Islanders Attend Portsmouth Marian Procession

Wednesday, 1 May 2024 09:34

Saturday (April 27) saw a contingent of Islanders travel to Portsmouth to take part in a public procession and prayers organised by the Friars of the Marian Franciscans based in Copnor.

It was held in the middle of Portsmouth at the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Memorial in Commercial Road.

The theme was to show and promote reparation for abortion.

It was at this time in 1968 that the Abortion Act was passed by Parliament.

The statue of Our Lady of Fatima, a major pilgrimage shrine in Portugal, was carried in procession while prayers were recited.

A crowd of around 150 people of all ages were present as the statue (adorned with flowers) was placed in front of the memorial fountain and hymns sung.

Portsmouth’s Saturday shoppers looked on respectfully and inquisitively, with some asking who the crowd was and what it was praying for.

The assembly ended with a poem read by the poet Edmund Matyjaszek from Ryde entitled “Queen of Flowers”.

A copy of this poem hangs in the Lady Chapel at St Mary’s Church in Ryde.