WORLDWIDE CELEBRATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF SAINT
JACINTA MARTO’S DEATH, 20th OF FEBRUARY, 2020
Dearest leaders and members of the
WAF nations of the world, dear Marian devotees and faithful of the Catholic
faith:
The World Apostolate of Fatima
International in conjunction with the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal
is convoking all of the faithful to join the great celebration of the 100th
Anniversary of the death of Saint Jacinta Marto of Fatima on the 20th of
February, 2020. On this day, the Church celebrates the liturgical feast of Saint
Francisco and Saint Jacinta Marto, the Little Shepherds of Fatima, canonized on
May 13th, 2017.
This cover letter provides us with
the opportunity to participate in the official celebrations at the Shrine of
Fatima in Portugal, offering as well the guidelines to have a unique
celebration in our parishes and Catholic institutions to mark the day with
abundant grace and mercy to all.
SUGGESTED
PROGRAMME
1. The Program begins with a
Vigil of Adoration and Reparation to the Blessed Sacrament in the company of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the eve, Wednesday, 19th of February,
2020, offered for the intention of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary in our days. (Meditation of the Holy Rosary, procession with candles where
possible, veneration of the relics, if possible, Fatima prayers, prayers of reparation,
blessing of the faithful.)
2. On the 20th of February,
2020 we offer in our place at the most convenient time:
a. A solemn meditated Rosary
(for the conversion of many sinners);
b. Procession with the icons
or statues of Our Lady of Fatima and Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco (for the
families, the youth and children of the world);
c. Holy Votive Mass of the
Little Shepherds (for the unity and strength of the Church);
d. Talk on the Children of
Fatima based on the Conference enclosed: THE SAINTS OF FATIMA AND EUCHARISTIC
ADORATION. The Saints of Fatima must be made known throughout the universal
Church as models for holiness, as a missionary for the evangelization and
active life (Saint Jacinta) and as contemplative of the mystery of God, consoler
and reparative soul (Saint Francisco), the two schools for sainthood.
e. Event with children and
youngsters to honor the Little Shepherds of Fatima after knowing about their
lives as presented in the talk. May be done with participants of the Sunday School
or Catechetical groups or Catholic associations of children and youngsters;
f. Vespers (to reject
consumerism and accept in our lives that GOD IS FIRST.).
The prayers at the Little Chapel of
the Apparitions may be followed by internet: http://live.worldfatima/.com This
is through our WAF International webpage. The program at the Shrine of Fatima
will be as follows:
February
19th, Wednesday
21:30: Prayer vigil, with
Rosary prayer, procession and veneration of the tombs of Saint Jacinta and
Saint Francisco Marto (Chapel of the Apparitions and Basilica of Our Lady of
the Rosary)
February
20th, Thursday
10:00 – Solemn Rosary prayer
(Chapel of the Apparitions)
10:45 – Procession with the
Icons of Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta Marto
11:00 – Holy Mass (Basilica
of the Most Holy Trinity)
14:00–16:00 – Activity with
children (Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity)
17:30 – Solemn Vespers
(Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary)
18:30 – Rosary prayer
(Chapel of the Apparitions)
21:30 – Rosary prayer
(Chapel of the Apparitions)
(The hours correspond to
Portugal time zone which is 5.5 hours behind Indian Time )
Can be seen live on
https://www.fatima.pt/en/pages/online-transmissions
The World Apostolate of Fatima is
an international public association of the faithful of pontifical right present
now in 120 countries around the world. This is the official Apostolate of
Fatima for the Universal Church pursuing the sanctification of its members by
spreading and making live the authentic Message of Fatima as an instrument for
the New Evangelization and the formation of families, the two most important
task in the Church today.
We thank Father Carlos Cabecinhas,
Rector of the Shrine of Fatima, Portugal, for this joint effort is spreading
throughout the world the authentic spirituality of Fatima.
ORBIS UNUS ORANS.
In Christ and Mary Queen,
Prof. Américo Pablo López Ortiz
International President of
the World Apostolate of Fatima
MASS PRAYERS AND READINGS FOR
THE FEAST DAY OF SAINTS FRANCISCO AND JACINTA MARTO: 20TH OF FEBRUARY
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON (Mathew
18:3)
Unless you change and become like little children
you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
OPENING PRAYER
God of infinite goodness
Who loves the innocent and exalts the humble grant
that, in imitation of Saints Francisco and Jacinta, we may serve You with
purity of heart and so be worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your
Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
READING 1
Samuel 3:1, 3-10
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening
A reading from the First Book of Samuel.
