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: Lucia
Lucia de Jesus dos Santos was born in Aljustrel, a village in
the parish of Fátima, Portugal, on March 22, 1907, and baptized a
few days later on March 30. Her parents were Antonio and Maria Rosa
dos Santos. She was the youngest of seven children, six girls and a
boy. At age 6 she received her First Holy Communion. By 8 she was
occupied with the tending of the family's sheep, accompanied by
other boys and girls of the village.
It was while in the company of her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco
Marto, that the first heavenly apparition occurred, that of the
Angel of Portugal, come to prepare the young trio for their mission
and for an even greater visitor.
Lucia was 10 years old when on May 13, 1917, while tending the sheep
in the Cova de Iria, a woman, who later identified herself as the
Blessed Virgin Mary, appeared to the children. The apparition would
continue monthly on the 13th of the month until October 1917 (save
August, when imprisonment by the anti-clerical authorities prevented
it). During each month's apparition, the Virgin encouraged prayer,
especially the rosary, and sacrifice. She also communicated certain
prophecies of the future (the end of World War I, the rise of error
in Russia (communism) and its propagation throughout the world, the
annihilation of nations, another war preceded by a heavenly sign if
men did not convert, and the suffering and persecution of the good,
especially the Holy Father). On Oct. 13, 1930, the bishop of
Leiria-Fátima, José Alves Correia da Silva, declared the apparitions
of Fátima worthy of credibility and allowed public devotion to the
Virgin under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima.
After the prophesied death of Jacinta and Francisco, during the flu
pandemic of 1919, Lucia alone remained to carry on the mission
assigned by the "woman from heaven." At 14 she was admitted as a
boarder to the school of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Vilar, near
Oporto in the north of Portugal. On Oct. 24, 1925, she entered the
Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothy as a postulant in the
convent in Tuy, Spain, not far from the Portuguese border. During
these years she would continue to receive private revelations
explanatory of the message of Fátima. She made her first vows on
Oct. 3, 1928, and her perpetual vows on Oct. 3, 1934, receiving the
name Sister Mary of the Sorrowful Mother.
In 1946, seeking a more contemplative life, Lucia entered the
Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra, where she made her
profession as a Discalced Carmelite on May 31, 1949. She took the
name Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.
In 1967, Sister Lucia traveled to Fatima to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the apparitions, presided over by Pope Paul VI. She
went again in 1982, when Paul John Paul II came to the Shrine on 13
May to give thanks for the saving of his life during the
assassination attempt of 13 May 1981, and again when the Pope came
there in 1991, and finally in 2000, to beatify Jacinta and
Francisco.
Over the years Sr. Lucia would write two books, Memoirs, recounting
the events of Fatima in her own words, and Calls from the Message of
Fatima, giving answers to the many questions about living the
message of Fátima, which she has been asked over the years.
In the second apparition, that of June 13, Lucia asked the Lady,
"Will you take us to heaven?" The Virgin responded,
Yes, I shall take Jacinta and Francisco 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.
That mission came to an end on February 13, 2005, when after weeks
of weakness Sr. Maria Lucia succumbed to the infirmities of old age.
Her funeral Mass at the cathedral of Coimbra was presided over by
the city's bishop, Most Reverend Antonio Cleto. She will lie in rest
at the convent where she spent so many years, until a place is
prepared for her body at the Basilica in Fátima, where Francisco and
Jacinta are entombed.
