Consecration to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts at Fatima

Cardinal António Marto, the bishop of Leiria-Fatima and the bishops of Portugal and Spain performed the consecration to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. On the solemn occasion of the Feast of the Annunciation, the bishops asked for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession for the “direct and indirect victims” of the pandemic that affects us, for “health professionals, tireless in their efforts to help the sick…authorities, in their efforts to find solutions," and for "all of us and our families." The rosary was also recited in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Polish. Tens of thousands of faithful watched the ceremony broadcast live on the web page for the Fatima shrine and throughout Portugal on television, radio, and many Catholic digital platforms.

The Portuguese initiative was the result of a petition begun on March 19 by a group of laymen who gathered over 5,500 signatures that they presented to the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. Among the signers were several members of the Bragança family, including Duke Duarte Pio, the great-grandson of King Miguel I of Portugal and claimant to the defunct Portuguese throne. The text of the petition stressed the urgency of the situation, highlighting not only the evils of the coronavirus but also all the miseries that are already associated with it, from isolation to unemployment "at levels never seen before."

Initially, only the Portuguese bishops intended to renew the consecration of their country to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. Then the Spanish bishops asked to take part in this consecration, followed by other bishops’ conferences the world over. The countries consecrated were Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, East Timor, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Kenya, Mexico, Moldova, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

The Basilica of Fatima was built on the site where, just over a century ago, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times to three Portuguese children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto. The Queen of Heaven told the children to make sacrifices for sinners and pray the Rosary every day for peace. A few years later both Francisco and Jacinta died to the Spanish flu, a pandemic that killed over 25 million people. Lúcia later became a nun, and she reminded the faithful that the Rosary is “something everybody can do.”

May our Lord and Lady bless this public act of adoration and reparation.

The Consecration of Portugal (1931)

On May 13, 1931, in the presence of the 300,000 faithful who had come to Fatima for the event, the bishops of Portugal solemnly consecrated their nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They placed Portugal under the protection of Our Lady to preserve that nation from the Communist contagion that was sweeping through Europe, and especially Spain. As a result of this Consecration, Portugal experienced a three-fold miracle:

1. a magnificent Catholic Renaissance
2. a political and social reform, in accordance with Catholic social principles.
3. an exceptional preservation from Communism and World War II.

The Consecration of Portugal (1938)

Regarding the Spanish Civil War, the Portuguese bishops had vowed in 1936 that if Our Lady protected Portugal from the Communists, they would express their gratitude by renewing the National Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. True to their word, on May 13, 1938, they renewed the Consecration of Portugal to the Immaculate Heart in thanksgiving for Our Lady's protection. Cardinal Cerejeira acknowledged publicly:

Since Our Lady of Fatima appeared in 1917 ... A special blessing of God has descended upon the land of Portugal ... especially if we review the two years which have gone since our vow, one cannot fail to recognize that the invisible hand of God has protected Portugal, sparing it the scourge of war and the leprosy of atheistic communism.

Even Pope Pius XII expressed astonishment that Portugal was spared the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and the Communist menace.

Sister Lucy wrote to Pope Pius XII on December 2, 1940, to tell him that Portugal was receiving special protection during the war that other nations would have received if the bishops would have consecrated their nations to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She wrote:

Most Holy Father, Our Lord promises a special protection to our country in this war, due to the consecration of the nation, by the Portuguese prelates, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; as proof of the graces that would have been granted to other nations, had they also consecrated themselves to Her.1

• 1The Whole Truth About Fatima, Vol. II, p. 428. Frère Michel de la Sainte Trinité (English edition, Immaculate Heart Publications, Buffalo, NY, 1989).

Below is an English translation of the original petition to the Portuguese bishops.

Appeal for the Renewal of the Consecration of Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus

As long as there are Portuguese, You will be his love!

To the President of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference,

Mr. Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon, Mr. D. Manuel Clemente

Most Reverend Eminence,

We, the subscribers of this call, will not be long in saying what we have seen, because the current times, which we all live in our country and in the world, are not for long.

Portugal, like other European countries, is in a health crisis of the most serious, if not the most serious, of the last decades or century, due to the pandemic of COVID-19.

The consequences for the life of each one of us individually, whether from the point of view of health or economic as well as for each family, the nation and society as a whole, are, at this moment, predictably the most serious that can be imagined: profound change in daily habits and physical and psychological well-being; chronically ill and some acute patients without access to medical care, due to hospital exhaustion and overcrowding; deaths, with even smaller families and an increase in lonely elderly people; unemployment to unprecedented levels, with company bankruptcies; ruin, famine, etc. etc.; in short, a scourge that does not fail to recall those others inflicted on the Egyptian people in biblical times or in the twentieth century at the time of the two world wars!

Just yesterday, as is already known to the public, the state of emergency was decreed by the President of the Republic, whose limitations of some liberties and constitutional guarantees were certainly imposed in the name of the common good superior.

The Portuguese Nation, although more secularly modernized and very forgetful of its multi secular Catholic Faith, maintains a very particular relationship of great affection and devotion with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and Queen. Just look at the crowds of anonymous people who, even today, flock to her Marian shrines scattered throughout the country. She herself, in the heavenly glory that she already enjoys in body and soul, visited us just over a hundred years ago in Cova da Iria, in Fátima. As for the content of the message and the strong exhortations he left us, it will certainly not be necessary to remember Your Eminence. Portugal has been already consecrated numerous times to the Immaculate Conception, as well as to Her Immaculate Heart, have already consecrated Portugal numerous times, either through the authorized voice of Heads of State or, more recently, through the initiative of the Church Hierarchy.

That is how, in this distressing hour, faced with this very serious crisis that appears to have tragic consequences for the Portuguese, we have come to appeal to Your Eminence, as President of the Episcopal Conference, to unleash the initiative of proposing to all the bishops of Portugal - diocesan, ordinary Castro, auxiliaries, emeritus, archbishops and cardinals, currently residing in Portugal or Rome, absolutely all - the solemn and public renewal of the consecration of Portugal not only to the Immaculate Heart of Mary but concurrently with the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In case it is difficult to meet in the physical presence of each other (even if at an adequate sanitary distance) in a church, the aforementioned joint ceremony of the Portuguese members of the Episcopal College could be done through electronic means so that all residents of our country who wished to participate, watching. As Your Eminence will know, the Holy Father Francis himself, in view of the catastrophic situation in Italy and in the world, has not hesitated recently to resort to the practice of ancient devotions of this type in Rome, calling for a special intervention from Heaven, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.

We are certain that the mere announcement, in the short term, of this initiative would bring it now thanks to many souls; and it would even ease the disturbance of those naturally anxious. All Portuguese, living in the homeland or spread around the world, believers and non-believers, could take advantage of such an urgent act on the part of those who are, in the different dioceses, the visible Vicar of the divine Shepherd of the sheep. At this time, the public testimony of the entire Body of Christ (clergy, laity and religious) - not only the private testimony - seems to us of particular relevance.

While we wait for a positive response to this vehement appeal, which we address to your entire Episcopate of Portugal through Your Eminence, believe us, Mr. Manuel Clemente, in a prayerful union for Heaven to applaud the repercussions of this pandemic on all of us.

Santa Maria, pray for us!

Health of the sick, pray for us!

Saint Joseph, Patron of the Church, pray for us!

Lisbon, March 19, 2020

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Virgin Mary

João Duarte Bleck

Maria Amélia José de Mello Bleck

José Maria José de Mello Bleck

Maria Helena José de Mello Bleck