← All events
faith · Saturday 5 September 2026 · 11:00 AM 
Five First Saturdays Centenary Devotion, St. Patrick's Church Ballinamore
At St. Patrick's Church, Ballinamore · Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
At St. Patrick's Church, Ballinamore · Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
The parish of Oughteragh and Drumreilly Lower has been marking the hundredth anniversary of the Five First Saturdays devotion, which dates from 1926, with a run of five Saturday celebrations through 2026. The fifth and final one takes place in St. Patrick’s Church, Ballinamore, on Saturday 5 September 2026. It opens with the usual Saturday morning Mass at 11:00 AM and is followed by Confessions, the Rosary and a fifteen-minute meditation, the four elements the devotion traditionally asks for.
The Five First Saturdays devotion comes from the Fatima apparitions and involves Confession, Communion, the Rosary and a period of meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary, made on the first Saturday of five consecutive months. The parish has run its centenary series as a communal version of that private practice, so people who have followed the previous four Saturdays can complete the set, and anyone who has not can simply come to the last one. No registration or booking is involved and the whole thing is free. The same morning, the parish bus to Lough Derg departs the Square, so the church is likely to be quieter than a typical parish Saturday.
St. Patrick’s Church sits in the centre of Ballinamore, within a few minutes’ walk of the main street. Ballinamore is on the R202 in east Leitrim, about 25 minutes by road from Carrick-on-Shannon, half an hour from Cavan town and 40 minutes from Enniskillen. Free public parking is available on the main street and in the car parks near the Shannon and Erne Waterway, and the church has its own parking. Local Link services connect Ballinamore with Carrick-on-Shannon and Cavan on weekdays, though Saturday timetables are lighter, so most people arrive by car.
Heading to St. Patrick's Church, Ballinamore in Ballinamore? Leitrim has plenty more to see. Read the Ballinamore area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.