For many pilgrims, Portugal means Fátima, but 80 miles down the coast is a series of religious festivals uniting the land and the ocean, and indulging the spirit in an inclusive feast of music and colour, as Edna Pottersman found out when she went to Setúbal
From may until October, the journey to Fátima in Portugal is long and hot. During the country’s sweltering summer months, hundreds of thousands of visitors walk the route to the shrine to celebrate the apparition there of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd youngsters in 1917.In all there were six apparitions, Our Lady’s first appearance being the Sunday before the Feast of the Ascension. Her second was designated for 13 June – the feast day of St Anthony, who was born in Lisbon and to whom people
20 November 2014, The Tablet
Seaside symphonies
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