Blessed Jacinta Marto of Fatima

Blessed Jacinta Marto of Fatima (March 11, 1910-February 20, 1920)

FEAST DAY: February 20

Jacinta, the younger sister of Francisco and cousin to Lucia, saw Our Lady during all six Apparitions at Fatima in Portugal.

Jacinta never grew tired of telling Our Lord and Our Lady how much she loved them, saying, “I have a fire in my chest but it doesn’t burn me.” On February 10, having developed pneumonia and tuberculosis, two of her ribs were removed. The daily dressing of the wound caused her agony but she never complained.

When she died peacefully on the evening of February 20, 1920, the unpleasant odour due to her illness was replaced by ‘a fragrance as of the most delicious flowers.’ Jacinta’s face was seen to be perfectly incorrupt when her coffin was opened on September 12, 1935. Her relics and those of Francisco lie in the Basilica at Fatima, with the inscription: “Here lie the mortal remains of Francisco and Jacinta to whom Our Lady appeared.” Jacinta and her brother Francisco were beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 13, 2000 at Fatima. It is being hoped that on May 13, 2017, the two will be canonized by Pope Francis upon his visit to Fatima, Portugal. (Josielyn G. Sunga)