Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visits the archdiocese of Newark in May 2023

By Ricardo Casimiro

Those words weren’t just meant for little Lucia or the people of Portugal. 

After so much suffering through the painful global pandemic, Our Lady of Fatima tells us that those promises of God are irrevocable. God has not forgotten us. As a reminder, of the truth of this promise, it is with great joy that we announce that this May we will be visited by the Pilgrim Statue sent from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima to us here in the Archdiocese of Newark. This visit is meant to be a moment of prayer, a renewal of our devotion with the Mother of Heaven and experience of extraordinary grace and blessing that comes from The Son of God and son of Mary – Jesus Christ.

This special image of Fatima was crafted by Jose Thedim in 1946, working with the then Sister Lucia who gave him exact indications about the figure of the Lady who had appeared to her 29 years earlier. It was created to be sent to those unable to make the pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal themselves, as if to say the Lady of Peace would come to them, to bring light and comfort to humanity in darkness and wounded by the horrors of war and sin.

The Pilgrim Statue comes to us at a special time as our Archdiocese prepares to send young adults to World Youth Day which will take place in Portugal this August. This special event which happens once every 4 years draws hundreds of thousands of young people together with the Pope as an opportunity to deepen their faith through catechesis, experience the universal nature of the Church and to unite together in prayer. The Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima arrives to encounter all of us, her children, but in a special way for us to pray for those who will be going to Lisbon this summer.