The village church where the three shepherd children were baptized, about a kilometer from the sanctuary they are now known for.
Location
Fatima, Portugal 39.6180° N · 8.6524° W
Type
Active Catholic parish church
Dedication
Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres
Why Go
The Parish the Children Belonged To
Pilgrims come here for scale. The sanctuary at the Cova da Iria was built for millions; this is the church the three children actually belonged to, a plain whitewashed parish church with a stone bell tower, standing in a square where a village square has always been. The font at which they were baptized is kept in the church and is shown to pilgrims. Coming here after the sanctuary puts the whole story back on the ground it happened on.
Fátima was a parish long before it was a pilgrimage. It was separated from the collegiate church of Ourém in 1568, and the church has been enlarged more than once since, most substantially in the years around 1915, when it was widened from a single nave to three, and again after 1917 as the parish grew with the pilgrimage. Lúcia dos Santos was baptized here in 1907, Francisco Marto in 1908, and Jacinta Marto in 1910. The parish is now known as the Paróquia de Fátima e dos Pastorinhos, the parish of Fátima and the shepherd children.
What those enlargements produced is parish fabric rather than a designed monument, and it helps to know that before going in. The exterior is whitewashed, with a stone bell tower and a red tiled roof, standing at the head of the square behind a short flight of steps. Inside, the widening of about 1915 is plain to read: three aisles under stone arches, a wooden roof above them, and a stone pulpit set against the left side of the nave. The font at which the three children were baptized is kept in the church and shown to pilgrims. Nothing in the room was built to hold a crowd, and after the esplanade at the Cova da Iria that is the most useful thing about it.
Inside the Parish ChurchThe Nave the Children KnewThree aisles under stone arches, a working parish church rather than a monument.
Do Not Miss · 3 stops
Do Not Miss
The baptismal font
The parish keeps the font at which Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta were baptized, and it is shown to pilgrims.
The nave
Three aisles under stone arches and a wooden roof. The children were brought here for catechism in this room.
The square in front
Ordinary village ground, with the church at its head. It is the clearest measure at Fátima of how far the pilgrimage has come from where it started.
The church is known by several names: the Igreja Matriz or parish church of Fátima, and the church of Fátima and the shepherd children. Its dedication is to Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres. It is an active parish and should be visited as one.