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to Yahweh in the
presence of Eli; Samuel was lying in the Sanctuary of Yahweh where the ark of
God was, when Yahweh called, “Samuel! Samuel!”
He answered, “Here I am.” Then he ran to Eli and
said, “Here I am since you called me.”
Eli said, “I did not call. Go back and lie down.”
So he went and lay down.
Once again Yahweh called, “Samuel!! Samuel!”
Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am,
since you called me.”
He replied, “I did not call you, my son; go back
and lie down.” Samuel as yet had no knowledge of Yahweh and the word of Yahweh
had not been revealed to him.
Once again Yahweh called, the third time.
He got up and went to Eli and said. “Here I am,
since you called me.”
Eli then understood that it was Yahweh who was
calling the boy, and he said to Samuel,
“Go and lie down, and if someone calls say, “Speak,
Yahweh, your servant is listening.”
So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Yahweh
then came and stood by, calling as He had done before, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Speak, Yahweh, Your servant is
listening”.
The Word of the Lord
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Luke 1:46-52)
R. The Lord has exalted the lowly
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit exalts in God my Savior;
Because He has looked on his lowly handmaid.
Yes, from this day forward all generations will
call me blessed.
R. The Lord has exalted the lowly.
For the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is His name, and His mercy reaches from age to
age for those who fear Him.
R. The Lord has exalted the lowly.
He has shown the power of His arm.
He has routed the proud of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and
exalted the lowly.
R. The Lord has exalted the lowly.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Psalm 118 (119), 130)
R. Alleluia! Alleluia!
As Your Word unfolds, it gives light, and the
simple understand.
R. Alleluia!
GOSPEL Matthew
18, 1-5, 10
The one who makes himself as little as this little
child…..
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to
Matthew.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said,
“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” So He called a little child to
Him and set the child in front of them. Then He said, “I tell you solemnly,
unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the
Kingdom of Heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as this little child is
the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Anyone who welcomes a little child like
this in My name welcomes Me.
See that you never despise any of these little
ones, for I tell you that their angels in Heaven are continually in the
presence of My Father in Heaven.
The Gospel of the Lord.
PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS
Humbly we beseech Thee, Lord, that You accept the
homage of our prayers and sacrifices, which we offer for the forgiveness of our
faults and for the conversion of sinners. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus
Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit one God,
forever and ever.
COMMUNION ANTIPHON (cf: Matthew 11:25)
May You be blessed, Lord of Heaven and earth,
because You have revealed to the little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
For the Divine Sacrament which we have received,
Lord, inflame in us that wondrous love which inspired Saints Francisco and
Jacinta to give themselves entirely to You and to offer themselves in love for
the salvation of all men.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and
reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
LITANY OF SAINTS FRANCISCO AND JACINTA
Lord,
have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us!
Christ, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us!
Lord, have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us!
Christ, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us!
Lord, have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us!
Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, pray for us!
Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
Virgin of the Little Shepherds, pray for us!
St.
Francisco Marto, pray for us!
St. Jacinta Marto, pray for us!
St. Jacinta Marto, pray for us!
Children
called by Jesus Christ, pray for us!
Children called to contemplate God in Heaven, pray for us!
Little ones to whom the Father reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom,
Children called to contemplate God in Heaven, pray for us!
Little ones to whom the Father reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom,
pray for us!
Little
ones privileged of the Father, pray for us!
Perfect praise of the wonders of God, pray for us!
Perfect examples of filial abandonment, like children in the mother’s lap, pray for us!
Perfect praise of the wonders of God, pray for us!
Perfect examples of filial abandonment, like children in the mother’s lap, pray for us!
Victims
of reparation for the benefit of the Body of Christ, pray
for us!
Confidants
of the Angel of Peace, pray for us!
Custodians, like the Angel of the Fatherland, pray for us!
Adorers with the Angel of the Eucharist, pray for us!
Seers of the Woman dressed in the Sun, pray for us!
Seers of the Light that is God, pray for us!
