The Westerly Sun
The statue is a 40-pound, 46-inch tall, carved mahogany statue of the Virgin Mary that sheds human tears.
. Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 10:15 am
Updated: 11:53 am, Tue Mar 23, 2010.
By NANCY BURNS-FUSARO / Sun Staff Writer
WESTERLY - Carl Malburg not only believes in miracles, he has witnessed them. Malburg, a 70-year-old former lumberjack from Indiana, says that his traveling companion, a 40-pound, 46-inch tall, carved mahogany statue of the Virgin Mary that sheds human tears, has that sort of effect on people.
"It's quite thrilling," says Malburg, who is on the tail end of a Rhode Island tour accompanying the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Fatima. "Our Lady has some nice effects wherever we go."
Just last week, he says, a northern Rhode Island man looked at the statue and was moved to go to confession for the first time in 25 years.
"Now he wants to promote devotion to her," says Malburg, who has also witnessed a couple of simple physical cures since he's been touring the state, like two instant cures from tendonitis.
"We always get a couple," he says, "and then we get reports after our visit."
Malburg and the statue, which has been traveling around the world since the late 1940s, will make a daylong stop Wednesday at Westerly's Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception. They plan to arrive at 9 a.m. and stay until 5 p.m.
Group prayers and Rosaries are scheduled to take place throughout the day, according to Deacon Robert Alessio, with members of the local Legion of Mary leading specific Rosaries and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, a special set of prayers scheduled to take place at 3 p.m.
In addition to the human tears the statue has shed, says Malburg, the statue occasionally breaks into a smile - "a great big smile that shows her teeth."
At other times she becomes enveloped by the scent of flowers, he says, "a beautiful aroma of roses."
"These are called signal graces," he explains, "little touches that have all been documented."
The Fatima statue, says Malburg, also serves as a reminder of the importance of prayer.
"Our Lady's Peace Plan from heaven" says the Web site, "is a call for prayer and penance offered in reparation for sin." Click here to visit the Our Lady of Fatima Web site.
The statue is one of four official International Pilgrim Virgin Statues in the world today, all belonging to the Fatima Sanctuary in Portugal. Each statue was blessed by Pope Pius XII and each began its pilgrimage on May 13, 1947, the 30th anniversary of the day when Our Lady of Fatima first appeared to three shepherd children in the fields outside the village of Aljustrel in Portugal.
In 1946 Pope Pius XII crowned Our Lady of Fatima as the "Queen of the World," and referred to the International Statues of Our Lady of Fatima as "messengers of Her Royalty."
"We've been going to a different church each day," says Malburg, who began his state tour March 5 in Jamestown and will end it on March 25 at St. Martha's Church in East Providence.
"We've been getting far more people than the priests were expecting," he says.
At some churches, the pair has attracted upwards of a thousand people.
It's understandable, says Malburg, because for many people this is a once in a lifetime event.
Another of the Fatima statues visited Westerly's St. Pius X Church in 2006 for three days of prayer and activity and drew hundreds of worshipers.
Asked in an e-mail to explain the statue's attraction, the Rev. Raymond N. Suriani, pastor of the Elm Street church, writes, "The presence of the Fatima statue - which reminds us of the appearances of our Blessed Mother to three children in Portugal in 1917, gives people an opportunity to seek Mary's special intercession for their own personal needs and the needs of our world."
"It should also inspire them to commit themselves more fully to Jesus and his gospel," he adds.
