|
The Small Seers
of Fatima
Will Soon a Raised to the Altars
N. B.: This article was compiled
from the decree of June 28th, 1999 of the Congregation for the Cause of
Saints and from a very detailed article by Father Louis KONDOR, Vice-postulator
of the Cause of beatification of the two children, published in the Catholic
Portuguese weekly newspaper: "A ORDEM", of June 3rd,
1999.
The
Venerable Servants of God, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, will be beatified
the 13th of May of this year: On May 13th, 1989, they had been
pronounced Venerable after the promulgation of the decree of their heroic
virtues, which means that on that day the Church approved of private
devotion to them. For the beatification, that is, for the permission,
in certain places, of their public
cult, Canon Law requires that there be scientific proof of a miracle obtained
through their intercession.
After a meticulous examination
of Maria Emilia SANTOS - performed in Rome under the direction of Professors
Machiarelli, Romanini and Santoro the healing of this woman was unanimously
recognized as having no medical explanation, during a reunion of the Medical
Council of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints, on January 2811,
1999, presided by Professor Rafael Cortesini.
The case was then submitted to
examination by the Consulting Theologians, on May 17th 1999,
then to a judgment of the regular Session of Cardinals and Bishops from
the aforesaid Congregation on June 22nd, 1999.
In both cases, a positive response
was given, affirming that, in fact, what we have here is a divine miracle.
Finally, a decree from the Congregation
for the Cause of Saints, recognizing Maria Emilia Santos' recovery as
a miracle of God obtained through the intercession of the two shepherd
children of Fatima, was promulgated, by order of the Holy Father, on June
28th, 1999. This decree renders possible, in a brief period
of time, the beatification of the two little children who will become
henceforth the youngest to be beatified in the entire modern history of
the Church. This title previously belonged to Saint Dominic Savio, who
died a little before 15 years of age (1).
Maria Emilia Santos, a Portuguese
from the village of Leiria, was not quite 16 years old when, in October
of 1946, she was admitted to the hospital for an illness which at first
seemed to be a case of the flu accompanied with a strong fever.
After two months in the hospital,
she was told it must be rheumatic fever. She never since felt well and
she had difficulty working. Two years later she had severe pains in her
legs, which prevented her from walking.
She stayed 17 months at the hospital
in Leiria, and from there was transferred to the Sanatorium of Outao where
she remained for 28 months. She was operated on the vertebral column and
knees and returned to her home, without any improvement whatsoever.
Ten years passed, during which
her state worsened. When she arrived at the point of neither being capable
to move about nor support the pain, she was taken to an orthopedist who
advised immediate hospitalization at Coimbra or Lisbon.
She refused, being exhausted with
all medicines and hospitals, but eight days later, her condition becoming
worse, she was admitted in urgency to the hospital of the University of
Coimbra. She then submitted anew to an operation of the vertebral column,
which aggravated her state. She became paraplegic.
Considering her weakness, she was
transferred to the Health Center of Alcoitao where, with exercises, she
was able to recuperate the movement in her hands. They told her that
her problem was incurable and she returned home.
After contracting a fever, she
was once again admitted to the hospital at Leiria on January 8<th,
1978, where she received medical care for the next six years, and from
there was transferred to the Saint Francis Residence.
From that time until 1987, she
neither consulted a doctor nor took any special medicines, except for
analgesics when the pains were very severe. All this time she was flat
on her back in bed, with total insensibility from the waist down.
She was capable only of moving
the head and the hands. She prayed, she sang, she cried and she embroidered
lace, but the discouragement, the painful suffering, and the great difficulty
in accepting her situation gave rise to, as she herself admitted, her
becoming irritable and snubbing those who served her and who only wished
to do her good.
She was transferred one day by
ambulance (with great difficulty because of the pains which she suffered,
particularly when she was moved) to follow a retreat given for the sick,
at Fatima.
It was at this time that she began
to have a strong devotion to the little shepherd children of Fatima and
to constantly make novenas to them. She would finish one novena and two
or three days later would begin another. This continued until March 25th,
1987.
On that day, in her room, after
having recited the rosary and the novena, she said: "Little Jacinta,
now there is only one day left of the novena and still nothing . . . ".
And right away, she felt the sensation of pins and needles in her feet,
as well as so much heat that she was frightened.
Because she was totally insensible
from her waist to her feet, she asked herself if she wasn't losing her
mind. But the pins and needles and the heat augmented, and at the same
time she heard a child's voice saying: "Sit up, because your are
able." As she did nothing, the voice repeated the same words,
which however, she had to hear a third time when, in one spurt, she threw
off the covers and sat up in bed.
