Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

PILGRIM STATUE
TO BE VENERATED
IN CANBERRA The
Pilgrim Statue of Our
Lady of Fatima will arrive in
Canberra at 3 p.m. on Saturday
when more than "1,000 Romans i
Catholics are expected to swell- I
it at virgin. j
Wherever the statue had been
taken on its world tour it has
been followed by a wave of religious
fervour.
In 'Ceylon and Malaya millions
of persons participated in rosa
2 ries and church services. In,
Melbourne three weeks ago
more than 50,005 attended
Xavier College for a final veneration.
The statue has already travelled
half way around the world
before coming to southern Australia.
It was carved according to
the directions of Lucia de Jesus
dos Santos, now a Sister of the
Order of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary at the" Carmel of Cohn
bra in Portugal. ,
fairest Claimed! '
Lucia was one of three Shep
herd children of Fatima to
¡ whom the Mother of God appeared
in 1917. Lucia said that
she wanted the people of the
world to see the image so that
there might be an increase in
prayer and penance, asked for
by the "Lady of the Apparitions
Recently at Wagga, a young
nurse, Miss Joan Westblade, who
had suffered from poliomyelitis
shoved an improvement in her
condition. <
Claims were made that a miracle
had occurred" after Miss
Westblade prayed devoutly be-
fore the statue.
Tile Church has made it clear
that it has not yet officially de-
clared this to be a fact.
In the meantime, it is stated
that Catholics are perfectly free
to form their own opinions in
a less, or until a pronouncement
i is made by competent ecclesiastical
authority."
I Story Of Fatima
The by of Fatima began
on May 5, 1917, when Jacinta
Maria, aged 7, Francis Maria,
Aged 9, and Lucia dos Santos
aged 10 were startled by two
flashes of lightning. As they
watched they saw a beautiful
lady" standing on a tree. The
"lady" told them to recite the
rosary every day to obtain
peace for the world. The children
saw the visions again in
June and July, and then on September
13, with, a, crowd of
20,000 present the children
claimed that they saw the Blessed
Virgin again. The crowd
saw nothing, but a luminous
globe moved across the sky and
what seemed like snow or rose I
petal's fell in greaf'quRntity^Be
fore" they could reach the ground
or be caught, they disappeared. ]
On October 13 an even greater
crowd ^asscir.l':led at Fatima.
Again the children claimed that
they saw Our Lady and with her
the Holy Family.
The crowd again saw nothing
of either the Blessed Virgin
or the Holy Family. Suddenly,
however, the rain ceased
and the. people looking to the
zenith saw the sun, or what they
took to be the sun. A photograph
was published the following
week by the Illustraco Port-
Augusta and it showed a group
standing with upturned astonished
faces.
The "Church continued minute
inquiries into the occurrences at
Fatima and on October 13, 1930
a pastoral letter was issued em
dying the formal recognition
of the cult of Our Lady of Fatima.
Of the three children, Francisco
and Jacinta died shortly after
seeing the visions.
Prayers For Russia
One of the requests by Our
Lady to the children was the
consecration of Russia to "My
Immaculate Heart" and Communion
of Reparation the first
Saturday of each month.
Our Lady, according to the
children, said "If people attend
to my petition, Russia will be
converted and there will be
peace. If not her errors will
spread through the world, causing
wars and persecutions of the
church, the good will be martyr-
ed the Holy Father will have
to suffer much, different nations
will be destroyed, but in the end
My Immaculate Heart will triumph.'
Three years ago Pope Pius
XII consecrated Russia to the
Immaculate Heart of ( Mary.
Since then prayers and rosaries
*."><> open ' offered daily by Catholics
for the conversion of the \
Soviet. ' \
Triduim At Canberra
To prepare for the arrival of
the, pilgrim statue in Caidmurra
on Saturday, a Triduim, comprising
Mass and evening devo-
tions will be held at St. Christopher's
and St. Patrick's commencing
to-morrow.
The statue will arrive at Hall
at 3 p.m. and, after the recital
tion of the rosary, will leave for
St. Patrick's st 3.20 p.m. During
the afternoon, rosaries will
be recited at St. Patrick's and
St. Therese's, Causeway.
The enthronement of the status
will take place at St. Christopher's
at 5 p.m. and from then
until midnight there will be veneration.
Midnight Mass will be
offered on Saturday at St. Christopher's.
Veneration will continue from
1.30 a.m. Sunday until ii 15
a.m., when there will be a blow
ling of the sick. At 3 him. a
consecration of the Children of
Mary will take place and at 3.30
r m. There. will be a procession
in the school grounds of St.
Christopher's,
$