On the road to Fatima

Today was a day full of graces and special places. After Mass and breakfast we left Lisbon and headed towards Fatima. Our first stop was in Santarem, to visit the church of the Eucharistic miracle. Here, a consecrated Host was stolen in the 1200s. It bled and shed a great light, causing the woman who had stolen it to repent and tell the priest. The Host was returned to the church and is now kept in a special reliquary above the main altar. Each of us was able to climb a small set of stairs in the sacristy to venerate the Host. No photos were allowed inside, but here are some we took outside ...

This is a postcard picture of the miraculous Host. We sang many hymns to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament since we had the chapel to ourselves!

We walked through the streets because They were too narrow for our bus to navigate.

The next stop was the town of Tomar .... there was time to explore the town, seeing several churches ... and to enjoy lunch in a lovely park.

The church of Our Lady ... a large number of Knights Templar buried here.

But the highlight of the town was the Convent of Christ ... a monastery built for the Knights Templar When they were disbanded and reformed under a new name and order.

It will be impossible to share the immensity and grandeur of the place ... needless to say it was amazing for us to be here.

The beautiful chapel was probably the highlight of the convent ... we sang many hymns here! It was a joy to make the chapel ring with the praises of our God and His Mother.

The sanctuary...octagonal in shape.

We tried to record one song and will post it here... unfortunately it won't play back.

We also took seats in their refectory ... makes our dining room look small! 

And of course we sang here, too ... Needless to say this was a hard place to leave! Eventually we boarded the bus and headed to Fatima. We'll give that its own separate post.