The St. Paul Winter Carnival had a special guest during the annual King Boreas Grande Day Parade Jan. 27: Mary, in the form of a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, carried by a group of men made up of seminarians from St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, members of the Knights of Columbus and a few other supporters.
They said they felt the image of Mary wearing a crown was fitting for a parade that featured St. Paul Winter Carnival royalty, including the Queen of Snows and King Boreas, who rode on floats along with other members of the royal court.
Mary’s presence did not go unnoticed. Before the parade started, members of the St. Paul Vulcans, a popular carnival group whose members dress in red coats and hats, gathered around the statue to pose for a photo and talk with the men who participated.
The statue of Our Lady of Fatima was well received by parade watchers, said Justin Stroh, who, along with Jeff Tupy of St. Michael in Prior Lake, came up with the idea called “March with Mary” and presented it to the World Apostolate of Fatima. The effort included handing out rosary pamphlets to people lining the sidewalks along a parade route that started on West Seventh Street and ended in downtown St. Paul near Rice Park.
“What I noticed was there were a lot of mothers looking up at the statue of Our Lady,” said Stroh, a member of St. Michael in Pine Island and Holy Trinity in South St. Paul. “And there she is, a woman crowned, right? And we’re all saying, ‘There’s the real queen.’”
The day before the parade, the statue was brought to the Little Sisters of the Poor Holy Family Residence in St. Paul. It was placed in the chapel, where it remained throughout the day and overnight. After the parade, the men took the statue to Louis, King of France in downtown St. Paul, where it was placed inside the church for a rosary recitation.
