Skip to main content


The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima is a Roman Catholic Marian basilica in Fátima, Portugal. Its construction began in 1928 and it was consecrated in October 1953.

The basilica is built at the site of the Marian apparitions reported by three Portuguese children in 1917 and known as Our Lady of Fátima. The tombs of Blessed Francisco Marto, Blessed Jacinta Marto and Sister Lúcia dos Santos, the three children, are in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary. Scenes of the Marian apparitions are shown in stained glass.

The fifteen church altars are dedicated to the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. The large church organ was installed in 1952 and has about 12 thousand pipes. Four statues of the four great apostles of the Rosary and to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary are at the four corners of the Basilica: Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Saint Dominic, Saint John Eudes and Saint Stephen, King of Hungary.

The shrine attracts a large number of Roman Catholics, and every year pilgrims fill the country road that leads to the shrine with crowds that approach one million on May 13th and October 13th, the significant dates of Fátima apparitions. Overall, about four million pilgrims visit the basilica every year.

The Chapel of Apparitions is at the very heart of the basilica and the exact location of the apparitions is marked by a marble pillar which holds a statue of the Virgin Mary.

The Paul VI Pastoral Center was inaugurated on 13 May 1982, by Pope John Paul II, as a center for study and reflection on the message of Fátima. It can seat over 2,000 people and has accommodation for 400 pilgrims.

The treasury of the sanctuary holds the Irish Monstrance considered to be one of the most significant works of religious art from Ireland. The monstrance was gifted to the basilica in 1949.

The entrance to the Fátima Sanctuary, to the south of the rectory, is a segment of the Berlin Wall intended to emphasize the belief that the Rosary prayers influenced the fall of the Berlin Wall related to the Consecration of Russia based on the Our Lady of Fátima messages.

The large statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which stands in the niche above the main entrance of the basilica, was sculpted by American priest Thomas McGlynn, O.P. Father McGlynn spent considerable time with visionary Lucia Santos as she described for him in detail how Mary looked during her appearances to the children. The statue is not what Father McGlynn had in mind when he approached Lucia, but is more accurately described as a collaboration between visionary and scultor, producing perhaps the most accurate representation of Our Lady of Fatima ever to be sculpted. The statue was presented as a gift from the Catholic people of the United States to the Sanctuary of Fatima in 1958.
By Josh

More Fatima & Spain

Our Lady of Fatima is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary with respect to reported apparitions of her to three shepherd children at Fatima in Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May 13.

Videos more

Our Lady of Fatima Shrine

Our Lady of Fatima Shrine

OUR LADY OF FATIMA: A Faithful Tribute

OUR LADY OF FATIMA: A ...

Sintra & Fatima, Portugal

Sintra & Fatima, Portugal

Fátima - Portugal

Fátima - Portugal


Photos more

The beaches of Lagos, Portugal.

The beaches of Lagos, Portugal.

Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo

Primate Cathedral of Saint ...

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Famí

The Basílica i Temple ...

Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família

Temple Expiatori de la ...


Topics more

Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family
Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family - Although incomplete, in November 2010 the church was consecrated and proclaimed a minor basilica ...

Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Francisco Marto (June 11, 1908–April 4, 1919) and his sister Jacinta Marto (March 11, 1910–February 20, 1920), also known as Blessed Francisco Marto ...

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima is a Roman Catholic Marian basilica in Fátima, Portugal. Its construction began in 1928 and it was consecrated ...


News more

Last Judgment in the tympanum at the Abbey of st. Foy bristles with hideous imagination of the fate to befall sinners in the afterlife.
Abbey of St. Foy is longtime medieval pilgrimage route

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM) • Catholic Online • 1/17/2013

The Abbey of St. Foy, nestled in the hills of southern France is a beautiful Romanesque church perfectly aligned with its surroundings. The ...



Abbey founder Bernard of Clairvaux believed that light should enter the church. He shared the Eastern Christian of Byzantine emphasis that the God is the source of all light and that one way to experience God's presence is through light.
Austere Abbaye de Fonteny filled only with light

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM) • Catholic Online • 12/5/2012

Found in the Burgundy Valley, the Abbaye de Fontenay is a well-restored 12th-century Cistercian monastery founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The ...



Graham Hughes ended his epic four-year journey by crossing into Juba, the capital of South Sudan, which did not even exist when he set off from his hometown of Liverpool on New Year's Day 2009.
British man visits all of the world's 201 nations - without flying in a plane

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM) • Catholic Online • 11/27/2012

Thirty-three-year-old Graham Hughes of Liverpool wanted to travel with his feet firmly planted on the soil. To this end, the eccentric Briton can now ...





More Travel Destinations

Rome, Vatican & Italy
Holy Land (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jordan)
Britain & Ireland
Greece (Footsteps of St. Paul)
Fatima & Spain
Lourdes & France
Guadalupe & Mexico
Medjugorje & Central Europe

Book your Trip Now