Devotee: Our Lady of Fatima 'has helped us over and over'

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SALT LAKE CITY —A lifelong devotion to Our Lady of Fatima has helped carry Feli Anne Hipol through life’s tribulations, including the death of her mother and her father’s chronic illness.

“Our Lady of Fatima has help us over and over through our life,” she said.

Hipol, a Cathedral of the Madeleine parishioner, remembers that her devotion to our Lady of Fatima started many years ago, when she was 7. Her parents immigrated to the United States from the Philippines after they got married. They raised their children in a Catholic environment, which included sending them to Catholic schools. Hipol has a vivid memory of being a child and praying a novena and the rosary each night to Our Lady with her mother and brother.

“My mom used to have a string of rosary [beads], and back then we were borrowing the image of our Lady of Fatima from a friend of hers,” Hipol said. “My mom taught us to pray with her, and then the Filipino Catholic community started with a Lady of Fatima block rosary, so we also started participating in it.”

Then the woman who had loaned them the statue moved to Las Vegas and took her image of Our Lady with her, so Hipol’s family eventually got their own statue.

This statue was the one that led the Sept. 9 diocesan Intercultural Marian Celebration. It was carried by members of the Utah Cursillo movement.

“This was also a way to honor my mom, who passed away in March” after seven years of battling Stage 4 lung cancer, Hipol said.

The family faces other difficulties. Hipol’s father has been diagnosed with a chronic illness, and she has been diagnosed with lupus, she said.

Her father was sick for a long time, and although he hasn’t been fully cured, “there was a time when he was really sick that we thought he had no more hope to make it,” she said. “He eventually got better, and I believe that our prayers were part of helping him. … Having faith [in Our Lady of Fatima] helped him get better.”

She also believes that part of the reason that her mother, Felicidad Hipol, was able to endure cancer for seven years was because of Our Lady’s intercessions.

“Part of it was treatment, but she had also a strong faith and believed dearly in Our Lady. I think that faith had a huge role in her being able to deal the way she did with the cancer,” Hipol said.

Felicidad Hipol was active in the Pilipino American Association of Utah (PAAU), the Asian Association of Utah, and Misang Bayan, an organization of Utah’s Filipino community. Despite her battle with cancer, Felicidad Hipol was able to serve others through volunteering for Meals on Wheels, the Good Samaritan Program, and helping everyone she knew, Hipol said.  

In December 2016 Hipol’s mother was recognized with the Spirit of the Community Award from UOCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates of Utah.

“It’s important that we put our lives in the hands of Our Lady. Just from our experiences and outcomes, I know that it’s through prayer and her intercession that I am here today, and that’s why I have devoted my life to her,” Hipol said.

Our Lady of Fatima is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary based on the apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at Cova da Iria, in Fatima, Portugal.

The children, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were canonized by Pope Francis on May 13, the 100th anniversary of the first time Mary appeared to them. They are the youngest saints who did not die as martyrs. Francisco and Jacinta died at the age of 10 and 9, respectively, during an influenza epidemic. Lúcia became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97.

The Diocese of Salt Lake City will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 6 p.m. in the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Bishop Oscar A. Solis will celebrate the Mass. A procession with the Blessed Sacrament and recitation of the rosary will follow the Mass. All are welcome.

Resources for Our Lady of Fatima celebrations for families or classrooms are available at www.dioslc.org.