Fatima – Portugal (Tuesday, 11/11/2014, Gaudium Press) As of November 29 the statue of “Christ of the Trenches” will be on display at the Shrine of Fatima in Portugal, one of the most evocative pieces of art of the participation of the Portuguese people in World War I.
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According to the press service of the sanctuary, this statue will be displayed at “Cova da Iria” to remember the particular context of the fourth apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, which took place August 19, 1917.
Besides the “Christ of the Trenches”, an exhibition entitled “In this valley of tears” will feature pieces from the Sanctuary of Fatima and others from the Diocese of Viseu, the National Museum of Ancient Art, the City Hall of Ourém and from the parish of Nossa Senhora da Piedade.
For the director of the Museum of Fátima, Daniel Marco Duarte, the “Christ of the Trenches” is the piece that “could best illustrate the participation of Portugal in the Great War” and also of what could be called ” the Christian context in times of war”.
The “Christ of the Trenches” followed the Portuguese soldiers who were involved in the Battle of La Lys (France), against the Germans, in 1918. Forty years later the Portuguese government asked the French authorities to send the statue back to Portugal, the due to the high appreciation for this statue from the Portuguese military.
According to the director of the Museum of Fatima: “the visitor can easily understand the relation between the message of Fatima and the war; and which is the request that the Blessed Virgin Mary asks in order to achieve peace: “the recitation of the Rosary” he concluded.(EPC)
