Lucia of Fatima Dies at 97
LISBON (Reuters)
- Lucia
de Jesus dos Santos, the last of three children who claimed
to see the Virgin at Fatima
and who revealed a vision the Catholic Church said foretold the
attempt to kill Pope John Paul, died on Sunday, the Church said.
Dos Santos, 97, who later became a nun, was the eldest of the shepherd
children who in 1917 told of seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary
six times.
She died at her Carmelite convent at Coimbra in central Portugal.
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Prioress of Convent
Remembers Sister Lucia
| COIMBRA, Portugal, FEB. 21,
2005 (Zenit.org).-
Sister Lucia was the "jewel" of the Carmelite convent
of Coimbra, but within its walls she lived exactly like the
other women religious, says the prioress.
"Age had made her very frail and the doctor advised her
not to catch cold, so she heard Mass from her cell and we
took her Communion," said the prioress, Sister Maria
Celina of Jesus Crucified, in an interview on the program
"Ecclesia" broadcasted by the agency of the same
name.
Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart, the
last witness of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917,
died Feb. 13 in St. Teresa's Carmelite convent in Coimbra,
where she had lived since 1948. She was 97.
According to the prioress, "In these last days, especially
since June 15, one of us was always with her, 24 hours a day.
She became much more intimate, from this point of view,"
something that "occurs with all sisters who are dying,
because -- none has yet died suddenly -- when they are in
need of our help, there is a greater bond."
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Other Fatima Visionaries
Move Closer to Canonization
| FATIMA, Portugal, FEB. 22, 2005
(Zenit.org).-
The bishop of Leiria-Fatima announced the conclusion of the
diocesan process for the canonization of the shepherds Jacinta
and Francisco Marto, who saw the apparitions of Our Lady in
1917.
The third visionary of Fatima, Sister Lucia, died Feb. 13
at age 97.
Jacinta and Francisco were beatified May 13, 2000, the day
of the anniversary of the Fatima apparitions.
"I can affirm that on February 19 the so-called 'positio'
was handed in for the canonization of Jacinta and Francisco
Marto," said Bishop Serafim Ferreira e Silva announced
Sunday during a liturgical celebration of Blessed Jacinta
and Francisco, in the Fatima Shrine, according to the agency
Ecclesia.
At the end of the celebration, Bishop Ferreira e Silva explained
that the closing of the "position" means "that
the documentary process is complete, translated into Italian,
definitively closed and handed to His Eminence the cardinal
prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes.
"From now on, it will be subjected to the judgment of
cardinals and doctors. The final judgment is the Pope's decision."
Story
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Papal assailant
calls on Vatican to reveal all of Fatima secret
| ROME (CNS)
-- The man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, jailed Turkish
terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, has called on the Vatican to reveal
what he claims are undisclosed elements of the secret of Fatima.
Agca made the request in an "Open Letter to the Vatican"
following the death of Carmelite Sister Lucia dos Santos,
the last visionary from Fatima, Portugal. Agca's letter was
sent to the Rome newspaper La Repubblica, which published
it Feb. 20.
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The Official Testimony of Sister Lucia
|  COIMBRA,
Portugal, FEB. 20, 2005 (Zenit.org).-
The texts of Sister Lucia will not reveal more details of
the Fatima apparition, but will provide more profound
insight into the event. Father Jacinto Farias, president of
the Scientific Commission of the Fatima Congress, made a statement
shortly after the death last week of the last witness of the
Fatima appartions that Sister Lucia's texts constitute a fundamental
testimony for the Church.
"Sister Lucia's experience is one of continuity and she
was faithful: I think what the future holds in store is an
even more profound development," he said to the
Portuguese news agency Ecclesia.
"We should not find any novelties," he continued.
The "richness of the Fatima message is its extreme simplicity
and, at the same time, great fruits at the
pastoral and theological level."
Sister Lucia's writings are categorized as "Fatima 1"
and "Fatima 2," and reflect her testimony written
at different stages in her life. Father Farias explained that
an "internalization of the events" is noted, "because
a 10-year old girl and a woman of 40 have a different perception
of things," although there is a continuity "in an
interior re-reading."
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Day of Mourning
Declared in Portugal
 |
LISBON (Reuters)
- Portugal has declared Tuesday a day of mourning and politicians
have cut back election campaigning to mark the death of Lucia
de Jesus dos Santos, the last of three children who claimed
to have seen the Virgin Mary at Fatima.
Dos Santos, who as a child in 1917 described visions which,
decades later, the Catholic Church said foretold the attempt
to kill Pope John Paul in 1981, died aged 97 on Sunday at
her Carmelite convent in Coimbra, 150 km (95 miles) north
of Lisbon.
She is to be buried at the convent on Tuesday and her remains
will be transferred in a year to nearby Fatima, one of Catholicism's
major pilgrimage sites.
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No More Secrets Remain
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 14, 2005 (Zenit.org).-
The Fatima secret has been totally revealed by the Vatican,
and Russia has already been consecrated as Mary requested,
confirmed Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart.
