New Pastoral Cycle of The Shrine of Fatima Celebrates Apparitions in Pontevedra and Tuy

New Pastoral Cycle of The Shrine of Fatima Celebrates Apparitions in Pontevedra and Tuy

‘Grace and Mercy’ is the unifying theme for the four years, which will be lived in two pastoral bienniums. The theme for the first biennium is ‘Heart of Mary, the path to see God.’

After a biennium aligned with the Holy Year of 2025, lived under the sign of hope, the Shrine of Fatima is now preparing to enter a four-year period in which it will celebrate the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady to Sister Lucia in Pontevedra and Tuy, referring to the Cordimarian cycle, which took place in 1925 and 1929, respectively, almost a decade after the apparitions of 1917 in Cova da Iria.

‘Grace and Mercy’ is the unifying theme of the four years, which will be lived in two pastoral bienniums. The first biennium has as its theme ‘Heart of Mary, a path to see God’ and will be anchored in the commemoration of the centenary of the two apparitions that took place in the Galician city of Pontevedra, on 10 December 1925 and 15 February 1926.

• On 10 December 1925, Our Lady appeared to Lucia in her room at the house owned by the Dorotheans in Pontevedra, where the seer was completing her postulancy (the initial stage of her religious formation). According to her book of memoirs, ‘the Virgin Mary showed her her Heart surrounded by thorns and asked for reparatory communion on the first Saturdays’.
   
• On 15 February 1926, the Child Jesus appeared to Lucia in the courtyard of the same house to explain in more detail the conditions of reparatory communion on the first Saturdays that Our Lady had communicated to her two months earlier.

Sister Lúcia de Jesus with the Bishop of Leiria, José Alves Correia da Silva, during the period of the Marian apparitions.

The theme for the 2025-2027 biennium will be ‘The Heart of Mary, a path to see God’ and the central theme will be the devotion of the first Saturdays and the reparation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, conveyed to the seer of Fatima during the apparitions in Pontevedra. Reinforcing this theme will be the beatitude: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Mt 5:8).

• " You, at least, try to console me and say that all those who, for 5 months, on the first Saturday, go to confession, receive Holy Communion, recite a rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes, meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of removing these thorns, I promise to assist them at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."

SOURCE

From Sister Lucia's letter from Tuy, dated 17 December 1927, published in Sister Lucia's Memoirs, where the seer reveals the reparatory communion of the first Saturdays, which had been transmitted to her by Our Lady in the first apparition in Pontevedra.

Lucia's room in Pontevedra, converted into a chapel. On the altar, next to the Blessed Sacrament, is the image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Child Jesus. © Photo: Father Francisco Pereira.

What is the Cordimarian cycle?

The cycle of apparitions that took place between 1925 and 1929 in Pontevedra and Tuy, in Galicia, is called the Cordimarian cycle because the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the central thematic and spiritual element of these apparitions. The term ‘Cordimarian’ points to the centrality of the Heart of Mary, which is at the heart of the message. Thus, it is called the Cordimarian cycle because the central themes of reparation and consecration are intrinsically linked to the Heart of Mary.

What is the meaning of the devotion of the first Saturdays and reparatory communion?

In the message of Fatima, the devotion of the first Saturdays refers to the spiritual practice requested by Our Lady from Sister Lucia in the apparition of Pontevedra, on 10 December 1925, in which she tells her the moments and attitudes that should constitute it: confession, recitation of the rosary, a time of silent company with Our Lady, meditation on the mysteries of the rosary and Eucharistic communion.

Throughout this spiritual exercise, the fundamental attitude should be the intention to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, wounded by the sins of humanity.

It is in this context that we can understand reparatory communion, which Our Lady announced in her apparition on 13 July 1917, made concrete in Pontevedra and encapsulating the meaning of reparation and union with God sought by the devotion of the first Saturdays, which aims to instill this in the hearts of the baptized (a consecration which ultimately expresses and consummates this). This progressive surrender of one's entire life into God's hands through the Heart of Mary will help each believer to live a life that is 'a permanent first Saturday'.