A Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be featured during a gathering Saturday, May 4 at the Marian Shrine in Stony Point.  

The event will begin with a noon Mass followed by Praying of the Rosary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Father Manuel Gallo, the shrine’s retreat coordinator and vice director, will serve as principal celebrant and homilist. The gathering is one of a number of events within the Archdiocese of New York honoring the Mother of God during May, the Month of Mary. May 13 is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima.      

“We celebrate Mary every May; every Saturday of the month we try to do something,” Donna Valentino, Marian Shrine secretary to the director, told The Good Newsroom this week. “We look for her guidance every day – and so in the month of May we always celebrate Mary, we honor her.”

Valentino said the shrine is finalizing Marian gatherings for the rest of the month, but the events will include a bilingual Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass, May 11 at noon, followed by Praying of the Rosary and a social gathering with food and a mariachi band. The shrine’s patroness is Mary Help of Christians (feast day May 24), and so the month’s celebrations will likely include that devotion.

There are 13 Pilgrim Statues of Our Lady of Fatima; the number of trips made over the years is yet to be ascertained, according to several Fatima websites. Fatima Pilgrim Statues have traveled the world on a mission to spread peace and hope since 1947. After numerous outings, the first Pilgrim Virgin was enthroned in the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal and leaves only on special occasions.  

Other Marian events coming up in May

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard, Manhattan, in conjunction with the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, is planning a five-night webinar on the history and significance of Our Lady of Guadalupe – Monday May 6 to Friday May 10, each night for 90 minutes starting at 8:00.  

The webinar sessions, to be conducted in Spanish, will be led from Mexico by Msgr. Eduardo Chavez, an administrator at the basilica in Mexico. The Shrine in New York, 328 W. 14th Street, invites the faithful to attend one or more or all of the webinar sessions during gatherings at the parish. The sessions can be viewed at the Manhattan shrine site during the designated nights, along with other participating parishes in the archdiocese. The Guadalupe parish is planning additional Guadalupe gatherings this month. Dec. 12 is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  

The annual Our Lady of Lujan Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is set for Sunday May 5 at 4 p.m., to be conducted in Spanish. Our Lady of Lujan is the patroness of Argentina. The figure of Our Lady of Lujan is a small statue that has been venerated in Argentina since 1630.

In 1887, the figure was crowned canonically and was moved to its current sanctuary, which was given the title of basilica in 1930 by Pope Pius XII. May 8 is the feast day of Our Lady of Lujan.  And it was on May 8, 2013, that Pope Francis (who is originally from Argentina) visited the Basilica of Lujan to commend Argentina to the protection of its patroness. St. John Paul II visited the basilica as pope in 1982.