Today is the 19th anniversary of the death of Sister Lucia,[1] the last remaining of the three children to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917. As reported in Portuguese newspapers at the time, Lucia believed that the 13th of every month belonged to Our Lady of Fatima, and therefore, she prayed that she would die on the 13th of the month and was granted that gift on February 13, 2005.
She died with the assurance of eternal salvation given to her by Our Lady of Fatima when She appeared to the children on May 13, 1917 – the first apparition.
On June 13, Lucia again asked Our Lady (also on behalf of her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco) to take them to Heaven. While assuring her cousins that they would be taken soon, Lucia was told that she would remain on earth for a while longer.
Our Lady told her: “Jesus wishes to make use of you to make Me known and loved. He wants to establish in the world devotion to My Immaculate Heart. To whoever embraces this devotion I promise salvation; these souls shall be dear to God, as flowers placed by Me to adorn His throne.”
The child Lucia failed to immediately recognize the tremendous grace and gift she was receiving. She was sad that she would be left behind without her cousins. But our gentle Heavenly Mother, instead of being offended at the child’s reaction, consoled Lucia and assured her that She would not abandon her, stating – “My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.”
We can be in no doubt that Our Lady kept Her promise. But those words of Our Lady were not just for Lucia, they are also for us. They comprise the heart and central focus of the Message of Fatima.
Thank you, Sister Lucia, for heeding the will of God and the sacrifices you endured for His glory and honor and the salvation souls. Requiescat in pace.
We encourage everyone to pray that Sister Lucia will one day be formally canonized. We are firmly convinced that this will happen when the Church sees better times, most likely during the era of peace which Our Lady prophesied will occur after Russia is consecrated correctly to Her Immaculate Heart, the Third Secret is fully revealed, and Her Immaculate Heart triumphantly reigns and is venerated alongside the Sacred Heart of Her Son.
For more information on Sister Lucia, the silencing of her as messenger of Our Lady of Fatima, and what she said about the contents of the Third Secret, see the book entitled Sister Lucia: Apostle of Mary’s Immaculate Heart (at https://fatima.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Sister-Lucy-sm.pdf).
A brief biography of Sister Lucia is also available at https://fatima.org/about/fatima-the-facts/the-three-child-seers/.
[1] The Fatima Center is aware that controversy does exist as to whether or not it was truly Sister Lucia who died on February 13, 2005. Nevertheless, we take this date as an opportunity to remember her. If, in fact, she died on another day, we would have no way of knowing it – and then sadly there would be no anniversary day on which to commemorate her nor an historical day to become her feast day once she is formally canonized, which we are convinced will happen someday.