Fatima visited

 From the time I had decided to walk the Portuguese Camino I had planned on not missing The Shrine at Fatima. Here the Blessed Mother appeared to 3 shepherd children Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco in 1916 warning them to pray hard for the souls in purgatory. She also told them to pray the rosary for world peace. Apparently  there have been 6 apparitions of Our Lady to the pastores (shepherds). Since then 2 of the shepherds have been canonized as saints, Francisco and Jacinta. They died early of the Spanish Flu. The oldest girl Lucia lived to become a carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97. She has been beatified and is awaiting canonization at as a Saint. 

Sorry, I can’t fix that funky formatting 😩 

Educated in the Catholic faith, I had forgotten this process but was reminded that in order to become a saint, something like 3 miracles had to be performed in one’s name. 

So we paid for a personal tour of Fatima and we’re lucky to score a tour leader who is a relative of Lucia and in fact was brought up in the town where the shepherds lived. We traveled to the town of Aljustrel in Julio’s car. He showed us the homes where the children and their families lived. And their property where they first saw the Blessed Mother.

After our intimate visit to several of the sites of the apparitions, we were driven back to Fatima proper where we joined up with other tour takers to visit the Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Trinity. Here we visited the tombs of Saint Jacinta, Saint Francisco and the yet unsainted Lucia.

Saint Jacinta 

Saint Francisco

Later that night we decided to attend the rosary and candlelight procession. You really need to have been there. No words. So many Catholics from everywhere. 

Back home and ready for another good night sleep. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?