Fatima Prayer (O My Jesus)

Where it comes from

History

Tradition · According to the testimony of Sister Lúcia, written down later, the Blessed Virgin Mary taught this prayer to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal, on 13 July 1917, during the third apparition, after the vision of hell. The Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have asked that this prayer be said after each decade of the Rosary. This account rests on Lúcia's own testimony, which she wrote down about 24 years after the event. [3][5]

Lúcia wrote her memoirs at the request of the Bishop of Leiria, José Alves Correia da Silva. The Third Memoir (August 1941) contains the vision of hell and the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Shrine of Fátima quotes this prayer from the Fourth Memoir. [3]

In Lúcia's memoirs, the Portuguese text reads: 'Ó meu Jesus, perdoai-nos, livrai-nos do fogo do inferno; levai as alminhas todas para o Céu, principalmente aquelas que mais precisarem.' English translations are not uniform: some read 'especially those in most need of Thy mercy', while others read 'especially those who are most in need'. [3][4]

According to an account on the fatima.org website, until the 1940s most writings about Fátima contained a different wording, quoted by Father Castelbranco. That wording asked Jesus to relieve the souls in purgatory, 'especially the most forgotten'. Pilgrims at the Cova da Iria were reportedly praying this form. Canon Manuel Formigão is named as the one who introduced it, because he understood the Portuguese word 'alminhas' (little souls) as the souls in purgatory. [4][5]

According to a quotation in an article on fatima.org, Lúcia wrote in the Third Memoir (1941) that the closing words of this prayer, 'those who are most in need', refer to the souls in greatest danger of eternal damnation, that is, those closest to it. [5]