The Mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the lives of Bl. Francisco and Jacinta of Fatima

Without a doubt, the whole way of thinking and acting of the two Blessed shepherds is rooted in substance in the mystery of grace of pure and genuine sensus fidelium [understanding of the faithful]. It's not the words and concepts of theological truths that are present in the two children, but rather a store of spiritual vitality based entirely on the simplest and most essential formation, a vitality characteristic of the Christian life of those who are docile to the movement and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit through the fundamental teaching of the Church. A simple family, two simple children, a simple spiritual formation: all of this was animated by that sensus fidei [understanding of faith] essential for the knowledge of the truth and the practice of the Christian virtues.

This is why, in the happenings of the extraordinary apparitions of Our Lady and the teachings they received, the two Blessed little shepherds knew how to handle themselves and act with all simplicity and naturalness of faith, living the mystery of Mary's maternal mediation in full docility and pure correspondence to that sensus fidei that one always finds at the base of every truly faith-filled life. This is a lesson that gives support to every Christian who sincerely loves Our Lady and wants to cooperate with Her, the Mediatrix of salvation, to hasten the coming of the Kingdom of Christ on the earth.¹

But concretely, how did the two little shepherds put this cooperation into practice in their lives, short as they were? To respond to this question we need only present the brief, but very rich and extraordinary, experience of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, "instruments of grace" in the maternal hands of the Mediatrix of All Grace.

Francisco: the Contemplative Boy

It is interesting to note that all three of the seers received the same message, but each one in a personal way according to his own character, and each one was particularly attracted by some aspect of the message that made a greater impression.

Francisco had a calm and thoughtful character which made him a little contemplative, completely absorbed in prayer and a lover of solitude.

Love for the Rosary: After the first apparition of Our Lady at the Cova da Iria, Francisco was flooded by a great joy when he found out that he would go to Heaven, but on one condition: he had to recite many Rosaries. Sr. Lucia writes,

Afterwards, we told Francisco all that Our Lady had said. He was overjoyed and expressed the happiness he felt when he heard of the promise that he would go to Heaven. Crossing his hands on his breast, he exclaimed, "Oh, my dear Lady! I'll say as many rosaries as you want!" And 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 I told him to come and play, and say his rosary afterwards, he replied: "I'll pray then as well. Don't you remember that Our Lady said that I must pray many rosaries?"²

This first apparition impressed a passion for saying many Rosaries in Francisco's soul and very often Lucia and Jacinta had to go without his company during their games because Francisco preferred to remain by himself and dedicate himself to saying the Rosary or "thinking about God."

Little Francisco also had recourse to the Rosary, to which Our Lady had bound his entry into Heaven, in order to obtain graces for the people who turned to him. Once when the three children were on their way to the Cova da Iria, they were surprised by a group of people who, in order to see and hear them more clearly, thought that it was a good idea to place Lucia and Jacinta on top of a wall. Francisco refused with the excuse of being afraid of falling and, moving away little by little, went to lean against an old nearby wall. A woman with her young son, wanting to speak privately with one of the visionaries, went over to him and she knelt down before him to ask him to obtain from Our Lady the grace of curing her husband and that he would not leave to go to war. Francisco also quickly knelt down, took his hat off and asked if they were willing to say the Rosary with him. They said yes and started to pray. This also attracted the attention of the others who joined in reciting the Rosary, kneeling down to do so. Afterwards, all of them went together to the Cova da Iria, reciting two other Rosaries along the way. In this way, with Francisco's "stroke of genius," the people forgot all the questions they wanted to ask the seers and they did something that was much more useful, and proved to be very efficacious because the woman later returned many times, together with her son and husband, to thank Our Lady for the graces received.³

Francisco, on this occasion as on many others, showed himself to be an apostle of the Rosary, teaching others to turn to the Rosary to ask graces from Our Lady, showing its mediatory power with God. It was through the Rosary that he became a little mediator of grace with the Mediatrix of All Grace. He believed especially in the power of the Holy Rosary and not without reason, seeing that Our Lady had established a very close relationship between his salvation and the recitation of many Rosaries.

