As the Harry Potter-esque black-caped students that the Portuguese city of Coimbra is famous for were heading to classes early in the morning, in the opposite direction trooped a gaggle of Catholic Herald pilgrims heading for 8 a.m. Mass in the city’s Carmelo de Santa Teresa.
It’s the Carmelite convent where Sister Lucia, one of the three shepherd children whose 1917 apparitions of the Virgin Mary brought Fátima to global fame, lived much of her life. It also marks the starting point for the 111-kilometre Rota Carmalita Camino that is steeped in the life and work of Lúcia, who was ten years old when Mary appeared to her and her two cousins.
