PORTUGAL, Sr. Paula Leite. In March 2012 (last month) the Fermentelos parish in the Aveiro Diocese crowned Our Lady as the Queen of the Family through the fourteen Pilgrim Mothers that visit more than 300 families in this parish. This simple act culminated the yearlong preparation, during which the families received monthly input to conquer ways of expressing their love for the Mother of God in their homes. Some of the challenges included learning to praise, give thanks, and ask.
The current of crowning the Queen of the New Evangelization in Europe, a Pilgrim Mother Campaign initiative in several European countries — particularly in Portugal — is uniting families in the parish and even uniting parishes with the lofty goal: to ask the Pilgrim Mother to reign across Europe and help us to make it more Christian through our families.
In the Fermentelos Parish, a throne was prepared for the fourteen Pilgrim Mother images.
One could sense in an atmosphere of celebration that something was about to happen, even though the Holy Mass had not yet started.
It also crowned the entire mission of many years
While waiting for Fr. Costa Leite, it was beautiful to experience the joy and love of the old missionaries who were getting to know each other. An elderly lady, the first missionary, made a point of introducing herself as the first coordinator and explained how difficult it was at first, to begin the Pilgrim Mother Campaign in the parish. She therefore felt that crowning Our Lady also crowned of the entire mission of many years.
The 14 missionaries expressed their joy in words
Once everything was ready, Holy Mass was celebrated. The crowning took place before the final blessing. Sr. Paula introduced the crowning, and the blessing of the fourteen crowns followed. Amidst great emotion, Fr. Costa Leite placed the crowns on the images while the choir sang a Marian hymn. Everyone then recited the crowning prayer. Once the small celebration was over, the missionaries were invited to join in the final procession. Everyone was given a card with a picture of the Pilgrim Mother and the crowning prayer.
The joy of the fourteen missionaries was expressed by their words, or lack thereof, after the group photo.
Some people, especially those who were to receive the Pilgrim Mother that day, remained in the church to enjoy the moment with the newly crowned Pilgrim Mother.
Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Pretoria, South Africa
