Northern Dioceses Fatima Pilgrimage, September 2024 - Part 1
Webmaster
Northern Dioceses Fatima Pilgrimage, 19-26 September 2024 - Part 1 By Pilgrimage organiser Patrick Cunningham๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
Over recent years the World Apostolate of Fatima has visited a number of Churches in the Northern dioceses of England and Wales (WAF-E&W), primarily to promote awareness of the events that took place in Fatima, Portugal, over 100 years ago, and also to encourage devotion to our Holy Mother who constantly intercedes for all Humanity. ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
Due to this increased awareness WAF-E&W arranged a pilgrimage to Fatima for pilgrims from the Northern Dioceses, with the help and support of Canon Stephen Watson from St Pauls, Alnwick, Fr Manoj Punchakunnel from St Pauls, Cramlington, Fr Saji Thottathil from St Matthews, Jarrow, and Fr Bill Serplus from St Aelred’s at York. ๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
Forty-eight pilgrims inclusive of the four parish priests, plus Deacon Rob Wareing from St Pauls, Cramlington and Sister Bridget Okoye from the Daughters of Divine Love Congregation, Birmingham, joined the pilgrimage which took place between 19th to 26th September 2024. ๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
Pilgrims travelled by coach to Manchester Airport, to board the flight to Lisbon, Portugal, and then finally via coach transfer to Domus Pacis Hotel in Fatima.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
The Hotel was initially funded by the founding members of the Blue Army (now known as the World Apostolate of Fatima) to provide accommodation for pilgrims from all over the world. Apart from its many rooms and dining facilities, it also has a large conference room, a chapel at ground floor level, and a Byzantine chapel above. We arrived in the early hours of Friday morning, and all went to their rooms to catch up on sleep.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
The pilgrimage began with a talk by Mr. Nuno Prazeres and Mrs. Ana Reis, from the WAF-International Secretariat. Fatima is probably the most prophetic apparition the world has witnessed and came at a time when the world was turning away from God. Our Lady came with a message to restore the centrality of God in people’s lives and with a message of hope to bring peace back to the world. We may well ask what have we learnt and what have we done since then.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
This is why prayer is so important. Praying the rosary will bring peace to the world.๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
The talk was especially interesting given that Nuno and Ana related personal stories about the events in Fatima during the apparitions from the eyewitness accounts of their respective grandparents.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
Nuno told a story from his grandfather who had known Francisco. One day his grandfather was playing Hide and Seek with Francisco and some other boys.๏ปฟ๏ปฟ
๏ปฟ
Everyone had been found except Francisco, so all the boys started to look for him and eventually they found Francisco on a tree praying the rosary. He had simply forgotten they were playing a game and prayed the rosary. For Francisco God was the centre of his life, and the meaning of his life was to pray.
Ana recalled that her grandmother was about 2 years old at the time of the apparitions. The people of the village were mainly farmers and shepherds, and often quite poor, and so handed down clothes. When her grandmother turned 6-7 years old, she was given a blouse to wear by Jacinta Marto’s mother, Olympia, and she was told that now she was wearing the blouse of Jacinta she now has to be as good as Jacinta was!
Her grandmother lived a long life and died a few years ago at the age of 97. She would pray the Rosary every day of her life and follow the requests of Our Lady of Fatima.
Later, that day we had a tour of the shrine which lies over the apparition site of the Cova da Iria, at Fatima. The Shrine has two Basilicas, one at either end of the sanctuary area. The Basilica of the Holy Rosary was begun in 1928 (11 years after the apparitions of Our Lady in 1917) and was consecrated on 7th October 1953. It has 15 altars and is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.
The painting above the high altar depicts the message of Our Lady to the little shepherds (Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta), prepared by the Angel of Portugal through their encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. The tombs of Saints Francisco and Jacinta lie on either side of the high altar, and Blessed Lucia lies next to Jacinta’s tomb.
The Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, dedicated on October 12, 2007, has a seating capacity of 8,633. A smaller chapel, the Capelinha, was built at the apparition site and is the heart of the sanctuary. The marble pillar on which the statue of Our Lady rests is the exact spot where she appeared. Four million people visit the sanctuary each year.
