West Haven Parish Prays to Our Blessed Mother Monthly on the First Saturdays
Story By Joe Pisani
All her life, Eva Cestari has had a devotion to the Blessed Mother — from her Catholic schooling in Minnesota to the years she and her husband Ralph prayed the rosary with their six children at home and on camping trips.
A longtime Lay Dominican, Cestari is also committed to what is referred to as the “Five First Saturdays” devotion, given by Our Lady of Fatima to do reparation for the increase of sin and godlessness in the world.
For 15 years, Cestari has prayed on all First Saturdays of each month, and with her fellow Lay Dominicans has tried to spread it to archdiocesan churches.
Four years ago, she and her friend Marla Rapini brought it to St. John Vianney Church, part of St. John XXIII Parish in West Haven, along with St. Louis Church. Parishioners do more than pray on the First Five Saturdays – they pray this devotion on the First Saturday of each month.
On Sept. 5, some 80 people from both West Haven churches came to a Mass celebrated by Father Israel Rivera. Afterward, they prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary in English and Spanish followed by meditation. Father Rivera also called the children to gather around a statue of Our Lady of Fatima and blessed them.
The priest says his personal devotion to the Blessed Mother deepened during his priesthood and he regards her as the perfect role model of discipleship.
“The world, with all its turmoil and suffering, needs the presence of the Blessed Mother,” Father Rivera says. “It is her promise to Lucia, one of the children at Fatima, if we do reparation for sins, especially sins of blasphemy against the name of the Lord and her, that she will assist us at the hour of our death with the graces we need for salvation. We have to make reparation, receive communion, pray the rosary and go to confession.”
Father Rivera says the First Saturday Mass is “a wonderful display of unity of the parishioners from both churches.”
In 2023, Cestari made a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal, where Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in 1917 and said: “People must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. They must not offend Our Lord anymore, for he is already much offended.”
The Blessed Mother later told the visionary Lucia: “I promise to assist at the moment of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the rosary with the intention of making reparation to me.”
The confession should be made within eight days before or after the First Saturday, and these acts should be offered in reparation for the blasphemies and offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Rapini, who has prayed the devotion throughout her life, says, “It’s so important to me and to bring about peace in the world today, we need to heed Our Lady’s words. Sitting in church, praying the rosary in community and spending time with the Blessed Mother in meditation, brings me a sense of peace and encouragement that strengthens me throughout the month.”
Says Cestari, “We know that in the end, the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph.”
St. John Vianney Church, 300 Captain Thomas Blvd., West Haven, celebrates Mass at 8:30 a.m. followed by the rosary and 15 minutes of meditation every first Saturday of the month.