Beloved children of the Virgin Mother, pray for us!
Ears attentive to the maternal solicitude of the Virgin Mary, pray for us!
Advocates of the Message of the Lady more brilliant than the Sun,
Custodians, like the Angel of the Fatherland, pray for us!
Adorers with the Angel of the Eucharist, pray for us!
Seers of the Woman dressed in the Sun, pray for us!
Seers of the Light that is God, pray for us!
Beloved children of the Virgin Mother, pray for us!
Ears attentive to the maternal solicitude of the Virgin Mary, pray for us!
Advocates of the Message of the Lady more brilliant than the Sun,
pray for us!
Heralds
of the word of the Mother of God, pray for us!
Prophets of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Accomplishers of the designs of the Most High, pray for us!
Faithful trustees of the Message, pray for us!
Emissaries of the Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
Missionaries of the requests of Mary, pray for us!
Couriers of the calls from Heaven, pray for us!
Protectors of the Vicar of Christ, pray for us!
Confessors of heroic life in the truth, pray for us!
Prophets of the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Accomplishers of the designs of the Most High, pray for us!
Faithful trustees of the Message, pray for us!
Emissaries of the Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
Missionaries of the requests of Mary, pray for us!
Couriers of the calls from Heaven, pray for us!
Protectors of the Vicar of Christ, pray for us!
Confessors of heroic life in the truth, pray for us!
Comforters
of Jesus Christ, pray for us!
Examples of Christian charity, pray for us!
Servants of the sick and the poor, pray for us!
Repairers of the offenses of sinners, pray for us!
Friends of men before the throne of the Virgin Mary, pray for us!
Pure white lilies breathing holiness, pray for us!
Brilliant pearls in splendid beatitude, pray for us!
Seraphim of love at the feet of the Lord, pray for us!
Offerings presented to God to bear sufferings for reparation, pray for us!
Admirable examples of sharing with the poor, pray for us!
Untiring examples of sacrifice for the conversion of sinners, pray for us!
Examples of Christian charity, pray for us!
Servants of the sick and the poor, pray for us!
Repairers of the offenses of sinners, pray for us!
Friends of men before the throne of the Virgin Mary, pray for us!
Pure white lilies breathing holiness, pray for us!
Brilliant pearls in splendid beatitude, pray for us!
Seraphim of love at the feet of the Lord, pray for us!
Offerings presented to God to bear sufferings for reparation, pray for us!
Admirable examples of sharing with the poor, pray for us!
Untiring examples of sacrifice for the conversion of sinners, pray for us!
Examples
of fortitude in times of adversity, pray for us!
Souls
enamored of God in Jesus, pray for us!
Little Shepherds leading us to the Lamb, pray for us!
Disciples of Mary’s school, pray for us!
Questioners of mankind, pray for us!
Fruits of the tree of holiness, pray for us!
Gifts to the Universal Church, pray for us!
Divine signs for God’s People, pray for us!
Witnesses of God’s Grace, pray for us!
Little Shepherds leading us to the Lamb, pray for us!
Disciples of Mary’s school, pray for us!
Questioners of mankind, pray for us!
Fruits of the tree of holiness, pray for us!
Gifts to the Universal Church, pray for us!
Divine signs for God’s People, pray for us!
Witnesses of God’s Grace, pray for us!
Incentives
to living one’s Baptism, pray for us!
Examples of the experience of the loving presence of God, pray for us!
Eloquent souls in the intimacy of God, pray for us!
Intercessors, before God, for sinners, pray for us!
Builders of the Civilization of Love and Peace, pray for us!
Lamps illuminating mankind, pray for us!
Friendly lights illuminating multitudes, pray for us!
Lanterns shining in men’s roads, pray for us!
Flames burning in somber and anxious hours, pray for us!
Candles lighted by God, pray for us!
Examples of the experience of the loving presence of God, pray for us!
Eloquent souls in the intimacy of God, pray for us!
Intercessors, before God, for sinners, pray for us!
Builders of the Civilization of Love and Peace, pray for us!
Lamps illuminating mankind, pray for us!
Friendly lights illuminating multitudes, pray for us!
Lanterns shining in men’s roads, pray for us!
Flames burning in somber and anxious hours, pray for us!
