the Fatima visionaries

In a series of apparitions in 1916 and 1917, Our Lady appeared at Fatima, Portugal to three children – Lucia dos Santos (aged 9) and her cousins Francisco Marto (8) and Jacinta Marto (6). Our Lady revealed three secrets to the visionaries. These included a vision of Hell and predictions of the end of the Great War and the assassination attempt on Saint John Paul II. She asked for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady asked the visionaries to pray the Rosary daily for peace and to undertake prayer and sacrifice to save sinners from Hell. During her final apparition the sun appeared as a spinning disc in the sky and careered towards earth before zigzagging back to its normal position. The Miracle of the Sun took place before a crowd of between 30,000 and 100,000 people.

Francisco and Jacinta died in 1919 and 1920. Both their young lives were marked by illness, self-sacrifice and extended periods of prayer. They were canonised by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017. Their feast day is celebrated on 20 February. Lucia entered the religious life, first with the Sisters of Saint Dorothy and subsequently becoming a Discalced Carmelite. She continued to report periodic visions, in one of which Our Lady commended the practice of the First Five Saturdays devotion. Sister Lucia died in 2005. Her cause for sainthood is ongoing and she was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in 2023. Today Fatima is a major pilgrimage site, visited by millions of people every year.

Paul Cavadino