The First Friday Devotions are a set of Roman Catholic
devotions to especially recognize the Sacred Heart of
Jesus, and through it offer reparations for sins. In the
vision of Christ reported by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
in the 17th century, several promises were made to
those people that practiced the First Fridays Devotions,
one of which included final perseverance. According to
the words of Christ through His apparitions to St. Mary
Margaret Mary, there are several promises to those that
practice the First Friday Devotions:
"In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you
that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will
receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine
consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they
will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the
sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in
that last hour."
The devotion consists of several practices that are
performed on the first Fridays of nine consecutive
months. On these days, a person is to attend Holy Mass
and receive communion. If the need arises in order to
receive communion in a state of grace, a person should
also make use of the Sacrament of Penance before
attending Mass.
First Saturdays
The First Saturdays Devotion is a Roman Catholic
practice which, according to the visionaries, has been
recommended by the Blessed Virgin Mary in several
visitations, notably Our Lady of Fátima. Catholics honor
the Virgin on Saturdays because we believe that as the
Mother of Jesus Christ she must have suffered a great
deal and had much faith on Holy Saturday, before the
Resurrection on Easter. Devotees of Fátima believe that
the First Saturdays help to console the sorrows of God,
Jesus and the Virgin Mary for the sins against her
Immaculate Heart.
Any Catholic can practice the First Saturdays, alone or
in a group. On the first Saturday of five successive
months, one goes to confession, attends Saturday Mass
and receives Holy Communion. Then the Rosary is
recited. Then for at least fifteen minutes afterwards one
should meditate on the Rosary's mysteries. During
Communion one is to be visiting Jesus Christ, who,
according to the doctrine of Transubstantiation, is
physically present in the Eucharist.
The activities of the Five First Saturdays devotion are
different from the same devotions on other days in that
all should be done with the intention in the heart of
making reparation to the Blessed Mother for blasphemies
against her, her name and her holy initiatives.
Sister Lúcia, the only Fátima visionary to survive into
adulthood reported that the Blessed Mother came to her
in her convent at Pontevedra, Spain with the following
statement:
“Look, my daughter, at my Heart encircled by these
thorns with which men pierce it at every moment by their
blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, strive to
console me, and so I announce: I promise to assist at the
hour of death with the grace necessary for salvation all
those who, with the intention of making reparation to me,
will, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, go
to confession, receive Holy Communion, say five
decades of the beads, and keep me company for fifteen
minutes while meditating on the fifteen mysteries of the
Rosary”.
The First Saturdays devotion had already been an
established custom in the Catholic Church. On July 1,
1905, Pope Pius X approved and granted indulgences
for the practice of the First Saturdays of twelve
consecutive months in honor of the Immaculate
Conception.