Fatima is a town in west-central Portugal and the site of a famous religious shrine. The Virgin Mary reportedly appeared near Fatima in 1917. On May 13 of that year, three children told of seeing a vision of a lady near Fatima while they were tending sheep. They said that the woman, dressed in a white gown and veil, told them to come back there on the 13th day of each month until the following October, when she would tell them who she was. On October 13, she said that she was Our Lady of the Rosary, and told the children to recite the rosary every day. She called for people to reform their lives and asked that a chapel be built in her honor. In 1930, the Roman Catholic Church authorized devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. Since then, millions of people have made pilgrimages to Fatima.