The sanctuary of the Virgin of Fatima, in Portugal, is one of the great world pilgrimage centers and next Saturday the 23rd the masses will continue which, due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be transmitted via streaming.
The authorities confirmed that the five celebrations it hosts daily will be broadcast “online” and can be followed from their official website, after the announcement of the suspension of Masses in Portugal due to the peak of cases in Portugal.
“It is a painful measure, but necessary, due to the pandemic,” Carlos Cabecinhas, the rector of the Fatima sanctuary, assured today.
A crowd participates in the procession of Our Lady of Fatima in 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the masses will be online. Photo / EFE
How to view masses online
The daily Masses at 11, 12:30 and 15:00 and the rosary prayers at 18:30 and 21:30 in Portugal will be broadcast.
Additionally, the shrine today announced that all the spaces of Fatima, to welcome pilgrims, They will remain closed for the duration of the containment measures.
Further, the Episcopal Conference of Portugal announced the suspension of masses, catechesis and pastoral activities that involve any contact, given the worsening of the pandemic.
Pre-pandemic religious celebration. This year everything must be via streaming to avoid contagion. Photo / EFE
The COVID-19 situation in Portugal is critical. Since the end of December, the pandemic has exploded and every day this European country breaks records of infected and deceased.
Today, for example, Portugal registered 221 deaths and 13,544 infections. And since the pandemic began, 9,686 people have already died and 595,149 have been infected.
The Virgin of Fatima: her story
He is one of the emblematic figures of the Catholic Church, its celebration takes place every May 13 to remember his first appearance in Cova da Iria, Portugal, in 1917.
That day the Virgin introduced herself to Lucia and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who lived in the town of Aljustrel., in Fatima. The children were shepherds of the flocks of their families.
And in that first meeting, the Virgin Mary told them, among other things, that she would return for the next six months at the same time every 13th. And he did it.
The other appearances of the Virgin of Fatima
In the second apparition, Maria communicated to the boys that Francisco and Jacinta would die while Lucia would survive to bear witness to the apparitions.
Our Lady of Fatima. His appearances marked an epoch in the Catholic religion. Photo / EFE
In The third apparition of the Virgin, happened on July 13, Lucia was revealed the secret. The girl, frightened, cried out the name of the virgin, there was a loud thunder and the vision ended.
On August 13, when the fourth apparition was to take place, the children did not arrive at Cova da Iria, they were detained by the administrator of Ourém. Thus, the encounter with the Virgin took place two days later, on August 19, in a place called Valinhos.
Pope Francis during his visit to the chapel of the Monte Real air base in Leiria, Portugal, in 2017. Photo / EFE
The children saw the Virgin again on September 13 in Cova da Iria. And the sixth and last appearance, happened on October 13, when the “miracle of the sun” took place, where the assistants saw the sun dance.
The children who saw the Virgin, Francisco and Jacinta, died during the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic that struck in 1918. While Lucia turned her life to religion. She entered the convent of the Dorotean Sisters.
On June 13, 1929, in the chapel of the convent in Tuy, in Spain, the girl had another mystical experience in which she saw the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary. And on October 13, 1930, the Bishop of Leiria proclaimed the apparitions of Fatima as authentic.
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