VATICAN CITY — The Diocese of Coimbra concluded its phase of the sainthood cause of Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three children who saw Our Lady of Fatima in 1917.
Bishop Virgilio Antunes of Coimbra formally closed the local phase of investigation into her life and holiness Feb. 13 in the Carmelite convent of St. Teresa in Coimbra, where she resided until her death in 2005 at the age of 97.
The ceremony included the sealing of 50 volumes -- 15,000 pages -- of evidence and witness testimonies detailing the life of Sister Lucia. The documents sealed at the ceremony were to be shipped to the Congregation for Saints' Causes at the Vatican.
After a thorough review of the materials and a judgment that Sister Lucia heroically lived the Christian virtues, her cause still would require the recognition of two miracles -- one for beatification and another for canonization -- attributed to her intercession.
The Marian apparitions at Fatima began on May 13, 1917, when 10-year-old Lucia, along with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, 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.
Father Romano Gambalunga, postulator of the visionary's cause, said that while "Lucia is already a saint in the eyes" of many people, "the prudent path of the church is that she is proposed to all, not just those who believe."
"Lucia became holy over the years, not because of the apparitions," Father Gambalunga told Agencia Ecclesia, the news agency of the Portuguese bishops' conference.
While many hope her heroic virtues will be recognized by the church soon, it is important "not to do things in a hurry," he said Feb. 13.
The evidence and testimonies gathered for Sister Lucia's cause, he said, provide "a great occasion for spiritual and theological deepening," and the material will help "illuminate the history of the church over the last 100 years."
Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Fatima May 12-13 and many people hope he will use the occasion to canonize Sister Lucia's cousins, Francisco and Jacinta, who were beatified by St. John Paul II in 2000.
Bishop Antonio Marto of Leiria-Fatima told Radio Renascenca, the Portuguese bishops' radio station, that while nothing is certain, he is "deeply hopeful" the canonization will take place this year, the centenary of the apparitions.
"We are waiting and continue to pray to the Lord. But I hope that, during the centenary, we will have the grace and joy to participate in the canonization," he said.
Bishop Marto also admitted that "he is a convert," who, as a priest, was initially skeptical of the Marian apparitions in Fatima.
"I was a skeptic. I didn't care; I did not take an interest nor did I take a position. I understood it as something for children," Bishop Marto said.
The skepticism changed into belief after attending a conference on the apparitions and reading Sister Lucia's memoirs, he told the radio station. "I was deeply impressed, both by the authenticity of the testimony she gave and by the seriousness of the problems she dealt with. I read her memoirs three times to find the historical and ecclesial context" of the apparitions.
— Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service
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