Most treasured Christmas gift. Blessings of a most blessed, joyous Christmas.

The following is a comment from another post that I’ve transferred here in hopes that many more will see it. It’s put together by Aussie Mum. The history of this little shepherd boy who heard the angels sing is of great inspiration to me. Thanks, Aussie Mum, for such a great Christmas gift. ///

Father Byers said, “The Rosary leads to the Most Blessed Sacrament”, and the life of Saint Francisco of Fatima attests to this. His many, many Rosaries led Francisco to make many, many Holy Hours.

In response to Our Lady’s 1st apparition (May 1917), when he was still 8 years old (born 11th June 1908), he crossed his hands over his heart and exclaimed, “Oh, my dear Our Lady! I’ll say as many rosaries as you want!”

Lucia tells us that “from then on, he made a habit of moving away from us, as though going for a walk. When we called him and asked him what he was doing, he raised his hand and showed me his rosary. If we told him to come and play, and say the rosary with us afterwards, he replied: ‘I’ll pray then as well. Don’t you remember that Our Lady said I must pray many rosaries?’” (p. 143)

https://www.piercedhearts.org/hearts_jesus_mary/apparitions/fatima/MemoriasI_en.pdf

Alongside those many rosaries grew-up a desire to be alone with Our Lord. For example, just a few days after Our Lady’s 1st visit, when the three children arrived at the place they would pasture their sheep that day, Francisco climbed up a steep rocky incline and called down to the the girls:

“Don’t come up here; let me stay here alone.”

“All right.” And off Lucia (aged 10) and Jacinta (aged 7) went chasing butterflies while the sheep grazed.

Later, when it was time for lunch and Francisco had not returned, they called him:

“Francisco, don’t you want to come for your lunch?”

“No, you eat.”

“And to pray the Rosary?”

“That, yes, later on. Call me again.”

When Lucia went to do so, he said:

“You come up here and pray with me.”

The girls did as he requested and climbed up to where he was. There was scarcely room for three to kneel but they managed and Lucia asked him:

“But what have you been doing all this time?”

“I am thinking about God, Who is so sad because of so many sins! If only I could give Him joy!” (p. 144)

Since Francisco desired solitude to pray and contemplate Our Lord, I tend to think he may have become a hermit if he had lived to adulthood. I think a hermitage like Father Byers had would have suited him very well.

Nine year old Francisco was speedily advancing in holiness and the devil unsuccessfully tried to put a stop to that. It was sometime after Our Lady’s 3rd visit in July. The girls were playing as the sheep grazed and as usual Francisco sought a secluded place. He found it in a hollow between some rocks and settled in. He had been there immersed in prayer and thinking about God for some time when the girls heard him shouting, and crying out to them and Our Lady.

“Where are you?” the girls called back.

“Here! Here!” Francisco answered.

Lucia describes the scene when they found him: He was “trembling with fright, still on his knees, and so upset that he was unable to rise to his feet.”

“What’s wrong? What happened to you?”

“It was one of those huge beasts that we saw in hell,” Francisco replied, “He was right here breathing out flames!” (p. 158)

All three children suffered much but only Francisco, as far as we know, was threatened by the demonic in person.

Then, in August, Our Lady’s 4th visit to the children was delayed by a few days because they were imprisoned by Portugal’s anti-Catholic government officials, and threatened with being boiled in oil if they did not deny the apparitions or tell the secret Our Lady had given them. They refused. Francisco was calm and courageous throughout. He did his best to comfort little Jacinta who wanted her parents and when she was taken away for interrogation he said to Lucia:

“If they kill us as they say, we’ll soon be in Heaven! How wonderful! Nothing else matters!” Then after a moment’s silence he added, “God grant that Jacinta won’t be afraid. I’m going to say a Hail Mary for her!” (p. 148)

All three children were finally allowed to return home. Even so, their lives and that of their parents and siblings continued being disrupted as a growing number of people – the pious as well as the curious – descended upon them.

Lucia’s father was the brother of Francisco and Jacinta’s mother, and their two families lived across the road from each other in Aljustrel, a hamlet just over a mile/2km from Fatima. Their homes were regularly invaded by people looking for the children, and crops were destroyed at the Cova da Iria (part of Lucia’s family’s farmland) as the crowds walked through the fields to see and some to pray where Our Lady had appeared. The constant intrusions negatively impacted the life and livelihood of both families. One result was that Francisco and Jacinta’s family sold their sheep.

Once the apparitions ended (October 1917) and with the three children devoid of a flock to shepherd, they were sent to school but Francisco did not always reach there due to his burning desire to be alone with Our Lord.

Lucia tells us that sometimes on their way to school, upon reaching Fatima, Francisco would say:

“Listen! You go to school, and I’ll stay here in the church, close to the Hidden Jesus. It’s not worth my while learning to read, as I’ll be going to Heaven very soon. On your way home, come here and call me.” (p. 156)

Francisco drew so close to Our Lord that his intercession gained miracles. One such miracle happened after Lucia was approached by her sister Teresa to appeal to Our Lady to save a woman’s son facing punishment for a crime he did not commit. The three children discussed the matter on their walk to school. When they arrived in Fatima, Francisco said to Lucia:

“Listen! While you go to school, I’ll stay with the Hidden Jesus, and I’ll ask Him for that grace.”

