Thursday, 20 February 2020

St. Francisco and St. Jacinta Marto

Jacinta, Lucia, and Francisco in 1917
Today we commemorate the lives of brother and sister visionaries of Our Lady of Fatima, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. Very much like Lourdes and Guadalupe, the quietness of these small little villages was turned upside down when the Blessed Mother appeared in 1917 to 3 young children, Francisco and his sister Jacinta Marto, and Lucia dos Santos. Nobody would believe them at first, and were almost imprisoned for fabricating lies. But eventually, religious leaders, priests and bishops in Fatima, Portugal investigated the whole story and found it to be true, with the Vatican officially proclaiming that the apparitions were believable. Francisco and Jacinta died shortly afterwards, but Lucia became a nun and lived into the third millennium in a monastery in Portugal, being visited by 2 Popes. Their biographies are very brief, but suffice to say that they are now saints in heaven. They were beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in the year 2000 and were canonized on May 13, 2017, by Pope Francis. More investigations have to take place for Lucia to be canonized since she lived a long life, but hopefully one day, she will be reunited with her two friends and all the saints in heaven.

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