500.000 Catholics and Muslim payed a pilgrimage to the shrine of Ziarat-e-Mariam in Mariamabad in North East Pakistan in 2009.
Mariamabad is the “city of Mary”, also known as Mariam. In 1949 the Catholic Church established a Marian shrine in Pakistan, in a bid to better connect Islam with Catholicism.
September 3rd is the day for the annual Ziarat-e-Muqaddasa Mariam, the annual National Marian Pilgrimage. Last year, the event drew 500,000 pilgrims, thousands of them Muslims.
Mr Hashim recalls “a Muslim Pathan from Peshawar, who came to pray to Mary because he was involved in a murder case. He promised her that if his innocence was proven he would distribute one hundred degs (pots of cooked rice each containing around 10-16 kg) to the pilgrims. Mary listened to his pleas and he was acquitted. As promised, he gave out the rice.”
Mariamabad –Mary’s city– has existed for over a century making it one of Pakistan’s oldest Catholic settlements. Located about 80 km (50 miles) from Punjab’s capital of Lahore, it covers an area of 835 hectares (2000 acres) and has become the destination for over one million pilgrims a year.
Fr John Joseph, secretary of the Ziarat-e-Muqaddasa Mariam, the annual National Marian Pilgrimage, recounted the story of the village to AsiaNews. According to him, “local Christians used to attend traditional fairs in neighbouring villages, which offered opportunities to find merriment and meet new people. Such trips would feed local talk for weeks afterwards.
In 1949, Fr Frank, a Belgian capuchin, who was later martyred, realized how popular such events were and decided to do something similar in Mariamabad. After consulting other religious men he organized a feast honoring Mary on her birthday, September 8.
But without locals helping Fr Frank could not have pulled it off. People from neighbouring villages were invited to what is now remembered as Mariamabad’s first annual pilgrimage and about 950 people came,” Father Joseph said. Eventually, Father Frank built a Grotto like the one in Lourdes and a church which now are classified as a national monument.
Source: Asian News.
First published 30.06.2011.
Written by Ivar
Great article Ivarfjeld
I second that…. great article! You are helping me tremendously…I’m sharing this and other articles on my page!!
I am happy to see the Zairat-e-Marry Mariam at face book.
My mother belongs to Mariamabad. There is my uncle Dr. Christopher Kanwar Shahzad.
In Islam, This is called shirk!!! Allah Subana Wa’ ta’ala will forgive every sin except shirk. PLEASE STOP PRAYING TO EVERYTHING and start worshipping the true GOD!!! This is the straight path! anybody who differs has gone astray!!! May Allah swt protect us Ameen!!!
Islam worships a desert demon, Sophie. Check into the history of your religion–there is much on the internet about the founding of Islam as a counterfeit to the true faith of Judeo-Christianity. Even Mohammed initially wondered if his experience was demonic until he was convinced by his Roman Catholic wife that his experience was “from God”. Roman Catholicism is a deadly counterfeit as well, and they murdered millions of true Christians, Jews and Muslims during the Crusades.
Historically, the Roman Catholic “church” fostered the growth of Islam, so that it would do the dirty work of completing the destruction of the Eastern Church that was a rival to the Western Roman Catholic “church” (by that time, based in Rome). But don’t believe me–find out for yourself, if you dare. I understand that to convert to the true faith and away from Islam will put you under a death threat (that, in itself, should tell you that Islam is of the devil). But better to die as an “infidel to Islam” than to face eternal judgment by our Holy God. Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, is the ONLY way to heaven. He and the Father are the One and ONLY God along with the Holy Spirit. We Christians worship ONE GOD, in three persons. Please read Genesis 1:26 in the Creation account, and you will see that God kept council with Himself and He reveals His separate personages to His children as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Roman Catholic and Islamic “Mary” is patterned after the Middle Eastern “Queen of Heaven” that the prophet Ezekiel denounced as demon-worship (see Ezekiel 8:14). The prophet Jeremiah also denounced the worship of the “Queen of Heaven” in Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:25. Please do not fall for the lies of Roman Catholicism and Islam. Repent and follow the true God of the Universe, the God of the Holy Bible, before it is too late. Even if Jesus tarries much longer, you could die today and face an eternity without Him. He loves you enough to prompt me to tell you the truth. If you love Him, He will be found by you. I will pray for you, Sophie.