Candles lighted by God, pray for us!
Christ,
hear us! Christ, hear us!
Christ, please hear us! Christ, please hear us!
Christ, please hear us! Christ, please hear us!
Concluding prayer: God of infinite goodness, You love the
innocent and exalt the humble; please grant, through the intercession of the Immaculate
Mother of Your Son, that, in imitation of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta, we may serve
You in simplicity of heart and thus may enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Through Our
Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who is God with You in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Imprimatur: February 20, 2012, Liturgical Feast of Blessed
Francisco and Jacinta Marto, † Antonio Marto, Bishop of Leiria-Fatima
Sayings of
Saint Jacinta Marto
Born 11 March 1910, aged 7 at the apparitions in
1917
9 years, 11 months and 1 week old at her death on
20 February 1920
In his homily at the Beatification on 13th May
2000, John Paul II said that Jacinta “could well exclaim with St Paul: ‘I
rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is
lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, the Church’” (Col 1:
24).
- We must never be afraid of anything. The Lady
will always help us. She is such a good friend of ours.
- Tell the crickets and frogs to keep quiet, I have
such a terrible headache – Don’t you want to suffer this for sinners? – Yes, I
do. Let them sing!
- I love Our Lord so much. At times I seem to have
a fire in my heart, but it does not burn me … I never get tired of telling Our
Lord and Our Lady that I love them.
- I’m not going to dance anymore, because I want to
offer this sacrifice to Our Lord.
After seeing the vision of hell on 13th July 1917:
- We must pray very much, to save souls from hell.
So many go there. Why doesn’t Our Lady show hell to sinners? If they saw it,
they would not sin …
When in prison in August 1917
- All you have to do is to tell the Administrator
the secret – Never, Jacinta replied vigorously, I’d rather die
Her vision of the Holy Father at the Loca da Cabeco
- Can’t you see all those highways and roads and
fields full of people who are crying with hunger and have nothing to eat ? And
the Holy Father in a church praying before the Immaculate Heart of Mary ? And
so many people praying with him ?
When Our Lady came to visit her at home
- She told us she would come to take Francisco to
heaven very soon, and she asked me if I still wanted to convert more sinners. I
said I did. She told me I would be going to a hospital where I would suffer a
great deal; and that I am to suffer for the conversion of sinners, in reparation
for the sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for love of
Jesus. She said my mother would take me and I would have to stay there all
alone.
Just before Francisco went to heaven
- Give
all my love to Our Lord and to Our Lady, and tell them that I’ll suffer as much
as they want, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary.
Foreseeing she would die alone in Lisbon
- O my Jesus, now you can convert many sinners,
because this is a really big sacrifice.
To Lucia, before going to the hospital in Lisbon
It will not be long now before I go to heaven. You
will remain here to make known that God wishes to establish in the world
devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
When you are to say this, don’t go and hide! Tell
everybody that God grants us Graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that
people are to ask Her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the
Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at his side. Tell them also to pray to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God has entrusted it to Her.
If only I could put into the hearts of all, the
fire that is burning within my own heart, and that makes me love the Hearts of
Jesus and Mary so very much.
[Extracts
taken from FATIMA IN LUCIA’S OWN WORDS, vol I]
THE FATIMA SAINTS AND EUCHARISTIC ADORATION By: Prof. Américo Pablo López Ortiz, International
President of the World Apostolate of Fatima
Jacinta and Francisco Marto were
canonized on May 13th, 2017 in Fatima, Portugal, by Pope Francis, during the
celebration of the Centennial Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in the Cova da
Iria. Their beatification was held on May 13th of 2000 in Fatima, Portugal, by Pope
Saint John Paul II, as the Third Part of the secret of Fatima was revealed. I was physically present both times as a
pilgrim in the beautiful Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, representing the World
Apostolate of Fatima International. The two occasions were historical moments
in the life of the Universal Church recognizing the unique place of the Fatima Saints
in serving as models and calls to contemplative life, as well as to missionary
life, the two major ways to holiness!
1.
Francisco de Jesús Marto was born June 11, 1908 in Aljustrel, a
small hamlet near Fatima, Portugal. He was the youngest boy of Manuel and Olimpia
Marto. Sister Lucia in her Memoirs describes him as a boy with a placid
disposition, who loved music and played the flute, and liked to be by himself
to think.
