Pedro Daniel Oliveira
One year after the celebration of the centenary of the Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, the Diocese of Macau marks the occasion in Saint Dominic’s Church on Sunday, May 13. The Mass in Chinese starts at 8:00 AM, followed by the exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at 3:00 PM.
The prayer of the Rosary in Portuguese begins at 5:00 PM, while benediction and consecration to Our Lady is scheduled 45 minutes after, before the Mass in Portuguese at 6:00 PM. It will be followed by the procession from Saint Dominic’s Church to Penha Hill Church, and the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament to all the participants and the city of Macau. Rosary will be recited during the procession.
Speaking to O CLARIM, Fr José Ángel Castellanos said, “In Our Lady of Fatima’s Parish,” where he’s the Parish Priest, “we celebrate the feast on October 13, matching the last apparition of Our Lady” to the three little shepherds in Portugal, in 1917.
“We also have the privilege of celebrating on May 13, joining the Diocese of Macau. Our parishioners will also take part in the afternoon procession [from Saint Dominic’s Church to Penha Hill Church],” Fr Castellanos added.
For the English-speaking Catholic community, a movie on the apparitions of Fatima will be screened in Our Lady of Fatima Parish Hall. And for the Vietnamese community there will be a procession in the Church’s garden prior to the Mass of 4:30 PM.
The celebration of the Apparitions at Fatima “has already several decades” in Macau, Saint Lazarus Church’s Parish Priest Fr João Evangelista Lau recalled. “It’s a tradition about 90 years old, if I’m not mistaken. I hope it can go on forever. Although Macau is far away from Portugal, I also may say that faith has no borders,” he stressed.
Faithful from Saint Joseph the Worker Parish will join the procession to Penha Hill Church, Parish Priest Fr Manuel Machado told us, “for them to renew their faith and keep the tradition.”
The Auxiliary Vicar for the Portuguese community in Our Lady of Carmel Parish Fr Andrzej Blazkiewicz highlighted “a number of profound reasons” for the Portuguese people, and country fellows living abroad to celebrate the Apparitions. “First of all the Portuguese [celebrate it], but also all of us [should follow], because the message of Fatima marks modern history in the face of evil, which has affected mankind and still confuses many people,” Fr Blazkiewicz said.
“Knowing of so many lives that were harvested in the name of false ideology, what does the invitation to the Rosary and the penance for the conversion of Russia mean for us?” he stressed on the Apparitions at Fatima during the First Word War.
“Today, with the change of means, and even more dangerous actions, the devil plots against families and the truth of the human being, as is the case of gender ideology,” Fr Blazkiewicz concluded. He is of Polish nationality, and speaks fluent Portuguese.
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