After the first moment of shock
had passed, she was thinking that, on the following day, no one would
believe her if she told them that she had sat up by herself, since that
same morning she had unceasingly cried out in pain while being washed.
It occurred to her to call one
of the employees on watch. She rang the bell and called, but apparently
she had trouble speaking. Because of this, when the employee arrived in
the room, which was in darkness, and asked what she wanted, she had to
repeat several times that the light be turned on. Once the light was on,
the employee, terrified, began to cry out on seeing her sitting up in
bed. She went in search of the directress and the other women so that
all would see. There was a great commotion throughout the residence.
After this event, Maria Emilia
Santos began to use a wheelchair, still continuing to ask the shepherd
children for help to be able to stand up. That moment arrived on February
20th, 1989, the anniversary day of the death
of Jacinta. She arose from her wheelchair, tried to bend her knees, felt
no pain whatsoever and began to walk.
Today, more than ten years later,
she continues to move about without difficulty and is able to lead a normal
life.
1) Jacinta and Francisco MARTO
will be THE FIRST NON-MARTYRED CHILDREN TO BE BEATIFIED BY THE CHURCH.
Francisco was born on June 11th, 1908 and died on April 4th,
1919, at 10 years, 9 months and 25 days of age. Jacinta was born on March
11th, 1910 and died on February 20th, 1920 at 9 years, 11 months
and 9 days of age.
Up until the cause for beatification
of Jacinta and Francisco, the Sacred Congregation for the Cause of Saints
systematically "filed in the archives'' all the processes
concerning non-martyred children, being that it seemed difficult to
establish heroism in their virtues.
The process of Jacinta and Francisco,
opened at Leiria on December 21st 1949 and passed
on to Rome in 1979, has led the Sacred Congregation to re-examine this
question, which has finally been favorably resolved by the Official of
this Congregation, Mgr. Casieri.
Thus, on May 13th,
1989 were published the decrees of the heroic virtues of Francisco and
Jacinta Marto.
This change in conduct of the Sacred
Congregation is all to the honor and glory of the two shepherd children,
because it recognized the immense generosity of their spirit of penance
and sacrifice, and their heroism in the practice of mortification; it
also confirms, indirectly, the veracity of the Apparitions of Fatima,
because to recognize the heroism in the virtues of the two little visionaries
is to imply that they were the first to apply to themselves what Our Lady
said in the message of Fatima, and to put it into practice, as Sister
Lucy so well remarked to Father Fuentes on December 26th,
1957:
“: . . My cousins, Francisco
and Jacinta, have sacrificed themselves because they saw the Most Holy
Virgin very sad in all her apparitions. She never smiled with us and this
sadness, this anguish that we noticed in her because of the offenses against
God and the chastisements which endangered sinners, penetrated our souls
and we knew nothing else but to invent in our little infantile imaginations
ways to pray and to make sacrifices ( . .). The other thing that sanctified
the children was the vision of Hell (. . .)."(cf. Brother
Francis of Mary of the Angels: "Fatima, Profound Joy, World Event"
CRC 2nd French edition - December 1993 p. 131 and 140, in the
notes. For the citing of Father Fuentes, p. 284.)
On November 17th, 1935,
Sister Lucy wrote a letter to Mgr. Da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, thanking
him for sending her a photograph of the incorrupt face of Jacinta, photograph
taken at the exhumation of the mortal remains of the little visionary.
She wrote these beautiful words about Jacinta:
"I hope that Our Lord, for
the glory of the Most Holy Virgin, will grant to her the halo of the saints.
She was a child only in age. She already knew how to practice virtue
and to show her love for God and the Most Holy Virgin through sacrifices.
To her companionship, I owe
in part the conserving of my innocence. It is admirable how she understood
the spirit of prayer and sacrifice which the Most Holy Virgin demanded
of us." (op. cit. p. 251 -Annex: The transferal of the mortal
remains of Jacinta.)
It is touching to note that Francisco
and Jacinta were declared Venerable together, and will be beatified together:
in fact, the two of them form a harmonious ensemble because, though the
two spiritual physiognomies are very different, they are also very complementary,
and depend directly on the apparitions and the words of Our Lady.
Sister Lucy has resumed in a single
sentence of her Fourth Memory the difference in vocation of the two cousins:
"While Jacinta seemed preoccupied with the sole thought
of converting sinners and preserving souls from Hell, Francisco
seemed to think only of consoling Our Lord and Our Lady who had
appeared to him so sorrowful. "
|
