Review 2023: Fatima procession in Basel to the Spalentor
On Friday, 12.5.2023, a Fatima Lights procession through Basel took place in the evening with flags, brass music, singing and prayer. Around 330 people took part in the procession, including many young people. The occasion for this was that on May 13, 1917, the Blessed Mother Mary appeared for the first time to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, in order to come to the aid of mankind as a heavenly mother and to warn the world of coming crises and punishments. At her last apparition in Fatima, on October 13, 1917, 70,000 people witnessed a great miracle of the sun. This year’s procession was also the conclusion of a national pilgrimage of “Switzerland prays”.
The solemn procession was led by the cross and altar boys, followed by various flags, religious, families and people of all ages. In the middle of the procession was carried a large statue of Our Lady of Fatima, decorated with flowers. During the procession, the participants sang the rosary, Marian songs accompanied by brass music, and prayed other prayers. The people carried burning candles in their hands. Flyers with information about Fatima as well as Miraculous Medals and Rosaries were distributed to passers-by.
“Our Lady of Fatima was the last to give us
means of salvation for our time: the praying of the Rosary and the devotion to
her Immaculate Heart. Through this procession we want to take refuge in these
means by singing the Rosary and at the end of the year
immaculate hearts”, said the young Father Zahner in his speech to the
Start of the procession.
The destination of the procession was the Spalentor, where the
Mother of God, the patron saint of Basel. There was – also
in front of the pilgrim statue of “Switzerland prays” – a consecration to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary.
Fatima processions in Basel have a history: In May 1952, the public veneration of Our Lady of Fatima in Switzerland began with a large Fatima procession in Basel with 20,000 participants, followed by a pilgrimage through more than 250 parishes.
The organisation “Switzerland prays” continued this tradition. On May 8 of last year, three wandering Madonnas were blessed by Bishop Vitus Huonder in Einsiedeln and visited around 140 villages in all parts of the country in the last twelve months, especially with the various prayer groups that meet weekly on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. to pray the rosary.
Organizations
Several Catholic organizations have invited to this procession.
·The Militia Immaculatae, a Catholic movement of St. Father Maximilian Kolbe, which promotes the devotion to the Mother of God, especially through the dissemination of the Miraculous Medal and the Rosary. Father Maximilian Kolbe is known in many places because he voluntarily gave his life in the concentration camp in Auschwitz in 1941 for a fellow prisoner family man in the hunger bunker.
· « Switzerland prays” – since the end of 2021, believers from all over Switzerland have been meeting to pray the rosary together weekly, usually on Wednesdays at 6 p.m., at over 140 locations. In this way, they want to take refuge in Mary, so that she may give us peace and cause our country to be converted again to Jesus Christ. This prayer takes place together with several 10,000 worshippers in Europe and around the world
· « Fatima Tour” was launched on March 25, 2022 to organize a national pilgrimage of Our Lady of Fatima through Switzerland. Three pilgrim statues throughout Switzerland visited around 140 places of prayer of “Switzerland prays”. The procession in Basel was now the end of this pilgrimage year.
More pictures
See below. Click on it to enlarge:
