100 Years of the Apparitions of Fatima

The Sanctuary of Fátima and the three young shepherds to whom Mary appeared; the inscription 'FATIMA 1917', the state name 'CITTÀ DEL VATICANO', the year '2017', the name of designer Orietta Rossi, the initials of engraver Silvia Petrassi, and the mint mark 'R'.

Fátima is one of the world's most important Marian pilgrimage sites. In 1917, three shepherd children from the Portuguese village of Aljustrel — Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto — reported repeated apparitions of the Virgin Mary at the Cova da Iria near Fátima. The messages they said they received included calls to repentance and prayer, as well as prophecies still debated theologically within the Catholic Church today. The series of apparitions concluded on 13 October 1917 with the so-called Miracle of the Sun, said to have been witnessed by tens of thousands of pilgrims. Francisco and Jacinta Marto were canonised by Pope Francis in 2017; Lúcia dos Santos, who died in 2005 at the age of 97, is currently in the process of beatification.

As the spiritual centre of Catholicism, the Vatican holds a special relationship with Fátima. Pope John Paul II, who survived an assassination attempt in May 1981, attributed his survival to the intercession of Our Lady of Fátima and made several pilgrimages to the Portuguese shrine. The sanctuary, which today comprises several churches, a basilica and a modern church, draws millions of visitors from around the world each year and is regarded as one of the most visited religious sites in Europe. To mark the centenary of the 1917 apparitions, the Città del Vaticano issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2017.