Many Catholics around the world are familiar with the First Saturday devotion, a devotion that was tied to Venerable Lucia, one of the three child visionaries at Fatima.
However this devotion is relatively new to the Catholic Church, as it only came about through a private revelation given to Venerable Lucia in 1925, that is, 100 years ago
Origin of the First Saturday devotion
On December 10, 1925, the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Sr. Lucia at a convent in Pontevedra, Spain.
This was some years after Sr. Lucia had previously been the recipient of Marian visions in Fatima, Portugal, along with her cousins Jacinta and Francisco. In fact, Jacinta and Francisco has both passed away by this time (Francisco in 1919 and Jacinta in 1920).
After the initial apparitions, Sr. Lucia was very famous in Portugal, and many sought to speak with her. Her parents recognized this reality and after consulting the local bishop, sent her to live in a convent with the Sisters of Saint Dorothy in Spain.
There she lived with the sisters for about 20 years, eventually taking final vows with the Sisters of St. Dorothy. It was at this convent that Sr. Lucia had another vision of the Virgin Mary about the First Saturday devotion.
In this new private revelation eight years after the visions at Fatima, Mary requested the institution of the five consecutive First Saturday devotions in reparation to her Immaculate Heart.
Here are the words of the Virgin Mary, according to the Fatima Center:
Look, My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to Me.
Sr. Lucia later received more information about this devotion, which she shared with her confessor and eventually the world came to know about it.
Ever since, Catholics around the world have been faithful to this devotion and have sought to follow the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary to make reparation for all of the "blasphemies and ingratitude" done to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
