Fatima Family Shrine

Alexandria, SD

New Bench Photo Sheet Oct 2022.pdf
Outdoor Mass 5-13-2022 Photo sheet.pdf
Shrine Photo Sheet 6-8-2022.pdf
2022 Shrine Watering List.pdf

Jacinta and Lucia

Francisco

Honoring the Holy Family & Holy Eucharist

Priest Father Robert J. Fox had erected here on our church grounds in 1987. Pope John Paul II declared 1987 the Marian Year, to prepare for the third Millennium of Christianity. Bishop Alberto Cosmo Do Amaral dedicated the blessed the Shrine, he was the bishop of the diocese of Fatima in Portugal, which is were the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917 with a message. She promised to Convert Russia, bring peace to the world and save souls from hell, if people return to the values inscribed by the Gospel and have a devotion to practices like the rosary. (the first promise took place when the Berlin Wall come down and now no longer a Soviet Union.)

The Fatima Family Shrine statues are of Carrara marble from Portugal, The granite was quarried from the Milbank South Dakota quarry, fabricated, deigned and crafted at Cold Spring, Minnesota. The three shepherd children with sheep are Jacinta, (7), her brother Francisco (9) and their cousin Lucia, (11). Lucia continued to live her life as a Carmelite Nun until her death in 2005.

In front of the main Shrine is an altar. This is to remind us that devotion is Eucharistic, Christ-centered, it is through the Sacrifice of Mass that our daily lives are spiritually nourished.

The Fatima Family Shrine consists of four granite chapels with a marble statue in each. The statue of Mary is modeled after the miraculous statue of Fatima which rests on the pillar which marks the spot where God's Mother appeared over a little holm-oak tree in 1917. Under this statue of Mary is the Shrine within the base is some of the rock and soil from the very ground by the holm-oak tree.

The statue of St. Joseph with Christ Child, along side the Blessed Mother makes the Holy Family.

The statue of Jesus depicts the Bread of Life, His own Body. He catches His Blood from His Sacred Heart in the Chalice. This represents the Holy Eucharist as in the Sacrifice in the Mass.

The fourth statue of the Angel (without wings) as he appeared to the three children, he is seen adoring the Holy Eucharist atop the pillar.

The backdrops of thick faceted colored art-glass contain 15 golden stars, representing the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary, which are from the life of Jesus Christ. Our Blessed Lady asked that the Rosary be prayed.

The Holy Spirit as the Soul of the Church, is seen in red in the upper-part of each backdrop. The large round circular object above the middle of the shrine represents the sun a circle of brilliant colors as if in motion. This represents the miracle of the spinning of the sun, which occurred at Fatima on October 13, 1917.

The granite walk path is called the Penitential Path. At Fatima in Portugal people are often seen going on their knees and praying when going from the Cova to the Chapel.

Father Robert Fox had the 12 foot Granite Cross, erected in year of 2000 AD. During the Fatima Family Congress in June 2000. Rev. Bishop J Carlson blessed the Cross marking the Great Jubilee and beginning of the third Millennium.

Since this shrine is for the family, he wanted something attractive to children. The scene of Jesus with children on his lap "Let the Little children come unto me.." seemed fitting. The dove in Jesus' hand speaks of peace.


The little Chapel, named the "Holy Family Chapel" made from the same granite and glass walls as the shrine. The statue is hand-carved of Cararra marble according to St. Lucia's description and came from Portugal. Guarding the doorway on either side are two angels. One is the Angel of the Family and of Youth. The other is the Angel of the Holy Eucharist and the Church. Blue, in the glass walls is predominant in honor of Mary, Mother of the Church. There are three white rings waving in the colored art glass around the walls. These are the three Rings of adoration of the angels. The nine choirs of angels are in groups of three, adoring the Blessed Trinity. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This Holy Family Chapel is a place for special prayers concerning family life, ask that husbands and wives unite with Jesus Christ in the bonds of Holy Matrimony, and protect children and youth to eternal life.

St. Michael, prince of the heavenly host is regarded as the protector of the church. St Michael and his angles fought against the dragon that serpent called the Devil or Satan was cast out into the earth. So it is important in our evil time to say the prayer to St. Michael that is imprinted on the stone.

Pope and Martyr's Shrine is an image reminder of the Fatima Message. At Fatima Our Lady revealed the coming persecutions of the Church. There were many martyrs during the 20th century. Pope John Paul II recognized himself as the holy Father the Fatima Children saw. We know that Pope John Paul II and his people of Poland suffered under Nazism and Communism. People from all over the world where people were Martyred.

