Lucia, third of the Fatima children, a step closer to sainthood
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Sister Lúcia de Jesus e do Coração Immaculado, born Lúcia dos Santos, the third of the shepherd children of Fatima, has been declared “venerable”, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints decreed Thursday with the approval of Pope Francis during an audience with Cardinal Prefect Marcello Semeraro.
This is the outcome of the recognition of the “heroic virtues” of the professed nun of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.
Lucia dos Santos was born on 28 March 1907 in Aljustrel (Portugal) and died on 13 February 2005 in Coimbra (Portugal).
Her cause for beatification was opened after Pope Benedict XVI granted a dispensation from the five-year wait for death on 13 February 2008.
The other two shepherd children, her cousins, who witnessed the apparitions of Mary, brothers Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were proclaimed blessed in 2000 and canonised in 2017.
Our Lady of Fátima is one of the main Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by the three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.
Fatima has become the biggest Catholic shrine in the world.
A small chapel was built at the site of the apparition in 1919, and a statue of Mary installed.
The chapel and statue have since been enclosed within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, a shrine complex containing two minor basilicas. Associated facilities for pilgrims, including a hotel and medical centre, have also been built over the decades within and around the Sanctuary.
The city has become an important international destination for religious tourists, receiving between 6 and 8 million pilgrims yearly.
Undated file picture of three little shepherds (L to R) Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta who saw the Holy Mary in 1917. . EPA