The witness of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin of Fatima
made this statement to the then secretary of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone,
on Nov. 17, 2001, contradicting those who say that the Church
still has secrets about the Marian apparition.
The content of the interview held between the Vatican representative
and Sister Lucia in the convent of Coimbra, Portugal, where
she resided, was made public by the Vatican press office on
Dec. 20, 2001.
The text of the document states: "In recent months, especially
following the sad events of the September 11 terrorist attacks,
articles appeared in newspapers alleging new revelations by
Sister Lucia, announcements of letters of warning to the Pope,
and apocalyptic reinterpretations of the Fatima message."
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Papal Letter Arrived
to Her on the Day She Died
|  VATICAN
CITY, FEB. 14, 2005 (Zenit.org).-
The news of Sister Lucia's death, the last living witness
of the Virgin Mary's apparitions in Fatima, Portugal, is "very
sad" for John Paul II, says a Vatican prefect.
"We know very well the profound friendship that existed"
between the nun and the Pope, said Portuguese Cardinal José
Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood
Causes, in a report by the Catholic agency Ecclesia. The Holy
Father is currently on a spiritual retreat at the Vatican.
The cardinal was commenting on the nun's death, which occurred
Sunday in the convent of Coimbra. Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus
and the Immaculate Heart was 97.
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Cardinal Bertone
Presides at Funeral
 VATICAN
CITY, FEB. 15, 2005 (Zenit.org).-
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, John Paul II's special envoy to
the funeral of Sister Lucia, recalled the last of the Fatima
visionaries as "an exceptional woman, but simple."
The cardinal archbishop of Genoa, Italy, presided over the
funeral this afternoon in the cathedral of Coimbra, the Portuguese
town where the witness of the 1917 apparitions of Our Lady
of Fatima died last Sunday. She was 97.
Portugal officially observed a day of mourning. "All
the country's agencies have paused to render homage to the
great figure of a 'little shepherdess' who with the 'hidden'
strength of prayer and faith was able to touch the hearts
of all," said the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper, L'Osservatore
Romano, remembering the Carmelite nun.
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Pope's Message
Read During Funeral of Sister Lucia
|  VATICAN
CITY, FEB. 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).-
Here is a translation of the message John Paul II sent to
the bishop of Coimbra, Portugal, and read Tuesday during the
funeral of Sister Lucia, the last witness of the 1917 apparitions
of Our Lady of Fatima. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, special
papal envoy, presided at the funeral Mass in the cathedral
of Coimbra.
To the Venerable Brother
Albino Mamede Cleto
Bishop of Coimbra
With profound emotion I learned thatSister Maria Lucia of
Jesus and the Immaculate Heart, at the age of 97 years, was
called by the heavenly Father to the eternal dwelling of heaven.
She has thus reached the end to which she always aspired in
prayer and in the silence of the convent.
The liturgy has reminded us in these days that death is the
common heritage of the children of Adam, but at the same time
it has assured us that Jesus, with the sacrifice of the cross,
has opened to us the gates of immortal life. We recall these
certainties of the faith at the moment we give our last farewell
to this humble and devout Carmelite, who consecrated her life
to Christ, Savior of the world.
The visit of the Virgin Mary, which little Lucia received
in Fatima together with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta
in 1917, was for her the beginning of a singular mission to
which she remained faithful until the end of her days. Sister
Lucia leaves us an example of great fidelity to the Lord and
of joyful adherence to his divine will.
I remember with emotion the various meetings I had with her
and the bonds of spiritual friendship that, with the passing
of time, were intensified. I have always felt supported by
the daily gift of her prayer, especially in the harsh moments
of trial and suffering. May the Lord reward her amply for
the great and hidden service she has done to the Church.
I love to think that the one who has received Sister Lucia
in the passing from earth to heaven has been precisely She
whom she saw in Fatima so many years ago. May the Holy Virgin
accompany the soul of this devoted daughter of hers to the
happy encounter with the divine Spouse.
To you I entrust, Venerated Brother, the task of expressing
to the nuns of the Carmel of Coimbra the certainty of my spiritual
closeness, while, for their interior consolation in the moment
of separation, I impart an affectionate blessing, which I
extend to the families, to you, Venerated Brother, to Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, my special envoy, and to all the participants
in the sacred rite of suffrage.
Vatican, 14 February 2005
John Paul II
|
Devotion to Our
Lady of Fatima Lives on in Vietnam and Russia
| Rome (AsiaNews)
– The devotion to Our Lady of Fatima is live and well
in Vietnam and Russia. In both countries there are shrines
dedicated to her. And in both countries, the past as well
as the present are marked by Communist atheism whose end the
Virgin predicted when She appeared to the little young shepherds
in Portugal in 1917.
In Vietnam there is a “Fatima Centre” in Binh
Trieu, 30 km from Saigon; in Russia, the Shrine of Our Lady
of Fatima is in Saint Petersburg.
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