Every year in Bradford, Ontario, the Catholic community has celebrated Our Lady of Fatima with Mass at Holy Martyrs of Japan Church, prayers in Portuguese, and a procession carrying the image of the Virgin Mary.
This year, those celebrations have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be no large gatherings, no procession with celebrants standing side by side. Instead, the church will live-stream the Praying of the Rosary, on the Holy Martyrs of Japan YouTube channel.
The story began on May 13 of 1917, when three shepherd children - Lucia dos Santos, Francisco and Jacinto Marto - reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary at Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.
It was the start of a mystery, an era of prophecy and promises, and veneration of Our Lady of Fatima.
The children reported that the Virgin Mary appeared as a lady “brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light” to deliver a message of prayer, penitence and the praying of the Rosary.
In all, the children reported 6 visitations of Our Lady of Fatima – the last on October 13, 1917 – leaving a lasting legacy. In 1930, the Catholic Church declared the visions as “worthy of belief;” in 2017, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, both of whom died in the Influenza pandemic of 2018, were canonized.
And Pope John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life, in the assassination attempt of 1981.
Holy Martyrs of Japan Catholic Church had scheduled the Our Lady of Fatima Mass and procession for May 10. With the cancellation of physical gatherings in public, anyone wishing to celebrate is invited to watch the streaming of the Praying of the Rosary on the Holy Martyrs of Japan YouTube Channel (click here), at 3 p.m. on May 10.
“Let’s be together to pray and thank Our Lady of Fatima,” read the invitation from the church.
