St. Carlo Acutis was quite familiar with Our Lady of Fatima’s requests. “A few days after the death of Sister Lucia in 2005, Carlo dreamed of her. She told him that the practice of the five first Saturdays of the month could change the destiny of the world,” recounts his mother Antonia Salzano Acutis in her book, My Son Carlo: Carlo Acutis Through the Eyes of His Mother.

“Given the significance of St. Carlo’s life and contribution to the Church, this seems to be another call from Sister Lucia to take this request seriously,” David Carollo, executive director of the World Apostolate of Fatima, told the Register.

What does this century-old Marian request entail? Going to confession on a First Saturday (or the Saturday immediately preceding or following); receiving Holy Communion on the First Saturday itself; reciting five decades of the Rosary; speaking in a conversational way with Our Lady for 15 minutes, using one or more mysteries of the Rosary with the intention of making reparation to her Immaculate Heart; and doing all of these on the First Saturday of five consecutive months.

The observation of St. Carlo becomes even more consequential because this Dec. 10 marks the 100th anniversary of our Blessed Mother’s request for the Five First Saturdays devotion.

“The Blessed Mother doesn’t ask for things unless it is important,” Carollo emphasized, adding that at the time of her request in 1925, Russia had been taken over by communists, and political repression and executions intensified. The greater war (World War II) that Mary warned about on July 13, 1917, was not yet a threat, but Sister Lucia (now “Venerable Lucia”) was given to understand that whether there would be peace or war in the world depended on our practice of this devotion.

“Today, we hear rumblings of a third world war, increasing apostasy and godlessness, of technological advances that can annihilate our view of humanity as made in God’s image,” Carollo said. “Sister Lucia never stopped appealing to us to practice the Five First Saturdays devotion, as it would be the means by which we can maintain peace in the world until the Fatima events and mission are completed.”

Marian Father Donald Calloway, author of several Marian books, also explains why people need to heed this appeal. “We should listen to heaven’s request and respond because 100 years have gone by since the Five First Saturdays were given to us, and things have not gotten better, but worse. If Our Lady was offended by things happening 100 years ago, imagine how offended she must be today!” he emphasized.

Yet hopes are high that this anniversary will be a reminder and an incentive for people to begin this devotion requested by Our Lady and spread it.

As Cardinal Raymond Burke stated in a recent letter on preparing for the centennial, “Our Lady’s insistence on the devotion of the First Saturdays is a wonderful expression of her unfailing maternal love.”

A Brief Review

Mary first told the children about this devotion during her July 13, 1917, apparition at Fatima. She said, “I shall ask that on the First Saturday of every month, Communions of reparation be made in atonement for the sins of the world.”

Then, on Dec. 10, 1925, the details of the First Saturday devotion came to light when the Blessed Mother appeared to Lucia in her convent in Pontevedra, Spain. The date happened to be the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, which celebrates the Holy House of Nazareth. Our Lady rested her hand upon Lucia’s shoulder, and Lucia described the appearance in her book, Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words:

She was holding her Immaculate Heart in her hand, and by her side stood the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud. Jesus said, ‘Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation to remove them.’

Then the Blessed Virgin Mary told Lucia:

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 say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with 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 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.

Our Lady herself assures that those who make this devotion will receive from her the graces necessary for salvation at the moment of their death.

Following Fatima’s Saturdays

Heeding and responding to Our Lady’s request “is a spiritual act of mercy to pray for souls that offend God in his creation of the Woman,” said Carollo. “The devil hates the Woman, and he hates the children of the Woman.” As the faithful make reparation for these five blasphemies, “we are helping to repair the disunity in the Church and sins that offend God.”

Jesus gave reasons for this reparation to Our Lady, including the five Saturdays, and listed the blasphemies when he appeared to Sister Lucia five years later. On May 29, 1930, he told her, “My daughter, the motive is simple: There are five ways in which people offend and blaspheme against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Jesus listed these blasphemies: against her Immaculate Conception; against her perpetual virginity; against her divine maternity, refusing also to accept her as the Mother of all mankind; trying publicly to implant in children’s hearts indifference, disrespect, contempt and even hatred against our Immaculate Mother; and insulting her directly in rejecting and dishonoring her sacred images.

