Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children at Fatima 106 years ago this month.
Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto saw apparitions of Our Lady that the Church declared “worthy of belief.”
The story of these child saints is an especially interesting one to share with older children. Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta were brave and steadfast even when they faced disbelief, punishment, and imprisonment.
If you’d like to share the story of Fatima with your children, check out these ways to do that below.
(The full story is probably too scary for younger children, especially the part in which the children saw a vision of Hell.)
1Pray the Rosary together
Our Lady of Fatima urged the children to spread the message to pray the Rosary for our world.
She even asked them to add this prayer to the end of the Rosary:
“O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.”
This is a beautiful opportunity to pray the Rosary with our kids today and include the Fatima prayer. We can pray especially for peace in the world, as Our Lady of Fatima asked.
2Tell the story of Fatima
There are some children’s movies about Fatima, such as The Day the Sun Danced, but some of us remember finding these movies scary as kids, so use your best judgment about whether they’d be a good fit for your kids.
I think a gentler approach would be to share the story in a picture book or audiobook. Check out this Our Lady of Fatima picture book and this Glory Stories CD about the children of Fatima.
3Make a craft to honor Our Lady
This is a great opportunity to do a print-and-go Marian craft.
And check out the very creative crafts over at Catholic Icing! She has instructions to make a pop-up Fatima coloring page, a spinning sun craft (in honor of the miracle of the sun witnessed at Fatima), and lots more.
However you celebrate, we hope it’s a beautiful and special feast day for you and your family!
