October 13, 2017
marks the 100th anniversary of the last of the six apparitions of
Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children Jacinta and Francisco Marto
who are siblings, and their cousin, Lucia.
Much of the basic facts about Fatima –like the “Miracle of the Sun” that
took place on October 13, 1917 and witnessed by 70,000 people—are by now known
to so many people all around the world, but few know the young seers
deeply. Here are facts that endearingly
show the seers as they are, plain unschooled children responding to a phenomena
as innocent hearts do—with absolute trust.
Fact 1. Our Lady directed the 10-year-old Lucia
alone to learn to read (and write). In
those days children like Lucia grew up illiterate—they wouldn’t need reading
and writing to herd sheep all their life.
Our Lady’s request, made on June 13, 1017, her second appearance, was
unusual but it was to be proven later to be part of the divine plan.
Our Lady told
Lucia, “Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco soon, but you will remain a
little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth.” Jacinta died at age 9, Francisco at age
11. Having survived until age 98, Lucia accomplished her mission to spread the Fatima message to
the world. How could she have done that if
she had remained illiterate?
Obedience to Our
Lady made the shepherd girl Lucia, in a way, a shepherd, too—but of
souls—becoming a cloistered Carmelite nun (and later even learning to use the
word processor) who would author three books: Calls from the Message of Fatima, Fatima in
Lucia’s Own Words 1and Fatima in
Lucia’s Own Words 2.
Fact 2. Even as a
9-year-old, Jacinta welcomed suffering for the love of Jesus, as Our Lady had
foretold her that she would greatly suffer for the conversion of sinners and in
reparation for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, notably
sins of the flesh. When Jacinta’s tomb
was opened on Sept. 13, 1935—for her remains to be transferred from a chapel in
Ourem to be beside Francisco in Fatima’s cemetery—her body was found to be
incorrupt, a sign of holiness in the eyes of the Church.
Because she had
died of the dreaded Spanish flu epidemic, in compliance with the law then, her
body was treated with quicklime for speedy decomposition, and yet, 15 years
after her death, she remained intact despite the quicklime treatment. Because of this the local bishop instructed
Lucia, already a Carmelite nun by that time, to write the memoirs of Jacinta
and Francisco.
Fact 3. In her Memoirs,
Sr. Lucia describes Jacinta and Francisco before and after the
apparitions. Before, Jacinta was “the
personification of enthusiasm and caprice.”
But after seeing Our Lady, Jacinta was never afraid to speak up and
would reprimand an adult or child who would do or say inappropriate things,
telling them, “Don’t do that, for you are offending the Lord our God, and He is
already so much offended!” All Jacinta’s
actions after the apparitions began “seemed to reflect the presence of God in
the way proper to people of mature age and great virtue,” Sr. Lucia wrote.
Fact 4. While in an institute for exceptionally ill
children in Lisbon, Jacinta the young mystic received visits and insights from
our Lady which were recorded at the time she spoke them. Some of these insights as listed in Fr. John
de Marchi’s book, The True Story of
Fatima.
are:
"The
sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the flesh."
"Fashions
will much offend our Lord. People who serve God should not follow the fashions.
The Church has no fashions. Our Lord is always the same."
"If
men knew what eternity is, they would do everything to change their
lives."
"People
are lost because they do not think of the death of our Lord, and do not do
penance."
"Wars
are the punishments for sin."
"Penance
is necessary. If people amend their lives, our Lord will even yet save the
world, but if not, punishment will come.”
"You
must pray much for sinners, and for priests and religious. Priests should
concern themselves only with the things of the Church."
"Priests
must be very, very pure."
"Disobedience
of priests and religious to their superiors displeases our Lord very
much."
"Fly
from riches and luxury…Love poverty and silence."
"Have
charity, even for bad people."
"Do
not speak evil of people, and fly from evil speakers."
"Mortification
and sacrifice please our Lord very much."
"Confession
is a sacrament of mercy, and we must confess with joy and trust. There can be
no salvation without confession."
"The
Mother of God wants more virgin souls bound by a vow of chastity."
"To
be pure in body means to be chaste, and to be pure in mind means not to commit
sins; not to look at what one should not see, not to steal or lie, and always
to speak the truth, even if it is hard."
Fact 5. Francisco’s first and last communion took
place on the day before he died, in 1919—a fulfilment of his great wish to
receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Like
Jacinta, he knew that he was not going to stay long in this world. Our Lady had assured him of heaven, although
“he must recite many many rosaries.” Sr.
Lucia revealed in her memoirs the change in Francisco as a result of Our Lady’s
apparitions—the young shepherd boy became a mystic of sorts, contemplating and
praying in solitude, and offering sacrifices “to console Jesus who was so sad
due to man’s sins”. On the way to school
he would tell Lucia to go ahead for “It’s not worth my while learning to read
as I’ll be going to Heaven very soon.”
So he would walk off alone to the church “to be close to the Hidden
Jesus”—to first of
all console “Hidden Jesus” and then pray for the conversion of sinners.
