“De-Codifying” the history and message of Fatima

The training will cover the history and message of Fatima and is aimed at the general public.

The Sanctuary of Fatima is organising another “deCodify Fatima” seminar next January. The training programme is being held for the third consecutive year and aims to answer the many questions that Fatima raises among pilgrims and researchers.

During the four sessions taking place online on 10, 17, 24 and 31 January, from 9.15pm to 10.15pm, some of the “themes that make up the phenomenon of Fatima will be presented, looking at it as one of the most important religious events of contemporary times”, says the Sanctuary.

The first session is scheduled for 10 January and will feature speeches by the rector of the Sanctuary, Father Carlos Cabecinhas, who will discuss “The iconic processions of the Sanctuary of Fatima: on light, on silence, on farewell” and by the director of the Department of Studies of the Sanctuary of Fatima (DESF), Marco Daniel Duarte, who will present “The Little Chapel of the Apparitions: from the interior to the enlargement of the space”.

The following week, Sónia Vazão, from the Department of Studies of the Sanctuary of Fatima (DESF), will walk the participants through “The days of Jacinta Marto in Lisbon”, followed by an iconographic and iconological programme on the tabernacle of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, by Marco Daniel Duarte.

An overview of the “Book of Honour of the Sanctuary of Fatima”, presented by André Melícias, from the DESF, will open the third session of the course, where Marco Daniel Duarte will also present the “Way of the Cross on the Way of the Little Shepherds”.

The last day of the seminar will focus on the “Conservation of the Image of Our Lady of Fatima”, in a presentation by Ana Rita Santos, from the Museum of the Sanctuary of Fatima, and on the “Memoirs of Lucia de Jesus: ‘bestseller’ of contemporary religious literature”, by the director of the DESF, Marco Daniel Duarte.

The seminar is aimed at the public, particularly researchers and students in the Humanities and Social Sciences; primary and secondary school teachers in the areas of History, History of Art, Philosophy, Catholic Moral and Religious Education; and trainers, catechists and other pastoral agents.

Attendance at the course costs 20 euros and enrolment is on a first-come, first-served basis.

According to the Sanctuary, the last edition of the initiative had more than two hundred participants from different parts of the world.