Novena to Our Lady Of Fatima

The novena to Our Lady of Fatima is a nine-day prayer to the Blessed Virgin under the title she took when she appeared to three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal in 1917 — asking there for the daily Rosary, for penance, and for the conversion of sinners and of Russia. It is prayed above all for those same intentions and for one's own particular need, and its natural home is the nine days before her feast on 13 May, though it may be said at any time. Below we give the whole devotion: the daily prayer, the very prayers the Angel of Peace taught the children, a meditation for each of the nine days, the litany, and how to pray it.

The story behind the devotion

In 1916, a year before Our Lady came, an Angel who called himself the Angel of Peace appeared three times to Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and taught them two prayers of adoration and reparation. Then, on the thirteenth of each month from May to October 1917, the Blessed Virgin appeared six times at the Cova da Iria, calling herself "the Lady of the Rosary," asking that the Rosary be prayed every day for peace, and promising the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. On 13 October, before a crowd of some seventy thousand, the sun spun and plunged toward the earth in the sign we call the Miracle of the Sun. The novena gathers all of this — the Angel's prayers, Our Lady's plea for the Rosary, and her request for the conversion of Russia — into nine days of asking. To understand what a novena is and why we pray for nine days, see what is a novena.

The full novena to Our Lady of Fatima

The novena is short and may be prayed in a few minutes. Each of the nine days you pray the same prayers — beginning with the Sign of the Cross, then the daily prayer to Our Lady, the three prayers the Angel taught, three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Bes, and (where you can) at least a decade of the Rosary. Only the daily meditation changes.

The opening

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The daily prayer

Pray this same prayer on each of the nine days, naming your intention where marked:

Most Holy Virgin, who hast deigned to come to Fatima to reveal to the three little shepherds the treasures of graces hidden in the recitation of the Rosary, inspire our hearts with a sincere love of this devotion, so that, by meditating on the mysteries of our Redemption that are recalled in it, we may gather the fruits and obtain the conversion of sinners, the conversion of Russia, the peace of Christ for the world, and this favour that I so earnestly seek in this novena: (here name your request) — which I ask of thee for the greater glory of God, for thine own honour, and for the good of all people. Amen.

The prayers the Angel of Peace taught

These three prayers were given by the Angel and by Our Lady herself, and belong at the heart of the Fatima prayers. Pray all three on each day of the novena.

The prayer of adoration and reparation, taught by the Angel:

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee. I beg pardon of Thee for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee.

The Angel's prayer of reparation before the Blessed Sacrament:

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference by which He is offended. And through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners.

The prayer Our Lady asked to be added to each decade of the Rosary, given on 13 July 1917:

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy.

The Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Bes

Then pray, slowly:

Our Father… (three times).
Hail Mary… (three times).
Glory be to the Father… (three times).

The closing

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The nine days of the novena

The prayers above are the same every day; what changes is the mystery of Fatima we hold before us. Take one meditation each day, then pray the daily prayer, the Angel's prayers, and the Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Bes.

Day 1 — The Angel of Peace. We consider the Angel who came to prepare the children in 1916, teaching them to adore God and to make reparation. We beg the same spirit of adoration for ourselves.

Day 2 — The first apparition (13 May). Our Lady appears in light above the little holm oak and asks the children to return on the thirteenth of each month, and to pray the Rosary daily for peace. We ask a sincere love of the Rosary.

Day 3 — The Immaculate Heart (13 June). Our Lady shows her Heart encircled with thorns and asks that it be honoured. We consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and beg her triumph.

Day 4 — The vision of hell (13 July). The children are shown the reality of hell and the loss of souls, and Our Lady asks prayer and sacrifice for sinners. We pray for the grace of true contrition.

Day 5 — The conversion of Russia (13 July). Our Lady asks the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and the Communions of reparation on the First Saturdays. We pray for the conversion of Russia and of all nations that have fallen away.

