The liturgical objects to be used by Pope Francis

The liturgical objects to be used by Pope Francis

Objects already belonged to the Museum of Fatima

A cross offered by Father Pius, a custody for the blessing of the sick, a chalice offered by the sick from Portugal and a ciborium or pyx (cup with a lid that keeps the consecrated hosts) are the liturgical objects to be used in the Mass of the 13th of May, presided by Pope Francis.

These pieces already exist in the Museum of the Shrine of Fatima and are used in the ceremonies of the Easter Triduum, having been also used (except the custody) by Pope Benedict XVI, on the 13th of May 2010, refers a note from the Shrine’s Art and Patrimony Section.

All vestments to be used in the ceremonies are the existing ones or brought by the concelebrants themselves, as is the case of Pope Francis, who will use vestments brought from the Vatican.

The cross in bronze, from an unknown author but from the fifties of last century, was offered in 1959 to the Shrine by Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, better known as Father Pius, in thanksgiving for what he considered as an intercession of Our Lady of Fatima in the cure of a serious disease he suffered. The image of the Pilgrim Virgin visited the community where Father Pius was, sick, on the 5th and 6th of August that year.

With a big round base with three feet, the cross shows the symbol of the Capuchin Franciscans (a cross over two crossed arms and the inscription “Pace et Bonum”). It also presents a plaque with the inscription “Dono di padre Pio alla Madonna di Fatima portato da Radighieri Elisio R. R. Italia” (offered by Father Pius to Our Lady of Fatima transported by Radighieri Elisio R. R. Italy).

The chalice and the ciborium or pyx to be used by the Holy Father during the Mass were made in 1967 and 1970 by José Rosas, jeweler from Porto.

The chalice, in gold and enamel, from 1967, was a gift from the sick of Portugal, who donated more than 7.000 objects in gold, besides other jewels, to be transformed into this piece.

The chalice presents a base beset with raised leaves and it counts on various gemological specimen (precious stones and pearls) resulting from pieces of offered goldsmithery and jewelry. The top, directly connected to the base, is coated with a work of green enamel.

“Symbolically, the sick wanted that their fragile condition was associated to the pain of the shed blood of Christ in his self-offering for humanity”, refers the note from the Shrine.

The pyx was ordered in 1970 to the same jeweler by the then rector of the Shrine, Fr. António Antunes Borges, to complete the set of paten and chalice offered by the sick of Portugal.

The piece is made of jewels offered to Our Lady of Fatima; the creation was possible thanks to the patronage of a benefactor.

The custody for the blessing of the sick, a ceremony that the Holy Father wants to make himself, is used for the first time in celebrations with the presence of the Pope, but it has been used in the Anniversary Pilgrimages.

Drawn by the arquitect Joana Delgado, consultant of the Environment and Constructions Service of the Shrine, the piece, in gold and silver, was made in 2011 in the Leitão & Irmão House, the authors of the Crown on the Image of Our Lady that is in the Chapel of the Apparitions.

The custody is a gift from the ecclesial movement Spanish Night Adoration, to mark the 25th anniversary of the movement’s pilgrimages to the Shrine of Fatima.

The custody has an elliptic base supporting the shaft where an angel is seen, in allusion to the third Apparition of the Angel to the Little Shepherds of Fatima, in the autumn of 1916.

Given that the piece has big dimensions, to be seen from anywhere in the Prayer Area of the Shrine, the shaft may be divided in two parts, to facilitate the use during the blessing of the sick and the other pilgrims.

The top part of the custody is made of seven elements, which, as if shinning, quote the morphology of the branches of a tree, here clearly associated to the olive tree of peace, to the holm-oak tree of the apparitions or even to the tree of life.

At the center, the custody presents a receptacle for the exhibition of the host. This element is enveloped by a frame of gold indented with olive leaves, from which a tenuous light shines.

The Holy Father presides the first International Anniversary Pilgrimage of the Centennial of the Apparitions on the 12th and 13th of May, during which he will canonize the Little Shepherds, blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who will become the youngest non-martyrized saints of the Church.

Francis is the fourth Pope to visit Fatima, after Paul VI (1967), John Paul II (three times,