The First Saturday devotion is a practice of reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, requested by Our Lady in her message of Fatima: on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, to go to confession, receive Holy Communion, pray five decades of the Rosary and keep her company for fifteen minutes meditating on its mysteries. Below is how to make the five First Saturdays, the promise attached to them, why there are five, and the prayers to use.
The origin of the devotion
On July 13, 1917, Our Lady told the three shepherd children of Fatima that she would come to ask for “the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.” On December 10, 1925, at Pontevedra in Spain, Sister Lucia, then a young postulant, received the request in detail. The devotion spread quickly and is encouraged by the Church as part of the Fatima message. See the Fatima prayers.
The four conditions
On the first Saturday of five consecutive months, with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
- Go to confession. It may be made within about eight days before or after the First Saturday. See how to go to confession.
- Receive Holy Communion.
- Pray five decades of the Rosary. See the Rosary prayers.
- Keep Our Lady company for fifteen minutes, meditating on one or more mysteries of the Rosary.
The promise
According to Sister Lucia’s account, Our Lady promised to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all who faithfully make the five First Saturdays in this spirit of reparation. As with every private revelation, the promise is an encouragement to love and faithfulness, not a guarantee independent of how we live.
Why five Saturdays?
In 1930 Sister Lucia explained that the five Saturdays correspond to five kinds of offenses against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
- Blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception.
- Blasphemies against her perpetual virginity.
- Blasphemies against her divine motherhood, and the refusal to accept her as Mother of all.
- Those who try to sow indifference, contempt or hatred of her in children’s hearts.
- Those who insult her directly in her holy images.
A prayer of reparation for the First Saturday
Written for this page:
Immaculate Heart of Mary, I come to keep you company today
and to console you for the offenses of so many.
I offer you this confession, this Communion and this Rosary
in reparation for the sins that wound your heart,
and I ask for the conversion of sinners and peace in the world.
Keep me always close to your Son Jesus. Amen.
The Angel of Fatima’s prayer is also fitting: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love you…” See the Fatima prayers.
Frequently asked questions
What if I cannot go to confession on the Saturday itself?
Sister Lucia reported that confession may be made within about eight days before or after, as long as one receives Communion in the state of grace.
What if I miss one First Saturday?
Begin again, so that the five Saturdays are consecutive.
What is the difference between First Saturdays and First Fridays?
First Fridays honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus for nine months; First Saturdays honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary for five months. See the First Friday devotion.
More Marian prayers
- Immaculate Heart of Mary
- Fatima prayers
- First Friday devotion
- Rosary prayers
- Today’s Rosary mysteries
- Total Consecration to Mary
Texts and sources
- On the devotion: Sister Lucia’s accounts of the apparitions at Pontevedra (1925) and of 1930, as summarized for this page.
- The prayer was written for this page.