Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Traditionally for Catholics the month of May is the Month of Mary. With this in mind, during this month Fides section on prayer will focus on prayers and devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.
First of all Fides will present a series of 18 articles on the 18 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes. This will be followed by 6 articles on Marian Shrines in Africa as far as we have been able to collect documentation.
Unfortunately for technical reasons we are unable to publish a book of Marian hymns in various languages in use at Lourdes and kindly sent to us from that Shrine on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11. We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for this prompt and generous collaboration.
We will however make available every day a few hymns from the official collection of 23 Hymns sung during the traditional daily evening candle light procession in Lourdes.
The Marian Shrines on the continent Africa we intend to present are found in the following countries: South Africa, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda. We welcome information on other Marian Shrines not mentioned.
To mark May 31, the feast of the Blessed Virgin's Visitation to her Cousin Elizabeth, Fides has prepared a special article on the House of Mary at Ephesus in Turkey. (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 30/4/2007 righe: 18; parole: 210)