May 13 brings together two Marian devotions that point toward the same center: Mary and the Eucharist. The Church remembers Our Lady of Fatima on this day, and the same date is also linked to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament through the tradition of St. Peter Julian Eymard.
Fatima is best known for the first apparition to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco in 1917. In that encounter, Mary asked the children to “pray, pray very much” and to “make sacrifices for sinners,” placing prayer and reparation at the heart of the message.
She also urged daily fidelity in a clear way. “Pray the Rosary every day to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war,” she told the shepherd children, connecting Marian devotion with peace, sacrifice, and concern for souls.
Fatima points beyond the Rosary
The Fatima message is often reduced to the Rosary alone, but the source account shows a wider spiritual vision. The apparitions also called attention to the Eucharist through the angelic visits that prepared the children for Our Lady.
In the final encounter, the Angel of Peace held a Host over a chalice and prostrated himself before it. He prayed: “I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world,” linking adoration, reparation, and conversion in a single prayer.
That detail matters because it places Fatima within a Eucharistic frame. The devotion does not only ask for vocal prayer, but also for reverence before Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Why May 13 also belongs to the Blessed Sacrament
The same date is connected with Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament because St. Peter Julian Eymard founded the Congregation of the Most Blessed Sacrament on May 13. He also taught his novices to pray, “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”
That title reflects a long Christian habit of seeing Mary in close relation to the Eucharist. Mary carried Christ in her womb, and that image of the Mother of God has often been described as a living tabernacle.
St. Pope Pius X reportedly said that “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament” may be one of Mary’s most meaningful titles. The connection is also illustrated in a dream associated with St. Peter Julian Eymard, where the Church was shown as a ship stabilized by two pillars topped by Our Lady and the Eucharist.
A simple way to live both devotions
The source suggests a practical way to unite these themes during May. It encourages more Rosaries and more Holy Hours before the Blessed Sacrament, so that devotion to Mary leads naturally into deeper worship of Christ.
A second tradition offers another concrete practice. In Poland, the “Call of Jasna Gora” invites the faithful to pause at 9:00 p.m. and pray, “Mary, Our Lady of Czestochowa, I am close to you. I remember you. I keep watch.”
That practice can be adapted to other Marian titles as well. A person could pray, “Mary, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, I am close to you. I remember you. I keep watch,” joining watchfulness, remembrance, and affection in a brief nightly prayer.
The appeal fits well with Christ’s instruction to “watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). In that light, May 13 becomes more than a Marian feast day, since it also invites renewed adoration, Eucharistic reverence, and faithful prayer for sinners and for peace.
Read more at: aleteia.org