Carlos Cabecinhas, the rector of the Sanctuary of Fatima, said the event has steadily increased in prominence — renowned for its conviviality and shows of devotion. This year's turnout was the largest ever,

Under the motto "We are shaped and guided by what we love!". The pilgrimage started with the parade of motorcyclists carrying Our Lady of Fatima's statue next to the Basilica of the Holy Trinity, followed by a Mass during which the bikers' helmets were blessed.

The Blessing of Helmets Association and numerous national and international motorcycle clubs organise the pilgrimage.

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One hundred years ago, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in a field in Fatima, Portugal.

She brought with her requests for the recitation of the rosary, for sacrifices on behalf of sinners, and a secret regarding the fate of the world.

Every local bishop since has approved the apparitions and deemed them worthy of belief, the highest recognition a Marian apparition can receive from the Church.

Miracle researcher Michael O'Neill told CNA that the Fatima apparitions could be considered the "gold standard of Marian apparitions."

"It has everything you've ever wanted to look for in a Marian apparition. It's got these secrets, the prophecies... you also have a feast day in the general Roman calendar, the approval of the local bishop, and of every pope afterwards, you have the canonization of the visionaries and the basilica that was built, so all the hallmarks of a Marian apparition are there," he said.

O'Neill records the details of Fatima, other Marian apparitions and all things miraculous on his site, miraclehunter.com.

This year, Pope Francis visited the apparition site on May 12-13, the 100th anniversary of the first Fatima apparition. The visit included the canonizations of two of the child visionaries, who died just a few years after the visions.

But even though it's been 100 years, "the messages of Fatima are as relevant today as they were in 1917," O'Neill said.

"The essence of the message is a call to conversion, and that's something that's as important in our life in modern times as it was when Mary appeared in 1917. I think this 100 year anniversary is a great opportunity for us to revisit the devotion and to re-incorporate it into our lives today."

Historical context

In 1917, the country of Portugal, like most of the rest of the world, was at war. Continue reading

Sources

• Catholic News Agency article by Mary Rezac
• Image: Schoenstatt.org

They say doctors, some of them non-believers, said Lucas's recovery could not be explained.

Pope Francis canonised the siblings on Saturday at Fátima.

Lucas was five when he fell 6.5 metres out of a window. By the time he arrivced at hospital he had suffered two heart attacks and was in a deep coma.

Doctors diagnosed a severe traumatic brain injury and a "loss of brain material" from Lucas's frontal lobe.

They said Lucas had little chance of survival. If he did live, they said he would be severely mentally disabled or even in a vegetative state.

Lucas's father Joao Baptista and his mother Lucila Yurie, appeared before reporters at the Catholic shrine in Fatima, Portugal, on Friday.

They have never discussed their son's miraculous cure with the press before.

After being told their son would be unlikely to recover they began to pray to Jesus and Our Lady of Fatima, to whom they said they have "a great devotion".

They also asked the nuns at the Carmelite convent of Campo Mouro to pray for their boy.

When the nuns got the message, Lucas's father said one of them "ran to the relics of Blessed Francisco and Jacinta, which were next to the tabernacle.

She also felt the impulse to pray the following prayer: ‘Shepherds, save this child, who is a child like you'…she also persuaded the other sisters to pray to the little shepherds to intercede for him.

"In the same way, all of us, the family, began to pray to the little shepherds, and two days later, on March 9, Lucas woke up and began to speak, even asking for his little sister."

On the 11th, he left the ICU and was discharged from the hospital a few days later.

"Since that time, Lucas "has been completely well and has no symptoms or after effects.

"He has the same intelligence (as he did before the accident), the same character, everything is the same."

Source

• Thestar.com
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ToronotStar

Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who died in 1919 are now "Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco". (The third "child", their cousin Lucia, died in 2005.)

Thousands of pilgrims lined Francis's route and tossed petals as his motorcade drove past. Up to a million visitors were expected.

Francis told the people of Portugal that he regarded his visit to Fátima as a pilgrimage of "hope and peace" where he would "present himself to Mary".

He asked for their support in this, saying "I need to feel you close, physically and spiritually, so that we are one heart and one mind".

He also said he hoped Catholics would continue to take notice of the message of peace the children reported 100 years ago

Last Saturday 13 May was the 100th anniversary of the first of our Lady's appearances to Saint Jacinta, Saint Francisco and their cousin Lucia. She was to appear five more times in the following months.

They said she revealed to them three secrets.

Later Lucia wrote these messages down. They foreshadowed the Second World War, hell, the rise and fall of communism and the death of a pope.

Our Lady also urged the children to pray for peace and turn away from sin.

Pope St John Paul II credited Our Lady with saving his life when an assassination attempt was made on him on 13 May 1981.

Source

• The Guardian
• Vatican Radio
• BBC News
• Image: CTV News

And so, let's play the game to the extremes, and ask: What happened in the coming week a hundred years ago?

Among a few things, three poor shepherd children in Portugal received a visitation from a woman clothed in light.

