May 15, 2021 at 1:00pm
Outside the Main Church in the Square
Our Lady's Message to the World,
“ONE DAY, THROUGH THE ROSARY AND THE SCAPULAR, SHE WILL SAVE THE WORLD."
St. Patrick Church will be hosting a Public Square Rosary, outside the Main Church in the square, on May 15, 2021 at 1:00pm. All are welcome to join us for this beautiful service to honor our Lady of Fátima.
Our Lady first appeared at Fátima, Portugal 100 years ago, on May 13, 1917. It was there she asked the world to pray the Rosary as a devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Our Lady spoke to the world. She described the situation as extremely grave, pointed out mankind’s frightening moral decadence as the cause of this situation, and threatened us with terrible earthly punishments—a new war, the spread of the errors of Communism, persecutions of the Church, and what is a thousand times worse, eternal punishment if we fail to amend, and she then prescribed the necessary means for us to avoid all these punishments.
Through a sincere Rosary devotion, it is believed that peace in the world can be attained. Through the Rosary, many blessings can be bestowed and redemption achieved. America needs Fátima and we need your support in this effort.
Please join us. Rain or shine.
Our Lady of Fátima - The Story
On May 13, 1917, nine-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, saw a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand. She asked them to devote themselves to the Holy Trinity and to pray "the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war". While the children had never told anyone about seeing the angel, Jacinta told her family about seeing the brightly lit woman. Lúcia had earlier said that the three should keep this experience private. Jacinta's disbelieving mother told neighbors about it as a joke, and within a day the whole village knew of the children's vision.
Lúcia Santos (left) with her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, 1917
The children said the woman told them to return to the Cova da Iria on June 13, 1917. Lúcia's mother sought counsel from the parish priest, Father Ferreira, who suggested she allow them to go. He asked to have Lúcia brought to him afterward so that he could question her. The second appearance occurred on June 13, the feast of St. Anthony, patron of the local parish church. On this occasion the lady revealed that Francisco and Jacinta would be taken to Heaven soon, but Lúcia would live longer in order to spread her message and devotion to the Immaculate Heart.
During the June visit, the children said the lady told them to say the Rosary daily in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary to obtain peace and the end of the Great War. (Three weeks earlier, on April 21st, the first contingent of Portuguese soldiers had embarked for the front lines of the war.) The lady also purportedly revealed to the children a vision of hell, and entrusted a secret to them, described as "good for some and bad for others". Fr. Ferreira later stated that Lúcia recounted that the lady told her, "I want you to come back on the thirteenth and to learn to read in order to understand what I want of you... I don't want more."
In the following months, thousands of people flocked to Fátima and nearby Aljustrel, drawn by reports of visions and miracles. On August 13, 1917, the provincial administrator Artur Santos (no relation to Lúcia Santos), intercepted, as he believed that these events were politically disruptive in the conservative country. He took the children into custody, jailing them before they could reach the Cova da Iria. Santos interrogated and threatened the children to get them to divulge the contents of the secrets. Lúcia's mother hoped the officials could persuade the children to end the affair and admit that they had lied. Lúcia told Santos everything short of the secrets, and offered to ask the woman for permission to tell the official the secrets.
That month, instead of the usual apparition in the Cova da Iria on August 13, the children reported that they saw the Virgin Mary on August 19, a Sunday, at nearby Valinhos. She asked them again to pray the rosary daily, spoke about the miracle coming in October, and asked them "to pray a lot, a lot for the sinners and sacrifice a lot, as many souls perish in hell because nobody is praying or making sacrifices for them."
The three children saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in a total of six apparitions between May 13 and October 13, 1917.
View a 9 minute video about the visions at Fatima.
The Rosary
Praying the rosary has been a tradition in the Church for a long time. It’s not certain who made it more formal; some say it was St. Dominic and others say it wasn’t. What really matters is that this prayer is very powerful. The word rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolize the Virgin Mary.
Throughout Church history, many popes and saints have highly recommended that we pray the rosary. St. Louis de Montfort said, ‘When the Holy Rosary is said well, it gives Jesus and Mary more glory and is more meritorious than any other prayer.’
The rosary begins with the recitation of the Apostle’s Creed, an Our Father, three Hail Mary’s and a Glory Be. Then there are five decades which each begin and end with an Our Father and Glory Be, and have ten Hail Mary’s in between. When you pray the rosary, you meditate on the events in Jesus’ life. There are the joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries.
In various apparitions, Mary has appeared holding a rosary and has asked that we continue to pray this prayer. She always leads us to her Son, and presents our needs before Him. Prayer is about developing our relationship with God, and loving Him more, so it makes sense to get to know Him through the events of the life of Christ that we meditate on during the rosary.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, ‘Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him’.
Rosaries are not just decorations. Battles have been won because people prayed the rosary! There have been hearts converted, and impossible intentions answered too. Your life can only be blessed if you start praying the rosary.
Watch this video on how to pray the rosary and please join us on May 21, 2017.