Answered Prayers
Prologue
This is the story of a forgotten era – a story of how something we might see every day simply has blended into the landscape; and how the power behind it has been lost, somehow, to the hustle and bustle of modern life. This is the story of how the statues of Our Lady of Fatima and the three children praying to her for intercession came to Saint Ferdinand Parish, resting on the grounds near the Spiritual Life Center.
Work is underway to renew the area where Our Lady and the children stand with a larger prayer garden around them, as shown in the illustration that accompanies this historical account.
That account reaffirms the power of Our Lady to intercede on our behalf. It reveals how Catholics in great numbers once called for her intercession to help overcome the atrocities and threats of atheistic communism; and how one man and woman, along with relatives and friends, called for her help in building their own family. When God answered their prayers, their thanksgiving and devotion to her – and their desire to ensure that our faith continued to grow – called them to present a constant reminder that Our Lady is always close and ready to help us in our need. Because of them, she is at the heart of the St. Ferdinand Parish community.
Our Lady first appeared on May 13, 1917, at Fatima, Portugal, to three children: Jacinta, 7, Francisco, 9, and Lucia, 10. Today we celebrate her feast on May 13; and in addition to that first appearance, she reappeared each month through October 13. Needless to say, the experience transformed these children’s lives. For six months she communicated with Lucia, the oldest, calling to the world at large through these children for a devotion to her through the Rosary. She also implored that Russia be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart so the country would be converted and there would be world peace. The Bolshevik Revolution took place in Russia in October 1917, which led to the establishment of atheistic communism and ultimately the Soviet Union.
Our Lady came to us with the offer to help us know peace and the salvation of many, even before the world knew that there was a need for the conversion of Russia. Her presence would change everything and would lead the devout of our nation and the world to seek her intercession in changing not only the world, but in one example the lives of a family right here in our community.
Local connection
In 1947, sculptor Jose Thedim created the Pilgrim Virgin Statue from a description by the then-adult Lucia, who had become a nun. The Pilgrim Virgin Statue has visited many nations, and her graces have been known in every place she has been – including southern Indiana, where she visited in 1948. Local parishes guaranteed an escort of 150 cars for the arrival of the Pilgrim Virgin to St. Meinrad; but by the time the statue arrived, the motorcade involved nearly 750 vehicles.
Fatima Week at St. Meinrad occurred Aug. 14-20, 1948. An estimated 125,000 pilgrims came to pray and ask for the conversion of Russia, world peace, other divine graces and heavenly favors. Imagine 125,000 people in St. Meinrad!
One onlooker recalls seeing cars and people everywhere; and since the nearest accommodations were in Jasper, everyone pretty much slept in the fields or in their cars. In spite of the crowds, everyone was civil and got along, as they came to pray and not to play.
This is where the story becomes personal and where it directly touches our community here at St. Ferdinand.
Margaret (Metz) Lueken and her husband Francis offered prayers during Fatima Week and asked for Our Lady’s intercession in their own lives. Francis and Margaret had been married for nearly 20 years and were still childless. Throughout Fatima Week their prayers to Our Lady to still be blessed with a child were supported by the prayers of Francis’ and Margaret’s siblings, all of whom already had many children. Even Francis’ 80-year-old parents, Joseph and Anna Lueken, traveled to St. Meinrad to pray for their own health needs, and for their son and daughter-in-law. Francis and Margaret had owned and sustained the family farm for 19 years through the Great Depression, and his parents hoped and prayed for a grandchild to continue the farming tradition.
Almost a year later, on July 23, 1949, Francis Lueken Jr. was born and the Lueken family –after 20 childless years – welcomed its next generation. God answered the Lueken and Metz families' prayers, and their hearts were filled with thanksgiving and an even stronger devotion to Our Lady.
The Luekens firmly believed in the need to support Catholic education. So in thanksgiving for their son, and with a profound sense of Our Lady’s importance in this world and her role in the Propagation of the Faith, Francis and Margaret commissioned in 1952 a set of statues of native pure white Carrera marble, which were sculpted in Italy. They donated the set of four statues – Our Lady of Fatima and the three children – for placement on the lawn of the new St. Ferdinand High School. The statues became known as the Fatima Group.
Crowning glory
In 1954, the first St. Ferdinand graduating class had a holy companion in Our Lady of Fatima. Then-Pastor David Duesing crowned and blessed her statue on May 9. Archabbot Ignatius Esser, O.S.B., who had organized Fatima Week six years earlier, originally had been scheduled for the blessing service on May 2, but rain forced postponement. Sodality members assisted in the crowning; and very appropriately, Francis Lueken Jr., along with Patrick Tretter, carried a large blue rosary during the procession. When St. Ferdinand High School became a public school and part of the Southeast Dubois County School Corporation in 1968 (it also was consolidated in the 1970s), the statues were moved to the St. Ferdinand Church campus – where they remain today.
Finding meaning
Francis Jr. and Lou Ann Lueken also sought Our Lady’s help to begin and grow their own family. In their case, as with Francis’ parents, their prayers to have children and a next Lueken generation were answered with the arrival of their sons Nathan and Michael, and daughters Jessie and Maggie.
As much as Our Lady of Fatima’s presence in our world has already touched many lives, her intercession is still very much needed today. Communism has fallen in Russia – and she surely has answered many other prayers – but there are new threats, and we definitely could use her help now.
In our own country, the very definition of what it means to believe in God is threatened. We no longer can determine what it means to be a Church or a people of Faith on our own. Our government appears to believe it has the right to decide such matters for us.
This odd effect of nationalism and national selfishness was addressed by the Most Rev. Henry J. Grimmelsman, S.T.D., the first Bishop of Evansville, in a sermon called “World Crisis – Communism,” which he offered during that week in August 1948 – when one of the largest spiritual and prayer events in the history of our nation took place in southern Indiana. Bishop Grimmelsman described the meaning of national selfishness as a thorough attempt by communism to destroy religion. Such selfishness sought to destroy the foundation of all religion. And from the hearts of certain men, the belief in God as creator and Governor of creation was uprooted.
Is it not possible that these words could be used to describe what is going on in our own country, in our own time?
We are in need, and Our Lady waits; yet we do not seek her intercession as before.
Her place on the St. Ferdinand campus has been understated, although that is now changing. As a result, it is more important than ever to revisit the critical role she plays in our lives. She is a very real part of the St. Ferdinand family experience.
It is difficult to understand how we cannot see the threats that face us today in our own country. Just 65 years ago, 125,000 Catholics gathered for a week in our area to pray to Our Lady for help. History has shown that she hears us. Yet today, when we offer an opportunity to pray for religious freedom and the challenges to our worldview – of what it means to truly respect life – we feel good if we get 30 people to share prayer. Something has gone terribly wrong.
So as you drive into the St. Ferdinand church parking lot from 10th Street, look to the right as you ascend the hill. Look to Our Lady, remembering that she waits for us to seek her help. Look at her and realize that she is much more than just some nice landscaping. There are many stories behind her. Meditate on how she touched our world – how she touched our own community directly through the Lueken family – and how she can help us if we only ask through prayer. Let us call on her for help before it is too late, so our prayers may be answered.
Sources used for this work are
http://www.pilgrimvirginstatue.com/
The History of St. Ferdinand Parish, Sister Ruth Ellen Doane, SP
The Ferdinand News
Fatima Week Sermons
The Indianapolis Star
Stephen Oraze, the Grail=
