A four foot gold plated statue of Our Lady of Fatima was enthroned last Saturday, August 13, at the home of Dr Noe and Maria Jaen at in Gulf City, La Romaine.

The enthronement was carried out by Fr Matthew d'Hereaux, assistant parish priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando , in the presence of 42 people who recently returned from a pilgrimage in Portugal .

The statue, complete with chaplet and gold-plated crown, was purchased by the Jaen family at the site where Our Lady appeared to three children, thirteen years ago.

Maria and Dr Noe Jaen with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

The enthronement was more than a religious ritual. It also afforded the 42 people who returned from the pilgrimage last June to socialise at the Jaen 's home.

Lennox and Shirley Lalsingh, organisers of the pilgrimage, attended the function as well as Maude Augustine one of the pilgrims who experienced an unusual happening shortly after she arrived in Fatima .

Augustine told the Catholic News , “When I arrived at the site of the apparition, a coating of gold powder appeared on my hands and it did not come of until three weeks after.”

“It was a great experience,” said Augustine. Several pilgrims who travelled with her confirmed the incident.

The $10,000 statue is perhaps the only one of its kind in Trinidad .

Noe Jaens said he bought the statue because he was touched by an inner satisfaction while visiting the site. His wife Maria said she encouraged her husband to purchase the statue because of her devotion to Our Lady of Fatima whose intercession had cured her father of a terminal disease.