Meeting back up with Francisco after school, Lucia asked him:

“Did you pray to Our Lord to grant that grace?”

“Yes, I did. Tell your Teresa that he’ll be home in a few days’ time.”

And he was! (p. 161)

In October 1918, around the 1st anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun, Jacinta fell ill with influenza. Francisco soon followed yet continued his Holy Hours for as long as he could.

One day, when they were leaving for Fatima and school, Lucia noticed that Francisco was walking very slowly.

“What’s the matter?” she asked him. “You seem unable to walk!”

“I’ve such a bad headache, and I feel as though I’m going to fall.”

“Then don’t come. Stay at home!”

“l don’t want to. I’d rather stay in the church with the Hidden Jesus, while you go to school’.” (p.161)

Eventually, Francisco became so ill that he had to stay home but when Lucia dropped by on her way to school he would remind her:

“Look! Go to the church and give my love to the Hidden Jesus. What hurts me most is that I cannot go there myself …”

One day, Lucia walked home with a group of children from school. Stopping at Jacinta and Francisco’s home, she said goodbye to her companions and went in to to spend some time with her cousins. Having heard all the noise outside Francisco asked:

“Did you come with all that crowd?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Don’t go with them, because you might learn to commit sins. When you come out of school, go and stay for a little while near the Hidden Jesus, and afterwards come home by yourself.”

Another time Lucia asked him:

“Francisco, do you feel very sick?”

“I do, but I’m suffering to console Our Lord.”

On another occasion he said to Jacinta and Lucia  when they entered his room:

“Don’t talk much today, as my head aches so badly.”

“Don’t forget to make the offering for sinners,” Jacinta reminded him.

“Yes. But first I make it to console Our Lord and Our Lady, and then, afterwards, for sinners and for the Holy Father,” he said.

When one day Lucia found him looking very happy when she arrived, she asked:

“Are you better?”

“No. I feel worse. It won’t be long now till I go to Heaven. When I’m there, I’m going to console Our Lord and Our Lady very much. Jacinta is going to pray a lot for sinners, for the Holy Father and for you. You will stay here, because Our Lady wants it that way. Listen, you must do everything that she tells you.” (p.157)

It was early morning when Francisco’s sister Teresa came urgently looking for Lucia:

“Come quickly to our house! Francisco is very bad, and says he wants to tell you something.”

When his family left his room at his request he said to Lucia:

“I am going to confession so that I can receive Holy Communion, and then die. I want you to tell me if you have seen me commit any sin, and then go and ask Jacinta if she has seen me commit any.”

“You disobeyed your mother a few times,’’ Lucia answered, “when she told you to stay at home, and you ran off to be with me or to go and hide.”

“That’s true. I remember that. Now go and ask Jacinta if she remembers anything else,” he directed her.

Jacinta thought for a while, then answered:

“Well, tell him that, before Our Lady appeared to us, he stole a coin from our father to buy a music box from José Marto of Casa Velha; and when the boys from Aljustrel threw stones at those from Boleiros he threw some too!”

When Lucia conveyed this message from his sister, Francisco replied:

“I’ve already confessed those, but I’ll do so again. Maybe, it is because of these sins that I committed that Our Lord is so sad! But even if I don’t die, I’ll never commit them again. I’m heartily sorry for them now.”

Then joining his hands, he prayed: “O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.”

Then he said to Lucia: “Now listen, you must also ask Our Lord to forgive me my sins.”

“I’ll ask that, don’t worry,” Lucia replied before adding, “If Our Lord had not forgiven them already, Our Lady would not have told Jacinta the other day that she was coming soon to take you to Heaven. Now, I’m going to Mass, and there I’ll pray to the Hidden Jesus for you.”

“Then, please ask Him to let the parish priest give me Holy Communion.”

“I certainly will,” Lucia assured him.

When Lucia next visited she “found him radiant with joy. He had made his confession, and the parish priest had promised to bring him Holy Communion the next day.” (pp. 164- 165)

Francisco received Holy Communion. The end was near and Jacinta and Lucia stayed by his bedside much of that day, praying the Rosary for him as he had asked. Realising Francisco could be dead before morning, Lucia said her goodbyes to him that night before going to her own home. He survived the night and died the next day, 4th April 1919, of complications due to the influenza he caught 6 months before. He was two months short of his 11th birthday. Jacinta would follow him 10 months later, also due to complications arising from influenza.

Note: All the page numbers given can be found at the link above containing Lucia’s memoirs.

In the life and death of Francisco (and Jacinta) Marto we see Our Lady’s promises fulfilled to those who pray the Rosary devoutly and apply themselves to the consideration of its sacred mysteries.

Wishing Father and everyone reading here at his website a happy and holy Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.

/// Having put up two Christmas posts early this morning, 25 December 2023, methinks I had better continue prayers lest Francisco throw a stone at me from heaven! Happy Christmas to all. Father G