SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

Losing his religion.

Novelist and nonfiction author Harrigan looks to the story of the Fatima apparitions as a vehicle for telling his own tale of struggling with faith and especially with his Roman Catholic upbringing. The historical aspect of this work are the appearances that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is said to have made to three children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The children’s experiences became, and remain, a global sensation in Catholicism, punctuated by three secrets entrusted to Lucia, the oldest child—and the only one to survive into adulthood. The story of Fatima provides a portion of the backdrop of Harrigan’s Catholic upbringing in 1950s and 1960s Texas. The author shares difficult memories of his youth, plagued by Cold War–tinted fears of hell and unwarranted feelings of guilt and shame. Harrigan’s experiences with Catholicism led to his early adulthood exit from faith, and he forthrightly notes that he does not believe in the Fatima apparitions as supernatural events. Nevertheless, he empathizes with the three children and understands their overriding desire to experience such a supernatural moment. Growing up in a mystical faith tradition that emphasized Mary as a prime heavenly connection with each believer, Harrigan fully understands how “their childish imaginations had…been inflamed…by their belief that the Virgin Mary had visited them.” The Fatima aspect of this work is well-researched and interesting, culminating in a visit by the author to various sites in Portugal connected to the visions and to the children. This book will mainly resonate with former Catholics and critics of Catholicism who, like Harrigan, are still actively searching for closure in spiritual terms.

A profound exploration of faith, centered on famous apparitions.