During the third apparition at Fatima on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that she would later ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for a devotion of reparation through the Five First Saturdays. She formally requested the First Saturday devotion in 1925 and the consecration of Russia in 1929.
While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra, Spain, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925. In this vision, the Blessed Virgin appeared beside a luminous cloud, accompanied by a Child—believed to be Jesus—who stood by her side. Mary held a heart encircled by thorns in one hand, symbolizing the pain inflicted by humanity’s sins and ingratitude.
The Child spoke, saying:
“Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, which is covered with thorns that ungrateful men drive into it at every moment, without anyone making an act of reparation to remove them.”
Our Lady then said:
“See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded by thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it constantly with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, strive to console me. Announce that I promise to assist at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for salvation all who, for five consecutive first Saturdays, go to Confession, receive Communion, pray five decades of the Rosary, and meditate for fifteen minutes on its mysteries with the intention of making reparation to Me.”
Sister Lucia later documented this vision in a letter to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes, her former confessor during her time at the Asylum of Vilar in Oporto, Portugal.