REQUESTS OF PRAYER

The Shrine of Fatima received, in 2016, and answered to almost 250 thousand Requests of Prayer to Our Lady in different languages, requests left in the Chapel of the Apparitions and near the tombs of the Seers or sent by email (pedidos@fatima.pt)

This is a task of the congregation of the Oblate Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Fatima, who are responsible to fulfil the requests, making the requested prayer and answering also by email.

The congregation prays and answers the emails

This congregation, that works with the Shrine since 2000, has its main house in Italy, in the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima of San Vittorino, near Rome.

It has a community in Fatima with seven sisters, six of them help in the permanent exhibition “Fatima, Light and Peace”, in the Museum of the Shrine.

Four sisters are in charge of giving the answers which can be in Portuguese, English, French, Italian, Spanish and other non-indicated languages and.

The Prayer Requests, left by the pilgrims in the boxes located in the Chapel of the Apparitions and next to the Tombs of Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, inside the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, are collected by the vigils who hand them to the congregation.

Last year, almost half the requests, 104.128 of the 243.485 received requests, are from Italy, i.e. 42,7 percent of the total.

An increase without explanation

Related to the prior year (2015), the requests in Italian language increased 745 percent (12.304 to 104.128).

Neither the Shrine nor the Oblate Sisters are able to explain this phenomenon, referring only that there were a significant number of Italian pilgrims in Fatima.

Besides that, according to the persons in charge of the Shrine, there is over the last year a movement around Fatima mainly because of the presence of one of the Pilgrim Statue in the Shrine of San Vittorino for more than a year.

The requests in French language also increased, from 3980 in 2015, to 7715 in 2016 (93,85 percent), and in Spanish language, from 20.399 to 25.073 (22,91 percent).

In the opposite sense and comparing 2015 and 2016, there is a decrease in Portuguese language (from 54.236 to 52.668 – a 2,90 percent decrease), in English (from 49.241 to 29.174, i.e., a 40,75 percent decrease) and other languages (from 25.440 to 24.227, i.e., a 2,80 percent decrease).

Evolution of the Request of Prayer between 2010 and 2016