This year marked significant events connected with Fatima. In February, Sister Lucia, the remaining seer who saw our Blessed Mother at Fatima, died in Portugal at age 97.

Less than two months later, Pope John Paul II, so closely connected to Fatima's messages that he was called the “Fatima pope,” also died.

With these monumental events fresh in our minds, this summer seemed a fitting time for my wife Mary and me to head for a shrine dedicated to the message of Fatima: the National Blue Army Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Washington, N.J.

As we drove onto the 150-acre grounds, the Holy Family greeted us from one of several wayside shrines around the property. From a good distance up the hillside, our Blessed Mother beckoned us from high atop the huge outdoor chapel, like she's done for countless pilgrims since 1979.

The 26-foot bronze statue shows Mary with a rosary in one hand and a brown scapular in the other. She stands 145 feet above this chapel and nearly 1,000 feet above the panoramic valleys below.

The towering roofline beneath her cascades down and flares out like her mantle, enfolding the outdoor chapel. Mary also stands atop a huge crown; this is significant because Pope Pius XII crowned her Queen of the World. We quickly noted that everything here is designed to remind us that Mary, our mother and queen, protects us under her mantle.

This particular mantle covers the outdoor chapel that holds up to 1,400 worshippers for Masses from May to October — when Mary visited Fatima on the 13th of each month. Beyond the chapel's open-air sides, the rolling lawns and wide walks can expand the flock to thousands more, like the 3,000-plus who come for special occasions such as Padre Pio Day. (St. Pio is considered the “spiritual father” of the Blue Army.)

We visited the indoor Blessed Sacrament Chapel that's also under Mary's mantle, directly below the outdoor chapel. Open daily all year, it was re-dedicated this year after being re-built following a devastating fire.

The chapel focuses on the Eucharist and messages of Fatima. To either side of the altar, graceful statues from Portugal show us the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They stand before walls of warm brownstone that recall the catacombs underneath Rome.

Dancing Sun

We prayed before the Blessed Sacrament directly behind the altar and held by the Angel of Peace, a life-sized polychrome statue that escaped the fire unscathed.

This Angel of Peace, who taught the Fatima prayers to Lucia and her cousins Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco, holds a ciborium with a host suspended above it, just as he did in an apparition preceding the Blessed Mother's appearance. Because this ciborium and host actually form part of the tabernacle, the angel who brought Jesus in holy Communion to the children now holds the Blessed Sacrament for us to adore.

The warm chapel has other reminders of Fatima. The single contemporary stained-glass window recalls the Miracle of the Sun during the Oct. 13, 1917, apparition, fulfilling one of our Lady's promises to the Fatima seers. (Thousands saw the sun dance and whirl in the sky.)

Then, kneeling at a prie-dieu, we looked into the new three-sided mural shrine that placed us momentarily in the Fatima countryside watching the seers and Mary — here as a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima — during an apparition.

“Many people from Portugal say the scene is exactly as they remember the countryside,” Michael La Corte, the executive director of the Blue Army, told us.

He explained that the Blue Army, also called the World Apostolate of Fatima, is an international apostolate officially recognized by the Church as a private association of the faithful — the only Fatima organization recognized under canon law. Because there are no official dues, its hordes of members — 25 million, by one count — can't be numbered exactly. The only requirement is they meet Our Blessed Mother's Fatima requests to help save souls and bring peace to the world. Members promise to pray the Rosary daily, wear the brown scapular and pray the daily morning offering to offer as reparation the sacrifices demanded by our daily duties.

Mary's Glories

The Blue Army/World Apostolate of Fatima, which also promotes the First Saturday devotions, was co-founded in 1947 by Msgr. Harold Colgan and John Haffert. Both are buried in a peaceful glade on these grounds, next to the new 100-foot long shrine of Mary, Mother of the Life Within.

This beautiful, larger-than-life statue of Mary and the Child Jesus was dedicated during World Wide Fatima Sanctity of Life Day on Oct. 2.

“John Paul II consecrated Russia in 1984 according to Our Lady's request,” La Corte reminded us, “and we felt the millions of Rosaries said a day had something to do with the fall of communism without a shot being fired.”

In the Holy House USA that's now also a new retreat center, the chapel is a replica of the Holy House of Loreto. We learned that a stone from the original in Loreto was ground up and mixed with the mortar for these stone walls.

To connect us even more closely with the Holy Family, the chapel's reliquary contains fragments of the True Cross, Mary's veil, and Joseph's cloak.

Large sculptures behind the altar picture Sister Lucia's vision of the Trinity and Our Lady on June 13, 1929, when she received this important revelation and its message.

Outside the Holy House, we took the extensive rosary walk where the original 15 mysteries are well-spaced along a paved path winding through tranquil woods. Scenes set with over-life-sized sculptures bring us the Joyful Mysteries; equally large wood-like and bronze toned reliefs form the Sorrowful Mysteries; the Glorious are smaller bas-relief white marble.

The gentle instrumental hymns that emanated from hidden speakers enhanced the meditative walks.

Along one path, “Ave Maria” tenderly reminded us of our Blessed Mother, her Fatima message and the Rosary — all so lovingly communicated at this shrine.

Joseph Pronechen writes from Trumbull, Connecticut.

Planning Your Visit

The shrine is open 9 to 5 from September through May, and 9 to 7 from June through August. Daily Mass is at noon; confessions are heard at 11:30 a.m. For more information and schedules, call (908) 689-1701 or visit bluearmy.com on the Internet.

Getting There

The shrine is at 674 Mountain View Road East, between major interstates. For directions, call (908) 689-1701 or visit bluearmy.com on the Internet.