Chapel of the Apparitions

The Chapel of the Apparitions[1] (Portuguese: Capelinha das Aparições) is a small chapel located in Cova da Iria that was first constructed in 1919, and again in the early 1920s, to mark the exact location where three little shepherd children reported having received the famous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal.

From 28 April to 15 June 1919,[2] the task of building the Chapel fell to the mason Joaquim Barbeiro from the village of Santa Catarina da Serra.

On 13 October 1921, the celebration of Mass was officially allowed by the local bishop for the first time next to the Chapel.

On 6 March 1922, anticlerical elements planted a powerful bomb inside the unfinished Chapel, the explosion heavily damaging it.

On 23 October 1922, as reported by the daily newspaper Diário de Notícias, a group of people from the county seat of Ourém went to the Cova, intent on cutting down the holm-oak on which the Virgin appeared.