Francisco preferred to pray alone “to console Jesus for the
sins of the world”. He had a special vocation to adore “Hidden Jesus” in the
Blessed Sacrament. As his sister Jacinta and his cousin Lucia dos Santos, he
experienced three apparitions of the Angel of Peace in 1916 preparing them for
the apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.
The Angel of Peace taught them to pray in meditation reflecting
on the mystery of God, the Most Holy Trinity; the value of penance and the
Eucharistic Adoration, receiving a mystical Holy Communion under to two species
given to them by the Angel of Fatima, the Guardian Angel of Portugal.
Then, Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima appeared six times
in the Cova da Iria in 1917. Lucia and Jacinta could hear her voice and see
her. Lucia talked to her. But Francisco could only saw her. Our Lady said that
he needed to pray first many Rosaries to go to heaven. Francisco followed our Lady’s advice in a
perfect manner. He was able to develop an inner life, a contemplative character
made to console the Good Lord for the sins of humanity by praying many rosaries.
Then, this inner life permitted him to adore the Most Holy Trinity in his heart
and through the Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Lucia, Francisco
and Jacinta walked to the parish church in Aljustrel to practice Eucharistic Adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament, complemented by the practice of self-mortifications (penance)
“to save sinners from the fires of hell”.
The Angel of Peace taught the children shepherds of Fatima the
prayers to initiate them as adorers of the Most Holy Trinity. The Apparitions
of the Angel of Peace imposed secrecy on the children. The apparitions of the
Angel were so intimate. Kneeling on the ground, the Angel bowed down until his
forehead touched the earth. Led by a supernatural impulse, the three children
did the same, and repeated the words which they heard the Angel say: “My God, I
believe, I adore, I hope and I love Thee! I beg pardon of Thee for those who do
not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee!”
The supernatural atmosphere which enveloped the children
was so intense, that they were for a long time scarcely aware of their own
existence, remaining in the same posture in which the Angel had left them, and
continually repeating the same prayer. The presence of God made itself felt so
intimately and so intensely that the children did not even venture to speak to
one another. Next day, they were still immersed in this spiritual atmosphere,
which only began to disappear.
The Angel of Peace was a Seraphim, who serves before the
presence of God, who excels in the adoration of the Most Holy Trinity! The
angelic nature, so different from human nature, caused these effects upon the
children shepherds of Fatima.
Nevertheless, when Our Lady appeared to them, they were
immersed in the same spiritual atmosphere of the presence of God, but Our
Blessed Mother communicated to them a great joy and energy, an expansive desire
to share with the people the Trinitarian love they have experienced through the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, a great conscience of their reality and the need to
attract people to God by vivid efforts of great joy! Our Lady is of human
nature. She has a resurrected body as Christ has, as she is glorified in heaven
in the presence of God the Almighty.
At the time of the first apparition of Our Lady on 13 May
1017, Lucia was 10 years old, Francisco was 8 and Jacinta was 7. During the
first apparition, Our Lady asked the children if they were willing to offer
sacrifices to God, offering them for the conversion of poor sinners, to pray
the Rosary daily and to return to that spot the thirteenth of each month for
the next six months.
Following their supernatural experiences, their fundamental
personalities remained the same. But their friendship with the Good Lord and
Mother Mary increased so much as their inner life in the presence of God raised
to the sky.
Brother Francisco and sister Jacinta with their cousin
Lucia tended to their families’ sheep in the fields of Fatima. They were
typical Portuguese village children of that time and were illiterate. The
siblings were victims of the great 1918 influenza epidemic that swept through Europe
that year. Our Lady have promised Francisco and Jacinta to take them to heaven soon,
while Lucia will stay on earth for many years to serve as Messenger and Apostle
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to communicate the Message of Fatima to the
Church.
