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Showing posts with the label Fatima

"The 13th Day" available on Amazon

Over a year ago, I mentioned the new film about Fatima called The 13th Day . The film opened in the USA in October, and today I received the good news that it is now available to order in the UK via Amazon. I ordered my copy today and look forward to seeing it.
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Amazing story of Fr Schiffer

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Many thanks to a correspondent for this story of Fr Hubert Schiffer and seven other Jesuits who were in a house about a kilometre from the centre of the blast at Hiroshima and survived while everyone else within that distance was killed instantly. See also another account , and a further account . Fr Schiffer put the survival of the small community down to their devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and their daily Rosary.
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Miracle of the Sun anniversary

Today is the anniversary of the miracle of the sun at Fatima, observed by 70,000 people on 13 October 1917. This video has contemporary photographs of the crowds: Back in March, I mentioned the new film " The 13th Day ". It has opened at various locations in the US today. Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
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"The 13th Day" - film about Fatima

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" The 13th Day ", a new film by Ian and Dominic Higgins, premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival. The makers are currently negotiating for someone to handle the distribution and expect it to be available in North America in 6 months. I hope that they succeed and that it is also available for us over here. Here is the official trailer which looks good:
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Portuguese ecclesiastical community "needs to be changed"

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Ttony ( Muniment Room: Portuguse Bishops: One Last Chance ) has translated part of the Holy Father's address to the Portuguese Bishops on the occasion of their Ad Limina visit in November, including the following: "The organisation of the Portuguese ecclesiastical community, and the mentality of its members, need to be changed in order to have a Church in Vatican II's rythm, in which the function of the clergy and the function of the laity are properly established, bearing in mind that, since we were baptised and made part of the family of the sons of God, we are co-responsible for the growth of the Church." Here is a link to the full address (in Portuguese) For most Catholics, Portugal is particularly known as the home of the Marian shrine at Fatima. In 2004, a Hindu ritual was carried out at the Capelinha with the full co-operation and encouragement of the shrine authorities who described critics of the event as fundamentalists. More recently, the new Church of th...
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Fatima 90th anniversary

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Today is the 90th anniversary of the first appearance of Our Lady to the children in Fatima on 13 May 1917. I first visited Fatima in 1998, leading a Pilgrimage not long after coming to Blackfen. We went there again in 2000 and 2003. In recent years, we have stuck to Lourdes in order to ensure that we established a sense of Pilgrimage rather than simply holiday and to get used to running all the bookings ourselves. But it may be time to go to Fatima again soon. If you want to go to Fatima independently, it is not that difficult. You can take a flight to Lisbon. From there you get a bus to Fatima (or "Cova da Iria") which is 88 miles to the north. Accommodation in Fatima is very cheap: the top hotel (4 star) is the "Hotel Do Fatima" right next to the shrine which has rooms for about £50 a night and the cost goes down from there. The hotels run by the Paulists and the Verbites are very near to the shrine and perfectly comfortable. You need to arrange your trip so that...
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Popular posts from this blog

Saint Gabriel

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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
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Plenary indulgences not impossible

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions: The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgence Pope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina . Norm 7 states: To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.” It is worth reading the other norms bec...
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Portiuncula indulgence tomorrow (and indulgences generally)

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Tomorrow, 2 August, you can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions ( see below ) by visiting a parish Church and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . This is called the Portiuncula indulgence and goes back to St Francis of Assisi. Fr Z has the details . Don't forget that you can also gain a plenary indulgence by visiting a Church on the day of the titular feast, and there reciting the Our Father and the Creed . I made a list of other indulgences: please see the post Plenary indulgences for particular days which has a link to the list. The post has some background information which you may find helpful since indulgences are not well understood today - which is not surprising since indulgences are not included in most Catholic education curricula, and most priests never preach about them. Therefore many Catholics are left with whatever silly, half-baked, ill-informed nonsense about indulgences happens to be current. If you want to understand the theology...
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Our Easter Faith: Not a Pious Crème Fraiche

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In public life, some basically well-meaning figures have the graciousness to wish us well at Easter and to recognise the importance of the Christian feast day. Perhaps they might assure us that their thoughts are with us at this time. That is kind of them and in Christian charity we should thank them for their kindness, but Easter should be a great deal more than that for us. We must believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the grave, in the flesh, and lives for eternity. We cannot treat Easter as a jolly holiday that heralds spring, or the remembrance of a significant event from the past. It must change us today and every day, change who we are and what we do. The Christian faith cannot be a mild custard or blancmange of religiosity. (I am showing my age. Nowadays, I should say that it cannot be reduced to a pious crème fraiche .) We bow down and adore the King of Kings, risen from the tomb, who, “[…] continues for ever,...
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Blessing of the New Painting of St Bede at Clapham Park

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This morning, the parish priest at Clapham Park, Fr Marcus Holden, blessed a new picture of the parish's patron, Saint Bede, painted by James Tildsley. It is sited over a recently installed side altar near the rear of the Church. The altar itself was acquired from Antique Church Furnishings . The website gives the information that the altar was built and carved by a nun in a convent near Liverpool. It is a beautiful piece of work and it is always a joy when such works of art find a suitable and dignified home. The inscription on the gradine is AMANS AMATUS AMOR. The sellers translate this as “Loving is the object of love” which is a reasonable stab at “dynamic equivalence”. Today the parish's relic of St Bede was exposed for veneration in its distinctive brightly-coloured reliquary. After the blessing, there was High Mass with Fr Holden as celebrant, Fr Littleton deacon, and myself subdeacon. That gave me the enjoyable task of chant...
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