Our Lady of Fátima (formally known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fátima) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal. The three children were Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. José Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, declared the events worthy of belief on 13 October 1930. Pope Pius XII granted a pontifical decree of canonical coronation via the papal bull Celeberrima solemnia towards the venerated image on 25 April 1946.
The published memoirs of Sister Lúcia in the 1930s revealed two secrets that came from the Virgin Mary, while the third secret was to be revealed by the Catholic Church in 1960. The controversial events at Fátima gained fame due partly to elements of the secrets, prophecy and eschatological revelations allegedly related to the Second World War and possibly more global wars in the future, particularly the Virgin’s request for the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The feast day is held on May 13th, the date of the first of the apparitions of Our Lady to the children.