Francisco received his First Communion on 3 April 1919 and
died at home on the next day, 4 April 1919. He had a great spiritual
development as he lived his consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The
consecration to Our Lady is the soul of the Message of Fatima, which consists
of entrusting our past, present and future existence to the Lord through Mother
Mary. This is the true realization of our baptismal promises, in which we renounce
Satan and all his works, the corrupt world, and our egocentric weaknesses, in order
to become the “new man”, the “new being” raised up to the dignity of an adopted
son of God, a true “Alter Christus”, with all that it implies. With our
consecration to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we become true
spiritual children of Mother Mary, conceived in her own heart, beating in union
with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in an ineffable harmony of loving. The
authentic consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in which we find
various levels of perfection, constitutes a real school of sanctity, a marvelous
spirituality that even today is not an exhausted subject, but on the contrary,
continues bringing forth new works dedicated to Mother Mary that diffuse
throughout the Church and the world “the marvels” contained in the heart of
such a unique Mother.
Focusing on Saint Francisco of Fatima, we can point to
several levels of consecration suggested by the story of Fatima, which are as
follows:
a. A
rejection of sin, timidity and indifference in favor of an imitation of Christ,
his virtues and teachings, through a Marian spirit of joyous acceptance of
God’s will, with all the repercussions for the human soul.
b. Francisco had a deepening in
the inner life of prayer, through the discovery of a personal God who beats
within his heart, having a desire to please “the Good Lord” even in the smallest
details so that “the fire of Our Lord burns our hearts”. This fire being of a
spiritual nature in two respects, to “console” Our Lord for all the ingratitude
and indifference with which we offend Him as much as to convey and communicate
the wave of burning love which consumes everything in grace and apostolic
dedication. As Saint Jacinta said: “to whomever I may communicate this burning
fire within my breast”. In the first respect, we find that Francisco
distinguished himself, the prophet enamored of the spiritual consolation of Our
Lord, frequently forgotten and despised by humanity. In the second respect, we
find that Jacinta distinguished herself as an untiring apostle in the
conversion of poor sinners.
c. The
highest mystical peaks can be reached as the priceless gift of the Heart of
such a Holy Mother who gives sublime gifts to her favorite children revealing
her most unimaginable treasures. Sister Lucia, Apostle of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, contemplates in Tuy, Spain, the ineffable mystery of the Most Holy
Trinity, through the Heart of Mary, receiving illuminations concerning this
mystery which she was not allowed to reveal. The total spiritual marriage
comes, the entrusting of total existence in reciprocity with Christ, making the
human soul “another beloved disciple of His”, with a love so special that it
elevates us to the category of intimate friends with Christ as “flowers placed
by Mary to adorn the throne of God”. Blessed are those who reach such a state
of spiritual perfection that persevere and triumph, for they truly become other
Mary’s, other Christ’s, adorning the Creation of the Heavenly Father with their
loving presence and saintly scent. They are the ones, more than anyone else,
that will make possible the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a definitive
triumph that is imminent in our times, the first third part of the twenty-first
century.
2. Jacinta de Jesús Marto was born 11 March 1910 in
Aljustrel. She was affectionate with a sweet singing voice and a gift for
dancing the folkloric music of Portugal. Jacinta was deeply affected by the
terrible vision of hell shown to them by Our Lady of Fatima in the third apparition
(First Part of the Secret of Fatima). She therefore was deeply convinced of the
need to save poor sinners through penance and sacrifice, as Our Lady had told
the children to do. All three children practiced penance, but Jacinta had a
special call, as the Congregation for the Causes of Saints reported about Jacinta
Marto in her beatification decree, “an insatiable hunger for immolation”.
Jacinta was a missionary who evangelized people by preaching
to them the Good news of salvation, the echo of the Gospel, the Message of Fatima,
a need to convert and do penance, to save many souls from going to hell.
Jacinta became a “victim of reparation”, a pure sacrifice united with Christ’s
Passion, Death and Resurrection, a pure oblation to the Heavenly Father, for
the reconciliation of humanity.
Reparation which becomes life-giving penance, whose principal
manifestation is the joyous acceptance of God’s will, offering Our Lord through
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our prayers, good deeds, sufferings, joys and
happiness, in other words, all our being and existence, in order for us to
become like Christ -a pure sacrifice to God the Father- so that we truly become
His disciples, carrying our crosses every day, until we can say along with St.
Paul: “I am no longer the one who lives, it is Christ who lives in me.” This is
the principal mission of Mother Mary in our lives, to mold our souls in the
image and likeness of her Divine Son. It is the essence of Mother Mary, her
“FIAT” of the joyous acceptance of God’s will: “I am the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done to unto me according to thy Word.” In the submission of Mother Mary
to God, she correctly understood as a voluntary, free and spontaneous giving up
of her own freedom, which is transformed into a loving promise with the
self-revealing Truth; resides the greatness of Mother Mary.
