Mary inspired their lives

The seminarian, parishioner of the Black Catholic Apostolate, and member of Nativity/ St. Mary's Church in Stuyvesant each have a devotion to the Blessed Mother.

"I have a longstanding devotion to Our Lady of Fatima," said Mr. Winslow. "My vocation comes from Our Lady of Fatima."

Fatima message

She instructed them to undertake processions in honor of the Immaculate Conception, promote recitation of the Rosary, pray for the conversion of Russia, urge the faithful do penance, receive communion on the first Saturday of each month, and build a church in her honor.

"I said [to my mother], 'Wouldn't it be neat if this did happen?' and she said it did," Mr. Winslow said. "The mother of God appeared on earth and no one told me. It really struck me."

Inspired

"I picked it up and read it, and it had a powerful impact," he recalled.

When he entered college, he began to explore what it meant to him to be a Catholic. "I was raised Catholic, but I didn't believe," he said. "I claimed to be Catholic but didn't believe Church teaching. I decided either I'm Catholic with integrity or I'm not Catholic."

Soon, he said, he was "sneaking out of the frat house to go to Mass."

Devotion

Just as the book about Fatima literally fell on him, a trip to Fatima also recently fell in his lap. He spent two weeks this summer at the shrine. The trip came from "out of the blue" and was free.

The trip was everything he had hoped. "I had a sense I belonged," he said. "I felt very connected to what happened there."

Still meaningful

"As I was walking in procession with the pilgrim statue through the square, people were praying the Rosary and singing. There were lighted candles. As I was looking back behind me, seeing all of the people and the lighted candles, it struck me as something prophetic. It was a rally around the Blessed Mother, and the Blessed Mother leads us to Christ: to Jesus through Mary."

Mother to Mother

"My mom was in the Legion of Mary," she said. "She was devoted to the Blessed Mother, and saying the Rosary was important."

At the Catholic school Dr. Nelson attended, praying the Rosary was a part of the school day. The Rosary, she said, "was a comforting thing we liked doing."

Shared moments

At the time of her mother's death, "the Blessed Mother was holding her hand," she said. "That's how it felt to me."

Dr. Nelson has also felt the Blessed Mother's presence in her own life. In the early 1960s, when she was in her twenties, she was traveling in Europe and encountered some problems that at the time seemed insurmountable.

"I remember being in the hotel," she said. "I prayed the Rosary, and my prayers were answered."

Cultural ties

Being devoted to Mary was a way of life in her homeland. Now she is raising two small daughters far away from Chile and its traditions. But her love of the Blessed Mother is one thing she was able to bring to Albany from South America and can pass on to her daughters, who are three-and-a-half and two years old.

"They know Mary as Mommy," she said. "They say hello to the Mommy and baby."

Peaceful presence

Prior to having her first child, she had a miscarriage. She was afraid when she was pregnant again that something would happen.

"I remember looking at the picture [of Mary] in the hospital and I felt not afraid," she said. "It was relaxing."

(10-01-98) [[In-content Ad]]