History
A Catholic History of Fátima
Fátima was a small parish in the hills of central Portugal until 1916 and 1917, when three children reported an Angel and then Our Lady. The Church keeps three things apart: the Bishop of Leiria approved the 1917 apparitions in 1930; the Holy See has since beatified and canonized Francisco and Jacinta and published the third part of the secret; and the 1916 Angel and later visions rest on Lúcia's own accounts. A Sanctuary grew in the Cova da Iria, popes have come as pilgrims, and the Sanctuary now holds a Rosary and candle procession every night.
To 1916
The Parish and the Shepherds' Hamlet
Fátima was a parish of the Serra de Aire, created in 1568. Its church, the Parish Church of Fátima, was rebuilt in three naves between 1915 and 1925 and keeps the baptismal font where Francisco, Jacinta and Lúcia were baptized. The patroness on its high altar is Our Lady of Joys, in Portuguese Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres.
The children came from the hamlet of Aljustrel, about two kilometers from the Cova da Iria, the shallow hollow where they grazed their families' sheep. Lúcia was born in 1907, and the Sanctuary's chronology gives 28 March, although the baptism record shows 22 March.