Fact 6. Four years ago, Brazilian boy, Lucas
Batista Maeda de Mourao, sustained serious brain injury when he fell from the
window of his grandfather’s home. Taking
the boy to the hospital, his father tearfully prayed to Our Lady of Fatima, Blessed
Jacinta, and Blessed Francisco. As Lucas
lay unconscious in the hospital, his father and a local community of Carmelite
nuns begged the intercession of the Blessed shepherd siblings to cure the boy. A few days later, Lucas got up and walked home
as if nothing happened. This amazed the
doctors, and last February, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints
unanimously concluded that Lucas’s healing was a miracle as it could not be
scientifically explained. This miracle which was recognized by Pope Francis led
to the canonization of the shepherd children of Fatima. Now 10-years-old, Lucas
was present at the canonization in Fatima, and brought up the offertory gifts
during the Mass. By this time, all the
tombs of the three visionaries—Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia—are already in the
basilica, side by side.
Fact 7.
Jacinta and Francisco Marto are the first child saints in the history of
the Church who are not martyrs. To date,
four popes have made pilgrimages to Fatima, attesting to the importance of Our
Lady’s messages handed down through these children. On the 50th anniversary of the
apparitions, May 13, 1967, Pope Paul VI was the first pope to visit the place
where Our Lady appeared to the children.
On May 13, 2000, Pope John Paul II traveled to Fatima to beatify the
seers Francisco and Jacinta who became two of the youngest “Blesseds”
ever. He said, about the children’s
docility to Mother Mary: “Devoting themselves with total generosity to such a
good Teacher, Jacinta and Francisco soon reached the heights of
perfection.” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
went on a four-day “apostolic journey” to Fatima, on May 11-14, 2010, and in
answering journalists’ questions on the plane said, “For us, Fatima is a sign
of the presence of faith, of the fact that it is precisely from the little ones
that faith gains new strength…” On May 13, 2017, the 100th
anniversary of Our Lady’s first apparition, Pope Francis made an overnight
pilgrimage to Fatima on May 12-13, and elevated Blessed Jacinta and Blessed
Francisco to sainthood.
Fact 8: Now let’s look at Lucia, the child seer who
lived up to two years short of 100: there was a side to her that no one probably knew
then, especially as the three children were being subjected to investigation by
authorities and the mockery of non-believers. Lucia, who lived to become a Discalced Carmelite
nun—giving life to the words of Our Lady that Jesus would use her to make her
known and loved on earth—was the incarnation of joy, according to the Carmelite
nuns who lived with her at Carmel of Coimbra and who wrote A Pathway Under the Gaze of Mary.
For example, she would joke even into her 90s and was seriously ill.
Sr. Lucia
was described as “…as real as a plate of cookies… an absolutely normal
personality… and if I were obliged to point out her outstanding natural
characteristic I would say it was her gaiety. No one has been able to detect in
her the least sign of morbid temperament or exclusive self-concern,” by a
priest who knew her very well, Fr. John de Marchi, in his book The True Story of Fatima.
Dr.
Branca Paul, who attended to Sr. Lucia during the last 15 years of her life,
would be amazed that the sick and aging nun would be “great to be around…so
normal, simple and humble,” despite the untold suffering she was going through
for the sake of the conversion of sinners.
The physician said that Sr. Lucia showed amazing energy when talking
about Fatima, the Blessed Mother’s messages and requests, in particular praying
the Rosary.
Levity
aside, Sr. Lucia would be frustrated when people wanted to focus on the miracles
and secrets, said her doctor. Even her
fellow Carmelite nuns disclosed that it always pained Sr. Lucia when some
people would insist on revealing the third part of the Secret. Sr. Lucia reportedly would say “The miracles
and secrets aren’t important. We must concentrate on Our Lady’s message. Live the Ten Commandments. That’s what’s
important… If only they’d live what is the most important thing, which has
already been said…They only concern themselves with what is left to be said,
instead of complying with the request that was prayer and penance!”
Fact 9. How is all this of
any concern to us, living in an age of the selfie? If the occurrences, miracles, messages, and
controversies arising from the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima were to be condensed
for the modern man, it would boil down to three simple truths: 1) that man is
capable of evil actions, and that these actions, from the smallest to the
biggest, have dreadful consequences (as history shows, from 1917 to the
present); 2) to turn the tide, we must repent, do penance, and pray. Our Lady even recommended praying the rosary
to begin with—a prayer anyone can do, not only with our lips but more so with
our heart; and 3) Mary is our loving
Mother who is our bridge to Jesus.
The message of
Fatima is extremely relevant in a planet endangered by greed and megalomania. Just think ISIS, or North Korea’s nuclear
tests—don’t they feel like the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads? I don’t mean to sound like a prophet of doom
but after 100 years of Fatima, perhaps it’s about time we surrendered our
madness and became like the shepherd children Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia, who
without question loved and obeyed Our Lady, thereby reminding the world that
God is indeed alive and with us. And that’s the truth.
