Marian icon offers hope to faithful
Dozens of people formed a line down the center aisle of a West Side Catholic church this week, each waiting for a turn to pray before a replica statue of Our Lady of Fatima on tour in San Antonio this month.
Moms carrying infants in their arms were eager to ask for safety and health for their children.
Business professionals dressed in suits sought spiritual and physical healings for themselves, relatives and friends.
Gregory Ronnebaum, an unemployed truck driver and single father of two teens, looked to take the edge off a rough past year.
“It gives you a lot of hope in these tough times,” he said Thursday, after a tear-filled encounter kneeling in front of the statue at San Juan De Los Lagos Catholic Church.
Thousands are expected to visit the statue through Jan. 24 at about 25 churches in the San Antonio area as part of a worldwide tour.
Sculpted in 1947, it is the official traveling statue for the Marian devotion, which is experiencing renewed popularity in the United States.
It was in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal that the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to three shepherd children and miraculously revealed a message of personal piety, repentance and prayer.
A statue and shrine were built at the site and the traveling statue was fashioned according to the account of one of the shepherd children.
This Marian following, like the widely popular Virgin of Guadalupe, is approved and encouraged by Catholic hierarchy as a way to strengthen Catholics in their personal prayer habits and achieve greater closeness to God.
Many people credit it with supernatural healings and signs; its promotional material reports the statue has shed actual tears.
To introduce the statue at San Juan De Los Lagos parish, Father Art Flores waived incense around the statue during a morning Mass and later, during Communion, a soloist sang “Ave Maria” while strumming a guitar.
The traditional Latin lyrics echoed inside the modest parish sanctuary where the tight knit, Hispanic congregation has a history of devotion to other popular Marian movements.
On one side of the parish sanctuary is a replica of Our Lady of San Juan De Los Lagos in a glass case adorned with bouquets.
On the other side in another glass case is a replica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Before dimming the lights and inviting the near-capacity audience to pay homage to the Fatima statue, instruction was given not to cross the line into worship of the statue.
“We do not believe the statue is God,” Norma Saenz Herrera told the gathering, noting that Christ’s presence in a consecrated host on the nearby altar table should be the focus. “There’s a difference.”
White lilies adorned the base of the statue while a floor light illuminated the face.
Devotees wrote down prayer requests on slips of yellow paper and dropped them in a nearby box before their turn came.
Many stared devoutly at Our Lady of Fatima’s face and then closed their eyes and whispered wishes for divine help.
Some laid bouquets of roses at the statue’s feet. Others snapped photos.
“I felt very warm — like I was in her arms,” said Carolyn Kandoff, who credits her Marian devotion for overcoming pancreatic cancer nine years ago.
Neighborhood parishes like this one are sought out for the statue’s visits, said Carlos Malburg, an icon custodian from Munster, Ind., who travels with it on tour.
“We feel the place to go is neighborhoods,” he said while passing out pamphlets at an outdoor table. “The people who come around feel it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we’re happy to project that feeling.”