Father Calloway finds this request significant. “She is our Mom. No son or daughter would be delighted to see their mother ridiculed or offended. As faithful and loving spiritual children of Mary, we should take up heaven’s offer to smother her with spiritual kisses by making reparation to her Immaculate Heart.”

Simple and Easy

Carollo encourages the Five First Saturdays devotion for individuals or communities.

“Many are surprised when they learn how simple it is to accomplish and how much leeway the Lord gives in accomplishing the requirements,” he says, “such as that confession can be eight days before or after, and even longer if the person is in a state of grace on the First Saturday when receiving Communion.”

He sees this centennial as an opportunity “to educate people on this ‘forgotten’ devotion of Fatima and draw them closer to Jesus through her Immaculate Heart, which promises to be a refuge for us on our earthly journey.”

To help them learn to love and practice this devotion regularly, for this centennial, the World Apostolate of Fatima designed a First Saturday virtual pilgrimage.

Father Calloway encourages more preaching from the pulpit about the First Saturdays. “Bishops, priests and deacons have an incredible opportunity to make them known to a wide audience,” he said. One of the most popular pamphlets that the Marian Fathers print is his “Five First Saturdays” pamphlet that explains the devotion.

Major Reminders

Cardinal Burke noted in his letter how Our Lord, appearing to Lucia as the Infant Jesus, “appeared to confirm the devotion of the First Saturdays as an efficacious means of reparation for sins and conversion of heart to His Most Sacred Heart through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of His Virgin Mother.”

Readying to celebrate the centennial should make the faithful, he continued, “deeply conscious of the great need of reparation for the sins which offend the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the same time, we are deeply conscious of how the same sins so profoundly disrupt the order of life in society, resulting in civil strife within nations and wars among nations, and in violent attacks on human life, on marriage and the family, and on the free practice of religion in many nations.”

To make the First Saturdays with dedication and enthusiasm, keep in mind something else Jesus told Sister Lucia when he appeared to her as the Christ Child on Feb. 15, 1926. He said:

It is true, my daughter, that many souls begin the First Saturdays, but few finish them, and those who do complete them do so in order to receive the graces that are promised thereby. It would please me more if they did five with fervor and with the intention of making reparation to the Heart of your heavenly Mother, than if they did 15, in a tepid and indifferent manner.

Along with the main purpose of this devotion, the effort to work with Our Lady for peace and to receive a personal promise of grace for salvation is a deal too good to pass up (and will prompt those who do so to want to continue them month after month for these reasons).

For this centennial celebration, do not postpone, prolong or procrastinate starting the First Saturdays devotion. Decide and determine to carry them out. You’ll find after the first one that each successive observance of the First Saturday devotion becomes easier — all while comforting Our Lady and making reparations for the sins committed against her Immaculate Heart, as she and her Son requested.

As Cardinal Burke said in his letter for the anniversary, “Trust the promise of Our Lady of Fatima that the fruit of your devotion, by God’s grace, will be the salvation of many souls and peace throughout the world.”

How to Make the First Saturdays Devotion

Here’s how to observe the First Saturdays devotion:

1. Go to confession on the first Saturday of the month. (You can also do this on the Saturday immediately preceding or following. Bishop José Alves Correia da Silva of Leiria said the confession can be made during the eight days preceding or following the first Saturday, as long as Holy Communion is received in the state of grace.)

2. Receive Holy Communion on the First Saturday itself.

3. Recite five decades of the Rosary.

4. Meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary for 15 minutes, keeping Mary company — one or more mysteries — with the intention of making reparation to her Immaculate Heart.

(Remember to consciously do this with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And if at the start you forget? Jesus has the solution. When he visited Sister Lucia on Feb. 26, 1926, as the Child Jesus, she asked, “My Jesus, what about those who forget to make the intention?” Jesus answered, “They can do so at their next confession, taking advantage of their first opportunity to go to confession.”)

5. Do all these things on the first Saturday of five consecutive months.