Saint of the day February 20, 2025

Francisco and Jacinta were the youngest siblings of 7 in a poor Portuguese family. As World War I tore the continent apart and as countless men never returned to their families, they cared for the family’s flock of sheep and played with their friends. Francisco was a calm and quiet boy, who, if not particularly pious, did share easily, and loved animals, even lizards and snakes (his mom, it should be noted, didn’t appreciate this last trait as much as the others!) Jacinta was full of affection and admiration for her older cousin Lucia and loved to dance, entertain, and collect flowers for those she loved. But, her more feisty temperament could also lead her to pout and mope if not allowed to play with the bigger kids or take care of the sheep (for which she had carefully named each one!)

On one ordinary day, before these ordinary children, an ordinary angel appeared. The world needed a message from God and these were His chosen messengers. He called himself the Angel of Peace, and he was entrusted with God’s solution to the hatred and violence that plagued the world. It was a simple one, the same one that Jesus had shown us: “Make of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners.” Perhaps more concretely, the angel offered these children an easy prayer that would help them to do this: “My God, I believe, adore, hope, and love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You.”

This simple request would be the seed of sanctity for these young people. They began to make sacrifices every day: kneeling for their prayers, sacrificing some of their food, enduring the incomprehension of their family as well as ridicule and persecution from authorities who had long since forgotten God and considered the ruckus these kids were fomenting to be a distraction from the real problems of the world. Word had gotten out now that Mary was appearing to them each month and many were flocking to try and see what was happening.

It was 1916 and Francisco and Jacinta had yet to receive their first Holy Communion. God was going to change that. In August of 1916, the Angel came again, holding a chalice and the bleeding Eucharist. He taught them another prayer: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.” And then He gave them each Holy Communion.

Each child would continue to make sacrifices in their own unique way. Francisco and Jacinta would both fall victim to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, enduring, and offering up, terrible sufferings for sinners as the doctors struggled to treat them. Francisco prayed many rosaries and examined his conscience carefully, knowing his lackluster piety as a little boy. He was given the Last Rites before he died, receiving the Eucharist for the second time. Jacinta offered up in particular the times she was all alone, a particular sadness for someone as lively and loving as her. She loved it when Lucia visited her after receiving Holy Communion for she knew she was close to Jesus who dwelt in her cousin but when she asked the priest for Holy Communion for herself he demurred. She died having only ever received the Blessed Sacrament from the hand of an angel.

Pope John Paul II beatified Francisco and Jacinta on May 13, 2000, and they were canonized in May 2017, the centenary year of the apparitions at Fatima.

Reflection

Mary brought a message of hope in God to all of us through these children. At the canonization of St. Francisco and St. Jacinta in 2017, Pope Francis reminded us, “God created us to be a source of hope for others.” We should pray the rosary for peace in our world today. Millions of people still come to pray at the shrine at Fatima each year.
We can only delight in the way that God’s grace was given to these little kids. Each of their temperaments, with their strengths and weaknesses, were exactly where God worked to ask their self-offering, and to offer Himself to them in turn. God wants the same for us! He can only bring His Kingdom of Peace to the world through a child.