It's difficult to believe that a century ago, this was pastureland outside an insignificant village. This vast complex is now one of Catholicism's major shrines; the focus of enormous devotion and pilgrimage. At the eastern end is the 1953 basilica, a triumphantly sheer-white building with colonnade reminiscent of St Peter’s. Nearby, the Capela das Apariçoes (Chapel of the Apparitions) marks the site where the Virgin appeared. At the precinct's western end is the 2007 Basilica da Santíssima Trindade.
The chapel is the focus of the most intense devotion. Supplicants who have promised penance (for example, in return for helping a loved one who is sick, or to signify a particularly deep conversion) shuffle on their knees across the vast esplanade, following a long marble runway polished smooth by previous penitents. Near the chapel is a blazing pyre where people can throw offerings on the fire, leave gifts – donated to charities – or light candles in prayer. The sound of hundreds of candles is like a rushing waterfall.
Inside the older church, the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima, attention is focused on the tombs of the three children, Os Três Pastorinhos (the three little shepherds): Francisco (died 1919, aged 11) and Jacinta (died 1920, aged 10), both victims of the flu epidemic, were beatified in 2000. Lúcia, the third witness of the apparition, entered a convent in Coimbra in 1928, where she died in 2005. Her beatification is underway.
The new basilica was inaugurated in 2007, and, while impressive, has something of a conference centre feel. A central passageway hung with golden angels leads to a long etched-glass window spelling out scriptural verses in dozens of languages. Twelve 30ft bronze doors run around the edges of the monumental round marble structure, each with a Biblical quote dedicated to one of Jesus’ disciples. Inside, the impersonal feel is redeemed by Irish artist Catherine Green’s striking altarpiece depicting a wild-haired and gaunt Crucifixion, backed by Slovenian artist Marko Ivan Rupnik's beautiful mosaic work.
At the sanctuary entrance is a segment of the Berlin Wall, a tribute to 'God’s part in the fall of communism'. Twin wax museums on either side of the old basilica give a blow-by-blow account of the story of Fátima; and represent 33 scenes from the life of Christ.
Masses are held roughly hourly in the basilicas or at the Capela das Apariçoes. At least two daily are held in English; check at the information booth by the chapel.
