Holy Week Phot-o' the Day: High Cross and Giant (and I do mean "Giant") Rosary, Fatima, Portugal

Welcome to Good Friday 2020. People think of "Good Friday" is being the most ironically-named day in the liturgical calendar. It's not. "Good" is an archaic synonym for "holy." It's also "good" in the sense that, without this day, there would be no Easter Sunday, no resurrection, no death for our sins. So, yes, it is "Good" Friday in both meanings.

For the Holy Week Phot-o' the Day for Good Friday 2020, it is time to revisit Fatima. The crucifix is the High Cross, a very large stylized cross (it's a bent ribbon of steel on that cross, not a recognizable human form). The High Cross is located on the plaza opposite the Santuário de Fátima, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, in front of the Basílica da Santíssima Trindade, the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity.

Behind the Cruz Alta, the High Cross, is a giant rosary. Biggest I've ever seen. No sure what the "world records" folks have to say about it, but it's without a doubt the biggest rosary my eyes have rested upon.

I think Fatima is the most important of the Marian apparition sites around the world. Just my opinion. You could say Lourdes, or Medjugorje, or Guadalupe, or somewhere else I'm neglecting to mention, and you would be just as right.

Visited September 2017, on the 100th anniversary of penultimate apparition in the series of apparitions seen by the three shepherd children over six consecutive months in 1917.

Sunday Church Phot-o' the Day: Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima; Fatima, Portugal

Taken September 13, 2017, the 100th anniversary of the penultimate apparition of the Virgin Mary to the three shepherd children in World War I-era Fatima, Portugal. This is the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, or Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima, if you prefer "em português."

This is the site of the Fatima apparitions, when on the 13th of each month, over a six-month time period from May to October 1917, three young shepherd experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary. "Experienced" is the correct word as not all actually saw Mary herself. (If my memory is correct, only Lucia both saw and heard the Virgin Mary. I could be wrong. Accounts vary.)

Fatima, to me, is the most interesting and most compelling of the Marian apparitions. Two of the visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta, are buried within the Basilica. Francisco and Jacinta both died within a few years of the apparitions. They were canonized as saints earlier in 2017. The third visionary, Lucia, outlived her cousins by several decades, passing away in 2005 at the age of 97. She is well along the path toward canonization.

Fatima Day

At the Santuário de Fátima

I take my Catholicism seriously.  And I take my Fatima VERY seriously.  So today's post will be heavy on pictures and light on snark.  Reverence.  Not irreverence.  My normal commenting style will return full force tomorrow.

The day started with a beautiful sunrise in Nazaré, lighting up the beach.

Today is September 13, 2017, which means today is the 100th anniversary of the penultimate of the six Fatima visions.  The Santuário de Fátima is built at the exact location where the three young shepherd children -- Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta -- saw and heard the Virgin Mary on the 13th of each month, for six months consecutive, culminating on October 13, 1917.

This is a statute of Pope Pius XII on the grounds of the Santuário de Fátima:

This is a statute of Pope Paul IV:

And this is the big one, the statue of Pope John Paul II:

Pope John Paul II gazing toward the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima:

There was a mass in progress when I got there.

As one would expect for the 13th of a month during the centennial year, it drew an enormous crowd.  (The parking situation, despite the crowd, was relatively manageable.  I would call it a "Fatima miracle," but I'm being reverent.  This is sans irreverence.)

With the mass winding down, I wandered the grounds of the Sanctuary.  I saw this cork oak:

I snapped the picture because, even here, they strip the cork oaks of the bark for the valuable cork making.

OK, a moment of whimsy:

The tourist train in downtown Fatima, toodling along right next to a massive outdoor mass at the Santuário de Fátima.

I was afraid that there would be outdoor masses continuously over the day and that the public would not be able to enter the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima.  So I went to the Museu de Cera.  The Wax Museum.

Yes, yes, I know wax museums are ultra-kitschy, but the one in Fatima tells the story of the apparitions using wax figurines.  The wax figurines are for the visual component of the story-telling.  This is a scene of the three children tending the sheep before the visions occur.

This is the scene of the first apparition, which would have been May 13, 1917:

This is the scene of the kidnapping of the children on August 13, 1917, by town officials, done to prevent them from being at the apparition site at the appointed date and time:

This is the scene 100 years ago today, at the penultimate apparition, when it started attracting crowds:

This is the scene of the final apparition, which, admittedly, is difficult to replicate with static figures.  The sun dancing in the sky with tens of thousands in attendance:  very hard to capture with this medium:

But still nicely done.  This is the death of Francisco in early 1919, less than two years after the apparitions:

And this is a scene of John Paul II beatifying the two children who died young.  Lucia died in her 90s and was placed on a different track toward eventual canonization.

After getting out of the hot sun for a time, it was time to go back toward the Santuário de Fátima.

The next mass of the day was scheduled for 5:00PM.  So the crowd had thinned out considerably mid afternoon.

Except for one non-thin American tourist.

Sorry.  Lapsed into irreverence for a second.

The banners commemorating the canonization of Jacinta and Francisco four months back hang from the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima.

This is the view from the top of the stairs, looking across to the more modern Basilica of the Holy Trinity.

Here is a closer view of the "contemporary" styled Basilica of the Holy Trinity:

I like the giant rosary, but I'm not sure about the stylized crucifix.  It seems to hit a false note in these particular surroundings.  It seems more appropriate for a suburban low-rise church.

Another view from the top of the stairs:

The inside of the other, older basilica, the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima, hit no false notes:

And in here I found what I most wanted to see:

The resting place of Francisco.

I find Francisco's role in the apparitions of Fatima to be the most fascinating.  He could see, but he could not hear, the Virgin Mary.  Lucia, and I believe Jacinta too, could see and hear.  This strikes me as a detail that, if the children were to have made this up, this is not how it would be made up.  And, yes, for the record, I do believe in the truth of the Fatima apparitions.

Back to the hotel in Nazaré in plenty of time to see another beautiful sunset into the Atlantic Ocean: