CV NEWS FEED // Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto of Fatima are the Church’s youngest saints who are not martyrs, dying at the ages of 9 and 10, respectively. Their feast day, Feb. 20, honors the young seers’ continued legacy.
Francisco and Jacinta grew up in a poor farming family in the village of Aljustrel, Portugal, according to the World Apostolate of Fatima. Francisco was born on June 11, 1908, and Jacinta was born on March 11, 1910.
Their parents were both pious Catholics. Manuel Pedro Marto was a simple, peaceful, and mild man, and his wife, Olimpia de Jesus, was also devout. The youngest of the nine Marto children, Francisco and Jacinta, were considered charming because of their bright eyes and perfect features.
The saints’ older cousin and fellow seer, Lucia Santos, who was 9 at the time of the first apparition, described the children’s characters: “Apart from his features and his practice of virtue, Francisco did not seem to all to be Jacinta’s brother. Unlike her, he was neither capricious nor vivacious. On the contrary, he was quiet and submissive by nature.”
The three children received their first apparition in the spring of 1916 when they were tending their family’s sheep flock. An angel appeared to them and told them that he was the Angel of Peace. He taught the children this prayer: “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love you! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!”
The angel appeared two more times to the children that year. In the summer, he again encouraged them to pray and to do penance for the conversion of sinners. In his third apparition, he administered Holy Communion to the children.
The Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to the children on May 13, 1917. The World Apostolate of Fatima states:
“The three children were tending their sheep in a place called ‘Cova da Iria’ when a flash of lightning drew their attention to a Lady standing on the top of a small holm oak tree. She was all dressed in white and more brilliant than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it. The Lady told them that she was from heaven and that she would appear there on six successive months, on the 13th day of each month at the same hour.”
The Lady told the three children that they would all go to Heaven, but that Francisco would have to say many Rosaries.
She asked the children, “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and of supplication for the conversion of sinners?”
The children responded that they were, and she said: “Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.”
She told the children to pray the Rosary daily during the war, and she rose toward the east and disappeared.
Our Lady appeared to the children every month until October, repeating her messages of prayers and penance for sinners. On October 13, the “Miracle of the Sun” occurred during the apparition, with around 70,000 witnesses. The Sun appeared to dance in the sky in the middle of a rainstorm, and after the miracle, everyone in the crowd was completely dry.
After the apparitions ended, the children took their promises of prayer and penance very seriously. Francisco dedicated himself to comforting Our Lord in His sorrows, while Jacinta offered many sacrifices for the conversion of sinners, the World Apostolate explains.
Both children died from the Spanish flu. Francisco died on April 4, 1919, and his little sister died less than a year later on February 20, 1920. Her illness was particularly long and painful, and she offered her sufferings for the conversion of sinners, world peace, and the Holy Father.
Lucia lived much longer than her cousins, spending her adult life first as a Sister of St. Dorothy in Tuy, Spain, and later entering the Carmelites in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1948. She died on February 13, 2005 at the age of 97.
Describing Lucia as more taciturn and less charming than either of her little cousins, author William Thomas Walsh noted in his book Our Lady of Fatima that it was ironic that such a shy woman was left to spread the message of Fatima to the world.
Pope John Paul II beatified the brother and sister on May 13, 2000, and Pope Francis canonized them on May 13, 2017.
According to Vatican News, Lucia was declared a venerable on June 22, 2023.