Our Lady of Fatima, patron of Suriname; Marian national devotion of the country

Marian Invocation of Paramaribo (Suriname)

In Suriname the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima is directly linked to the apparitions of the Virgin in Cova da Iria (Portugal), recognized by the Church and spread throughout the world since 1917. The Virgin appeared to the three pastoralists (Lucia, Francis and Jacinta) asking for conversion, penance and the prayer of the Rosary for peace. Since the mid-20th century, this advocation has expanded strongly in Latin America, inspiring parishes, shrines and pilgrim images.

Main data

Origin and history

In Suriname the devotion to Our Lady of Fatima is directly linked to the apparitions of the Virgin in Cova da Iria (Portugal), recognized by the Church and spread throughout the world since 1917. The Virgin appeared to the three pastoralists (Lucia, Francis and Jacinta) asking for conversion, penance and the prayer of the Rosary for peace. Since the mid-20th century, this advocation has expanded strongly in Latin America, inspiring parishes, shrines and pilgrim images.

As regards Surinam, various devotional sources point out that the Virgin of Fatima has been welcomed as country pattern along with Guyana, with a party on May 13. However, the documentation available from the local Church and in official repertories does not detail the historical circumstances (date, episcopal decree or pontifical) in which she was declared a national patron: on this point in the book a precise documented history. The mention as a patron of Suriname seems to come above all from the recent devotional tradition and the missionary spread of devotion to Fatima in the Caribbean and Guyanese region.

With regard to the data "Paramaribo, department of Surinam, Colombia," from the historical-geographical point of view it is a confusion: Paramaribo is the capital of the Republic of Suriname, on the northeast coast of South America, and the diocese of Paramaribo is built for that independent country, not for a constituency in Colombia. The existence of a specific advocation entitled "Our Lady of Fatima, patron of Suriname" linked to a homonymous town in Colombia is not recorded in the consulted sources; the devotion described is for Suriname as a nation.

The image and the sanctuary

The sources on Suriname underline the importance of St. Peter and Paul's Basilica in Paramaribo, cathedral of the diocese and considered the largest wooden temple in America. However, this temple is officially dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul; it is not in the accessible documentation that it is officially a "national sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima" or that it hosts a national headline image of Fatima with specific recognition. In the public information of the diocese and in repertory about the temple, no consta a formal declaration that presents it as a national Marian sanctuary under this title.

The devotion to the Virgin of Fatima in Suriname follows, according to general sources, the iconography spread from the Portuguese sanctuary: Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatimastanding, dressed in white, with white mantle lined in gold, crowned, bearing the Rosary and with the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a central symbol. Although it is reasonable to assume that in Suriname an image of this kind was venerated, not included in the sources consulted a specific and documented description of a national image (material, author, date or precise location within a particular sanctuary).

In summary: it is known that devotion to the Virgin of Fatima is present in Suriname and united to the liturgical life of the diocese of Paramaribo, but no consta in the available documentation a detailed and official description of a specific national sanctuary of Fatima or of a particular image established as "national image."

Sponsorship and coronation

Various contemporary devotional texts state that the Virgin of Fatima is patron of Suriname (and Guyana)on May 13. These sources are of a divulgative and pastoral nature, and do not quote the specific canonical decree (neither the local bishop nor the Holy See), but they reflect a consolidated devotional tradition who presents Our Lady of Fatima as the Marian patron of the country. On the strictly legal-canonical plane, no consta in the documentation consulted the exact text of a pontifical or episcopal decree that defines this patronage, so we must speak with caution of a patronage "recognized in devotion" rather than detailed in easily accessible official sources.

As for a canonical coronation of the image of Our Lady of Fatima venerated in Suriname, the available sources (both repertory on Fatima coronations in the world and general information about the Church in Suriname) no documented canonical coronation for a national image in Paramaribo or another sanctuary in the country. Therefore, following the requested indication:

> Canon coronation: there is no documented canon coronation.

Party and devotion

La main party of Our Lady of Fatima throughout the world is celebrated the 13 May, in memory of the first apparition in Cova da Iria in 1917. The devotional sources that refer to Suriname and Guyana point to the same date as the patron's holiday. In pastoral practice, this date usually includes solemn Eucharist, processions and acts of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to the spirituality of Fatima.

No official figures are available. inflow of pilgrims nor of concrete data on national pilgrimages in Suriname to a specific sanctuary of Fatima; the sources consulted no constan processions or romaneries with a name and precise statistical data. However, by analogy with other countries and according to the missionary character of Fatima's devotion in Latin America, it can be said that on May 13, it is often lived with special intensity: processions with candles, prayer of the Rosary, ninth preparatory and renewal of the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These features are typical of the spirituality of Fatima and are repeated in communities where this advocation is patronal or very rooted, although for Suriname no constan detailed formal descriptions.

Link to the Rosary

La advocación de Our Lady of Fatima is intrinsically linked to Holy Rosary. In the apparitions of 1917, the Virgin formally presented herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary" and urged insistently that the Rosary be prayed every day, in particular for the peace of the world and the conversion of sinners. The same sanctuary of Fatima in Portugal and the spirituality derived from it put the Rosary at the center of the response to its message: conversion, penance, repair and consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

For this reason, where the Virgin of Fatima is welcomed as patronthe Rosary becomes a privileged prayer of the community: it accompanies the novenas, processions, Marian vigil and, in a special way, the celebration of May 13. Although for Suriname there are no written rules of their own on the Rosary, the fact that it is precisely about the advocation of Fatima implies a profound tune with the daily prayer of the Rosaryas a school of contemplation of the mysteries of Christ and a simple way to live the message of peace, conversion and reparation that this advocation proposes to the whole Church.