Day 6 — The penance of the children (19 August). Delayed a month because the children were imprisoned, Our Lady renews her call to penance: "Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners." We offer the day's duties in reparation.

Day 7 — The Lady of the Rosary (13 September). Our Lady asks again for the daily Rosary and promises a miracle. We resolve to pray the Rosary faithfully; see our guide on how to pray the Rosary.

Day 8 — The Miracle of the Sun (13 October). Before a vast crowd the sun dances in the sky, sealing the truth of the message. We thank God for so plain a sign and ask an increase of faith.

Day 9 — The triumph of the Immaculate Heart. Our Lady's promise: "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph." We entrust our intention, our country, and the whole Church to her, and make our petition with confidence.

The novena to Our Lady of Fatima for conversion

Fatima is, before all else, a call to conversion — of sinners, of Russia, and of our own hearts. If you pray this novena for the return of a straying soul, for a hardened family member, or for the peace that only conversion can bring, you are praying it exactly as Our Lady asked. Keep the words "the conversion of sinners" in the daily prayer, add the person by name at "this favour that I so earnestly seek," and offer the decade prayer she gave on 13 July for those "in most need of Thy mercy." The same trust animates every prayer for conversion, for at Fatima the Lady of the Rosary and the Mother of conversion are one.

The Litany of Our Lady of Fatima

Many pray the novena "with the litany" — a short litany of invocations honouring Our Lady under her Fatima titles. It may be added after the daily prayer. To each invocation the response is pray for us.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, pray for us.
Queen of Peace,
Queen of the most holy Rosary,
Mother who came from heaven,
Mother of mercy,
Mother of the poor,
Refuge of sinners,
Teacher of the Rosary,
Guardian of the little ones,
Model of penance,
Mirror of prayer,
Herald of the Immaculate Heart,
Consoler of the afflicted,
Hope of the dying,
Help of Christians,
(to each: pray for us.)

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

V. Pray for us, O Queen of the most holy Rosary.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

How to pray the novena of Our Lady of Fatima

A novena is nine days of the same steady asking. To pray this one well:

• Choose your days. The most fitting time is the nine days before her feast — begin on 4 May and finish on 12 May, so the ninth day falls on the vigil of the feast of 13 May. But you may pray the novena at any time of year, and for any worthy need.
• Pray at a fixed hour each day, and do not break the chain of nine. If you can, add the daily Rosary — this is the very devotion Our Lady came to ask.
• Name your intention plainly at the marked place, and hold the day's meditation before you.
• Ask in submission. Our Lady obtains not always the favour we name, but always what is best for the soul. Pray Thy will be done, and leave the outcome to God.

The three shepherd children answered Our Lady's request with a life of prayer and sacrifice; Francisco and Jacinta Marto died holy deaths within three years and have since been raised to the altars, while Lucia lived out her days as a cloistered Carmelite. Their example is the disposition of this novena: simple, trusting, and generous.

Who is Our Lady of Fatima?

Our Lady of Fatima is the Blessed Virgin Mary as she revealed herself at the Cova da Iria, near the town of Fatima in Portugal, over six months in 1917. She called herself the Lady of the Rosary and came, as she said, "from heaven." Her message was neither new nor strange: it was the old Gospel of prayer, penance, and conversion, pressed with a mother's urgency upon an age drifting from God. She asked for the daily Rosary, for devotion and reparation to her Immaculate Heart, for the First Saturdays, and for the consecration of Russia — promising that in the end her Immaculate Heart would triumph.

The Church examined the events with her usual caution. After thirteen years of inquiry, the Bishop of Leiria declared the apparitions worthy of belief and authorised the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima on 13 October 1930. The devotion spread through the whole Catholic world: Pope Pius XII, consecrating the human race to the Immaculate Heart in 1942 and crowning the image at Fatima in 1946, called himself "the Pope of Fatima." Her feast is kept on 13 May, the day of the first apparition. She is invoked as Queen of Peace and Queen of the Rosary, and her message stands beside the earlier Marian apparitions — the Miraculous Medal given at Paris and Our Lady of Lourdes — as one of the great calls of heaven to a modern world in need of penance.