They were confused by her presence but over the course of several monthly encounters, came to understand that the heavenly woman was the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ.

The location was the small city of Fatima, which was named after the favored daughter of the Prophet Mohammed during the Moorish occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.

The timing was during the Great War, an event of massive destruction to human life and well-being.

The religious sentiment was atheistic, the political environment communistic, and nihilism was quickly growing as the air breathed by many.

In summary, therefore, it would seem that Fatima in 1917 would have been an uncommon place in an unlikely time for the Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ to make a house call.

Before diving into those state of affairs, we should probably ask the obvious question: Are visits like this common?

I mean, we did just say that the Blessed Virgin Mary, who historically lived in the first century of the common era, came and appeared to three children in the early twentieth century. Do things like this happen?

For those who have no faith or spiritual openness, very few things can be said to convince them that such occurrences are possible.

For persons of faith, there is at least the acceptance that such apparitions could happen. Usually, the believer's own temperament and history, combined with the actual story and message of the spiritual event, usually determine whether she will accept this specific supernatural event or not.

And so, did Mary make a visit to Fatima one hundred years ago? Continue reading

Sources

• Crux article by Fr Jeffrey F Kirby, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina.
• Image: Republika

The Mass will mark the 100 years since Our Lady is said to have appeared in a series of visions at Fatima, Portugal.

The Vatican office which governs the use of the traditional Latin Mass gave permission for "a votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary" to be celebrated on May 13, 2017.

Gregory DiPippo, who is the editor of New Liturgical Movement, explained why the the decision to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass was made.

He says it was because "many of the Christian faithful who are attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite have a particular and fervent devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima".

DiPippo says out of a wish "to encourage the devotion of the faithful to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima" the Latin Mass was approved.

The Fatima apparitions are well known. Our Lady first appeared on 13 May 1917 to siblings Francisco and Jacinta Marto - age 9 and 7 - and their cousin, 10-year-old Lucia dos Santos.

She then allegedly appeared to the children on the 13th of every month until October. Her message was a call to repentance and prayer.

Francisco and Jacinta died in 1919 and 1920. They have been beatified and their cause for canonisation was opened in March.

Lucia, a Carmelite nun, died in 2005. Her cause for beatification is open.

Pope Francis will visit the Fatima shrine for the centenary.

Source

• Crux
• Herald Malaysia
• Exploring Upstate

As part of that chatter, anyone with even a remote connection to the Vatican was asked over and over again, "Will the pope resign?" Everyone had their own answer, but I was fairly confident John Paul would never go that route, and when pressed as to why, I would tell people I could explain it in one word.

That word was, "Fatima."

St. John Paul II, let us remember, once dreamt of being a Discalced Carmelite priest; the story goes that the only reason he didn't was because the Carmelite seminary in Czerna, Poland, at the time wasn't accepting new novices due to the war.

The young Karol Wojtyla was enchanted by the works of St. John of the Cross, and would later write his doctoral thesis on the great Carmelite saint.

The fascination was part of a strong mystical streak in the Polish pontiff, which also showed up in his deep conviction it was no accident that Sister Faustina Kowalska and her message of divine mercy came along in Poland between the two world wars, arguably the least merciful chapter of that country's long and painful history.

John Paul always saw the world, including the vicissitudes of his own life, as part of a vast cosmic drama, a struggle between good and evil, and was convinced that terrestrial explanations of the ups and downs he encountered never exhausted the possibilities.

All of which brings us to May 13, 1981, the date of the assassination attempt against John Paul II in St. Peter's Square, which was also the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. Continue reading

Sources

• John L. Allen Jr., writing in Crux
• Image: Wikipedia

The world-famous statue was sculpted in 1947 by Jose Thedim, based on the description of Sr. Lucia, one of the three young seers who saw Our Lady each month from May to October 1917 in Fatima, Portugal.

Patrick Sabat, a delegate for the Pilgrim Virgin Committee, who is traveling with the statue, said the visit "is a mission of hope, a message of peace and a message of love not only for the Catholics but all people of good will."

The statue has traveled the world many times, visiting more than 100 countries, including Russia and China.

According the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima website many miracles have been associated with the statue

Sabat said he thought the most important part of the miracle stories are the Conversion stories.

"I always tell the people they're asking for physical cures. Yes, you can (grow an arm today) but what about your soul? The soul, that's the most important part of our mission, is to save souls," he said.

"That's why Our Lady appeared to the children of Fatima nearly 100 years ago in 1917, to save souls."

After leaving Guam the statue was taken to Saipan and the Philippines.

After that it will move on to South America.

Source

• Guampdm
• umatuna.org
• Image: cmsimg.guampdn.com

Addressing a general assembly of the Portuguese Bishops' Conference, the cardinal said: "Pope Francis asked me twice whether he could consecrate his new ministry to Our Lady of Fatima.

"It is a mandate I can carry out in prayer and silence. But it would be nice if the whole bishops' conference joined in to fulfill this request. May Mary guide us in our work and in fulfilling Pope Francis' request."

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