When hundreds of candles stream around the forecourt of St Mary’s Cathedral on the evening of 16 May, Alison De Sousa will be exactly where she has been for years: helping lead the choir, watching the procession wind its way through a city absorbed in its own noise, and marvelling that something so still can cut through so much.
“You can see all of the candles and the statue streaming into the forecourt,” she says. “It’s something really spectacular. It’s able to penetrate the hustle and bustle of the city, people getting into taxis, going from club to club. But there’s almost a stillness that comes with the singing, a stillness that comes with the prayerful recitation of the Rosary. It draws your mind to things that are not of this earth. It reminds you – we’re made for more.”
Alison, head of religious education at St Aloysius College, Milsons Point, has been part of Sydney’s Our Lady of Fatima procession since its earliest days. What began as a small act of devotion in the car park of a suburban parish has grown into one of the most striking public witnesses to Marian faith in Australia. The story of how it got here is as much a story about community, creativity, and charism as it is about candles.
The procession traces its Sydney origins to 2020, when the Somascan Fathers arrived at St Joseph’s parish in Moorebank. Almost immediately, they began a simple local procession around the church grounds, anchored by a statue gifted to the community.
“From there, it essentially springboarded devotion to the Holy Rosary, in the month of May and in October,” Alison recalls.
The timing was, to say the least, challenging. COVID lockdowns had shuttered parish life across the city. Rather than retreat, the community turned outward – to live streams, Facebook pages, and a May novena that became an unlikely lifeline.
“We had to think creatively as to how we could keep our parishioners’ faith alive during a time of isolation,” Alison says. “It became something that encouraged families to come together to pray, and by extension, it led to the wider church family coming together as well.”
There is a reason the procession takes place at night.
Alison had just come from the Easter Vigil when we spoke and the connection between the two was fresh in her mind. “I was able to see the Paschal candle lighting each individual candle, and how quickly that light transferred through the church,” she says. “It really reminded me of what happens in the Fatima procession.”
Candlelit processions, she believes, do something that daylight cannot. “There’s something that brings the spiritual to earth” in the sight of hundreds of flames moving through the dark, something that arrests even those with no intention of stopping.
She has watched it happen on the streets around the Cathedral. Passers-by caught up in the city’s Friday night life pause, stare, and sometimes stay.
“It is,” she says quietly, “a bit of heaven on earth. It promises hope. It is contrary to the noise we’re used to, and it promises something that is only going to offer peace – because Our Lady is the Queen of Peace, and that is what she promises.”
Bishop Richard Umbers reflecting on last years, concurs: “As we were travelling: I’m sure people were asking, who are this crowd? What are they doing?”
As Sydney prepares to welcome the world to Eucharist28, Bishop Richard Umbers believes each procession this year is a step in that direction.
“It’s in prayerful silence that we go out to the nations. We give witness to God’s love for us. Lucia, Francisco, Jacinta … they were children, poor, unremarkable. Why would we look to their witness? Because they have a simplicity which confounds the world of spectacle. The mystery of faith is revealed to little ones,” he says.
“This candle-lit procession will reawaken faith and tell Sydney about the meaning of our lives, of truth and of a love that is united. It is the Eucharist that binds us together. It is Jesus who has forgiven our sins. He is our hope. In Mary’s company we follow her Son.
“For Australia, Eucharist28 means we are focused on the one who dwells amongst us, the one who came to saves us. The one who comes to us every day. In the Eucharist, all that Jesus has done for us is made present as He Himself really is with us.”
In the heart of Sydney, on a Saturday night in May, the candles will be lit. Our Lady of Fatima will be carried through the streets. And the city, however briefly, will be invited to stop, to look, and to remember what it was made for.
Our Lady of Fatima Candlelight Procession: Friday, 16 May, at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. All welcome – especially families.
