Fátima, Portugal
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Fatima (IPA [' fatimɐ ] ) is a city ( Cidade ) in the county Ourém in Portugal. It is the most important pilgrimage site in Portugal and one of the most important of the Roman Catholic Church.
Geography
The place Fátima is about 130 kilometers north of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon on the A1 motorway, the main arterial road between Lisbon and Porto. Fatima belongs to the district of Santarém and to the district of Vila Nova de Ourém. The place has an area of 71.8 km ² and 11,538 inhabitants (as of 30 June 2011).
Historical Significance
The previously dominated by Muslim Moors Santarem region was conquered in 1147 by Christian Portuguese. The Arabic name " Fatima " is the place according to a legend of Fatima, the beautiful daughter of a Moorish prince - have received - in turn named after the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. In 1158 she is after she had been kidnapped by the Christian conquerors and sold to the Count of Ourém, for love of this have baptized and marry him. In the place that their count's descendants named after her, they should have their final resting place. Those Fatima is only one of several examples of Moura encantanda the Portuguese folklore, the story appeared in similar versions in different places on Portugal.
Religious significance
Fatima is a major Catholic pilgrimage site, which, like Lourdes, also frequently visited the sick with the hope for a miracle cure.
It is reported that on May 13, 1917 three shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, had experienced on a free field an apparition of the Virgin Mary. These have commanded them, future return on every 13th of the month to this place. The children agreed among themselves silence about this phenomenon, but Jacinta broke that promise, and so found themselves on 13 June, a few curious who wanted to see with their own eyes whether the stories of the children agreed. However, when the number of onlookers was growing in July, August and September, the publication for 13 October announced a miracle. On the day in question tens of thousands of those present had seen the sun miracle - they could easily the sun, resembling a silver disc watch, while rotating it like a wheel of fire.
On 13 May 1930, the apparitions were " declared credible and the public veneration of Our Lady of Fátima permitted " by the Bishop of Leiria as.
The three children had been handed down from Fatima during the third apparition on July 13, the three secrets. 1941 wrote ( victims of the Spanish flu, the other two were ), the first and second secret, 1944, the Third Secret Sister Lúcia on ( 1907-2005 ), one of three children and the only one at that time was still alive. The first two were released directly to the publication, but the third was sealed delivered to the Pope and should not be published before the year 1960.
Pope John XXIII. decided not to publish the Third Secret of Fatima. This was made only on 26 June 2000 in Rome by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone known. The content refers according to some on the Pope assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, which took place on the anniversary of the first apparition. Pope John Paul II visited his assassin Mehmet Ali Agca in prison in 1983. When the conversation is said to have been associated with the apparitions of Fatima, in that he had Pope John Paul II asked several times what it was for was for a queen who had prevented his death.
John Paul II was three times in Fatima. He also has on 13 May 2000 Jacinta and Francisco Marto beatified. Other popes such as Pius XII. , Had at this place a special relationship. Paul VI. pilgrimage to the shrine in 1967, Benedict XVI. on 13 May 2010.
Compared to the old Cathedral Basilica Antiga the new church Igreja da Santissima Trindade inaugurated in 2007. It is equipped with approximately 9000 seats, the fourth-largest Catholic church in the world and the biggest ever new church of the 21st century ( 2009). Is also located the largest church forecourt of the world between the two churches.
Interior of the Basilica
Igreja da Santissima Trindade
Twinning
In cooperation " Shrines of Europe" Fatima is connected with five other Marian shrines since 1996. These are: