page_title: Sanctuary of Fátima
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sanctuary of Fátima / History
caption_attribution_description: Português: Santo Anjo da Guarda de Portugal
context_page_description: The Sanctuary of Fátima, also known as Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, is a group of Catholic religious buildings and structures in Cova da Iria, in the civil parish of Fátima, in the municipality of Ourém, in Portugal.
  In addition to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, the shrine consists of the Chapel of the Lausperene, a great oak tree near where the 1917 Marian Apparitions occurred, a monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Chapel of the Apparitions 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.
  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.
context_section_description: In 1916, on three separate occasions, Lúcia dos Santos and her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, began reporting apparitions of an angel in the region of Valinhos. These alleged visitations began on the 13 May 1917 when, while tending their family's sheep in Cova da Iria, they said they witnessed the apparition of what they later assumed was the Virgin Mary, and began doing penance and self-sacrifice to atone for sinners. Many flocked to Fátima and Aljustrel to witness these alleged apparitions along with the children, but not before the children were jailed for being politically disruptive. These visitations culminated on the 13 October 1917 public Miracle of the Sun event, as the apparition of Virgin Mary allegedly divulged three secrets to the children. Although the Miracle of the Sun marked the children's last claimed apparition, the region of Fátima continued to be a destination for pilgrims.
  Victims of the 1918 flu pandemic epidemic, both cousins (Francisco and Jacinta Marto) died on 4 April 1919 and 20 February 1920 (in Aljustrel and Lisbon), respectively. Along with the Three Secrets of Fátima, their stories (and that of Lúcia), would be linked to religious construction that followed in Fátima. A small chapel, the Capelinha das Aparições (Chapel of the Apparitions) was started on 28 April 1919 by local people: its construction was neither hindered or encouraged by church authorities.
  On 13 May 1920, pilgrims defied government troops to install a statue of the Virgin Mary in the chapel, while the first officially celebrated mass occurred on 13 October 1921. A hostel for the sick was also opened in the same year, but the original chapel was destroyed on 6 March 1922.
  The first investigations (canonical process) by the Roman Catholic Church in regards to the events at Fátima began on 3 May 1922.  Meanwhile, the small Chapel of the Appariations was rebuilt and functioning by 1923.  It would take the next four years to see a change in attitude from the Roman Catholic church; on 26 July 1927, the Bishop of Leiria presided over the first religious service at Cova da Iria, that included the blessing of the 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) stations of the cross on the mountain road to the site from Reguengo do Fetal.
  On 13 May 1928, the first foundation stone was laid in the construction of the basilica and colonnade of Fátima, a process that continued until 1954.  The construction of the colonnade, by architect António Lino began in 1949 and extended to 1954. Meanwhile, on 13 October 1930, the Roman Catholic Church permitted the existence of the first cult of Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Our Lady of Fátima). Even before the completion of the complex, the mortal remains of Jacinta Marto was moved from her modest grave in Vila Nova de Ourém (where she had been buried following her death) to Fátima (12 September 1935), and later (on 1 May 1951) to the completed basilica sanctuary.  Her brother's remains were moved from the cemetery in Fátima to the basilica on 13 March 1952. An organ was also mounted that same year in the completed church, by the firm Fratelli Rufatti of Pádua.
  Before this period, on 13 May 1942, a large pilgrimage had already marked the 25th anniversary of the apparitions. Two years later (on 13 May 1946), Cardinal Massella, Pontifical Legate, crowned the image of Our Lady of Fátima in the Chapel of the Apparitions, marking a complete reversal in the official posture of the Vatican See towards the events at Fátima. On 7 October 1953 the Church of the Sanctuary of Fátima was consecrated, and within a year, Pope Pius XII conceded the church the title of Basilica in his short Luce Superna document (November 1954).
  On 13 May 1956, cardinal Angelo Roncalli, patriarch of Venice and future Pope John XXIII, presided over an international pilgrimage anniversary. From this point forward, there would continue to be an active presence and influence of the patriarchy of the Vatican in the events at Fátima. On 1 January 1960, the sacred Lausperene rite was initiated.
  The sections of the organ, until this time dispersed throug
caption: Monument of the Guardian Angel of Portugal apparition to the three little shepherd children of Fátima, Portugal.
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