Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto

Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto were a brother and sister, shepherd children of the Portuguese hamlet of Aljustrel near Fátima, to whom, together with their cousin Lúcia, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared six times in the year 1917. Francisco, born in 1908, and Jacinta, born in 1910, were simple, devout children who, after seeing the vision, gave themselves wholeheartedly to prayer and sacrifice for the conversion of sinners, as Our Lady had asked.

Francisco loved above all to console the hidden Jesus of the Eucharist, spending long hours in silent prayer before the tabernacle, while the younger Jacinta was consumed with compassion for sinners and for the Holy Father. Both fell victim to the great influenza epidemic that swept Europe: Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta in 1920, offering their sufferings to God with serene courage as the Lady had foretold. The youngest non-martyrs ever canonized, they were declared saints by Pope Francis at Fátima in 2017, and their memory is kept on 20 February.