LAKE CHARLES – The Fatima Centennial Celebration in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception will begin at 6 a.m. each day Friday, May 5, through Friday, May 12, with a Novena and Rosary Procession, followed by Low Mass.
On Saturday, May 13, a Novena and Rosary Procession with the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima begins at 6 a.m. It will be followed at 7:30 a.m. with a Solemn High Mass in the Cathedral and a reception in the Ave Maria Hall.
The viewing of “The 13th Day” movie will take place in Ave Maria Hall beginning at noon.
Other important dates throughout the remainder of the centennial year of Our Lady of Fatima’s appearance to the seers includes the "Finding Fatima" documentary in Ave Maria Hall on Saturday, August 12, at 5:30 p.m., and a Rosary Procession with the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Immaculate Conception Cathedral School up Ryan Street to the Cathedral at 8:15 a.m. on Friday, October 13. Holy Mass at 9 a.m. in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary will follow the procession.
Bishop Glen John Provost will celebrate the 12:05 p.m. Mass on October 13, which will be followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until 4:30 p.m. Benediction. The Pilgrim Statue will remain in the Cathedral until 4:30 p.m. with the Cathedral open all day.
The Diocese of Lake Charles opened the Fatima Centennial celebration last year in December with the visit of the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima. Several parishes hosted the International Pilgrim Virgin with a special celebration at the Cathedral and a Marian Procession on December 8. Bishop Provost consecrated the diocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary following the noon Mass that day.
The world-famous International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima, traveling worldwide since 1947, is on an historic two-year journey across America, which began March 2016 and concludes in December 2017, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima. It will have visited more than 100 dioceses in all 50 states upon the completion of its journey.
Parishes that hosted the tour last December included St. Theresa of the Child Jesus in Carlyss; Our Lady of Prompt Succor and Our Lady of LaSalette in Sulphur; Our Lady Queen of Heaven in Lake Charles; the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception; and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Jennings.
The goal of the Fatima Centennial U.S. Tour for Peace is to allow Our Lady of Fatima to claim her dominion over America through her Immaculate Heart, and to bring the urgent Message of Fatima—the Peace Plan from Heaven—to a world in need. It also encourages devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which was the mission given to Lucia, the seer at Fatima, by Our Lady and Our Lord. Jesus relayed to Sister Lucia in 1936 that he wished to establish devotion to the Immaculate Heart in the Church next to His Sacred Heart, and that He had placed the peace in the world in her Immaculate Heart.
The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima was sculpted in 1947 by famous sculptor José Thedim, upon the precise instructions of Sister Lucia. On October 13, 1947, the statue was blessed by the Bishop of Fatima and commissioned to serve as the Pilgrim Virgin that would carry the blessings of Fatima throughout the world. The Bishop prayed that Mary herself accompany the statue wherever it goes.
Many graces and favors, including cures, and countless conversions have been associated with the precious image. The statue has traveled around the globe many times, visiting more than 100 countries, including Russia and China.
