SALISBURY — Our Lady of Fatima devotees recently welcomed Aliança de Santa Maria (ASM) Sisters Angela de Fátima Coelho and Marta Serra to Sacred Heart Church in Salisbury, where they said Our Lady can heal our 21st-century wounds.
The sisters, who came from Portugal to speak at SEEK, a national youth conference, made a Jan. 6 detour to visit friends in the Diocese of Charlotte including Father John Eckert, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish.
The sisters evangelize worldwide, sharing the healing message of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and drawing inspiration from their devotion to Our Lady of Fatima.
The Blessed Virgin Mary made six appearances to three shepherd children – Jacinta and Francisco Marto, and Lucia dos Santos – from May to October 1917 in Fatima, Portugal. On Oct. 13, the “miracle of the sun,” during which the sun appeared to change colors and zigzag across the sky, was witnessed by more than 70,000 people. Jacinta and Francisco died from the Spanish flu a few years later, but Sister Lucia’s visions continued through 1929.
Father Eckert takes parishioners on yearly pilgrimages to Fatima, spending time with the sisters while visiting the apparition sites.
Sister Angela, who recently became mother superior of the order, was the lead investigator in the cause of sainthood for Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto and is vice postulator for Venerable Sister Lucia dos Santos, who is one miracle away from beatification.
As Father Eckert explained, “Not only does Sister Angela know so much about Fatima, but it is beautiful to see the way the sisters live it out.”
Sister Angela started her talk at Sacred Heart by sharing a phrase she overheard at the SEEK conference.
“There are some wounds in a human heart that only a mother can heal,” she said.
God gave Our Lady of Fatima the medicine to heal our modern wounds, Sister Angela emphasized. But, as Our Lady of Fatima asked the shepherd children, she asked, “Are you willing to offer yourself to God?”
“Our Lady wants to be our refuge,” she said. “God wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be that to each one of His children. She said, ‘God wishes to establish a devotion to my heart.’”
In her Fatima appearances, Mary suggested a path to peace that includes spiritual practices such as saying a daily rosary and practicing the First Saturday Devotion, consecration to Jesus through Mary, and Eucharistic Adoration.
“By answering her requests, we open our hearts in such a way that the Holy Spirit can come and make our hearts like the heart of Christ,” Sister Angela said. “This is the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
Many people present were members of the Luminaries of Holy Mary, a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading the message of Fatima. The organization blossomed from the friendship Mary Sample, a parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Charlotte, established with the ASM sisters.
Sample introduced Father Eckert to the ASM sisters and has advocated for First Saturday Devotions and prayer groups across the diocese. The organization has seven national chapters, including those at Sacred Heart, St. Vincent de Paul and St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Gastonia. Father Eckert serves as the group’s spiritual director.
Kelly Osborne, a Sacred Heart parishioner and member of the Luminaries of Mary, participated in the “knee walk” – a 182-meter crawl from the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity to the Chapel of Apparitions on her knees.
“We offered it up for the sins against our Holy Mother and the healing of the fracture in our family,” Osborne said. “My knees were skinned and bleeding, but less than a week later the separation within my family was gone.”
Now, Osborne conducts Luminaries of the Holy Mary after First Saturday Devotions at Sacred Heart.
Sample believes that as people come to the monthly devotions or take Fatima pilgrimages like the ones she conducts twice a year, they will be more inclined to join the prayer group, and the message of Fatima will spread.
“Francisco, Jacinta and Lucia – I admire them, so I do my best every day to emulate them,” Sample said. “The message helps my spiritual path and makes me a better mother, a better wife and a better friend but, most importantly, gets me closer to Jesus through Mary.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
For more information
For information about Aliança de Santa Maria and their plans to build a retreat center, visit aliancadesantamaria.com
To learn more the Luminaries of Holy Mary, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
