The Catholic Defender: Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto

In the spring of 1916, as World War I raged across Europe and on the eve of Soviet Communism, three children from Fátima, 90 miles north of Lisbon, were watching over the family sheep. The children were 7-year-old Jacinta Marto, her 8-year-old brother Francisco and their 9-year-old cousin Lúcia dos Santos.

A strong wind shook some nearby trees, and above them a white light appeared. It approached them and, as Lúcia related, “took the form of a young man, transparent and resplendent with light.” He identified himself as the Angel of Peace, and invited them to pray with him. He taught them several prayers, including, “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.”

In a second apparition, he identified himself as the Guardian Angel of Portugal, and told the children, “Make everything you do a sacrifice, and offer it as an act of reparation for the sins by which God is offended, and as a petition for the conversion of sinners.”

Francisco, 11, and Jacinta, 10, are the youngest non-martyrs to be canonized in the history of the Church. The brother and sister, who tended to their families’ sheep with their cousin Lucia Santo in the fields of Fatima, Portugal, witnessed the apparitions of Mary, now commonly known as Our Lady of Fatima.

The “beautiful Lady” would appear six times to Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and their cousin Lucia de Jesus dos Santos, ranging in age from 7 to 10 years old, inviting these “privileged children of the Father,” as St. John Paul II referred to them, to dedicate their young selves to a life of prayer and sacrifice in reparation for the conversion of sinners.

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese shepherd children from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fátima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after.

At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray the rosary “to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia, which had recently overthrown Czar Nicholas II and was soon to fall under communism. Up to 90,000 people gathered for Mary’s final apparition on October 13, 1917.

“You are going to have much to suffer,” Our Lady of Fatima said on the occasion of the first apparition, “but the grace of God will be your comfort.”

During the first apparition, which took place May 13, 1917, Our Lady asked the three children to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices, offering them for the conversion of sinners. The children did, praying often, giving their lunch to beggars and going without food themselves. They offered up their daily crosses and even refrained from drinking water on hot days.

Francisco and Jacinta Marto died in the global flu pandemic that began in 1918 and swept the world for two years. Francisco Marto died at home on 4 April 1919, at the age of ten. Jacinta died at the age of nine in Queen Stephanie's Children's Hospital in Lisbon on 20 February 1920.

Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1952.

Jacinta died of influenza in Lisbon in 1920, offering her suffering for the conversion of sinners, peace in the world, and the Holy Father. She was re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1951.

Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1952.

Their cousin Lúcia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and was still living when Jacinta and Francisco were beatified in 2000; she died five years later.

Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta May 13, 2000, on the 83rd anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima.

Our Lady was to be their tutor, as Pope John Paul II pointed out at the beatification Mass for Jacinta and Francisco in 2000. “Devoting themselves with total generosity to the direction of such a good Teacher [Our Lady], Jacinta and Francisco soon reached the heights of perfection,” he said.

Their path was one of prayer and stringent self-mortification, a path they chose to follow more intensely after seeing a vision of hell on July 13, 1917.

Pope Francis canonized the younger children on his visit to Fátima to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first apparition–May 13, 2017. The shrine of Our Lady of Fátima is visited by up to 20 million people a year.

Pope Francis on May 13, 2017 officially declared Francisco and Jacinta Marto saints of the Catholic Church in front of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at Fatima, Portugal – teaching us that even young children can become saints.

Both Jacinta and Francisco contracted the flu virus that had spread throughout Europe in 1918, and both died within three years of the last Marian apparition on Oct.13, 1917, after having offered up their little lives for the conversion of sinners.

Francisco, 11, and Jacinta, 10, are the youngest non-martyrs to be canonized in the history of the Church. The brother and sister, who tended to their families' sheep with their cousin Lucia Santo in the fields of Fatima, Portugal, witnessed the apparitions of Mary, now commonly known as Our Lady of Fatima.

Even before the apparitions at Fatima took place, Jacinta was known for her deep love for the Lord. In her memoirs, Lucia recounted the time in which she told Jacinta about the sufferings of Jesus. Jacinta responded to Lucia, “Our poor dear Lord!

Description. The remains of visionary Jacinta Marto are exhumed to be reburied in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima on May 1, 1951.

Sources indicate that when Jacinta was exhumed on September 12, 1935, “Her face was found to be incorrupt” (Solimeo 2008).

Following their experiences, their fundamental personalities remained the same. Francisco preferred to pray alone, as he said, "to console Jesus for the sins of the world". Jacinta was deeply affected by a terrifying vision of Hell reportedly shown to the children at the third apparition. She became deeply convinced of the need to save sinners through penance and sacrifice as the Virgin had reportedly instructed the children to do. All three children, but particularly Francisco and Jacinta, practiced stringent self-mortifications to this end.