A Date with Sr. Leopolda Ledesma of Fatima

Sister Leopolda, nee Barbara May Ledesma, curator of the Fatima Museum and a member of the Oblate Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Fatima, was on a brief visit to the Philippines. Fr. Bong Tupino of Christ the King Parish Greenmeadows invited Sr. Leopolda to speak to a select group of parishioners last February 13 before she Hlew back to Fatima, Portugal.

She began her one and a half hour talk by stating that in the midst of the world’s darkness and despair, the light of Fatima is the solid ground where Catholics can Hind the fundamental truths of faith and which remains a symbol of hope for the future. Sr. Leopolda emphasized that one of the most precious spiritual heritage of Fatima, and the soul of the Fatima message, was ‘devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary’.

Another central Fatima theme was conversion and penance, according to Sr. Leopolda. Fatima was a challenge, she argued, to not resign ourselves and be indifferent to the evil and sufferings around us. It’s a call to prayer, a call to sacrifice, and a call to penance for the sins of the world.

Sr. Leopolda differentiated Fatima from Lourdes and the other apparitions – a much longer dialogue, almost a century) with humanity; the inclusion of historical and political view as she talked about war and peace as well as Communist Russia; and a strong concern for the future that’s not central to the other apparitions.

She explained that the 1917 apparition was in the context of World War I. The war started in mid 1914 and by May 2017 had drawn in 32 countries, with the United States officially declaring first set of apparitions. It’s in this historical context that Lucia paraphrases the Virgin Mary to say, ‘Let us thrust our gaze in the world and what do we see? War, hatred, ambitions, plunder, theft, vengeance , fraud, homicide , immorality. Men who consider themselves wise and powerful continue to plan other wars, death, misery, disgrace, bloodshed. They are drowning the very people they are obliged to help and save.’

And which is why, Sister Leopolda emphasized, that it was important that Our Lady appeared to the three shepherd children. Through the universal agony of war, She was the light, beauty and joy who would bear witness to the faith. The Virgin Mary was to be the witness to hope in a time of despair, a witness to trust in a time of mistrust and suspicion, and a witness to joy in a time of great difficulty in life. And the most important admonitions of the Virgin Mary of Fatima to the three children and the hundreds of thousands who heard their words?

1. Pray, pray very much. The most holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High.
2. Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended. And in supplication for the conversion of sinners. You will thus draw down peace upon your country.
3. Above all, accept and bear with submission the suffering which the Lord will send you.

Of the three, Lucia lived the longest and witnessed the most apparitions. In 1925, for example, on December 10, in Pontevedra, Spain, Lucia saw the first apparition of Our Lady with the Child Jesus, later prompting the institution of devotion of the First Five Saturdays. On the 13th of June in 1929, in Tuy, Spain, Mary came to Lucia to ask for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. ‘The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.’ And this vision was manifested during the perestroika of Mikhail Gorbachev and the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Lucia also expressed one of the most profound Trinitarian doxologies: ‘O Holy Trinity whom I adore and love and to Whom I will sing eternal praise! In me, You are light, You are Grace, You are love! I immerse myself in You and I dwell in the love of Your presence’. And it’s the same Lucia who looked back on the apparitions almost a century later and reflected that ‘the aim of the apparitions was to make us grow in faith, hope and charity’.

Sr. Leopolda also reflected on the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II’s life back in 1May 13, 1981. John Paul II credited his survival to the Lady of Fatima, the date of the assassination attempt coinciding with the anniversary of the Hirst Fatima apparition. ‘On that tragic 13th day of A Date with Sr. Leopolda Ledesma of Fatima May 1981, one hand pulled the trigger and one maternal hand deflected the bullet.’ On May 13, 1982, exactly a year after the attempt, Pope John Paul II traveled to Fatima where he met Sr. Lucia for the first time.

At the end of her talk, Sr. Leopolda led the audience in singing the Ave de Fatima:

” The thirteenth of May in the Cova da Iria Appeared, oh, so brilliant, the Virgin Maria Ave, Ave, Ave Maria (x2) To three li>le shepherds Our Lady appeared The light of Her grace to her Son’s soul endeared Ave, Ave, Ave Maria (x2) The Virgin Maria encircled with Light Our own dearest Mother and Heaven’s delight Ave, Ave, Ave Maria (x2)”

She was asked during the open forum where the adopted name Leopolda came from. She narrated that on a visit to Padua, the Oblate Sisters came across St. Leopold Mandic, or St. Leopold of Castelnuovo, a Croatian Capuchin friar who suffered from disabilities that plagued his speech and stunted his growth. Despite this, he became extremely popular as a confessor and spent most of his adult life in Padua, Italy. He dreamt unceasingly about reuniting the Catholic and the Orthodox churches of Eastern Europe. He became known as an Apostle of Confession and an Apostle of Unity. Her fellow sisters teased her about taking on his name. When the time came for her to nominate a name for herself, she thought back on the encounter with St. Leopold, shrugged, and said to herself ‘why not’. After all, he was even shorter than she was, standing at only 4’5”.

The Congrega (on of the Oblate Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Fa(ma, or OMVF is a religious institute of women of pontifical right founded by Gino Burresi in northern Italy on 13 May 1978. The name of the institute is derived from that of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, of which Burresi was a member. The institute also inherits the devotion to Mary especially under the .tle of Our Lady of Fátima. The sisters’ habit consists of a blue tunic, scapular and veil, and belt with Rosary. It gained pon.fical status on 31 May 2001. The sisters dedicate themselves to the organiza.on of retreats and courses of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, to the promo.on of Catholic books, to catechesis, to the promo.on of vocations, to domestic service, and to the assistance of priests. Beyond Italy and Portugal, they are present in the Principality of Monaco, Sri Lanka, and Brazil. The seat of general government remains in San ViUorino, Italy. As of 2008 the sisters number 92, spread out in 17 houses internationally.

The Museum of the Shrine of Fatima was founded in 1955. With the permanent exhibitions of the Museum: Fatima Light and Peace, the House-Museum of Aljustrel and the temporary exhibitions, the Shrine of Fatima provides to the pilgrims and to other visitors an interpretation of physical testimonies, by using museological language related with the Message of Fatima, with the development of the Shrine itself and related with the dissemination of the cult of Our Lady of Fatima in the world.