Marco Carvalho
The relics – two wood fragments extracted from the coffins in which the young saints were buried – were installed this Sunday in a ceremony that was presided over by the Bishop of Macau. Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang also blessed two new statues of the seers of Fátima, parish priest Father Michael Cheung told O Clarim.
“We had the blessing and the installation of the relics of Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco Marto. The relics were recently delivered to Macau, and Bishop Stephen Lee also blessed the statues of both saints. During this Sunday Eucharist, we had the installation of the relics and the blessing of the two images,” he added.
Sent to Macau by the Francisco and Jacinta Marto Foundation, the relics that were installed this Sunday are what the Catholic Church calls “second-class relics,” but Father Cheung played down the fact that his original request was denied and said the installation of the relics a stone’s throw away from Mainland China is a blessing for Macau and for the Catholics that live in the northernmost part of the city.
“The relics are not first-class relics. We were offered second-class relics of the saints: it’s a piece of wood from each of their coffins (…) We had the honor of having Bishop Stephen’s support. He allowed us to make this request, so we approached the foundation. Our request was approved by the shrine and also by the Francisco and Jacinta Marto Foundation. I asked for a first-class relic in the letter I wrote, but first-class relics are very difficult to obtain. On the other hand, it is faster to obtain second-class relics. For someone to be granted first-class relics, they would have to exhume the body. It would have been impossible,” the young priest maintained.
Father Cheung, the only representative of the Institute of the Incarnate Word in Macau continued, saying, “The remedy was for us to obtain a second-class relic from the coffin of the saints. The aim is to increase our devotion to these two saints, to deepen our connection to Our Lady of Fátima and, of course, help the parishioners, particularly the children and young people to become friends, to become familiar with the example of Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco Marto (…) Even though the church is located in the northern part of Macau, where the majority of the population is Chinese and where we have a very visible migrant community, we still think that this became a blessing for the people in this part of Macau in Toi San.”
First-class relics – also called first-degree relics – are the entire body or body fragments of a saint, such as their flesh or bone. Back in 2017, before Francisco and Jacinta Marta were canonized, the Sanctuary of Fátima put a fragment of a rib bone from Francisco Marto and a lock of hair from his sister, Jacinta, on display, so that they could be venerated.
In October of that very same year, the Brazilian Diocese of Osasco, on the outskirts of São Paulo, became the first diocese outside Portugal to be granted relics from the seers of Fátima. Five years ago, the Diocese of Osasco was given the same sort of relics now installed in Our Lady of Fátima Church: fragments of wood from the coffins in which Jacinta and Francisco were buried.
On Thursday, the Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady will install its own set of relics, O Clarim has learned. “We will have a Solemn Mass that will be presided over by Bishop Stephen Lee, and during that Mass, the relics will be installed in the shepherds’ altar,” Father Daniel Ribeiro revealed.
“This Solemn Mass will be celebrated in Portuguese and in Chinese on October 13th at 6:30 pm. This means that the 6 pm Mass will be cancelled,” the vicar of the cathedral parish added.
Joy of the Rosary
The feast of Our Lady of Fátima reached its climax with the blessing and installation of the relics of Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco Marto, but this Sunday, in Macau’s northernmost parish, there were plenty of reasons to celebrate.
During the Eucharist, five parishioners – three children and two adults – were confirmed in the Christian faith. Bishop Lee also blessed the different groups that offer spiritual support to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. “After the blessing and the installation of the relics, but still during the Mass, we also had the blessing of different groups that work with us. The members of each of these groups were present and they received the bishop’s blessing,” Father Cheung explained.
The parish feast of Our Lady of Fátima will be celebrated until next Thursday, the day on which Catholics worldwide recall the sixth and final apparition in Cova da Iria. In Macau, the final apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be celebrated with a Mass and procession inside the premises of the church and the neighbouring Saint Joseph’s School. “In addition to the celebrations and rituals we had on Sunday, on October 13th, the day when the last of the Marian apparitions took place, a Mass will be celebrated at 7 pm. After that Mass, we will have a procession, which will take place outside the church and will go through the school’s facilities, right next door. It will be a small procession,” the church’s parish priest told O Clarim.
During the months of May and October, Catholics from the Toi San neighbourhood and the surrounding areas gather every night to pray the Rosary. Until Wednesday, the Church of Our Lady of Fátima will also host a special novena in honor of the Blessed Virgin of Fátima. “This devotion is stronger in October. The faithful usually gather to pray the Rosary. During these last few days, we also started praying a special novena in honor of Our Lady of Fátima. Every day we have different prayers. We pray the Rosary outside the church, in the garden. The novena will end on October 12th,” Father Cheung said.
“Until the end of the month, we will continue to pray the Rosary, which is what we usually do. Every day, in May and in October, the Rosary is prayed in community. This practice is promoted by the different pastoral care groups that lend a helping hand in the parish. Every day, a different group is responsible for bringing people together and promoting these moments of prayer,” he concludes.
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