Vision of Fatima (Sophia Institute Press)

Our Lady of Fatima is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic tradition. It is based on the apparitions that happened in 1917 in Portugal. During this time, she appeared to three shepherd children - Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. This year is the 100th anniversary of the apparition and to commemorate this anniversary, there are several books being published, which speak on it. One such book is entitled Vision of Fatima, published by Sophia Institute Press.

The book is written by Fr. Thomas McGlynn, a name that is unfortunately unfamiliar to most of the Catholic world. He was born in 1906 and died in 1977, an American Dominican priest and sculptor. Why do I mention the fact that an "unknown" priest was a sculptor? He was the man who sculpted the statue of Our Lady of Fatmia, under Sr. Lucia's guidance of course. The book is divided into twenty chapters and weaves together two narratives - the creation of the statue and the apparition of Mary. Each chapter begins with Fr. McGlynn recounting his tale of meeting Sr. Lucia and the sculpting of the statue, and then the chapter dovetails off of that account to here firsthand from St. Lucia on the apparition of Mary, what she experienced, and the core message of Fatima.

I don't claim to be a Catholic expert by any stretch of the imagination. However, if I find a subject that interests me, I do like to read up on it and know as much as I can. I have read about Our Lady of Fatima before, because as a convert, this subject was highly interesting to me. This book however, opened up my eyes a bit more to the apparition, due to the firsthand accounts that Sr. Lucia provided. It was also a fascinating read to learn about the creation of the statue and how meticulously it was created. Sr. Lucia wanted everyone to be able to experience the true vision of Our Lady of Fatima, and I would say she and Fr. McGlynn succeeded. If you love Our Lady of Fatima )really why wouldn't you?), I recommend this book.

This book was provided to me for free by Sophia Institute Press in exchange for an honest review.