As in most small villages in the early years of the century, the parish church was the center of life and faith in Fatima. It was here that the three child seers were baptised and it was here that Lucy made her first confession at six years of age. The kindly priest who heard her confession told her to consecrate herself to the Blessed Virgin and this she immediately did in front of the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary. The following day she took Holy Communion for the first time. Jacinta, too, frequently came to pray here. Once on the feast of the Ascension, Our Lady appeared to her and taught her how to pray the Rosary.
In her memoirs, Sister Lucy writes of Francisco:
“From time to time, [he] would say: ‘Our Lady told us that we would have much to suffer, but I don’t mind. I’ll suffer all that She wishes! What I want is to go to Heaven’
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