Mary preserved Portugal from World War II

Currently, the world-famous Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is the most famous and most visited Marian destination in Portugal. In Fatima, Our Lady essentially asked for 3 things:

- the devotion to her Immaculate Heart to preserve sinners from hell and to obtain peace;

- the Consecration to her Immaculate Heart for the conversion of Russia; 

- the communion of reparation on the first Saturdays of the month.

The events of Fatima greatly increased Marian devotion in that country, and Portuguese spiritual leaders all acknowledge that it is thanks to the miraculous protection of Mary and the deep Marian devotion of her children that the nation remained out of World War II, which was so devastating for the rest of Christian Europe.

Thus, Pope Pius XII, at the crowning ceremony of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima in 1946, declared to the Portuguese: "The most formidable war that has ever devastated the world has, for four long years, prowled around your borders, without being able to cross them; you owe this above all to Our Lady, who, from her throne of mercy [...] established in Fatima, in the center of your country, watched over you and your rulers."

The Mary of Nazareth editorial staff

See also the Marian Encyclopedia