Fátima, << FAT uh muh, >> Our Lady of, refers to the Virgin Mary, who reportedly appeared near Fátima, Portugal, in 1917. On May 13 of that year, three children told of seeing a vision of a lady while they were tending sheep. They said that the lady, brighter than the sun and standing on a cloud, told them to come there on the 13th day of each month until the following October, when she would tell them who she was. On October 13, she said that she was Our Lady of the Rosary and told the children to say the rosary every day. She called for people to reform their lives and asked that a chapel be built in her honor. The Basilica of Our Lady of Fátima stands on the site of the visions.
In 1930, the Roman Catholic Church authorized devotion to Our Lady of Fátima. Since then, millions of people have made pilgrimages to Fátima. In 2017, Pope Francis canonized (declared saints) Jacinta and Francisco Marto, two of the children who reported seeing the Virgin Mary.