Consoling Jesus: Another characteristic of Francisco was his mission to "console Jesus who is so sad and offended." Lucia writes:

One day, when I showed how unhappy I was over the persecution now beginning both in my family and outside, Francisco tried to encourage me with these words: "Never mind! Didn't Our Lady say that we would have much to suffer, to make reparation to Our Lord and to her own Immaculate Heart for all the sins by which they are offended? They are so sad! If we can console them by these sufferings how happy we shall be!"⁴

Often he used to move away and be by himself, and if Lucia asked him what he was doing by himself for such a long time, he used to reply: "I am thinking about God, Who is so sad because of so many sins. If I could only give him joy!"⁵

Consoling God: This was Francisco's passion, and he himself used to leave the mission of praying for sinners to Jacinta, reserving for himself the task of thinking about a God saddened by the sins of men in order to comfort Him, as Sr. Lucia reveals:

Francisco was a boy of few words. Whenever he prayed or offered sacrifices, he preferred to go apart and hide, even from Jacinta and myself ...

I asked him one day: "Francisco, which do you like better- to console Our Lord, or to convert sinners, so that no more souls will go to hell?"

"I would rather console Our Lord. Didn't you notice how sad Our Lady was that last month, when she said that people must not offend Our Lord any more, for He is already much offended? I would like to console Our Lord, and after that convert sinners so that they won't offend Him anymore."⁶

Another time, when Francisco was sick, Jacinta reminded him to make the act of offering everything for sinners and he replied, "Yes. But first I make it to console Our Lord and Our Lady, and then, afterwards, for sinners and for the Holy Father."⁷ Consoling Jesus and Our Lady had an absolute priority for the little visionary, who set this above all as his goal. He did not exclude other intentions, but they always came after this primary one.

"On another occasion," Lucia says, "I found him very happy when I arrived.

"Are you feeling 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 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."

While Jacinta seemed to be solely concerned with the one thought of converting sinners and saving souls from going to hell, Francisco appeared to think only of consoling Our Lord and Our Lady, who had seemed to him to be so sad.⁸

Francisco advised Jacinta not to think too much about Hell, but to think instead about God and Our Lady. He was truly a contemplative who passed all his time thinking about God and the Virgin. As long as he had the strength, he used to love to remain for hours on end beside the Tabernacle to console and keep the "Hidden Jesus" company, as he used to call Jesus in the Eucharist. When he became seriously ill and could no longer leave the house or his bed, not being able to visit and console the "Hidden Jesus" was the thing that cost him the most, as he himself once revealed to Lucia: "Later, when he became ill, he often told me, when I called in to see him on my way to school: 'Look! Go to the church and give my love to the Hidden Jesus. What hurts me most is that I cannot go there myself and stay awhile with the Hidden Jesus.' "⁹

This was the "mission" that Francisco preferred and to which he remained faithful, consuming himself to the end of his days on the earth.

Silent Holocaust: Francisco was the first holocaust offered to God through the Immaculate Heart of Mary: his illness and death were like those of the great saints who were consumed in silence, in serenity, and in joy, hiding their pain under a heavenly smile. And he was just a ten year old boy! Let us draw on the testimonies of Lucia that shed light on the beauty of his innocent soul in the last moments of his life.

"When he was ill," Sr. Lucia writes, "Francisco always appeared joyful and content. I asked him sometimes:

"Are you suffering a lot, Francisco?"

"Quite a lot, but never mind! I am suffering to console Our Lord, and afterwards, within a short time, I am going to Heaven!"¹⁰

And again: "During his illness, he suffered with heroic patience, without ever letting the slightest moan or the least complaint escape his lips ... He took everything his mother offered him, and she could never discover which things he disliked."¹¹ A few days before he died, he expressed the desire to go to confession and to receive the Eucharist. He was greatly saddened that he wasn't able to go and visit the Hidden Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament any more and he burned with the desire to receive Him in his heart. In fact, Lucia writes that one day towards evening, she went to visit Francisco and found him "radiant with joy. He had made his confession, and the parish priest had promised to bring him Holy Communion next day.

On the following day, after receiving Holy Communion, he said to his sister:

"I am happier than you are, because I have the Hidden Jesus within my heart. I'm going to Heaven, I'm going to pray very much to Our Lord and Our Lady for them to bring you both there soon."

Jacinta and I spent almost the whole of that day at his bedside. As he was already unable to pray, he asked us to pray the rosary for him.¹²

This is how Lucia presents the last picture of Francisco's life here on earth: the Hidden Jesus in his heart, Whom he wanted so much to console, and the desire to continue to say the Rosary, even when his strength no longer permitted it; with these two loves, Francisco left the earth and went to Heaven, leaving his particular and precious legacy to all of us.