Fatima Prayer
O my Jesus, forgive us our sins,
save us from the fires of hell,
lead all souls to Heaven,
especially those in most need of Thy mercy.
Amen.
Our Lady taught this prayer to the three shepherd children at Fatima on July 13, 1917, and asked that it be said after each decade of the Rosary.
Where Does This Prayer Come From?
How do we know Our Lady asked for this?
Mostly from Lúcia dos Santos.
One of the three shepherd children.
Later, Sister Lúcia.
At her bishop's request, she wrote down everything she remembered.
Her Fourth Memoir, finished in December 1941, tells the story of July 13.
This prayer is in it.
Wait a second.
1941?
That's twenty-four years later.
True.
But the prayer was already on paper in 1917.
A letter from September 8.
Notes from an interview with the children on September 27.
For a while, some books even changed the ending:
"Relieve the souls in Purgatory, especially the most abandoned."
Lúcia set the record straight.
She believed Our Lady meant the souls in greatest danger of being lost.
That's why we pray for all souls.
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
— 1 Timothy 2:4
You may notice English versions differ.
"Fire" or "fires."
"Most in need," or "most in need of Thy mercy."
Lúcia's Portuguese says "fire," singular.
It doesn't mention mercy at all.
Those words came in through translation.
Same prayer.
Same plea.
On October 13, 1930, the Bishop of Leiria declared the visions "worthy of belief."
That's real approval.
But Fatima is still a private revelation.
The Catechism says private revelations "do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith."
Their job is "to help live more fully by it."
The Church approves Fatima, but it never asks you to believe it the way you believe the Creed.
But look at the prayer itself.
Forgive us.
Save us.
Bring everyone home.
Nothing new there.
It's the Gospel, in five lines.
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