By Jimmy Akin, Catholic News Agency, (National Catholic Register), May 13, 2025
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news parter, on May 13, 2020, and has been adapted and updated by CNA.
National Catholic Register, May 13, 2025 / 04:00 am – May 13 is the optional memorial of Our Lady of Fátima, arguably the most prominent approved apparition of the 20th century. It became famous the world over, particularly for its three-part “secret.”
Here are nine things to know about this Marian apparition.
1. What happened at Fátima, Portugal?
A young shepherd girl, Lucia dos Santos, said she experienced supernatural visitations as early as 1915, two years before the famous appearances of Our Lady of Fátima.
In 1917, she and two of her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, were working as shepherds tending their families’ flocks. On May 13, 1917, the three children saw an apparition of a lady from heaven. She told them, among other things, that she would return once a month for six months. …
