The sanctuary is located at 3 Sor Lucía Street in the
historic centre of Pontevedra. On the site where the sanctuary is located, there was a building from the early
Middle Ages, of which traces of
stonemasonry and a walled door with decorative reliefs have been preserved. The building was constructed in the mid-16th century. In the 19th century, the building was the palace of the Arias Teijeiro family (Antonio and José, father and son), the latter being a
Carlist politician and universal minister. In 1918, the
Marquis of Riestra rented the building to the Dorothean sisters, who opened a school there. In 1925,
Sister Lúcia, one of the
three visionaries of Fátima, Portugal, became a Dorothean sister in
Galicia. While in her room in this convent in Pontevedra two months after her arrival, on 10 December 1925, Sister Lúcia had a vision of the
child Jesus and the
Virgin Mary with
her heart surrounded by thorns. The second apparition took place on 15 February 1926 in the convent garden, where the Child Jesus urged her to do more to promote the devotion. In 1927, Sister Lúcia wrote that the Virgin Mary had revealed to her the First Saturdays Devotion in 1925, which consists of going to
confession, receiving Holy
Communion every first Saturday of the month for five months (in reparation for five types of
blasphemy),
praying the rosary and
meditating on its mysteries.
Pope John Paul II granted it the status of a
sanctuary in 2000 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the apparitions. The building was renovated in 2022, with the refurbishment of the second floor and a new roof. == Description ==