The pilgrimage itinerary for the week included daily Mass and visits to sites of interest as well as free time to explore the shrine’s many chapels, including those for perpetual Adoration and Reconciliation. Masses were held each day, most of which were presided over by the priests and deacon from our pilgrimage group. This included a Mass at the Chapel of the Angel of Peace at the shrine, Mass at St Anthony’s, the local Fatima church where the seers went to Mass and to pray, and the church at Santarem (This visit included veneration of the Eucharistic bleeding Host).
A Rosary and candlelight procession was held each night at the Chapel of Apparitions; this was a very moving experience and well worth attending. Every Sunday, the Sanctuary holds a morning international Rosary, followed by an international Mass. Thousands of people were in attendance as the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima was processed to the outdoor altar.
On the Sunday we were in attendance there was a special blessing of helmets for motorcyclists. The event is held annually, drawing many thousands of motorcyclists from across the region. The blessing added to the atmosphere at the shrine showing reverence in a spiritual gathering and fostering community support by raising funds for the purchase of an adapted wheelchair for a 23-year-old resident of Peniche who became a paraplegic after a motorcycle accident in 2021.
The second part of this account will continue next month
Fr Jason, the WAF Spiritual Director reminds us : “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, temporal or especially spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary.'' “There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves. We will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” (Sister Lucia to Father Fuentes) With these words, we confidently begin our Rosary month!
St Carlo Acutis’ Hidden Fatima Vision In the light of some new information which has emerged concerning St Carlo Acutis, it is noteworthy that he died on 12th October 2006, in Monza, Italy, at the age of 15, due to acute myeloid leukaemia. He was officially pronounced dead at 6:45 pm in the evening, and so he died on the vigil of the anniversary of the Fatima miracle of the Sun, which took place on 13 October 1917. This is significant, especially since according to accounts shared by those close to him and confirmed in recent devotional discussions, he reportedly had a vision involving the three Fatima children and Our Lady during a pilgrimage to Fatima about a year before his death. This vision emphasized the importance of the First Saturday Devotion – and Our Lady’s message to Carlo was to promote the devotion widely as a powerful means to bring peace to the world and protect Christianity from difficult times caused by disobedience. Carlo was deeply influenced by the Fatima message, especially regarding the reality of hell and the call to reparatory prayer and sacrifice to save souls and the world. The vision apparently included imagery of Our Lady placing her Immaculate Heart into Carlo, symbolising his close spiritual union with her and the mission he was given to spread the Devotion. To sum up, this hidden vision in particular encourages the faithful to seriously practice the Five First Saturdays Devotion to help bring about a spiritual renewal and peace in the world. You can see the WAF Blue Army video about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R529sAmTDk
Cathedral Visitations – Five First Saturdays Devotion Centenary We continue our planned visits around the Cathedrals and Shrines of England and Wales during this centenary celebration of the Five First Saturdays Devotion. This month we visit: • Cathedral Church of St Anne, Leeds on 13 October. • The Cathedral Church of St Barnabus, Nottingham on 12-13 October More details can be found here ...
Pray a Novena to St Carlo Acutis for WAF England & Wales intentions To help gain more volunteers, we are suggesting praying a Novena to St Carlo Acutis, beginning today, 3rd October, and ending on his feast day, 12th October. St Carlo Acutis was a young computer expert who used his skills to share his Catholic faith online. He created a website cataloguing Eucharistic miracles around the world, making faith accessible through digital means. Known as the patron saint of the Internet, Carlo showed how technology can be a tool for spreading the Gospel and inspiring holiness. Because of this, praying a Novena to St. Carlo Acutis is ideal for intentions related to online activities—including digital evangelisation, which is what WAF England and Wales is trying to do through our Website, Social Media, and Newsletter activities. Novenas to St Carlo Acutis: https://catholicnovenaapp.com/novenas/blessed-carlo-acutis-n... https://catholicresources.education/pdf/novena-to-st-carlo-a...
