Sister Lucia dos Santos

The greatest seer of Fatima (1917)

The greatest of the three pastoralists of Fatima, whom the Virgin asked to pray the rosary every day for the peace of the world; then she lived almost a century as a Carmelite, guarding the message.

Who was that?

Lucía dos Santos was born on March 22, 1907 in Aljustrel, along with Fatima, in a humble peasant family. He was a pastoralist and, with his cousins Francis and Jacinta Marto, he took care of the flock. After the apparitions he studied with the Doroteas Sisters and entered the Carmel of Santa Teresa de Coimbra, where he professed as a barefoot Carmelite in 1949 and lived until his death on 13 February 2005. The Holy See declared it venerable on 22 June 2023.

The apparitions

On May 13, 1917, while looking after the sheep in the Cova da Iria, the three children saw a Lady "brighter than the sun." The apparitions were repeated on the 13th of each month, from May to October 1917. As a major of the group, Lucia was the one who spoke with the Virgin and conveyed her words; her Memories, written years later, are the main source of Fatima's message.

The words of the Virgin

The Lady asked them if they wanted to offer themselves to God to bear suffering in reparation for sins, and asked them: "Pray the rosary every day to achieve peace for the world and the end of war." In the apparition of July 13, he entrusted them with the so-called "three secrets" - a vision of hell and a call to devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary -, announcing that war would end, but that a worse one would come if humanity did not stop offending God. Our Lady asked for prayer, penance and sacrifices for sinners. The tradition of Fatima then associates Lucia with the request for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart and the devotion of the first five Saturdays.

Anecdotes and afterlife

The sources describe it with good character, common sense and sense of humor. He lived in great reserve and closure, transforming his experience into a long life of prayer, and wrote his Memories and other texts on the message of Fatima. He died in Coimbra at the age of 97, being the last living witness to the apparitions.

Fruit

The message of Fatima throughout the world prompted the prayer of the rosary, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the spirit of penance for the conversion of sinners; the Cova da Iria is today a great Marian sanctuary.