The largest hotel in Fátima, offering diverse spaces and services, was founded with a charitable purpose: to serve as the economic support for the missions of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD).
To understand the history of the Steyler Fátima Hotel, we must go back to the year 1875. In the 19th century, a strong sense of missionary responsibility developed within the Church in Europe, with Father Arnaldo Janssen (of German nationality) being a true example. On September 8, 1875, he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Divine Word. The headquarters is not in Germany due to Bismarck's anti-clerical policies, but in the small village of Steyl, already in Dutch territory. This foundation led to an international missionary movement that spread the SVD throughout the world.
It was in 1949, in the village of Tortosendo, that a group of priests and brothers from the SVD began a Verbo Divino presence in Portugal.
In Fátima, there was also a desire to establish a Verbo Divino community near the Sanctuary of Our Lady. Thus, on September 21, 1954, the academic year of the new Seminary was officially opened.
The history of the hotel is inevitably linked to the name of José Otto Popp, a SVD priest. Born in Germany in 1909, he arrived in Portugal in 1959 to assume the role of regional superior. He brought with him enough experience to recognize the need to create financial resources in order to consolidate the missionary work of the Church. He founded a benefactors' league called "Friends of Fátima," who offered financial support to the formative structures in Portugal. He also realized the need to invest in economic sustainability without relying on benefactors. With this goal in mind, in 1960, he acquired Pensão Iria, the location where Steyler Fátima Hotel and Paramentaria Verbo Divino now stand.
To give it a Divine Word identity, Father Popp immediately requested that the name of Pensão Iria be changed to Casa Verbo Divino.
The transformations that took place at Casa Verbo Divino, such as the acquisition of a new building, increased the capacity of the hospitality unit. A request was made to the Tourism Board for hotel classification, which was granted, turning it into Hotel Verbo Divino, a 3-star hotel with 208 rooms.
