The Mother of God and the Order of Franciscans of Mary Immaculate

The most exalted Mary Mother of God - Queen of Angels, Saints and Men - is the Patroness of the O.F.M.I. It is through her motherly solicitude and intercession that religious receive the strength to continue in the ways of poverty, chastity and obedience.

On August 13, 1983, at Fatima, Fr. David consecrated the newly-formed O.F.M.I. to the Immaculate Heart of Mary , making the association as Marian as it was Franciscan. Since then the friars have striven to bring about the fulfillment of Our Lady of Fatima's peace plan for the world: by total consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as an effective means to living a life of holiness in the vows and the Gospel life of Christ as described in the Rule of St. Francis; by offering themselves and all their sufferings "as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners"; by praying the Rosary daily as a community for peace in the world in reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; by living and promoting devotion to the Immaculate Heat of Mary in order to counter and crush atheistic communism which, as Our Lady says, spreads wars and persecutions of the Church throughout the world; and finally, by promoting Our Lady's prophetic messages of Fatima and other approved apparitions. (cf. Statutes (Statutes, art. 2; art. 9; art. 16 §3; art. 203 §1; Fatima In Lucia's Own Words p. 161)

The friars recite daily the prayers that the Angel of Peace taught to the children of Fatima as well as those that Our Lady herself gave to them:

My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You. I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.

Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.

O most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the most Blessed Sacrament!

O Jesus, it is for love You, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need.

Although the Apparitions at Fatima and the Mariology of St. Maximilian Kolbe are essential to the charism of the Order of Franciscan Friars of Mary Immaculate, there are other approved apparitions which echo the Message of Fatima and help us to see it in a more global point of view:

  • Our Lady's message to the young shepherds at La Salette, France in 1846
  • Our Lady's messages to five children in Beauraing, Belgum, in 1933
  • Our Lady's messages to Ida Peerdeman as the Lady of All Nations in Amsterdam from 1945 through 1958
  • Our Lady's messages to Sr. Mary Ephrem (Mildred Neuzil) as Our Lady of America in the 1950's in Ohio
  • Our Lady's messages to Sr. Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in Akita, Japan from 1973 through 1982