This site is a small showcase for, amongst other things, books on the phenomenon of Fatima - the history of the apparitions, their spirituality, and the Shrine itself. The writer, Leo Madigan, lives in Fatima. The site also features other books of his with a Catholic background or flavour.

Please note that all Leo Madigan/Fatima-Ophel books are available in bulk at special trade prices.

For more information please e-mail:

Prayer cards and Mass cards

This is a delightful new full colour guide to Fatima by Baron Lumiar, packed full of information about the shrine.

It contains over 200 photographs from private collections and from the Fatima archives, and is the only comprehensive fully illustrated guide to the shrine in any language.

It contains everything a visitor to the 90 year old Portuguese Shrine could want to know about the history, inhabitants, layout, devotions, services and facilities.

It is an encyclopedic key to Fatima, which is more than a vademecum - it's also a souvenir!

Only $28.95 including shipping and handling

The 2nd Catholic Quiz Book

Pilgrims edition: 1250 questions - $17.95

"...compelling..."

"...a lavish inventory of things Catholic."

"...a delight...an inquisition with a difference."

Some sample questions:

What well known statue has 70 changes of clothes?

Which cathedral was the world’s tallest building in 1880?

Blessed Alexandrina da Costa

"It is actually a very beautiful book and it brings out Alexandrina's mystical sufferings clearly and effectively.... The writer has done a masterful job with what surely must be one of the most difficult 'lives' to present. It places Alexandrina in her rightful place in the annals of the Church."

Paul MacLeod, Geelong, Australia.

There are those who criticize Marian Shrines by saying that they are too centered on Mary, that Christ is shouldered out, as it were, by all the prayers and devotions directed to His mother. But a healthy devotion to Our Blessed Lady can never do this because she herself is so utterly centered on her God that any prayer we direct towards her finds God, indeed, it finds God more readily because she is the mediatrix of grace between God and the soul.

This image of the Sacred Heart, (in the middle of the Sanctuary) central yet unobtrusive, majestic yet familiar, aglow with gold yet curiously hidden, illustrates powerfully that, just as the name of Jesus is in the middle of the Hail Mary, so Christ Himself is the true center of any Marian shrine.

This is a small booklet of 64 pages giving details of the newly erected plinths on the way of the Cross - and other apparitions sites - at Fatima.

As the title indicates they are mostly short quotations from Sister Lucia's various memoirs. The booklet has alternate pictures and text and is a lovely aid to meditation, as well as being a compact reminder of Fatima.

Why is Fatima pre-eminent among the Church approved Marian apparitions?

It is a prophecy brought by the Queen of Prophets to generations at the outmost ebb of religion.

It carries the weight of every prophecy ever conceived in heaven, gentle yet firm, simple yet epic, gracious in mercy yet uncompromising and absolute.

It is the prophecy which warns that all prophecy is about to be fulfilled.

The Children of Fatima

Now for the first time the complete story of Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto has been revealed in a full-length book by Leo Madigan.

Marked by poignant, intimate details, and a captivating writing style, this moving biography of two extraordinary children is sure to become an instant classic.

This book is published by Our Sunday Visitor.

The Fatima Prayer Book

The Fatima Prayer Book has been compiled and printed in response to a long-felt demand for a simple booklet containing all the Prayers, Masses, Devotions and Hymns officially recognised as either directly emanating from Fatima, or expressing the Fatima message with particular force.

It is the first comprehensive such book to appear in any language.

Some extracts from the Fatima Prayer Book

Fatima Mass Cards

His other publications are:

The Weka Feather Cloak a contemporary, but traditional, Catholic novel for children, which is set in New Zealand, was published in April 2002 by Bethlehem Books of North Dakota.

Princesses of the Kingdom (Kolbe Publications, 2001)

New - Little Nellie Prayer cards

The Fatima Handbook, an English language guide to the Shrine which was published by Gracewing in March 2001. Read some extracts here.

What happened at Fatima (Fatima-Ophel 2002/CTS 2000)

The Bank of Infinite Reserves - another contemporary Catholic novel for children - this was published in 1997. It has been scripted in Hollywood and may, for better or worse, make the screen.

The Devil is a Jackass (Gracewing, 1995)

The Catholic Quiz Book (Gracewing, 1995)

Fatima: Highway of Hope (ELO, 2000)

Fatima-Ophel is the name of the writer’s own imprint. Ophel - as there must be a word to distinguish the enterprise from others using the word Fatima - was a suburb of Jerusalem at the time of Christ. The German mystic Catherine Emmerich tells that the inhabitants of Ophel, mostly poor artisans, day labourers and carriers of wood and water, were the most attached partisans of Jesus. She describes how he was driven, bound, through the streets of Orphel from Gethsemanie to Mount Sion where the High priest dwelt. She says that Stephen, the first martyr, lived there at the time.

Book reviews by Leo Madigan include

Barb of Fire - Poems of Elizabeth of the Trinity

The Virgin Mary in the Life and Writings of John Henry Newman

Mary's House, by Donald Carroll

Francisco of Fatima by Fr Leite SJ

A Crisis of Saints by Fr George William Rutler

Catherine of Genoa's Treatise on Purgatory