Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto
Feast day: Feb. 20
In 1917, the Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal: Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who were siblings, and their cousin Lucia dos Santos. On May 13 of that year, while tending sheep, they received the first of six visions of Mary. Lucia was 10 years old at the time, Francisco was 9 and Jacinta was 7.
A year before seeing the Blessed Mother, the three children had been visited several times by an angel who identified himself as the Angel of Peace. He asked them to pray and taught them the following prayer: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love you! I implore your pardon for all those that do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love you.”
After their first meeting with the Angel of Peace, the children felt a profound sense of the presence of God and dared not even speak to one another about its intimacy. At subsequent meetings, the Angel of Peace encouraged the children to make of everything an act of reparation for sin and to pray often for the conversion of sinners. The three children began to give their lunch to the sheep or to poor children, to pray for hours at a time, and to offer penances to God.
A beautiful woman dressed in white
On May 13, 1917, a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the children saw a sudden bright flash of light as they were playing in the fields. Believing it was lightning, they were beginning to drive the sheep home when they saw the bright light flash again and a ball of light descend upon a small evergreen tree. Within the light was a beautiful woman dressed in white. This woman told the children to be not afraid as she was from heaven. She told them she would return on the 13th day of each month for six months, and she asked them to meet her at the same place, Cova da Iria. The children were instructed to pray the Rosary for sinners and for the conversion of the world, and after the visions they did so and offered sacrifices.
Mary told the children they would have to suffer much, and they did, as many people, including Lucia’s family, did not believe them about the apparitions. The children were mocked, ridiculed, harassed, threatened and even put in jail for two days. Nevertheless, they knew the truth, and the grace of God was their comfort, as Mary said it would be. The Blessed Mother did appear to them each month on the 13th day, and she gave the children three secrets, studied and approved by the Church, in which she spoke of the onset of World War II and the conversion of Russia.
On July 13, Mary also gave the children a vision of hell, which affected Jacinta the most and caused her to increase the number of her penances. Yet the children were not traumatized by the vision; instead, realizing their place within salvation history, they knew that they could change the course of history through prayer and fasting.
More and more people accompanied the children to the Cova, and each time Mary told them to pray the Rosary for peace in the world and to sacrifice for sinners. The children had asked for a sign for the people to believe, and on Oct. 13, the last day of apparition, a sign was given. As 70,000 people waited, the “Miracle of the Sun” took place on a rain-drenched Saturday. The sun began to dance in the sky, throw off brilliant rainbow colors, and then began to fall from the sky toward earth. Then the rain stopped, and peoples’ clothes and the ground were bone-dry, as reported in newspapers throughout the world.
A transformative experience
With Mary as their tutor, all three of the children grew in holiness. Jacinta was a girl who loved flowers, music, dancing, and the sheep as if they were her children. From a spoiled but affectionate child she was transformed into a mystic with a special love for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Eucharist. She was given the gift to see and hear “Our Lady of the Rosary” and continued to see her after the apparitions at Fátima. Jacinta had a marked love for Christ and his passion at an early age and spread petals before the Blessed Sacrament at her first Communion.
Francisco was a child with a placid disposition in love with God. He believed that the Angel of Peace had appeared to them because God was sad and should be comforted. He was a contemplative who loved to be alone in nature with God and would spend hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He also loved animals and playing with other children. At first Francisco could not see the Blessed Mother in her apparitions. After he prayed many Rosaries, he could see her, but still could not hear her. By contrast, Jacinta could see and hear her, but she never spoke to Mary. Nevertheless, Francisco never felt devalued but humbly accepted the role chosen for him.
Francisco and Jacinta died only a few years after the apparitions at Fátima, as Our Lady said they would. Both died from influenza, Francisco in 1919 and Jacinta in 1920. Jacinta in particular is known not to have complained throughout her illness because the Blessed Mother had warned her that she would suffer for the love of God and reparation for sinners. Their cousin Lucia became a Carmelite nun in Portugal; she died in 2005 at age 97.
At the beatification ceremony for Francisco and Jacinta on May 13, 2000, Pope St. John Paul II recalled Jacinta’s particular love for the pope and how she prayed intensely for the Holy Father. He thanked her publicly for her prayers on that day.
The siblings were canonized by Pope Francis on the centennial of the first Fátima apparition, May 13, 2017.
Reflection
Dear Jesus, thank you for the gift of your mother! Thank you for bringing her to earth in a special way at Fátima so that she and the children present could better teach us how to love you and love each other.
Prayer
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that the example of your Saints may spur us on to a better life,
so that we, who celebrate the memory of blessed Francisco and Jacinta,
may also imitate without ceasing their deeds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