Dear WAF members from all over the world, WAF Ukraine would like to share with you the prayer initiative which was launched among the Ukrainian WAF members in 2022, several months after the war started, when we came back from the WAF General Assembly in Fatima inspired by meeting many devoted followers of Our Lady from all over the world. It has become a powerful instrument to accumulate our prayer resources here in Ukraine and so be united through the online platform. So we invite you to join the continuous 40-hours Rosary prayer and strengthen our spiritual front with international support. Our common prayer is a powerful spiritual weapon, and our intention is CONVERSION OF SINNERS, PEACE IN THE WORLD, PROTECTION OF OUR UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS AND VICTORY in this war. The Prayer lasts every week from Tuesday, 07:00 am, until Wednesday, 11:00 pm (Ukrainian time), thus forming 40 uninterrupted hours. It is also desirable to accompany the prayer with Fasting . On this link www.rosary.fatima.in.ua you find the prayer platform itself in different languages and instructions on how to become a part of it. This way you can strengthen our prayer front. Every prayer is important to God! We also invite you to take advantage of a unique opportunity to receive a random BIBLE passage once you have registered for the prayer. Kindly note that weekly registration for the prayer is required , as the system resets each week. Starting on Thursday, all registrations are cancelled and you may register again for the next week. May God bless you all! United in prayer, WAF Ukraine
The WAF-E&W AGM will be held at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Chessington from Thursday, October 23rd, to Saturday, October 25th. All are welcome to attend! For further details, please see the poster above.
The Jubilee of Marian Spirituality is a special event within the larger 2025 Jubilee Year, focusing on deepening devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It will take place in Rome from October 11-12, 2025, with events centered around major basilicas and culminating in a Mass presided over by the Holy Father. The Jubilee aims to inspire reflection, prayer, and celebration of Mary's role in the faith, inviting clergy, religious, and laity to participate. View more here
World Apostolate of Fatima England and Wales
The Promoter on-line formation is proving a great success and many thanks to all involved. Please note the next on-line TEAMS formation sessions will be held on 20th October and 15th December respectfully. Details will be made available nearer the time. New volunteers are always welcome to join us - find out more
September is the month traditionally dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, and the feast day for this falls on 15 September, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Clearly, it is very appropriate that these two feasts, representing the sorrows of Christ and Our Lady, should be celebrated so close together, given that the Blessed Virgin was the one who stood so steadfastly at the foot of the Cross on Calvary during the awful sufferings of her Son. As Fr Jason indicated, there are also some other notable Marian feast days in September, including the feast of the Nativity of of the Blessed Virgin on 8 September, and the feast of the Holy name of Mary on 12 September. And there is also the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham on 24 September. These feast days are all part of a rich historical tradition. The celebration of the Nativity of Our Lady in the Eastern Church goes back to the seventh century, and it was likewise celebrated during the time of Pope Sergius I (687-701) in Rome, from whence it found it way to other European countries. There is no scriptural record of the birth of Mary, but it is mentioned in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James , which dates from the second century. The Feast of the Holy Name of Mary expresses the idea that after the name of Jesus, her name represents the highest expression of holiness in the light of her extraordinary sanctity and her role as Mother of God. This feast day was celebrated in Spain originally but was extended to the whole Church by Pope Innocent XI after the defeat of the Ottoman army at Vienna by the forces of the Polish King Sobieski on 12 September 1683. Sobieski attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. Traditionally, the seven sorrows comprised the following incidents from the life of Our Lady: the prophecy of Simeon that a sword should pierce her soul the flight into Egypt, when the Holy Family had to escape the wrath of Herod the loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, an incident which was a cause of such anguish to both Mary and Joseph Our Lady meeting Jesus on the way of the Cross the bloody Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary the piercing of his side by the soldier after his death and the descent of his body from the Cross and finally, his burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea nearby. These seven sorrows show how closely linked the lives of Jesus and Mary were, and that she was present at all those crucial moments of pain and distress, and so shared as fully as possible in his sufferings. And this is relevant to our own time and lives, too, since the theme of suffering is prominent in what Our Lady said to the children at Fatima. During the very first apparition, on 13 May 1917, after telling them that they would go to heaven, she said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?” Lucia replied, “Yes, we are willing,” to which the response was, “Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” During the August apparition, the sadness and suffering of Our Lady at the plight of mankind in its opposition to God was also apparent. Sr Lucia tells us that at the end of this apparition, “looking very sad” she said, “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them.” And she also records that this same sadness during the final apparition on 13 October 1917, once again saying that the Blessed Virgin was “looking very sad” as she said, “Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended.” So during this month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, we can certainly think about the historical sorrows of her life, which came about because she was the Mother of Christ, the Man of Sorrows, but it would also be good to remember her continuing sufferings as the Mother of the mystical Body of Christ, of all Christians, and do what we can to alleviate those sufferings through our prayers and sacrifices.
