A Short History of the First Saturday Devotions

Last month we told you a bit about the origins of the Sacred Heart devotions in which many of you participate on the first Friday of each month. First Friday is upon us once again, and tomorrow is First Saturday, a day similarly dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady. As promised, we share with you today the origins of First Saturday.

The Five First Saturdays have their beginnings in the message of Fatima, where Our Lady mentioned that she would request Communions of reparation be made on the first Saturday of every month. She explained the details of the devotion to Sr. Lucia in a later apparition in December of 1925, and the great promise given to those who practice it. She said:

“I promise to assist at the hour of death with the graces necessary for salvation all those who, in order to make reparation to me, on the First Saturday of five successive months, go to Confession, receive Holy Communion, say five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour, meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.”

The devotion, therefore, is performed with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart and includes four elements: Confession, Communion, the Rosary and a fifteen-minute meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary. The latter meditation does not necessarily need to encompass all fifteen decades; one can meditate on one or more of the mysteries for the required time. Additionally, the Confession can be made within several days before or after the Saturday.

Our Lord, in an apparition to Sr. Lucia in 1930, explained why the devotion comprised five Saturdays, as opposed to another number such as nine or seven. He said that there are five kinds of offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

– blasphemies against her Immaculate Conception

– against her Perpetual Virginity

– against her Divine Maternity, refusing to accept her as the Mother of God and Mother of all mankind

– for those who try to publicly implant in children’s hearts indifference, contempt and even hate for this Immaculate Mother

– for those who insult her directly in her sacred images

The union of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is illustrated by the First Friday and First Saturday devotions, which are usually, as they are this month, consecutive. This weekend is the perfect time to begin or continue our devotions to these holy Hearts, to make reparation to Them for own sins and for the innumerable insults and offenses to which They are subjected, and to obtain the great graces and promises attached to these devotions.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!