May 13th, Catholics
celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary by honoring her message of peace and by
reflecting on her apparitions in Fátima, Portugal.
The history of Our
Lady of Fátima is a miraculous one. On May 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary first
appeared to three shepherd children, Sister Lucia, St. Jacinta Marto, and St. Francisco
in Fátima. The Marian apparitions continued from May through October of 1917.
In the midst of World War I, Mary famously counseled the children to pray the rosary and to pray for world peace.
A year ago, in celebration and honor of these historic
apparitions, Pope Francis Canonized witnesses St. Jacinto Marto and St. Francisco
on the 100th Anniversary of the first apparition. He also visited Fátima with about a million
Catholic Pilgrims to celebrate the newly Canonized Saints and Our Lady of Fátima.
Fátima has become one of the most popular pilgrimage sites
in the world, attracting over 4 million pilgrims on any given year. A
Pilgrimage to Fátima is a very spiritual experience as one visits the
apparition sites and walks in the footsteps of the shepherd children.
Our
Lady of Fátima Pilgrim Sites:
The Basilica of Our
Lady of the Rosary is a spectacular neoclassical Church containing the
tombs of St. Francisco, St. Jacinta, and Sister Lucia. Here you can view the
monument that commemorates the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In homage to Our Lady’s
consistency in her messages to pray the Rosary, the Basilica features fifteen
altars that are dedicated to the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary.
- The Little Chapel of
the Apparitions is a simple, yet modern Chapel which located where the
Virgin Mary first appeared to the children.
- The Shrine of Fátima
Museum houses the exhibit, Fátima:
Light and Peace which contains a collection of offerings dedicated to Our
Lady of Fátima and commemorates the apparitions and all the pilgrims who
worship there.
- The Holy Trinity
Basilica is a Minor Basilica in the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Fátima built
in the modernists style and completed in 2007.
- The Via Sacra or
“Sacred Way” marks the path taken by the children to the first apparition.
Pilgrims can walk along this path and pray the Stations of the Cross at fifteen
small Chapels before arriving in Valinhos, the site of Our Lady’s August 1917
apparition and the first and third apparitions of the Angel.
- Candlelight Vigils are
celebrated by pilgrims in response to the request of Our Lady.
As we remember and honor Our Lady of Fátima on the 101st
Anniversary this May, her message to pray for peace is just as significant now
as it was in 1917. May we all reflect on Our Lady’s messages and honor her through
our lives.
Interested in a Spiritual Pilgrimage to Fátima?
Did You Know These Interesting Facts About Fatima?
Some pilgrims crawl to the shrine on their knees as an act of penance, 600 feet (182 meters) from
the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity to the Chapel of Apparitions, and then
they circle around the Chapel on their knees too, praying the rosary – what a
beautiful witness.
- Many pilgrims make
pilgrimage walking from all
over Portugal, as far away as Lisbon - 80 miles away
- The Fátima Prayer: O my Jesus, forgive
us our sins, and save us from the fires of hell, especially those with most
need of thy mercy.
- During the Christian conquest in the 12th century, a group of Moors were
captured by a Christian army. Among them was a Moorish girl called Fátima. One
of the Christians fell in love with Fátima and married her. When Fátima died,
he built a small chapel (where the Fátima parish stands) in her honor; the
lands received her name.
- The crown on the statue is an offering by Portuguese women in
thanksgiving for Portugal having not entered World War II and consequently
saving their men from having to fight in the war. The crown is believed to
have 3,000 precious stones. It is also embedded with one of the bullets fired
at St. Pope John Paul II, during an assassination attempt in Rome in 1981, in
thanksgiving to Our Lady for saving his life.
