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Our Lady at Fatima Part 5

Fate of the three children

Lucia reported seeing the Virgin Mary again in 1925 at the Dorothean convent at Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain). This time she said she was asked to convery the message of the First Saturday Devotions. By here account a subsequent vision of Christ as a child reiterated this request.

Lucia was transferred to another convent in Tui or Tuy, Galicia in 1928. In 1929, Lucia reported that Mary returned and repeated her request for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

Lucia reportedly saw Mary in private visions periodically throughout her life. Most significant was the apparition in Rianxo, Galicia, in 1931, in which she said the Jesus visited her, taught her two prayers and delievered a message to give to the church's hierarchy.

In 1947, Sister Lucia left the Dorothean order and joined the Discalced Carmelite order in a monastery in Coimbra, Portugal. Lucia died on 13 February 2002, at the age of 97. After her death, the Vatican, specifically Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at the time, still head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), ordered her cell sealed off. It is believed this was because Sister Lucia had continued to receive more revelations and the evidence needed to be examined in the course of proceedings for her possible canonization.

Lucia's cousins, the siblings Francisco (1908-1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910-1920), were both victims of the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-20. Francisco and Jacinta were declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony at Fatima on 13 May 1989. Pope John Paul II returned there on 13 May 2000 to declare the 'blessed' (a title of veneration below that of sainthood; see Canonization). Jacinta is the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

In 1941, Lucia claimed that the Virgin Mary had predicted the death of two of the children during the second apparition on 13 June 1917. Some accounts, including the testimony of Olimpia Marto (mother of the two younger children) state that her children did not keep this information secret and ectatically predicted their own deaths many times to her and to curious pilgrims. According to the 1941 account, on 13 June, Lucia asked the Virgin if the three childer would go to heaven when they died. She said that she heard Mary reply, "Yes, I shall take Francisco and Jacinta soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart."

Exhumed in 1935 and again in 1951, Jacinta's face was found incorrulpt. Francisco's body, however had decomposed.

Our Lady at Fatima Part 5

Fate of the three children

Lucia reported seeing the Virgin Mary again in 1925 at the Dorothean convent at Pontevedra, Galicia (Spain). This time she said she was asked to convery the message of the First Saturday Devotions. By here account a subsequent vision of Christ as a child reiterated this request.

Lucia was transferred to another convent in Tui or Tuy, Galicia in 1928. In 1929, Lucia reported that Mary returned and repeated her request for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

Lucia reportedly saw Mary in private visions periodically throughout her life. Most significant was the apparition in Rianxo, Galicia, in 1931, in which she said the Jesus visited her, taught her two prayers and delievered a message to give to the church's hierarchy.

In 1947, Sister Lucia left the Dorothean order and joined the Discalced Carmelite order in a monastery in Coimbra, Portugal. Lucia died on 13 February 2002, at the age of 97. After her death, the Vatican, specifically Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (at the time, still head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), ordered her cell sealed off. It is believed this was because Sister Lucia had continued to receive more revelations and the evidence needed to be examined in the course of proceedings for her possible canonization.

Lucia's cousins, the siblings Francisco (1908-1919) and Jacinta Marto (1910-1920), were both victims of the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-20. Francisco and Jacinta were declared venerable by Pope John Paul II in a public ceremony at Fatima on 13 May 1989. Pope John Paul II returned there on 13 May 2000 to declare the 'blessed' (a title of veneration below that of sainthood; see Canonization). Jacinta is the youngest non-martyred child ever to be beatified.

In 1941, Lucia claimed that the Virgin Mary had predicted the death of two of the children during the second apparition on 13 June 1917. Some accounts, including the testimony of Olimpia Marto (mother of the two younger children) state that her children did not keep this information secret and ectatically predicted their own deaths many times to her and to curious pilgrims. According to the 1941 account, on 13 June, Lucia asked the Virgin if the three childer would go to heaven when they died. She said that she heard Mary reply, "Yes, I shall take Francisco and Jacinta soon, but you will remain a little longer, since Jesus wishes you to make me known and loved on earth. He wishes also for you to establish devotion in the world to my Immaculate Heart."

Exhumed in 1935 and again in 1951, Jacinta's face was found incorrulpt. Francisco's body, however had decomposed.