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POPE REDUCES WAITING PERIOD FOR SAINTHOOD CAUSE FOR FATIMA VISIONARY
(St. John’s) Pope Benedict XVI has lifted the five-year waiting period to start the canonization process for Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three children who saw Our Lady of Fatima in 1917.
Sister Lucia died at the age of 97 on February 13, 2005. She was the last survivor of the three little shepherds, who claimed to have had a series of visions of the Virgin Mary near the Portuguese town of Fatima, in 1917. At the time Lucia was 10 and her cousins Francisco was 9, and Jacinta was 7.
Parishioners of the Basilica Parish have a particular attachment to the events at Fatima. In 1955 Portuguese fishermen from the White Fleet that operated out of St. John’s established a grotto in the Basilica Cathedral that included statues of the three children of Fatima. The statues were presented to the Basilica parishioners on the occasion of the 100th of the consecration of the Basilica Cathedral. The grotto has become an important place of quiet prayer in the historic church.
The decision by the Pope means that the diocesan phase of the sainthood process for Sister Lucia can begin immediately.
Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who were beatified by John Paul II in Fatima, in 2000.
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