Fatima Peace Pilgrimage

Our pilgrims sing a final song of farewell to Our Lady of Fatima Aug. 1 in the Latin Chapel of the Domus Pacis Hotel. The pilgrims rose at 4:30 am to start a long day of travel back to the United States.

Our seminarians serenaded us this evening at the close of our final dinner in Fatima. There were many tears shed, as the men gave such a moving performance.

Today I lit candles for the intentions entrusted to me and for all those who are praying for us pilgrims here in Fatima. It may not look it, but the heat emanating from this candle repository is intense as many pilgrims buy wax molds in various shapes of the body or body parts to pray to Our Lady for specific intercessory healing of their ailments. They throw the molds into the flames.

Our pilgrims attended their last Mass at the Apparition Chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima this morning. A gentle rain began to fall during the Mass. One pilgrim, who has made nine pilgrimages to Fatima over the course of 22 years, remarked after Mass that it has never rained any other time he has come on pilgrimage to Fatima.

Patrick Martin, a parishioner of St. Mark Church in Huntersville, served as a candle bearer in the front of the Sunday Mass procession at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima. His brother, Luke, who enters St. Joseph College Seminary this fall, also served as a candle bearer today.

Our pilgrims have been logging five to nine miles a day on the Te Deum Pilgrimage, much of it up steep slopes and very old stone staircases as they visit holy sites around Portugal. This photo is of the group ascending the road up to St. Anthony’s birthplace in Lisbon.

Lighting candles for intentions that have been entrusted to us is an important part of what we are doing as we stop at each church we visit.

Due to the rapid pace of some of our visits to the various churches, pilgrims are praying quickly before the beautiful tabernacles and then taking a quick photo to preserve the memory of the artwork and statues they are encountering along the way.

Father Casey Coleman, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Sylva, preaches the homily at Mass on the feast of St. Martha July 29 at the church built over the birthplace of St. Anthony of Padua

A statue of St. Anthony of Lisbon/Padua holding the Child Jesus gazes down on the faithful from high above the altar in the church built over his birthplace in the city of Lisbon. Five priests concelebrated the Mass. All of the Fatima pilgrims had an opportunity to venerate the first-class relic of St. Anthony during their time at the church today.

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Father Christopher P. Sullivan, of Newark, Ohio, shares about his devotion to St. Anthony of Lisbon/Padua after celebrating Mass in the church built over the home of the beloved Franciscan priest. Father Sullivan is one of the priests on pilgrimage to Fatima with the Te Deum Foundation.

Aaron Huber, a seminarian at St. Joseph College Seminary in Charlotte, shares his reflection on Mass at the church of St. Stephen in Santarem, Portugal, where a bleeding Sacred Host is reserved in a Eucharistic Throne high above the altar for veneration.

‘No pictures, please’

These are the three worst words a photographer can hear on a pilgrimage. Here we are, thousands of miles away from home, visiting holy sites of historical significance and you are not allowed to capture the moment for posterity – or for your blog.

Most cases this has happened to us when we have visited an ancient site once built by the Church and now run by the state here in Portugal. You just have to take a deep breath and chalk it up to God’s way of saying, ‘It’s okay, just absorb it. Place it in your memory for safekeeping.’

Today we journeyed south of Fatima to Santarem, where a Eucharistic Miracle took place back in 1266, when a woman stole a consecrated Host and took it home for illicit purposes. The Sacred Host bled in her handkerchief, she hid the handkerchief at home and then finally confided to her husband what she had done when the chest she had hidden Our Eucharistic Lord in, emitted a radiant light and angels were seen going to and from Heaven.

The infamous words, “No pictures, please,” meant no photos of our Mass in the church dedicated to the Eucharistic Miracle…no stunning images of Father Cook holding Our Eucharistic Lord aloft underneath the Eucharistic Throne containing the Sacred Host high above the altar.

Heavy sigh.

