VATICAN CITY — As extraordinary as the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, nearly 100 years ago were, the sanctity of the shepherd children did not hinge on their having seen Mary, a cardinal said.
"The apparition of the Virgin Mary was an occasion, but it has nothing to do with or has not influenced the reason" Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta Marto will be declared saints, Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, told Catholic News Service.
"It was the children's heroism in their lives, their life of prayer, their turning to God that was truly holy," he said.
The Vatican announced April 11 that Pope Francis has convened cardinals living in Rome for a consistory April 20 to approve the canonizations of the two Fatima children.
With the approval of a miracle attributed to their intercession and the announcement of the consistory, many people are hoping Pope Francis will preside over the canonization ceremony during his visit to Fatima May 12-13.
The pope's pilgrimage will mark the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions, which began May 13, 1917, when 9-year-old Francisco and 7-year-old Jacinta, along with their cousin Lucia dos Santos, reported seeing the Virgin Mary. The apparitions continued once a month until Oct. 13, 1917, and later were declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church.
A year after the apparitions, both of the Marto children became ill during an influenza epidemic. Francisco died April 4, 1919, at the age of 10, while Jacinta succumbed to her illness Feb. 20, 1920, at the age of 9.
As the prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes from 1998 to 2008, Cardinal Saraiva Martins oversaw the process that led to the beatification of Jacinta and Francisco Marto by St. John Paul II in 2000.
Cardinal Saraiva Martins told CNS that the process leading up to the beatification was stalled for decades and wasn't easy because of a general assumption that children "do not have the capacity to practice Christian virtue in a heroic way."
The church's declaration of heroic sanctity, he added, "is fundamental for beatification."
While he knew the children's devotion to the Eucharist and to Our Lady of Fatima were well-known, the cardinal said one specific event during the apparitions left him "convinced" of their holiness.
At the time of the apparitions, the Portuguese government was strongly anti-Catholic. Artur Santos, mayor of the town where Fatima was located and president of the Masonic lodge of nearby Leiria, sent law enforcement officials to block the entry to the site of the apparitions.
He also kidnapped the three children to force them to deny Mary was appearing at Fatima after news of the apparitions spread, the cardinal said.
Santos separated Jacinta and Francisco from Lucia, telling the two children that their cousin was boiled in hot oil and that they would share the same fate if they didn't say they didn't see Our Lady and that "it was all a fantasy," Cardinal Saraiva Martins said.
"What was the response of those two children? 'You can do what you want but we cannot tell a lie. We have seen her (Our Lady),'" the cardinal said.
"I asked myself, 'How many adults would have done the same?'" the cardinal said. "Maybe 90 percent of adults would probably say, 'Yes, of course, it was a lie, it was all a fairy tale.'"
While the fact that the apparitions of Mary contributed to their sanctity "is evident and obvious," Cardinal Saraiva Martins said, it was Blesseds Francisco and Jacinta's "personal holiness that counts."
"They were beatified because their heroic virtue was historically established; to prefer death rather than to say a lie," he said. "For me, that fact of having preferred death instead of telling a lie, that is a heroic act. As I said before, an adult would probably not be able to do that."
— Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service
DETROIT — She has already inspired millions, and millions more still come to see her.
The International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima has attracted countless pilgrims over the decades, and from July 24-31, 12 sites across the Archdiocese of Detroit hosted the world-famous statue that continues to inspire hope for the world.
Statue custodian Patrick Sabat, who is traveling with the statue on its national tour organized by the World Apostolate of Fatima, has had a front-row seat to the spiritual, emotional impact Mary has on the faithful who come to pray for her intercession.
"It's so overwhelming to see the happiness people have about seeing the statue," said Sabat, who's been the statue's full-time custodian since 2008. "They're moved to go to confession for the first time in a long time. I met a guy who had shoulder pain for years, carried the statue in 2009 when the statue was in the Archdiocese of Detroit; I met him years later, and he said his shoulder doesn't hurt anymore."
Touring with the apostolate, Sabat has countless stories of conversion, revivals of faith and relationships mended from the people who have venerated the statue that was built in 1946 and blessed by the bishop of Fatima, Portugal, on Oct. 13, 1947, 30 years after the "Great Miracle of the Sun" in Fatima, Portugal.
According to documented accounts, on that day, torrential rains stopped, the clouds broke and the sun appeared in the sky, as predicted by the three Portuguese shepherd children to whom Mary appeared in 1917. The children reported she appeared to them six times between May 13 and Oct. 13 of that year.
The statue is "a magnificent work of art," Sabat told The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Detroit. "It's the first statue where Lucia said, 'Of all the images of the Blessed Mother, this is the one I like the best.' You really can't get more of an endorsement than that."
Devotions to Our Lady of Fatima and her message of penance, prayer and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary have spread worldwide since Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto saw Mary in Fatima. Since then, pilgrims have traveled great distances to catch a glimpse of the statue, including Karen Weber and Kathy Snyder, who came from Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Grand Rapids to view the statue at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth July 27.
"I did the Marian '33 Days to Morning Glory' consecration through my parish, and I completed it on May 13," said Weber, who was visiting her daughter, a Dominican sister in Ann Arbor, before making the trip.
"It seems like the eyes are looking right at you," Weber said. "With our world going crazy right now, it's good to remind ourselves of Fatima's message. Muhammad's daughter was named Fatima, and the Dominican nuns are praying for peace between Muslims and Christians. We need to educate people about the prophesies of Fatima."
In addition to attracting visitors from outside the area, the statue's visit offered local parishioners a chance to see a world-famous icon in their parochial backyards.
"Having the statue here means we have the opportunity to spend time with Mary, to pray for our community, the world," said Father Giancarlo Ghezzi, pastor of All Saints Parish in Detroit, where the statue stopped July 26.
"This is great for the community; we have people from the city coming from all over to our parish," said Father Ghezzi, a priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. "It's a famous statue, renown throughout the world, and people want to give homage. Mary asked for prayer, sacrifice and conversion. These are Christian values we must live every day."
Those with special devotions to Mary had a chance to get up close and personal with the statue.
"When you look at it, it's a statue, but you see much more in person," Charles Greenwood, a Christ the King parishioner in Ann Arbor, told The Michigan Catholic during the statue's visit at Our Lady of Good Counsel. "Fatima has always had a special part in my life. My wife is in a wheelchair; through the ups and downs, through all the surgeries, Fatima has always been a big help. She's such a big part of our lives."
As the statue traveled through the archdiocese, thousands of locals relished the chance for their own personal, intimate moment with Mary.
"I was here for when St. Maria Goretti's body was displayed," said Jim Patton, Our Lady of Good Counsel parishioner. "But this is different, this is amazing. I'm praying for my wife with dementia, so I prayed a rosary in the presence of the statue. I wanted to be here, with just being who she is. I asked her to intercede through Jesus on my wife's behalf."
— Dan Meloy, Catholic News Service