Our Lady of Fatima

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This article was published 06/05/2017 (3423 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every working day, Sister Bibiana Ikwun experiences a simple but profound miracle: seeing the divine through children’s eyes.

“They are so simple and so open and every day I learn something new from them,” says the director of religious education at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church.

“The children have that imbued knowledge of God. I think they are very close to God.”

On May 13, Ikwun hopes hundreds of Winnipeggers will join her in marking the centennial of a miracle encountered by three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal.

“The event is important to us as Catholics and human beings because it was during the (First World) war and Our Lady asked children to pray and make sacrifices,” says Ikwun, who travelled to Fatima last summer for her 60th birthday.

On May 13, 1917, three young children were tending sheep outside the village of Fatima when they saw an apparition or image of the Virgin Mary, asking them to pray daily to bring peace to the world. The apparitions continued for six consecutive months, and on Oct. 13, 1917, 70,000 people witnessed the miracle along with the children.

Now known as Our Lady of Fatima, the event has inspired people from all over the globe to flock to Fatima for pilgrimages or mark the date with processions and celebrations in their own communities.

“It’s a populist movement. It’s happening all over the world,” says John Scatliff, parish life administrator at Holy Cross.

“It’s a place of prayers, devotion and connection with God,” Ikwun says of Fatima, where thousands gather for nightly candlelight processions and hourly masses and visit a large shrine dedicated to the events of 1917.

She says that sense of continuous worship will pervade the day-long Winnipeg celebration at Holy Cross, 252 Dubuc St., which opens with a 7:45 a.m. mass, and includes afternoon prayer services, music and silent adoration until the 5 p.m. mass.

Organizers expect 500 people to walk the 5.25-kilometre route through St. Boniface in what is thought to be the first Winnipeg procession for Fatima. The event is sponsored by the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, the Archdiocese of Saint Boniface, and the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg.

“Its (focus) is more on grace and mercy of God,” says Holy Cross parishioner Anita Bondoc, adding these types of processions are more common in her native Philippines.

“Our Lady (of Fatima) is asking for repentance, sacrifice and prayer.”

To people unfamiliar with events at Fatima, the idea of apparitions and private revelations to children may seem just a bit unbelievable, says Rev. Jeffrey Burwell, director of the Jesuit Centre for Catholic studies at St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba.

He says the appearances of the Virgin (Mary) are sprinkled throughout the history of the church.

“She appears at many times and places, says Burwell, who visited Fatima last summer after walking the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route through France and Spain.

“You can take it or leave it. What you can’t discount is the call to devotion and the call to prayers.”

What also can’t be discounted is that the call to prayer came through humble messengers in the form of three young shepherd children, Ikwun says, and their message still resonates today.

“For children to be able to draw people into prayer and sacrifice, that’s fantastic.”

brenda@suderman.com

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