For a photographer whose most cherished moments come from our new priests holding Jesus in their hands at ordination and for their first Mass after ordination, this was a tough sacrifice.

It came with a significant amount of grace though. I focused on Jesus. Just Jesus. No one else existed in that space of time. I looked at Him and He looked at me. It was a blessed exchange, a heart to heart moment.

I did focus afterward at Father Cook’s face as he held the chalice containing the Precious Blood. There was great peace in his expression. A look of love.

And although I cannot share this photographically, I pray you can close your eyes and imagine the scene – our priests surrounding the altar in this little parish church of St. Stephen, some in Marian stoles, with Jesus held aloft in Father’s hands and above their heads the Eucharistic Miracle of Santarem reserved inside an 18th century gold Eucharistic Throne – a picture perfect moment.

Today our priests and seminarians had the honor of participating in the English speaking Mass at the Apparition Chapel at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima. Father Casey Coleman, newly installed pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Sylva, was the main celebrant. (From left in background) Father Christian Cook, Father John Putnam and Father Christopher Roux. Father Putnam has been coming to Fatima for more than 20 years and Father Roux is marking his 16th visit to the shrine.

Lessons learned

We’ve been in Portugal over a week now, and each day brings new blessings and challenges as we navigate the language, travel, crowds and crosses the Lord sends our way to offer as sacrifices.

Who knew that older women from Europe of diminutive stature can be cutthroat when it comes to squeezing last minute into a non-existent seat next to you during the rosary at the Apparition Chapel in Fatima?

The good news is that for every moment you are challenged with committing a sin against charity, you are also given an avalanche of grace when you least expect it.

I have learned that Portuguese wine (with no additives to give you a headache) and gelato go a long way in soothing aching feet and swollen ankles after walking seven miles in a day carrying 15 pounds of camera gear.

I have seen such goodness in our seminarians in helping carry a wheelchair up and down steep stairs for a fellow pilgrim, in lending their arm for anyone who needs a little help walking or navigating the cobblestone streets in the picturesque towns we have visited.

To my great delight, I have laughed heartily at the comedic stylings of our priest who is in charge of the “blue bus.” And as “what happens on the blue bus, stays on the blue bus,” I can only say that he should probably keep his day job!

Seriously though, I see that Our Lady is gently wrapping her mantle around each of us, teaching us to love Jesus more, to be open to seeing within ourselves what we can let go of so as to embrace the little crosses God sends our way, so that in turn we can offer them up as sacrifices for our sins, and the sins of others.

So please, pray that I and the other pilgrims embrace our crosses and smile at those who challenge us along the way.

Newly ordained Father Christian Cook is our featured pilgrim today. Father Cook was ordained June 17 and is here on pilgrimage to Fatima for the first time. He was the main celebrant at Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima this week.

Today he concelebrated Mass at the Church of the Clergy in Porto alongside his brother priests, under the statue of Our Lady. He said that this brought home the fact that clergy, he and all priests are under the Blessed Mother’s protection.

“When a priest tries to grow in holiness, the devil intensifies his attacks,” Father Cook said. “So to be celebrating Mass in the Chapel of the Clergy, to let that idea of her protection of me as a priest come into focus during that Mass it gives me confidence that I am wrapped in her mantle as a priest, as an alter Christus.”

He remarked that he observed many people walking into the church while Mass was going on, taking pictures and looking at them, viewing the church as a museum.

“I glanced up a few times and I would see in the faces of the visitors confusion, curiosity…and that brought into focus that so much of the world has lost sight of Mass and of the Eucharist. It was almost to where they were looking at us as part of the museum exhibition.

“That reminded me of how important my brand new priesthood is, that men are still coming to the priesthood because the world needs that example more than it ever has.

“I didn’t feel awkward or afraid or fearful of a public that didn’t know what was going on, because I felt the Blessed Mother was with us there.”

Mass this am at Our Lady of the Clergy in Porto was breathtaking!