Europe's most visited pilgrimage site — the 1917 Marian apparitions that drew six million a year
Fátima is a small town in central Portugal that became one of the world's great pilgrimage destinations after the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared to three shepherd children here on six occasions between May and October 1917. The Sanctuary of Fátima — comprising the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (1953), the Chapel of the Apparitions on the exact apparition site, the vast esplanade (the world's second largest after St Peter's Square), and the ultra-modernist Basilica of the Holy Trinity (2007) — receives around six million visitors a year. The 13th of each month draws vast crowds, and on t…
On May 13, 1917, three children — Lúcia dos Santos (10), Francisco Marto (9), and Jacinta Marto (7) — claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to them in the Cova da Iria pasture and asked them to pray the Rosary for world peace. The apparitions continued monthly until October 13, when an estimated 70,000 witnesses — including sceptical journalists — reported the 'Miracle of the Sun': the sun appeared to dance, change colour, and plunge toward the earth. The Catholic Church officially approved the apparitions in 1930. Lúcia became a Carmelite nun and lived until 2005; Francisco and Jacinta died in th…