International Pilgim Virgin Statue is on special tour in U.S.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
YOUNGSTOWN
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1917 to three shepherd children at the Cova di Ira in Fatima, Portugal, the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima is featured in a U.S. Tour for Peace.
The plan is for the statue to visit 100 dioceses in 100 weeks in America; the statue is traveling east of the Mississippi in 2016 and west of the Mississippi in 2017.
Katie Moran is president of the World Apostolate of Fatima, Byzantine Division, for Warren-Youngstown and coordinator of the Fatima tour.
“Ohio has gotten plenty of coverage ... the statue has been in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and most recently Chesterfield,” she said. It makes a limited stop in the Valley.
In 2012, Moran arranged for the traveling United Nations International Pilgrim Virgin Statue to be displayed at Valley churches.
Moran is a member of St. Anne Byzantine Church in Austintown, which was among sites where the statue was shown.
The 4-foot-tall international statue is one of four handcarved in wood by Jose Thedein.
He sculpted the international statue in mahogany in 1947.
There are three other statues by Thedein, handcarved in cedar.
The image reflects the description by Sister Lucia, the former Lucia dos Santos, who witnessed the monthly appearance of Our Lady from May through October 1917 in Fatima, then a small village about 70 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal. Also seeing Our Lady were Lucia’s cousins, Francisco, 8, and Jacinta Marto, 7, (siblings).
The international statue has traveled the world many times and been in more than 100 countries, including Russia and China.
Moran said the international statue has been on tour since 1947.
The WAF website notes that Pope Pius XII in 1951 said, “In 1946, we crowned Our Lady of Fatima as Queen of the World and the next year, through Her Pilgrim Statue, She set forth as though to claim Her dominion, and the favors She performs along the way are such that we can hardly believe what we are seeing with our eyes.”
Earlier this week in Chesterfield, the international statue was at Holy Trinity Romanian Byzantine Church. Moran was there with David M. Carollo, executive director of WAF. He said the statue receives “a really wonderful response” where it is displayed. Traveling with the statue is Patrick L. Sabat, chief custodian.
Carollo said the centennial of the apparitions of Our Lady to at Fatima deserves special recognition through the tour in 100 dioceses in 2016 and 2017.
He said the mission of the WAF is to “learn, live and spread the message of Our Lady of Fatima.”
The message focused on prayer, penance and reparation for sin.
“The goal is to get people to live in a state of grace,” Carollo. He continued that involves obeying the 10 Commandments and natural law.