Fatima

Today we are at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. Our Lady is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917 - Lucia dos Santos (age 10) and her cousins Jacinta (age 7) and Francisco Marto (age 9) - in the fields outside the village of Aljustrel near Fatima. First we visited Aljustrel where the three children lived and where they first saw the visions. While we were there, we noticed a lovely old lady dressed in black saying the rosary. She told us later that she was 92 years old, that she had had 10 children and that she was the niece of Lucia. 

We then drove into Fatima to our hotel and went and had some lunch. I chose a typical Potuguese dish of codfish. Thank goodness we chose the 'half portion', I couldn't finish it all!

Then we wandered up to the Basilica to Mass as we were told that the 3 o'clock Mass was to be in English. It's the first English Mass I have ever been to that was spoken entirely in Portuguese...LOL! But we managed to work out when to sit, stand, kneel and go to communion! After Mass we saw where the three children are now buried in the Basilica and went for a wander around the enormous square. Apparently on the anniversary of the visions up to 75 000 people gather here...unbelievable!!! Some people choose to approach the shrine on their knees as an act of penance and we saw a few people doing this. Later tonight we are going back for the candlelight procession. 

Fatima is very different to Lourdes. Over dinner tonight we were trying to verbalise how we thought it was different. The best explanation for me was that Lourdes seemed to be more about healing and the want of the people there to be made well again. The people at Lourdes were requesting or asking for the intercession of Mary. Fatima on the otherhand seems to be more about devotion and penance and people saying...what am I going to do to atone for my sins. Of course the common theme for both is the Rosary and while Fatima is a lot more modern looking than Lourdes the entire shopping area of both towns is crowded with stores that sell religious items. I am really glad that I have been able to experience these two similar and yet completely different destinations.