Fatima Shrine Prepares Full-Year Calendar for Centennial
The Shrine of Fatima has a full-year schedule to celebrate the 2017 centennial of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. Communication elements include the design of official symbol or logo, a commemorative medal , countdown timer, posters, a centennial video, plus various merchandising. 100 internationally well-known personalities will be invited to record short testimonies about Fatima which will be aired on radio and made available online. Related is an ‘online mural’ of testimonies, where any and all pilgrims of Fatima can make a short video declaration that will be shared on social networks.
There will be an official centennial hymn, which will be the outcome of a music and lyrics contest. An official itinerary will be prepared for would-be pilgrims, to include alternative paths , and recommended meditations and prayers at each important point in the itinerary. Pilgrims who arrive in time for the First Saturday will be presented with a program to experience the devotion.
Aside from the celebration of the Apparitions of the Lady of Fatima, on schedule also are celebrations of the Apparitions of the Angel, as well celebration of the Day of the Shepherds.
Since late 2015, conferences had been scheduled, with the overarching theme of ‘I came that they may have life’. For 2017, two conferences remain – March 12 featuring ‘The Maternal Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary’; and April 9 featuring ‘The Marian devotion as evangelizing dynamism’.
Possibly the centennial project that will gather the most attention will be the International Congress of the Centennial of Fatima 2017. The International Congress takes place from June 21 to 24. In that Congress, several dimensions of Fatima will be studied, in an interdisciplinary perspective: Theology, Sociology, Psychology, Culture, History, Art , etc . Related to this is the Mariological Marian International Congress, targeted at academicians of Marian schools around the world, scheduled from September 6 to 11. Then from September 26 to 29 is the European Marian Network, a symposium for the rectors of European Marian shrines. Other training scheduled throughout this year includes: a course on the Message of Fatima explaining the fundamental elements of the apparitions of Cova da Iria, structuring the thematic contents, and outlining theologically the several aspects of these apparitions; Training for Trainers on the Fatima Story and Message, which offers a historical itinerary of the event and of the century of Fatima, a description of the protagonists of the event, a deepening of the main theological axes of the message, and the most relevant lines of a cultural analysis of Fatima.
Several videos and films are also in the pipeline – the documentary ‘Fatima in the World’; a film on the apparitions of the Angel; a documentary on the link of the popes to Fatima; and a documentary on the lives of the Shepherds of Fatima.
The Message of Fatima will also be manifested in a new ‘catechism wall; a Fatima prayer-a-day; and several planned apps for iPhones and Android devices. Publications will include: an edition of the Memoirs of Sister Lucia; a book on the songs of Fatima; an a picture book. A cultural magazine ‘Fatima XXI’ is also in the works. A second book for children is also being drawn up, to follow the first children’s book, ‘The Mission of Francisco’.
There are several temporary exhibitions planned for 2017, such as the full Vatican manuscripts of Sister Lucia on the 3rd part of the Secret; the Christ of the Trenches, from the Monastery of Batalha; and Fatima and the Popes. The organ of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima has been recently reconstructed and will feature in a series of organ concerts. The opening concert is set for March 20, through a program of different styles, covering nearly 300 years of music, emphasizing on the world premiere of Hu yeshûphekâ rô’sh composed by João Pedro Oliveira, based on the first prophecy of Mary in the book of Genesis, and commissioned by the Shrine of Fatima for the occasion, as well as the final improvisation that will be performed based on the theme Ave Maria de Fátima. On May 8, there will be a concert by organist Antonio Esteireiro, who will explore the German music during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including some of the great organ’s classics of this period, and Ave- Maria of Max Reger and Karg-Elert. On June 5, there will be a concert exploring 100 years of contemporary music, by the organist Antonio Mota, including in the program the Suite Mariale of Maleingreau. Filipe Veríssimo will be the organist who will present 100 years of sacred music, on July 10. In addition to two works of Marian themes, there will be a monumental Symphony of the Passion of Marcel Dupré, emblematic work of the early twentieth century. Giampaolo Di Rosa, on August 14, will perform a concert which program will be exclusively based on improvisations on hymns related to Fatima, composed and sung for the last 100 years. João Santos, the official organist of the Shrine of Fatima, will end the cycle by performing a concert on October 9, presenting 100 years of French music of César Franck a Messiaen, and including several excerpts from 15 Versets sur les Vêpres du commun des fêtes de la Sainte Vierge.
Aside from organ and orchestra concerts, ‘sacred music’ concerts are also on tap. A concert for choir, piano and accordion on fragments of Memoirs of Sister Lucia will be presented on April 3, 2016. On June 23, the Lisboa Cantat and Orquestra Sinfónica Juvenil choir, under the direction of Christopher Bochmann, presents ‘Singing Fatima’, a concert interpreting works of Fr. Joaquim dos Santos, inspired or dedicated to Fatima. The Concert ends with the interpretation of the Ave de Fatima conducted by Yugo Matsumura. There will also be several children’s and youth choirs who will be performing throughout 2017.
Musical fragments, or talks with meditative music, have also been scheduled. Traditions of Baroque Sacred Music: Tânia Ralha, Nélia Gonçalves and Júlio Dias, is on offer on March 12, 2017; and Mary in our time: Coro Anonymus, April 9, 2017. The 2017 Easter concert of the Shrine of Fatima features the Escolania of Montserrat, one of the oldest boys’ choirs in Europe. Under the direction of Castelló Llorenc, the choir’s prestige is internationally recognized; it is invited to perform all around the world. Its abundant discography proves to the artistic quality of the choir. Through music , these boys are messengers of peace and beauty; with the universal language of music and crossing all kinds of borders, they speak directly to the hearts of those who listen to them. Date: April 23, 2017.
A closing concert has also been planned for October 13, the last day of the 1917 apparitions, featuring the world premiere of the works of composers James Macmillan and Eurico Carrapatoso commissioned by the Shrine of Fatima exclusively for the celebration of the Centennial of the Apparitions, to be performed by the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir.