There is no greater honor than that to be the servant of the
servant of the Lord, because there we give up our free will which bestows human
dignity upon us, for LOVE, which will surpass all our possibilities in an
infinite and ineffable ocean of affection. As a corollary to such an attitude
towards life, mortifying acts are undertaken and sufferings offered out of love
become possible to the extent of being willing to give up even permissible
pleasures, in order to discipline ourselves spiritually and morally. Sacrifice
will root our essence in Christ, which will be the true directing center of our
lives. Rooted in Christ, our true essence, we will truly belong to Our Lord, as
effective instruments in the pursuit of his plans of salvation for modern man.
The result will not be long in waiting: “Numerous souls will convert, because many
are lost for lack of someone to pray and SACRIFICE for them” as Our Lady of
Fatima said to the three children shepherds. And after the conversion of many,
others will forsake their indifference for an authentic fervor, while those
already blessed with fervor will attain high levels of perfection.
In Fatima, Reparation is offered to us through three paths,
where Saint Jacinta excelled herself:
a. Penance,
in its dual acceptance of our submission to the will of God, which implies that
we carry on our daily cross, accepting the sufferings that God sends us, as well
as the mortifications we inflict on ourselves by voluntary privation and
sacrifice, as defined by the Angel of Peace in his second apparition to the
children;
b. Reparatory Prayer,
signifying a profound adoration of the Majesty of God which we offend with our
lack of love and which is superbly contained in the prayer by the Angel of
Fatima and addressed to the Most Holy Trinity with the purpose of “consoling
Our Good Lord, who is greatly offended”.
c. Reparatory Holy Communion,
through the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, transformed into a spiritual
banquet through the Eucharist, Our Lady of Fatima offers the Great Promise of
her Immaculate Heart, a promise of salvation made to Sister Lucia in
Pontevedra, Spain, for those she most especially loves, being Pontevedra, in
the unity of the Message of Fatima, the nerve center of such great opportunity
for men hungering for God. Through the reparatory devotion of the Five First
Saturdays of the Month, Our Lady emphasizes the major importance of the
Eucharist as the unbending pillar of Christian life, promising the grace of
final perseverance for those practicing it; peace of the world, the conversion
of poor sinners and unity and strength of the Universal Church against inner
dissention opposing the Magisterium of the Successor of Peter, a topic of the
utmost importance today in the Catholic Church.
The siblings, Francisco and
Jacinta Marto, were victims of the great 1918 influenza epidemic that swept
through Europe that year. In October 1918, Jacinta told Lucia that Our Lady had
appeared to her and promised to take them to heaven soon.
Jacinta was moved from one
hospital to another in an attempt to save her life, which she insisted was
futile. She developed purulent pleurisy and endured an operation in which two of
her ribs were removed. She could not be full anesthetized, and suffered
terrible pain, which she offered to convert many sinners. Thus, Jacinta became
“a reparatory victim”.
On 19 February 1920, she
asked the hospital chaplain who heard her confession to bring her Holy
Communion and administer Extreme Unction because she was going to die “the next
night”. He told her that her condition was not that serious and that he would
return the next day. The next day Jacinta was dead; she had died, as Our Lady
told her, “alone” in order to convert more sinners. Our Lady offered her to die
at a particular moment and our Blessed Mother will take Jacinta to heaven, or
if the child preferred, she would stay alive more days and suffer more, to save
more souls by offering her sacrifice for their conversion and salvation.
Jacinta decided to suffer more and stay alive some more time to contribute to
the Savior’s efforts for the salvation of souls.
Jacinta, before her death at
age nine, told Lucia, then a twelve- year-old girl: “When you are to say this,
don’t hide. Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate heart
of Mary, that people are to ask her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants
the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at his side. Tell them also to
pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God entrusted it to her”.
Sister Lucia wrote in her
Memoirs that Jacinta had personal visions outside of the Marian visitations,
one of them involving the Pope who prayed alone in a room while people outside shouted
ugly things and threw rocks through the window.
