Fatima: Lucia, the Messenger

Human profile
Lucia was born on March 22, 1907, the youngest of seven children of Maria Rosa and António dos Santos, brother of Olimpia Marto, the mother of Francisco and Jacinta. She was healthy and robust, had strong features unlike her cousin Jacinta's delicate ones, and was in fact quite plain. She had a flat nose, wide mouth with thick lower lip, and a rounded chin; her only redeeming features were her eyes which were dark, expressive, and luminous.

What she lacked in external beauty, God has compensated her with an internal one. She was very responsible, and since young has been entrusted with many tasks. Many parents in the village where she lived would bring their children to her house, and she would be the one to entertain and amuse them throughout the day. She was wonderful with children, they all looked forward to her company, and she would entertain them with all sorts of games, and storytelling of folk tales, stories from the Bible and biographies of the saints.  They would also sing religious hymns and folk songs, and dance which Lucia loved to do. Many of the reading materials she would get from her mother, who unlike most women in the village knew how to read.

In those days, the First Communion was made only at the age of ten; Lucia, however, did hers at six because blessed with a great memory, she already knew the catechism by heart. In addition to a good memory, she was also very intelligent, and creative in the activities and amusements she used to entertain the children who came to her house, so that all children, not just Jacinta and Francisco, had a special attraction to her.

Unlike Jacinta and Francisco, she was lively, extroverted and high-spirited, very much a leader. This did not stop her from being as sweet and affectionate as Jacinta, a feeling that she showed daily especially towards her mother when she came back from tending the sheep, as she would run to her mother for hugs, kisses and cuddles.

“Lucia was very amusing. She had a way of getting the best out of us so that we liked to be with her. She was also very intelligent, and could sing and dance and taught us to do the same. We always obeyed her. We spent hours and hours dancing and singing, and sometimes forgot to eat.” (Teresa Matias, a childhood friend of Lucia)

As she herself had written in her memoirs, Lucia had many friends with whom she used to go dancing and partying. The 13th of June was always a much anticipated day for Lucia on account of Saint Anthony of Lisbon feast day because it was celebrated in a special way in the village. Mrs. Maria Santos, knowing her daughter well, was sure that she would not miss this celebration for anything. But it was clear that she was mistaken since the apparitions had changed the way of being of Francisco and Jacinta as well as Lucia’s.

Jacinta and Francisco suffered through their illnesses and the small sacrifices that they occasionally offered up such as giving their lunches to the poor, and not drinking water when they were parched with thirst from the heat. Lucia did not need to seek out sacrifices because sufferings came to her every day. She was the one who suffered the most from the incredulity of those who did not believe in the apparitions, to the point that she had to endure abusive insults, threats, and even being beaten with the broom handle by her mother.

On the day of May 13, 1919, when the government wanted to prevent the pilgrims from going to the Cova da Iria, two guards on horseback spotted Lucia on her way to the place of the apparitions. They forced her to walk on between their horses to a wasteland and when they were alone with her, one said to the other in a loud voice: Here are some open trenches. Let’s cut off her head with one of our swords, and leave her here dead and buried. Then we’ll be finished with this business once and for all. When I heard these words, I thought that my last moment had really come, but I was as much at peace as if it did not concern me at all, said Lucia. After a minute or two during which they seemed to be thinking it over, the other replied: “No, we have no authority to do such a thing.”

In particular, she suffered very much from the disbelief of her parish priest, her sisters and mother. This last one even after being healed by a special favour from Our Lady came to say: How strange! Our Lady cured me, and somehow I still don’t believe! I don’t know how this can be!

Lucia and the Enneagram
The mind, the heart and the gut instinct are the three filters by which we normally grasp and relate with reality and with others.  Security is one thing that we all seek; the sentimental or emotional seek to relate, to be accepted and loved by others; in this way, they find their inner balance. The visceral or the instinctive trust in their instincts, their intuition or sixth sense; the cerebral use their mind to try to understand, because to them, knowledge means power.

Francisco was visceral instinctive, he felt good in himself, seeking nature, and detaching himself from everything and everyone, all he cared about was being with the “Hidden Jesus”, consoling him. Jacinta was sentimental, dependent on the relations with others, especially with her closest friend, Lucia, a day without her was a lost day; she discovered that suffering was a form of love and in it she saw her contribution to the salvation of many.

Lucia was clearly cerebral, and used her mind to understand everyone and everything that happened around her; as such, she was not like the sixes since these tend to be quite insecure and full of self-doubt. Lucia seemed to be firmly grounded and sure of herself despite that particular episode of doubt that came up when she wondered whether the apparitions were things of the devil. On this regard we must remember that the doubt did not come spontaneously into her mind, but rather it was put there by her parish priest whom she blindly trusted. She could not be a five either because unlike Francisco who liked to absent himself from others, Lucia preferred to be amid people as she was outgoing, inquisitive, resourceful and creative, always looking for new games or activities to entertain the children.

