St Lucia of Fatima was canonized when Sister Lcia was a child.
Sister Maria Lcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart was also known as L'cia de JesusRosa dosSantos.
Lcia was one of two children from Aljustrel who married on 19 November 1890.Maria dos Anjos had six brothers and sisters.Although peasants, the Santos family owned land in the direction of Our Lady of Ortiga, Cabeo, Charneca, and Cova da Iria.[4]:9
Lcia's actual date of birth is 28 March, even though her birthday is 22 March 1907.Because 30 March was a more convenient day, the 22nd was chosen as her birthday, and it was required that parents bring their children for baptism on the eighth day after birth or face a fine.Lcia said that at the time, no one cared about one's birthday.There are 13 words in [4]:13–14.
Lcia's father was a generous man.Lcia remembered him telling fairy tales and singing folk songs, but he was also the one who taught her to make the Sign of the Cross.He believed the children and there is evidence that he tried to get Lcia to the Cova after her mother forbade it.Lcia said that her father liked to socialize in the tavern.He didn't like Fr.He went to church in the town.note 1
Maria Rosa never taught her children to read.She liked stories and religious literature.She taught her children and the neighbor's children catechism at siesta time during the summer and Lent.After supper, catechism lessons took place around the fire.Lcia's mother said that she heard everything like a parrot.[5]:67
Fr.She was not a pretty child according to De Marchi.Her two great black eyes, which looked out from under thick eyebrows, were the only attractions of her face.Her hair was cut in the center over her shoulders.Her mouth was large and her nose was flat.[6]
Lcia had a gift for narration.She had a talent for writing songs with secular and sacred lyrics."In Heaven, I'll Be With My Mother", "I Love God in Heaven" and "Lady of Carmel" are some of the songs she invented as a child.She set to music the words of the brief prayer she said had been taught to her and her cousins by an angel.I ask forgiveness for those who don't believe or love You.In her memoirs, she wrote a poem about Jacinta.[8]
Lcia's First Communion took place at six years of age.The parish priest initially refused because of her age.Father Cruz, a Jesuit missionary from Lisbon, interviewed Lcia after finding her in tears and concluded that she understands what she's doing better than many of the others.Lcia was admitted to Holy Communion because of this intervention.The statue smiled at her after she prayed before the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary.Lcia felt "bathed in such a supernatural atmosphere that the presence of our dear Lord became as clearly visible to me as if I had seen and heard Him with my bodily senses."Lcia had a deep impact on her.I lost the attraction for the things of the world and only felt at home in a place where I could remember the delights of my first communion.[5]:72– 73.
At eight years of age she was tending the family's sheep with other boys and girls of the village.[2]
Between May and October 1917, Lcia and her cousins reported visions of a lady who they believed to be the Virgin Mary, in the Cova da Iria fields outside the hamlet of Aljustrel, near Ftima, Portugal.The children said the visits took place on the 13th day of each month for six months.The children were held by the local administrator in August.They did not report a vision of the Lady until after they were released from jail.
Lcia said the lady told the children to do penance and to make sacrifice to save sinners.Lcia said that the lady wanted to bring peace to the world.Many young Portuguese men, including relatives of the visionaries, were fighting in World War I.Mary asked Lcia to learn to read and write because Jesus wanted her to convey messages to the world about Mary.
Lcia's mother didn't like the idea that her youngest daughter was making up lies to get attention.Lcia was beaten and ridiculed by her mother.Lcia was asked to learn to read and write.7]:72
The children are said to have been given three secrets by the lady on 13 July 1917.Two of the secrets were revealed in 1941 in a document written by Lcia, partly to assist with the publication of a book on Jacinta.[13]:199
A huge blood-red beam of light, described as a curtain of fire, appeared in the skies over Europe and was visible as far away as Gibraltar.Lcia believed this event was the "night illuminated by a strange light in the sky" which she had heard Mary speak about as part of the Second Secret, predicting the events which would lead to the World War and requesting Acts of Reparation.
Lcia was not convinced that God had clearly authorized her to act when she was asked to reveal the third secret.She was torn between obeying her superiors or the personal orders she had heard from Mary.For a time she thought she was going to die after falling ill with the same illness that killed her cousins.She was told to put the third secret in writing.Lcia sealed the secret in an envelope so it wouldn't be opened until 1960.She thought that by 1960 it would appear clearer.Pope John Paul II released the text of the third secret in 2000.The 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II was described by the Vatican as a vision.[17]
An estimated seventy thousand witnesses were present for the sixth and final apparition, as the visions received wide publicity.Lcia had promised that the lady would perform a miracle on that day.The Sun appeared to change colors and rotate like a fire wheel as witnesses reported in the Cova da Iria, as well as some up to 40 km away.The Sun appeared to plunge towards the Earth, frightening many into believing that it was the end of the world.Others said they had just witnessed an eclipse.The popular expression was that the Sun "danced".The event became known as the Miracle of the Sun.The Portuguese secular media reported on the episode.The New York Times had some coverage on 17 October 1917.Lcia reported that the Lady identified herself as Our Lady of the Rosary.She became known as Our Lady of Ftima.
On 13 October 1930, Bishop Da Silva approved the visions asworthy of belief.[21]
Lcia was admitted to the school of the Sisters of St.Dorothy in Vilar at the age of 14 after moving to Porto in 1921.She was a postulant at the Institute of the Sisters of St.Dorothy in Pontevedra, Spain, just across the northern Portuguese border.Lcia received the name "Sister Maria das Dores" (Mary of the Sorrows) after giving her first vows on 3 October 1928.
She lived in the convent of Santa Teresa in Coimbra until her death after receiving permission from the pope to be relieved of her vows.Sister Maria Lcia became a Discalced Carmelite on May 31, 1949.
Lcia was expected toverse as little as possible with persons from without, even with their nearest relatives, unless their conversation was spiritual, and even then it should be very brief.Some people, such as Fr., have been led by this.There is a conspiracy to cover up the Ftima message and silence Lcia.It has been claimed that the real Sr. Lcia was kidnapped or killed in the late 1950s or early 1960s to suppress the Third Secret of Fatima.[ 24]
She came back to Ftima on the occasion of four papal pilgrimages, the first of which was by Paul VI in 1967.She came back to Ftima to visit the church.
Sister Lcia wrote six memoirs.Fatima in Lucia's Own Words is the English translation of the first four books.Fatima in Lucia's Own Words II is the name of the fifth and sixth memoirs.She wrote these books in her own handwriting.
The Vatican announced on December 5, 2001 that there was an additional book called "Calls from the Message of Fatima" that was published in 2001.[25]
Sister Lcia wrote many letters to clergy and lay people who were curious about the Third Secret of Ftima and her interpretation of what she had heard from Virgin Mary.She said that Our Lady's request had been fulfilled in two letters she supposedly wrote.The material written by Sister Lcia is now held by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.[28]
Sister Lcia had been sick and blind for a long time before she died.She passed away at the convent of Santa Teresa in Coimbra.10
Pope John Paul II said on the day of her funeral that she would go to heaven.In Portugal, 15 February 2005 was declared a day of national mourning and even campaigning for the parliamentary election was interrupted.The Portuguese press covered Sister Lcia's polling place visits because she was a registered voter.There is a citation needed.