TV, Radio and Online
Coverage Schedules
Tuesday, May 11
Mass in Lisbon 1 p.m. ET
Wednesday, May 12
Meeting with the world of culture 5 a.m. ET
Arrival in Fatima & Vespers 12:30 p.m. ET
Blessing of the Candles and Rosary 4:30 p.m. ET
Thursday, May 13
Mass in Fatima 5 a.m. ET
Friday, May 14
Mass in Porto 5 a.m. ET
Upcoming Papal Visits
Papal Visit to Cyprus
June 4 - June 6, 2010
Papal Visit to Great Britian
September 16 - September 19, 2010
The Fátima Children: Francisco
Francisco was born 11 June 1908, the sixth of seven
children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto. He was a handsome boy, with
light hair and dark eyes. He loved games and other children, yet
without the spirit of competition. He would not complain when
treated unfairly, and gave up a treasured possession (a handkerchief
stamped with the image of Our Lady) rather than contend for it. He
was a peacemaker, but courageous, as his conduct under questioning
by the Mayor would later show. He also had a mischievous turn. He
was known to drop strange and inedible objects in his sleeping
brother’s mouth. He had a love for nature, and animals in
particular. He played with lizards and snakes, and would bring them
home, to his mother’s chagrin. Once he gave a penny, all the money
he had, to a friend for a captured bird, only to set the bird free.
He played a reed pipe, to which Lucia and his sister Jacinta would
sing and dance. In short, he was a kind, gentle boy, not yet a
Saint, but one predisposed by God for the graces soon bestowed on
him.
Alone among the three, Francisco never heard the Lady’s words,
although he saw her and felt her presence. After the first
apparition, Lucia conveyed the Lady’s message to him, that he would
go to heaven if he prayed many Rosaries. In the second apparition,
Lucia asked to be taken to heaven, and the Lady replied that
Francisco and Jacinta would be taken soon, but Lucia would have to
wait for a time. (She is still alive.)
In the third apparition, the children were given a secret, including
a vision of hell, which so changed them that they became more like
adults than children. At this time the Mayor of the district, Artur
de Oliveira Santos, a Freemason, devised a scheme to discredit the
apparitions by terrorizing the children. He tried to bully them into
admitting they lied, threatened to boil them in oil if they withheld
the Lady’s “Secret” (Francisco showed extravagant courage in
anticipation of going to heaven), and jailed them to keep them from
their appointment with the Lady on the day of the fourth apparition
(August 13). They kept their appointment two days later.
For the fifth apparition, tens of thousands attended, having been
alerted by the press to the Mayor’s controversy with the children.
Among the curious was a seminary professor from Santarem, Dr. Manuel
Formigao, who questioned the children afterward and became convinced
of their veracity.
When the public learned of a miracle promised for the next appointed
day, many resolved to be there, and on October 13 perhaps 70
thousand people were present for the miracle of the sun.
After the apparitions ended, Francisco was enrolled in school but
played truant as often as possible. He preferred to spend time
praying to the “Hidden Jesus” in the Tabernacle. His great concern
was to console His sorrowing Lord and the Heart of His Mother. When
asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Francisco answered, "I
don't want to be anything. I want to die and go to heaven."
In August 1918, when World War I was nearing an end, Francisco and
Jacinta both contracted influenza. They had short reprieves, but
their decline was inevitable. In April of the following year,
Francisco, knowing his time was short, asked to receive the Hidden
Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion. The next morning, April
4th, at ten o’clock, he died with a glow on his shrunken face. He
was buried the next day in a little cemetery in Fatima, across from
the parish church, and later translated to the Sanctuary at Cova da
Iria.
