Fatima
The Sanctuary of Fátima (Portuguese: Santuário de Fátima), officially titled Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima (Santuário de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima), is a Marian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima located in Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém,
in Portugal. It consists of a group of Catholic religious buildings and structures with the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário) as the main building.
In addition to the Basilica, the shrine contains the Chapel of the Lausperene (Capela do Lausperene), a great oak tree near where the 1917 Marian Apparitions occurred, a monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Monumento ao Sagrado Coração de Jesus) and the Chapel of the Apparitions (Capelinha das Aparições) which contains the area where three children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, said they were first visited by the Virgin Mary. In addition, several other structures and monuments were built in the intervening years to commemorate the events.
Legend tells us that in the eleven hundreds, a girl named Fatima converted to Catholicism in this region, and her name was transferred to the village.
Across from the main sanctuary is the much larger Basilica of the Holy Trinity constructed after 1953, owing to the limited scale of the Sanctuary for large-scale pilgrimages and religious services.
Fatima is the most important pilgrimage site in Portugal. This is where an apparition of Mary appeared to three shepherd children, six times over six months, culminating in the Miracle of the Sun, which was witnessed by over 70,000 people.
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| Three shepherd children |
Fátima is globally renowned for the religious visions which took place here in 1917 and which have made it an important pilgrimage center for the Catholic faith.
Many religious festivities take place here over the year. Just an hour and a half away from Lisbon, Fatima is a very interesting city to visit. While it can get quite crowded during important religious holidays, it is well worth visiting.
