Tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims braved cold and rainy weather on Sunday to pay their final respects to the last of three shepherd children who said they had seen the Virgin Mary in Portugal in Sister Lucia, the last of the three, died a year ago and on Sunday her remains were moved to her last resting place in the Shrine of Fatima—where they saw visions of the Virgin which have become some of the most important in the Catholic Church. They had come from all over Portugal and the world.
Sister Lucia died a year ago, aged 97, at her Carmelite convent in Coimbra where she had been buried until now. She had wished to be buried at the convent for a year before being removed to Fatima. Jacinta died in and Francisco in in an influenza pandemic. Lucia dos Santos, who said she and her cousins first saw the Virgin on an oak tree on May 13, , died on Feb. The children said the Virgin appeared six times and witnesses said an estimated 50, people saw bright lights and rainbow colors at her last appearance.
Dos Santos, who became a nun after having the visions, also said she had a vision that foretold the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul on May 13, Only in did the Vatican reveal this third prophecy - rather conveniently, according to lesser believers - suggesting that it referred to the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peter's Square in The date of the attempt, May 13 - the same as that on which the little shepherds had first seen their apparition back in - added credibility to the theory, and the Pope subsequently visited the shrine at Fatima to give thanks for his survival.
He took with him one of the gunman's 9mm bullets, which he placed in the crown of the Virgin's statue. The Pope often made it clear that he believed Lucia's visions had saved his life. It seems likely that she, too, will be beatified after the appropriate passing of years. Sister Lucia, who had been deaf, blind and ailing for several years, died in her room in the Carmelite convent of Santa Teresa in the city of Coimbra, where she had lived since The Pope visited her there in The initial hostility to her accounts from Portuguese clergy drove Lucia to a convent school in Oporto in , and then to a novitiate in Spain, where she took the name Lucia de Jesus on her ordination in Two decades later, she transferred to Coimbra.
After initial burial in the convent grounds, her remains are expected to be transferred to the shrine of Fatima, close to where she saw her visions, the last of which reportedly attracted 50, onlookers, with millions visiting since.
Portugal declared a day of mourning for Sister Lucia, and campaigning for next Sunday's general election was suspended for two days.
Sister Lucia dos Santos. Portuguese nun whose childhood visions of the Virgin Mary entranced Catholics worldwide. Topics Religion Catholicism obituaries. Reuse this content.
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