St. Maxemilian Kolbe, looking toward the Holy Family Shrine, was a Francisean priest, born in Poland in 1894. He was arrested 12 days after the invastion of Poland by the German Nazis and send to Auschwitz Concentration camp. It was in 1941 that he stepped forward and offered to die by starvation in place of one of the innocent prisoners, Francis Gajowniczel. Fr Kolbe lived over two weeks without food and water, so he was injected with poison. He went to his death to save a family man.


Blessed Miguel Pro, born in 1891 in Guadalupe, Mexico died at the young age of 36 for the Catholic faith. He was a high spirited youth and with his happy nature had a deep spirituality. Become a Jesuit, studied in Mexico until 1914 until the anti-Catholic political conditions and Mexican government were bringing persecution upon the Catholic Church. He went underground, secretly bringing Jesus Christ's teaching to thousands of Mexicans, through the Mass and Sacraments. His different disguises and sense of humor fooled policemen. It was in 1927 when he was arrested, interrogated, and execute

Blessed Dr. Gianna B Molla, born near Milan Italy in 1922, was a martyr for the unborn. At the age of 39, she died after giving birth to her baby girl Geanna Emanulla. Diagnosed with a fibrous tumor in the uterus, she choose to remove the tumor in such a way that it would not interrupt the pregnancy.


St. Edith Stein, took the name of Sister Teresa Benedicta when she become a Discalced Carmelite, so her stature is facing the monastery across the street. She was born 1891, was a Prussian citizen and Jewish. Edith was a gifted child, restless during the adolescent years. As a young adult she renounced her Jewish faith. During the WW in 1914 she worked for the Red Cross, did some teaching, chairman of the philosophy department at a German University, she was in search for meaning in life. In 1921 when she came across the Life of Holy Mother Teresa of Avila, her search for the true faith come to an end. In 1922 she was baptized into the Catholic Church, in 1933 she entered Carmel in Cologne and permitted to purse her intellectual work. Moved to the Netherlands thinking it would be a save haven from the Nazi. It was in 1942 that they were arrested along with all Catholic Jews and killed. Canonized in 2001. She is a contemporary saint-martyr for our confused times and the millions of Jews murdered simply because they were Jews.


Our Lady of Guadalupe statue-called the Pro-Life Shrine. As the inscription reads, Patroness of the unborn, Protectress of Children, Mother of Americans Pray for us, has a prayer inscribed.

This five foot bronze statue came from Mexico and is patterned from the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe that is in the Basilica in Mexico City. It was dedicated and blessed in 1989, by Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, the Vatican's Council for the family

A little about the story of this image. In 1531 Mary appeared to Jan Diego, a poor Indian convert, and asked that a shrine be built in her honor near Mexico City. She validated the mission by producing roses in December, impressing her image on Juan Diego' homespun cloak and curing his dying uncle.

Our Lady ask that a sanctuary be built to replace the temple of the Aztec goddess. The Aztec worshiped from Pyramid's and used human sacrifices, have found skeletons of many infants in the area. It was about this time that more than a million Aztec Indians were converted to the Catholic Faith.

The image of Our Lady was quickly understood by the Indians. The Lady stood in front of the sun, her foot rested on the crescent moon. The stars strewn across the mantel appeared as there were on Dec. 12,1531, her blue-green mantel in the color of royalty. The black cross at her neck stands for the Spanish Missionaries. She wore the Aztec Maternity belt (black belt), means she is with child, hands joined in prayer means that she is not God.; there is one greater than her, the design on her rose colored garment is a map of Mexico telling the Indians exactly where the apparition took place.

Angel of the Family blessed by Archbishop of Russia in 1993. God appointed an Angel to look over the sanctification of family life. Notice the wedding rings on the shield and the child above the angel's hand with the flaming sword.

Blessed Fr. Michael J. McGivney...Patron of the Knights of Columbus was blessed on August 13, 2021

The Way of the Cross which is the journey of Christ to Calvary

  1. Pilate Condemns Jesus to Die

  2. Jesus Accepts His Cross

  3. Jesus Falls the First time

  4. Jesus Meet His Mother

  5. Simon Helps Carry the Cross

  6. Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

  7. Jesus Falls the Second Time

  8. Jesus Speaks to the Women

  9. Jesus Falls the Third Time

  10. Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

  11. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

  12. Jesus Dies Upone the Cross

  13. Jesus is taken down from the Cross

  14. Jesus in Laid in the Tomb.