Identity and mission

Identity and mission of the Shrine of Fatima

The Shrine of our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima is the answer to the call of Our Lady of the Rosary, already alluded to on August 13, 1917 and expressly asked in the apparition of  October 13, of that year to Lucia de Jesus, Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto: «I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in my honour. I am the Lady of the Rosary» (Fist Memoir of Sister Lucia). The little chapel was constructed in 1919 in the place of the apparitions of 1917 at the Cova da Iria and, since then, the place of the Shrine was built up, in response to a significant inflow of pilgrims.

The Shrine of Fatima is a place of pilgrimage, which celebrates the memory of its founding event, the apparitions of Our Lady to the three little Shepherds. The pilgrim’s pastoral hospitality is a key element to its mission.

The Shrine of Fatima keeps the memory of the event and the message of Fatima. It has the mission of studying and diffusing this message, worked as a means of evangelization in Portugal and worldwide.

The Shrine of Fatima is, by an expressed will of the Apostolic See, a National Shrine.