The first Fatima shrine in Africa
Namaacha · Mozambique · Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima
Mozambique y la fe
Mozambique was evangelized by the Portuguese since the 16th century. The Catholic presence in the country has five centuries of history. When the Marxist regime of Samora Machel came to power after independence (1975), the Church was persecuted: Catholic schools were confiscated, missionaries expelled, schools closed. However, popular faith survived in neighborhoods and families.
Namaacha: the Fátima of Africa
Namaacha is a small city in southern Mozambique, on the border with Swaziland, about 70 km from Maputo. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima of Namaacha It was founded in the 1950s by the Commonian missionaries. The devotion to the Virgin of Fatima - so close to the Portuguese identity - found in Mozambique a particularly fertile ground.
The Namaacha shrine is known as "the Fátima of Africa": replicates the Grotto of Cova da Iria and hosts processions that imitate those of Fatima. Every year, May 13 and October 13, thousands of pilgrims arrive from all over the region.
Resistance during Marxism
During the years of the Marxist regime (1975- 1994), the Namaacha shrine was one of the few places where the pilgrimages continued, although with difficulties. The faithful walked at night not to be seen. The images were taken in secret. Marian devotion was, in Mozambique, one of the most powerful springs of spiritual resistance to imposed atheism.
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