Our Lady of Fatima on my mind
Because the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is a relatively modern-day shrine — it is very relatable. It is a 20th-century phenomenon.
On May 13 this year will be the 108th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal. She reportedly appeared six times to Lucia, nine, and her cousins Francisco, eight, and his sister Jacinta, six, between May 13, 1917 and October 13, 1917. Among those who have met Lucia were the late former President Cory Aquino and the late Archbishop of Manila Jaime Cardinal Sin. One living witness to the meeting with Lucia is former Ambassador to the Vatican Mercy Tuason.
I visited Fatima last year, after a cruise of the Douro River on the Scenic Azure organized by CITTI Elite. After our cruise, we made it a point to visit the Shrine of Fatima before flying home to Manila the next day.
It was my second visit to the shrine (my husband Ed and I were fortunate to have visited the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal in 2004), but even the second visit struck me with awe and drew out the deepest reverence in me.
The Fatima pilgrimage site includes a cathedral, a small chapel, and a square that is even bigger than St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
During my first visit, I don’t know why, but I broke away from the tour group and my feet just led me to the small simple chapel, where I was simply overcome by the power of my faith that tears sprung unbidden from my eyes. I found myself kneeling in praise, sobbing and grateful.
During my second visit recently, my fellow pilgrims and I were fortunate to have heard Mass and receive communion in the same chapel, where the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima is encased in glass. On Oct. 11 and 12, this original statue will travel to Rome to take part in the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality.
A first in this visit was a side trip to the homes of Lucia, and siblings Francisco and Jacinta.
The house where Lucia, the youngest of six children, was born and lived until the age of 14, in Aljustrel, Fatima, is now a museum space where pilgrims and visitors will find mementoes of Lucia during her childhood.
The house-museum that is now on display looks like a rural residence from the late 19th and early 20th centuries with three bedrooms, a kitchen, a loom room, a storeroom and the kiln house.
In 1981, Sister Lucia donated the house to the Shrine; it only took possession of it in 1986.
Nearby is Jacinta and Francisco’s House. It was in this house, located some two kilometers away from the shrine of Fatima, in the village of Aljustrel, that Blessed Francisco and Jacinta were born, the two youngest children of the family Marto.
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According to the children, who never recanted their testimony of the apparitions despite threats from local officials, Mary brought with her requests for conversion, prayer (particularly the recitation of the rosary), sacrifices on behalf of sinners, and a three-part secret regarding the fate of the world.
According to published sources, the children followed Mary’s requests, praying often, giving their lunch to beggars and going without food themselves. They offered up their daily crosses and even refrained from drinking water on hot days.
Jacinta and Francisco both died before age 12 and became the youngest non-martyr to be canonized. Pope Francis canonized Francisco and Jacinta last May 13, showing the faithful that even children can become saints. Sister Lucia, the third visionary, died in 2005 at the age of 97. The Church is currently examining documents and collecting testimonies for her beatification cause.
The miracle attributed to Francisco and Jacinta was the complete cure of a Brazilian boy named Lucas Batista who fell 20 feet from a window, losing part of his brain upon impact and falling into a deep coma. His parents asked the intercession of the two shepherd children of Fatima and soon after, the boy woke up.
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According to the late Jesuit priest Father Catalino Arevalo, Cardinal Sin made a side trip to a Carmelite convent in Coimbra to visit the third visionary, Lucia, who, by then, was known as Sister Lucia dos Santos.
Known as “the last seer of Fatima,” Sister Lucia “was really happy to talk with the Cardinal,” according to Arevalo.
Then Sister Lucia did something the Cardinal did not expect. She took out a rosary that she said she herself made, bead by bead.
“She wanted Cardinal Sin to give it as her personal gift to Mrs. Aquino, and she said, somewhat surprisingly: ‘Tell her to take good care of it’,” Arevalo revealed.
In 1992, the 75th anniversary of the Fatima apparitions, private citizen Cory, with daughter Kris and friends Bea Zobel and Mercy Tuason obtained permission to visit Sister Lucia in Coimbra.
The first question Sister Lucia asked the former president was, “Do you still have the rosary I sent you?”
Cory replied that she had lent the rosary at the time to a niece in Boston, who was trying to conceive. (The niece now has two grownup kids!)
“I feel so blessed and privileged to have this bond with Fatima and so I shared this rosary with relatives and friends,” she told Sister Lucia.
Cory Aquino once told me that her favorite form of prayer was the rosary. This was one of the Virgin Mary’s requests relayed through Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia.
“Definitely, Mom and Dad (the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino) were both Fatima devotees,” Viel Aquino-Dee, who was assigned by the Aquino siblings as custodian of the rosary given by Sister Lucia to their mother, once shared. “Dad ended his 40-day hunger strike and had his triple heart bypass done in Dallas on May 13.”
“Mom treasured the rosary made for her by Sister Lucia and we’d see her praying it especially during her trying times,” added Viel.
You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.
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