Sr Lucia beams-up to the motherships
Correspondent:: "VongFu"
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 01:17:07 -0500
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15 February 2005 05:00 UTC
Sister Lucia, last Fatima seer, dead at 97
Fatima, Feb. 14 (CWNews.com) - Sister Lucia, the last
survivor among the three Portuguese children to whom
the Virgin Mary appeared at Fatima, has died at the age of 97.
Sister Lucia died on February 13 at her Carmelite convent
in Coimbra, Portugal, after a long illness. Living in isolation
in the cloistered convent, Sister Lucia had reportedly
lost her eyesight and hearing in the months preceding her death.
Born on March 22, 1907, Lucie Dos Santos was only
10 years old when the Virgin appeared to her and her
two young cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, on a
field outside the town of Fatima, on May 13, 1917.
The apparitions continued through October 13 of that
same year, and the seers conveyed Mary's predictions
of World War II, the rise of Russian Communism, and
the urgent need for the faithful to pray the Rosary.
Sister Lucia also revealed the famous "third secret" of '
Fatima, which was kept secret by successive Popes
until May 2000, when John Paul II revealed the text
of a mystical vision involving a "bishop dressed in white"
who was struggling toward the Cross, over the bodies
of martyrs, until he himself was felled by gunfire.
Pope John Paul concluded that the vision referred to
the attempt on his own life. Some Catholics continue
to insist that aspects of the "third secret" have not yet
been disclosed, although the Vatican insists that there
is nothing more to reveal.
Sister Lucia had spoken of the Fatima promises in
four published memoirs, but kept the "third secret" hidden.
She divulged that secret to the Bishop of Leira, Portugal,
in January 1944; he confided the secret to Pope Pius XII.
Sister Lucia had said that the secret should be revealed
at the Pope's discretion, but not because 1960.
The first Pontiff to meet privately with Sister Lucia was
Paul VI, when he visited Fatima in May 1967. Pope John
Paul II (bio - news) met with her on three separate
occasions: in 1982, when he made a pilgrimage to Fatima
to thank the Virgin for saving him from assassination; in
1991, on the 10th anniversary of the shooting; and in
2000, for the beatification ceremonies.