Because Fatima is a devotion of the last century, some who hold closely to the older calendar may wonder how it sits within the traditional treasury. It sits securely: approved by the Church in 1930, embraced by the popes before and after the Council, and asking nothing but what the Rosary has always asked. It is, in the truest sense, a call back to tradition — to the Rosary, to reparation, to the fear of hell and the love of God.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the novena to Our Lady of Fatima begin?

The novena is most fittingly begun on 4 May, so that its nine days run to 12 May and it closes on the eve of her feast, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima on 13 May — the anniversary of the first apparition in 1917. There is no rule binding it to those dates, however; you may begin the novena on any day of the year when you have a need to bring to Our Lady, and simply pray it nine days running.

How do you pray the novena of Our Lady of Fatima?

Each day, for nine days, make the Sign of the Cross, pray the daily prayer to Our Lady (naming your intention), then the three prayers the Angel taught — My God, I believe, the Most Holy Trinity prayer of reparation, and O my Jesus, forgive us our sins — followed by three Our Fathers, three Hail Marys, and three Glory Bes. Where you can, add a decade or the full Rosary, the devotion Our Lady herself came to ask. The full text is given above.

What does the novena to Our Lady of Fatima mean?

It means to ask, over nine days, for the very things Our Lady requested at Fatima — the conversion of sinners, the conversion of Russia, peace for the world, and your own particular need — through the daily Rosary and prayers of reparation. To pray it is to answer her plea in 1917 with the prayer and penance she asked for, and to place your intention under the protection of her Immaculate Heart.

Is this the same as the Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima novena?

Yes. Our Lady told the children she was "the Lady of the Rosary," so the devotion is known both as the novena to Our Lady of Fatima and as the Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima novena. They are one and the same prayer. It is closely joined to the broader devotion of the Rosary and to the 54-day Rosary novena, which some pray for the same grave intentions.

What are the prayers the Angel taught at Fatima?

The Angel of Peace taught two prayers in 1916. The first, a prayer of faith and reparation: "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee. I beg pardon of Thee for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee." The second, prayed before the Blessed Sacrament: "Most Holy Trinity… I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ… in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference by which He is offended." To these Our Lady added, on 13 July, the decade prayer "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins…" All three are prayed in the novena.

Can I pray the novena for a specific intention or for conversion?

Yes. The daily prayer leaves a place to name whatever grace you seek — the return of a soul, a healing, work, peace in a family, or any worthy need. Fatima is above all a call to conversion, so it is especially fitting to bring the straying and the hardened to Our Lady here, praying the decade prayer for those "in most need of Thy mercy." Ask plainly, and ask in submission to God's will.

Is there a printable PDF of the Fatima novena?

The complete text above — the daily prayer, the Angel's three prayers, the Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Bes, and the litany — is the whole nine-day novena, and may be copied and kept beside you for the nine days. The Iter Fidei app also carries the full devotion with day-by-day reminders and audio, so it can be prayed from a phone without a printed sheet.

Pray this novena with day-by-day reminders and audio, alongside the Rosary and the prayers of Fatima, in the Iter Fidei app. Download it here.

Sources. The apparitions of Our Lady at the Cova da Iria, Fatima, 13 May–13 October 1917, and the prayers of the Angel of Peace (1916), as recorded in the memoirs of Sister Lucia; the decade prayer "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins," given 13 July 1917; the approval of the devotion by the Bishop of Leiria, 13 October 1930; the consecration of the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by Pope Pius XII (1942); the traditional novena prayer to Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima and the Litany of Our Lady of Fatima as carried in Catholic prayer-books; the daily Rosary (cf. Luke 1:28, 42).