The Five First Saturdays

Before I move into the next section that deals with the Five First Saturdays, I want to make an observation. There is a tendency today, in the light of what we could call “ecumenical sensitivities”, to play down hard-line Catholic truths for the sake of an ecumenical orientation. This new idea says that, in dealing with non-Catholics, we should not concentrate so much on those things that divide us, but let’s put them aside, and concentrate on those things that unite us.

By contrast, we see that this is not the approach that Our Blessed Mother took at Fatima. Our Lady recognized that Her first duty is to teach the Truth. And Our Lady,

• by emphasizing the Rosary,



• by emphasizing devotion to Her Immaculate Heart,



• by emphasizing the Brown Scapular,



• by emphasizing Purgatory,



• by emphasizing the authority of the Papacy,



• by emphasizing the Sacrament of Confession,



• by emphasizing the Holy Eucharist as the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ,

Our Lady is emphasizing those very points that DIVIDE Catholics from Protestants, and that DIVIDE Catholics from every other religion on the face of the earth.

Can any of us claim that in our approach, we know better than the Mother of God?

And not only does the Message of Fatima emphasize those points that divide us, but it explains clearly that, in the objective order, those people who do not believe these truths, and especially those people who refuse to give Her the honor that is due Her, are guilty of the crime of blasphemy.

Our Lord taught this in a delicate but firm manner when He explained the Five First Saturdays of Reparation.

The First Saturdays devotion to Our Lady was not something new. It was not an innovation. Again, in calling for the Five First Saturdays, Our Lady was showing profound respect for tradition.

In 1892, Pope Leo XIII granted to all the Faithful a plenary indulgence to those who devoted 15 consecutive Saturdays in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Later on, Pope St. Pius X granted a plenary indulgence to all who would perform the Twelve First Saturdays in honor of Our Lady.

Further, on June 13, 1912, Pope St. Pius X granted new indulgences to the Faithful who performed the devotion of Reparation to Our Lady on the First Saturdays of the month.

And five years later to the day, on June 13, 1917, Our Lady showed to the three children of Fatima Her Immaculate Heart “surrounded by thorns that seemed to pierce It” which demanded reparation.

In calling for the Five First Saturdays, Our Lady took a traditional devotion, simplified it, and gave it a greater efficacy.

On December 10, 1925, when Lucy was an 18-year-old Postulant in Pontevedra, Our Lady and the Child Jesus appeared to her. Our Lord said,

“Have compassion on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother, covered with thorns, with which ungrateful men pierce It at every moment, and there is no one to make an Act of Reparation to remove them.”

The Child Jesus is concerned about these sins against His Mother.

Then Our Blessed Mother said to Lucy:

“Look, My daughter, at My Heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce Me at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console Me and announce in My name that I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep Me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making Reparation to Me.”

Later, Sister Lucy’s confessor, Father Gonçalves, directed Sister Lucy to ask Our Lady some questions regarding the Five First Saturdays.

One of the questions he asked was “Why five Saturdays, and not nine or seven in honor of the Sorrows of Our Lady?”

During the revelation of Our Lord at Tuy on May 29, 1930, Sister Lucy asked that question. This was the response given her by Heaven:

“My daughter, the reason is simple. There are five types of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception;



2. Blasphemies against Her Perpetual Virginity;



3. Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of Men;



4. The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother;



5. The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her Holy Images.”

Hence, this is what I mean when I say that, indirectly, and in the objective order, Our Lord has accused those who are members of non-Catholic religions as being guilty of blasphemy against Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart.

Let’s look at these five offenses again:

1. Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception;

Most Protestants, as well as most of the Eastern Orthodox, do not believe in the Immaculate Conception. And of course neither do Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, Freemasons, Communists, socialists, secular humanists, etc.

2. Blasphemies against Her Perpetual Virginity;

Again, this indicts most Protestants, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, the vast majority of which do not believe in Her Perpetual Virginity. In fact, many “Catholics” today do not believe in Her Perpetual Virginity.

3. Blasphemies against Her Divine Maternity, in refusing at the same time to recognize Her as the Mother of Men;

Of course, we know that Moslems, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists reject this teaching, especially because they do not believe that Jesus Christ is God. And Our Lord warned “No one comes to the Father but through Me.”

4. The blasphemies of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother;

Again, this is the state of Protestants, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, and most other false religions. Members of these religions will teach their children to attach no importance to Our Lady and to Her Immaculate Heart. Notice too that this is not something of little importance in Our Lord’s eyes. He calls it blasphemy, and He calls upon Catholics to get on their knees and make reparation for these great sins. They are thorns in Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart.

5. The offenses of those who outrage Her directly in Her Holy Images;

This includes those who would actually destroy Her images, or ridicule them, or those Protestants who accuse Catholics of idolatry for having statues of Our Lady in places of honor in their homes.

As well as being a call to penance, this is an indictment against all non-Catholic religions.

Thus, Our Lord is not taking the modern ecumenical approach. He is not emphasizing those points that unite us with false religions. He is emphasizing those points that divide us from non-Catholics. By doing so, I believe Our Lord is telling us that these points are far more important than any superficial ecumenical unity.

He is emphasizing that these blasphemies against Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart are not to be taken lightly. They are, in fact, sins against Faith.