At another time, Jacinta saw the Pope who had gathered a
huge number of people together to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When
questioned about the Third part of the Secret of Fatima, Sister Lucia said that
the three of them had been very sad about the sufferings of the Pope, and that
Jacinta kept saying: “Poor Holy Father, I feel a lot of pity for the sinners!”
In 1937 Pope Pius XI decided that causes of canonization for
minors should not be accepted as they could not fully understand heroic virtue
or practice it repeatedly, both of which are essential for canonization. For
the next four decades, no sainthood processes for children were pursued. In 1979,
the Bishop of Leiria-Fatima, Don Alberto Cosme do Amaral, asked all the world
Bishops to write to the Pope, petitioning him to make an exception for Francisco,
who had died at age 10, and Jacinta, who had died at age 9. More than 300 bishops
sent letters to the Pope, writing that “the children were known, admired and attracted
people to the way of sanctity. Favors were received through their
intercession.” The bishops also said that the canonization of Francisco and
Jacinta was a pastoral necessity for the children and teenagers of the day.”
In 1979 the Congregation for the Causes of Saints convened
a General Assembly. Cardinals, bishops, theologians and other experts debated
whether it was possible for children to display heroic virtue. They decided that,
like the very few children who have a genius for music or mathematics, “in some
supernatural way, some children could be spiritual prodigies.”
Francisco and Jacinta were declared venerable by Pope John
Paul II in 1989. On 13 May 2000, the siblings were declared “blessed” in a
decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Jacinta and Francisco
are the youngest non-martyred children ever to be beatified. When Pope John
Paul II arrived in Fatima for the first time, in 1982, he said that he had come
“because on this exact date last year in St. Peter’s Square, in Rome, there was
an attempt on the life of your Pope, which mysteriously coincided with the
anniversary of the first apparition of Fatima, that of 13 May 1917. The
coincidence of these dates was so great that it seemed to be a special
invitation for me to come here.”
Another miracle was found to have been attributed to their
intercession and the process that investigated the miracle was validated on 8
February 2013. On 23 March 2017, it was announced that Pope Francis would
canonize them while visiting Portugal on 12 and 13 May. Pope Francis solemnly
canonized Francisco and Jacinta on 13 May 2017 during the centennial of the
first apparition of Our Lady in Fatima. They are the Catholic Church’s youngest
saints who did not die as martyrs, with Jacinta the youngest.
Lucia
de Jesus Rosa dos Santos
was born 28 March 1907 in Aljustrel and died 13 February 2005 in the Carmelite
Monastery of Coimbra in Portugal at the age of 97 years. She is in the process
of beatification. Sister Lucia was the perfect synthesis of the contemplative
and missionary schools of holiness serving as Apostle of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary and Messenger of the Message of Fatima. Her authoritative, prolific and
illuminated writings will probably will grant her from the Catholic Church the
title of Doctor of the Church when these writings are published and made known
after the scrutiny of the process of canonization.
I had the honor of knowing her and visited her three times
while investigating the Message of Fatima. Her correspondence with Saint John
Paul II, still not known publicly, was studied by me with the permission of the
Church authorities, to enhance the comprehension of the Third Part of the
Secret of Fatima, according to the wishes of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger at that time,
to welcome more works of investigation about the third part of the secret of
Fatima.
Let us put into practice the echo of the Gospel of Jesus, the
Message of Fatima, explained to us by the Immaculate Heart of Mary, “while
there is still time” as Sister Lucia wrote, before it is too late! Let us
transform our hearts with meditative prayer, penance, Eucharistic Adoration and
the Communion of Reparation, consecrating ourselves to God, through the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, in this time of grace and mercy that we have been granted from Heaven!
Now is the time for our “metanoia” following in the steps of Saint Francisco
and Saint Jacinta Marto of Fatima. ORBIS UNUS ORANS!
© Copyright: Prof. Américo Pablo López Ortiz All
rights reserved.
PRAYER:-
O God of goodness and font of holiness,
who gave Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto as lights
to illuminate the world, exalt the humble who in Your
light see the light, so that all may contemplate
the ways that lead to Your Heart.
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
Goa, India: @ Institute Piedade Chapel, Panaji
beginning at 9.45.am with talks, Adoration Mass and fellowship meal.
