Fatima

Our accommodation at Batalha was only 15 kilometres from the famous shrine of Fatima.
On the 13th of May 1917 three children had seen a vision of our lady, she told the children to return to the same spot on the same day for six months. By the end of this time there were thousands of people gathering at the site of the apparition. The name of the newspaper below incidentally is "The Century" in Portugese.

I am very much a secular person and until I had actually visited the shrine and seen the other people visiting I would have been fairly sceptical of visions and prophecies, however having now seen the place and more importantly the penitents, celebrants or pilgrims known here as "Peregrinos"  I feel I understand a little more. Regardless of the personalities and politics involved in the story, It seems to me it is about a single, incredibly powerful thing, and that is.....Faith.

The Portuguese writing  above is saying "I believe!" . On the 13th of October 1917, six months after the initial vision occurred many had gathered and witnessed the Miracle of the sun, where many people reported colours distortions and strange effects occurring, along with more spiritual visions. The photograph was taken around the time of the original apparitions. Not by me I might add! At the time Fatima was a small village surrounded by rocky fields. and pine trees. I have neither time or space to tell the history of events leading to our present but suffice to say,
It has now been transformed

The pine trees and indeed the sun remain, however it now has become the biggest site of pilgrimage in Europe, and rivals Lourdes for popularity. It is simply vast.The open plaza below which sits the Basilica is twice the size of St Peters square in Rome.

The Basilica of our Lady of the Rosary which stands at the bottom of the square has long outgrown its congregation and now a large circular building the Basilica of the Holy Trinity is used for larger services. It is very modern and no doubt serviceable. However I find the large rosary suspended between two pillars to be a little questionable aesthetically......

On entering the building, (its not obviously a church until you are through the final doors) you are presented with a large auditorium, thousands of people could sit here, there is a surprising amount of light comes through angled glass louvres in the roof. As a conference space its superb as a place of worship less so in my humble opinion.

The golden fresco behind the altar is very subtle but is somewhat lost in the vast space. It is all a little impersonal. Its an impressive piece of modern architecture and I wouldn't like to guess at the cost of all the polished limestone and marble that went into its construction. To be fair in this regard I suspect that Fatima is a victim of its own success. After all, how on earth do you accommodate thousands of people?

The Basilica of our Lady of the Rosary stands on the opposite end of the Plaza and is an imposing edifice, it is flanked on either side by colonnaded wings that are topped by statues of saints, it fairly gleams in the sunlight, the bright white  frontage broken only by colourful frescos housed in arches behind the columns and a golden crown on top of the bell tower, which incidentally can ring loud enough to make you jump and does so every 15 minutes or so.

There is a small garden off to one side which has statues of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the two youngest children who died in the flu epidemic of 1918-19. Their tombs are in the Basilica.

The remaining child Lucia Abobora, later renamed Lucia de Jesus de dos Santos, died in 2005 at the age of 97. She became a nun and her written memoirs and of course the famous "three secrets" became internationally famous.

We approached the Basilica not quite knowing what to expect, it is in fact a very elegant and surprisingly plainly decorated church for Portugal

There are 15 altars within the church dedicated to the 15 mysteries of the Rosary. Above the altar is a picture of our Lady visiting the children. The figure of the Bishop on the bottom left is I believe the Bishop of Liera. It was he who declared the miracle `worthy of belief ` in 1930. There are several Popes in the top right of the picture. An unusual alterpiece. A statue of our Lady of Fatima is on a plinth on the right, there are several statues one of which the Pilgrim Statue has travelled the world.

The stained glass windows show various scenes about the apparitions.

This is the tomb of St Francisco, St Jacinta's tomb is on the opposite side of the altar.
The real heart of the site is undoubtedly the chapel of the Apparitions. an open air chapel built on the very spot of the appearance of our Lady to the children.

The original small chapel built by the villagers is represented within and the famous statue in a glass case stands on the exact spot that our Lady appeared.

Pilgrims approach and pray from behind the small chapel within a chapel and do a circuit for which a handrail is provided most pilgrims also seem to value the help of a friend.

There is a marble pathway known as the Pilgrims Way that runs from the Basilica of the Holy Trinity to the Chapel of Apparitions. The faithful approach the Chapel on their knees. It is highly polished. The path continues past the Basilica and becomes the Holy Way passing 14 tiny chapels representing the stations of the cross.

Behind the Chapel is a place to light a candle. Initially I was utterly confused as to what this could be as it was marked  by huge plumes of smoke. I approached and realised that rather than a small rack of candle holders with a smattering of lit candles this was in fact an inferno of wax.

The melting candles were pooling and were a roaring blaze. It didn't seem to put anyone off attempting to place yet more candles.
The atmosphere at the Chapel of the Apparitions was very humbling. Although I am not comfortable with some of the more overt acts of dedication I can admire the expression of faith they represent.

Beneath the ground of the vast Plaza are several chapels and exhibition spaces, we walked around an exhibition of art that represented The light of Fatima in the modern world. It was called The Colours of the Sun, presumably in reference to the miracle of 1917.

It was actually very good indeed, and also had a small exhibition of the history of the site. It included several models of the buildings including the site as it is now. (below left)showing the Plaza, two Basilicas and Chapel of the Apparitions just near the statue centre of Plaza. There was also a model of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity showing the circular shape and louvered roof, along with some of the underground chapels.

Hidden away at one side of the main Plaza was a strange find for me, a section of the Berlin Wall. I was a bit confused until I later discovered that one of the secrets referred to Russia and allegedly the fall of communism was prophesied. I prefer to think it celebrates peace and reunification.

 By this time we had walked for miles and we made our way back towards the huge car park having spent no money at all, which was surprising as we had a preconception that the opposite would be the case. We were pleasantly surprised. Which pretty much sums up my attitude to the experience. I found it affirming and positive. It apparently is visited by four million pilgrims a year and for me this is what the real Fatima is. I have seen the reaction to a visit by a three foot tall statue in a small town in Galicia. multiply that worldwide and we are talking about something that is difficult to ignore.

 The original time of the miracle and the subsequent building of the first small chapel was not supported by the church it was purely the people who by stubborn belief carried the whole thing forward. It is now in some respects a very different thing bigger, grander, the whole panoply of church, but in any meaningful sense it still is what it was.

People believing in miracles.........

A bit of video from the day....