President, Co-Founder, & Co-Author
Dr. Leyden, one of the founders of the Communal First Saturdays Apostolate (CFSA), was blessed to go to Fatima in 2008. She knew something about Fatima before she went but learned significantly more after she returned.
After returning from Fatima, somebody spoke to her about spreading the First Saturdays devotion. She then began to study the devotion more intensely. She found that Our Lady’s apparition on July 13, 1917 was a particularly important apparition to understand, especially the 2nd part of the secret. In this apparition, Our Lady told us that to save souls from going to hell, God wants to establish in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Our Lady then spoke of two special requests to do this. Our Lady said if we do what she tells us, many souls will be saved and there will be peace. The 1st request was for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. According to St. John Paul II, he and the bishops of the world fulfilled this in 1984. According to the official Vatican statement, “Sister Lucia personally confirmed that this solemn and universal act of consecration corresponded to what Our Lady wished (“Sim, està feita, tal como Nossa Senhora a pediu, desde o dia 25 de Março de 1984”: “Yes it has been done just as Our Lady asked, on 25 March 1984”: Letter of 8 November 1989). Hence any further discussion or request is without basis” (Message of Fatima, Vatican.va).
After the consecration, the end of the persecution of Christians and the return of religious freedom took place in Russia and other countries as well. The Soviet Union collapsed and communism ended in Russia. It is important to note that in a locution to Sr. Lucia, Our Lord had promised that in response to the consecration, the religious persecution in Russia would cease (May 29, 1930). Jesus did not say that Russia would be converted solely by the consecration. As we have seen, Our Lord more than fulfilled what He promised. However, the period of peace Our Lady promised requires the fulfillment of both of Our Lady’s special requests.
At Fatima, on July 13, 1917, Our Lady said, “I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays. If my wishes are fulfilled, Russia will be converted and there will be peace.” Our Lady said “wishes,” not wish. Some translate it to be “requests.” Some are disappointed that Russia was not explicitly mentioned. Yet, by the 1930s, the errors of Russia had already spread throughout the world. The whole world needed to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In locutions to Blessed Alexandrina in 1935, Jesus requested that the world be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sr. Lucia also began to speak of the consecration of the world. The world includes all nations. If Russia wasn’t consecrated, then no country was consecrated. Thus, Russia was at least implicitly consecrated. Our Lady never said it was to be explicit or implicit. Even Sr. Lucia, many years earlier, had always said it was for the Church to interpret the message and no one else. It is puzzling that the claim that Russia must be explicitly mentioned accompanies the idea that only the consecration of Russia is necessary for its conversion. For some reason the actual words of Our Lady are overlooked. In any case, the consecration is the Pope’s responsibility. The First Saturdays is our responsibility. We need to do our part. The action of the Pope is not enough to sanctify the people. Without this sanctification, there is no peace. The First Saturdays can be the foundation for this sanctification.
The 2nd special request was for the Communion of reparation on the First Saturdays.
Katrina Leyden realized that it is the People of God who need to do their part for peace and the salvation of souls by fulfilling Our Lady’s 2nd special request, the First Saturdays.
After Our Lady came again to ask for the First Saturdays on December 10, 1925, the Child Jesus appeared on February 15, 1926 to ask if the First Saturdays had been spread throughout the world.
Katrina Leyden and other members of our apostolate wanted to help answer that question.
So, the question was raised, what could be done to make it easier for each individual and a larger number of the faithful to make the First Saturdays?
It became clear that the answer was a communal celebration of the First Saturdays. There were a few scattered attempts elsewhere at the time, but they did not include all four practices for the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Communal First Saturdays does this and much more.
In the process, Katrina Leyden came across this quote from Blessed Paul VI:
“meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary… can be an excellent preparation for the celebration of those same mysteries in the liturgical action and can also become a continuing echo thereof” (Marialis Cultus, n. 48).
It became clear that a program visibly ordered to the Liturgy was needed. We saw the need to have the Rosary before Mass and the meditation after Mass.
The CFSA then started the Communal First Saturdays in 2008 at St. Anthony of Padua parish in the Woodlands, TX.
On March 4, 2017, the 100th Consecutive Communal First Saturdays was celebrated since beginning. The timing was so fitting as this took place during the year of the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady’s Appearance at Fatima!
The CFSA received many more blessings in this special year of 2017: The imprimatur was granted to The Communal First Saturdays book and the CFSA published this book as well the Fatima and the First Saturdays and The Communal First Saturdays Devotional books.
The Communal First Saturdays has now spread to different states in the USA as well as different countries, including Mexico, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.