February 20 – Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto
Born: 1910 (Jacinta) and 1908 (Francisco)
Died: 1920 (Jacinta) and 1919 (Francisco)
Nationality: Portuguese
Vocation: lay
Patronage: bodily ills, captives, people ridiculed for their piety,
Canonization: 2017 by Pope Francis
Jacinta and Francisco Marto were the brother and sister to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared in Fatima, Portugal, along with their cousin, Lucia.
The three children shepherded their families’ sheep together. Their first Marian apparition occurred on May 13, 1917, when Jacinta was 7-years-old and Francisco was 9. Our Lady asked them to pray the Rosary and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. In response, they often gave their lunch to beggars and refrained from drinking water on hot days.
Throughout the duration of the apparitions, the children were subjected to intense ridicule from those who did not believe. Once, they were even interrogated and jailed by the anti-Catholic mayor, who eventually let them go after they remained unflinching in their testimony of their heavenly visitor.
In October of the next year, following the final apparition, both children caught the Spanish flu, and the Blessed Mother told them she would soon take them to heaven.
Francisco requested his first Communion while confined to his bed and died the next day on April 14, 1919. Jacinta died on Feb. 20 the following year after a prolonged illness and an unsuccessful operation.
Pope Francis canonized Jacinta and Francisco at Fatima, making them the youngest non-martyrs to be canonized in the Church’s history.
Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto, pray for us.