Oh mi Jesu,
dimitte nobis débita nostra,
salva nos ab igne inferni,
perduc in caelum omnes ánimas,
praesertim eas,
quae misericórdiae tuae máxime indigent.

The apparitions at Fatima in 1917 began when three shepherd children – Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta – witnessed the Virgin Mary on the hill of Cova da Iria in Portugal. Mary identified herself as “Our Lady of Fatima” and gave the children a concise message for the whole world: a call to conversion, the recitation of the Rosary, and a life of penance and prayer for sinners.

During the third apparition (the “secret” of Fatima) Mary is reported to have handed the children a specific prayer to be offered to her Son, Jesus. Sister Lucia later recorded this prayer in her memoirs, which were published in 1942, thus preserving the exact words that the Virgin had asked the faithful to repeat1.

The prayer, in Portuguese, is:

Ó meu Jesus, perdoai-nos, livrai-nos do fogo do inferno; levai as almas todas para o Céu, principalmente as que mais precisarem.

In English it asks Christ to forgive our sins, rescue us from the fire of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of His mercy. The prayer reflects the core of the Fatima message: a plea for divine mercy and a commitment to intercede for the whole humanity