreading oak in the forest of Vincennes, he listened to any of
his subjects who came with grievances and gave to them wise and
impartial judgments.
Bartholomew is commonly identified with Nathaniel, whose approach Our Lord greeted with the exclamation: “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” He was introduced to Jesus by Philip and was the first among the Twelve Apostles to recognize Our Lord for who He truly was: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel” (John 1:47-49).
There
was once a priest who had a special devotion to the sorrows of Mary. He
would often remain alone in the chapel to commiserate the sorrows of
his Lady.
Remarkable,
even as a child, for her great reverence and love for all that related
to God, she developed an intense devotion to the Infant Jesus and His
Holy Mother, and gave herself up to a life of prayer and mortification.
Industrious and adept, she became very proficient in the arts of sewing,
embroidery and lace-making, and used her needle to help support her
home and family, and as a means to assist the many poor who came to
depend on her generous alms.
“Since
the great Virgin Mary was raised to the dignity of Mother of the King
of Kings, the Church justly honors her, and wishes that she be honored
with the glorious title of Queen,” writes St. Alphonsus de Liguori.
“We
commend that on the festival there be renewed the consecration of the
human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon this
there is founded a great hope that there may arise an era of happiness
that will rejoice in the triumph of religion and in Christian peace,”
the Holy Father writes.
Giuseppe
Melchiore Sarto was born at Riese in the diocese of Treviso in 1835 to
Giovanni Battista and Margherita Sanson Sarto. His childhood was one of
poverty, being the son of the village postman. Though poor, his parents
valued education, and Giuseppe walked six kilometers to school every
day.
The
name of Pope Pius X is associated with the battle against the errors of
Modernism attacking the Church. With the laser-like quality of a saint,
the new Pope penetrated the wiles of the new “ism” to its very essence.
The whole tendency of Modernism is anti-dogmatic, seeking to tailor
dogma to the culture of the age through ambiguity and dilution of
divinely revealed doctrine. A 1907 decree of the Holy Office condemned
certain writers and propositions. This decree was followed by the
encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, defining the dangerous
tendencies and errors of the new heresy which Pius X defined as “the
synthesis of all heresies”. Strong disciplinary measures followed, one
of them being the requirement for all bishops, priests, and teachers to
take the “Oath against Modernism,” an oath of fidelity to the perennial
teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church.
Bernard
fought the temptations of youth with assiduous prayer and the practice
of virtue, often to a heroic degree and, at an early age, determined
upon a life of solitude. His ardent devotion to the Blessed Virgin, gave
rise to some of the most sublime writings ever penned on the Queen of
Heaven. He studied the Holy Scriptures so intensely that the Word of God
became as it were his own language. In the year 1112, Bernard left his
home to join the monastery of Citeaux, which followed the very austere
Cistercian rule. Bernard brought with him some thirty men, among them
four of his brothers and an uncle, who had no previous thought of the
religious life.
Renowned
for his wisdom, Bernard was often called upon by both Church and State
authorities to settle disputes. He defended the rights of the Church
against the encroachments of kings and princes and, in the schism that
broke out in 1130, was chosen to judge between two rival popes. Until
the death of the anti-pope in 1138, he was forced to leave the solitude
of his cloister repeatedly by order of Pope Innocent II to combat the
resurgence of the schism. In 1139, heresy took the place of schism, and
he was once again championing the Church’s cause in the public arena.
The year 1145 saw one of Bernard’s Cistercian sons elevated to the
throne of Peter. Pope Eugene III lost no time in calling for a new
crusade against the Muslims and commissioned Bernard to preach the
crusade throughout Europe. His preaching was accompanied by numerous
miracles and thousands flocked to the Cross.
Eudes
left the Jesuits to enter the Congregation of the Oratory, founded by
the famous Fr. Pierre de Berulle, who worked to re-establish orthodoxy
of doctrine and sanctity of life among the clergy. John Eudes thought
that the training of priests should also be a priority, so in 1643, he
left the Oratory and founded the Society of Jesus and Mary to specialize
in seminary education. The first seminary of the Eudists Fathers, as
they became known, opened in Caen, shortly followed by many others.
He
spread the devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and was
instrumental in procuring the Church’s approval of liturgical offices in
Their honor. Always faithful to the Chair of Peter, he was persecuted
by the Jansenists, whom he counter-attacked with energy.
Our Lady:
Have two portable stands made. You and Jacinta with two other girls
dressed in white carry one of them, and let Francisco carry the other
one with three other boys. The portable stands are for the feast of Our
Lady of 
Helena
was born about the middle of the third century on the Nicomedian Gulf.
The daughter of a humble innkeeper, she became the lawful wife of the
Roman general Constantius Chlorus and bore him a son, Constantine, in
the year 274.
Beatriz
de Menezes da Silva was one of eleven children of Rui Gomez da Silva,
the first Magistrate of Campo Maior, on the border of Spain and
Portugal, and of Isabel de Menezes, an illegitimate daughter of Dom
Pedro de Menezes, the 1st Count of Vila Real and the 2nd Count of Viana
do Alentejo, under whom Silva served in Ceuta. João de Menezes da Silva,
better known as Blessed Amadeus of Portugal and a noted reformer of the
Order of Friars Minor, was her brother.
Beatriz
da Silva died on August 9, 1492, ten days before the solemn
inauguration of her new Order. She is buried in the first monastery
given to the Conceptionists by Queen Isabel, the motherhouse of the
Order in Toledo. In 1501, Pope Alexander VI placed the Conceptionists
under the Rule of St. Clare and, in 1511, Pope Julius II granted them a
Rule of their own.
The
first King of Hungary was born a pagan in 975, the son of the Hungarian
chieftain Géza. Together with his father, he was baptized in 985 by St.
Adalbert, the Archbishop of Prague, on which occasion he changed his
heathen name Vaik (Vojk) to Stephen.
He
founded a monastery in Jerusalem and hospices for pilgrims at Rome,
Ravenna, and Constantinople. A close friend of St. Bruno, he also
corresponded with St. Odilo of Cluny. The last years of his life were
embittered by illness and family troubles. When late in 1031 his only
son, Emeric, lost his life on a bear hunt, his cherished hope of
transferring the reins of government into the hands of a pious Christian
prince were shattered.