The number that comes closest to her way of being, ironically it seems to be a seven. Precisely the number of all the numbers in the Enneagram that tends to flee from suffering. And yet she was the one who suffered the most regarding the credibility of the apparitions. The three children were bullied by the general public, but while Jacinta and Francisco at least at home were safe and sound, and when outside were protected by the good reputation of their father Mr. Marto, Lucia at home was mistreated by her mother and sisters, and called a cheat and a liar, and in the streets it seemed that her mother did not care even if they beat her, if that would help her retract her claim that she had seen the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Furthermore, while she offered the sacrifices voluntarily, she was not as zealous as her two cousins. Lucia in some way was not as good at suffering as Jacinta nor was she as good at adoration as Francisco. Lucia lived and thrived in the social relations and diversion, which was why she was so good with children. No one entertains as well as a seven who is always ready for games, dances, fun…

In this sense, Lucia despite being the leader of the three, and the most important seer of the group, it is not immediately clear what part of the message of Fatima she embodied, like Jacinta with penance and Francisco with prayer especially the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The reason for this has to do with the fact that Francisco and Jacinta knew that they would die soon and therefore lived their short earthly lives eschatologically, with their minds and hearts already in the world to come and looking forward to be in the presence of Our Lady, who had said that very soon she would take them to Heaven, but that Francisco will first have many Rosaries to say before entering. As for Lucia, she lived for a very long time the message of Fatima in its totality as a whole, and in its obscurity over many years secluded as a cloistered nun.

A life long in years, short in events
The lives of Francisco and Jacinta were short indeed, and by contrast Lucia’s was very long. Alone and abandoned by everyone, especially by her two friends, she consoled herself by repeating what Our Lady had told her: Don’t be afraid! I will be with you always, and my Immaculate Heart will be your comfort and the way which will lead you to God.

After the death of Jacinta, Lucia left Fatima on June 17, 1921, for an orphanage ran by the Dorothean Sisters in Porto, unbeknownst to the people. It was a proposal made by the bishop of Leiria, and which was readily accepted by Lucia and her mother, in order to analyze the events without Lucia’s constant presence and also to see if the people would stop going to the Cova da Iria now that the only remaining seer was no longer there.

Touched by the apparitions, Lucia’s life was long in years, but short in events. From the College of Porto, she left for the postulancy of the Dorothean Sisters at Pontevedra, and from there she entered the Dorothean novitiate at Tuy, Spain, and made her profession of vows on October 3, 1928. Her asylum in Spain lasted until 1946, after which she returned to Portugal, and visited Fatima and her family.

From there she received the authorization from Pope Pius XII to leave the Order of the Dorothean Sisters and realize her childhood dream of becoming a Carmelite. She then entered the Carmel of Saint Teresa in Coimbra on March 25, 1948, where she led a life of prayer and penance until her death on February 13, 2005, just weeks short of her 98th birthday.

Lucia the messenger
If Francisco was the contemplative, being prayerful because he spent many hours at prayer; Jacinta who like the Enneagram fours, lived the drama of the lost humanity by offering herself and uniting her sufferings with those of Christ for the redemption of sinners, what or who then was Lucia to the message of Fatima?

Lucia was the communicator because she alone had a full interactive relationship with Our Lady, she alone asked and answered, she alone conversed with the Lady. Lucia was the voice bearer of heaven; the messenger and in some way, the evangelist who many years later put into writing all that the Lady had said during the apparitions as well as the ways her cousins embodied the message of Fatima, of which she was the witness, the depository and the custodian.

Under the obedience to the bishop of Leiria, Lucia wrote down the Secret of Fatima, which she sealed in an envelope and mailed to the Pope along with her memoirs of the apparitions in which she also wrote in a biographic manner the lives and work done by her cousins and herself.

As a seer, she was until her death the go-between and the exegete of the message of Fatima. This role was clearly seen in the attempts made by the past popes, from Pius XII to John Paul II, regarding the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. All the popes did make the consecration, but all avoided naming Russia and sometimes were not done in union with all the bishops of the world.

Lucia did not hesitate to say that it was not done according to the way Our Lady wanted, if that is how she saw it. Finally the consecration made by Pope John Paul II on March 25, 1984, in Rome before the official image of Our Lady of Fatima and the icon of Our Lady of Kazan obtained the confirmation from Lucia, who affirmed that the consecration was made and was accepted by Our Lady.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC