The First Saturdays devotion comes to us as a result of Our Lady's apparitions to Servant of God Lucia dos Santos and her cousins at Fatima in 1917. In the secret of Fatima, given July 13, 1917, we read:
You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. ... I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace ... .
True to her word, Our Lady came to then-Sr. Lucia on Dec. 10, 1925, and said:
See, my daughter, my Heart encircled by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. Do you, at least, strive to console me. Tell them that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the ... mysteries of the Rosary.
Why five First Saturdays in particular? Jesus explained this to Sr. Lucia on May 29-30, 1930, saying:
There are five kinds of offenses and blasphemies spoken against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
First
: blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
Second
: against her Virginity
Third
: against the Divine Maternity, refusing, at the same time, to receive her as the Mother of mankind
Fourth
: those who seek publicly to implant, in the hearts of children, indifference, disrespect, and even hate for this Immaculate Mother
Fifth
: those who revile her directly in her sacred images
Here, dear daughter, is the motive that led the Immaculate Heart of Mary to petition Me to ask for this small act of reparation. And, out of regard for her, to move My mercy to pardon those souls who have had the misfortune to offend her. As for you, seek endlessly, with your prayers and sacrifices, to move Me to mercy in regard to these poor souls.
If we've made the Five First Saturdays once, are we done for life? "No!" writes noted Mariologist Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC. "You can and should make the Five First Saturdays more than once. In fact, I highly recommend it as a great spiritual practice!"
At war
Here we have a blindingly obvious and fairly simple request from Our Lady. Everything we need to perform this devotion is available to us in the average parish. Most parishes wouldn't have to add anything to their Saturday schedules! Just stick a reminder in the bulletin the week before a First Saturday.
The devotion is easy. All its elements are basic Catholicism. And Fatima is about as fully approved by the Church as any Marian apparition can ever be.
The Blessed Mother didn't ask us for much, did she? In exchange for the consecration of Russia and for the practice of the Five First Saturdays devotion, she promised us that her Immaculate Heart would triumph and an era of peace would be given to the world.
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What to do
On the first Saturday of five successive months, do the following, all with the intention of reparations to her Immaculate Heart:
-Go to Confession;
-receive Holy Communion;
-say five decades of the Rosary; and
-keep Our Lady company for 15 minutes, meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary.