Fátima

Fátima (fä`tēmə), hamlet, W central Portugal, in Beira Litoral. At the nearby Cova da Iria is the national shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima. This became a great Roman Catholic center of pilgrimage after the six reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, May 13–Oct. 13, 1917. An impressive basilica was built in 1944.

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Fátima

Village in central Portugal, site of a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. From May to October 1917, three peasant children reported a vision of a woman who identified herself as the Lady of the Rosary. On October 13, a crowd of about 70,000 witnessed an amazing solar phenomenon just after the children had seen their vision. The first national pilgrimage to the site occurred in 1927. Construction of a basilica started in 1928; now flanked by retreat houses and hospitals, it faces a square where many miraculous cures have been reported.