VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Recognising that she lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way, Pope Francis has declared venerable Sister Lúcia dos Santos, who, with her cousins, reported seeing Mary when she was a child in Fátima, Portugal.
The Pope signed the decree recognising her heroic virtues on June 22. A miracle attributed to her intercession is still necessary before she can be beatified.
Meeting with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis also recognised the martyrdom of Father Manuel González-Serna Rodríguez and 19 other diocesan priests, laymen and laywomen killed in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. The recognition of martyrdom clears the way for their beatification without a miracle. The Pope also recognised the heroic virtues of Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, founder of the first Catholic order of African American nuns.
Sister Lúcia dos Santos died in Coimbra, Portugal, in 2005 at the age of 97. Pope Francis canonised her cousins, Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto, in 2017.
Sister Lúcia was 10 years old when she and her cousins first saw Mary at Fátima on May 13, 1917.
But her sainthood cause examined her entire life and the huge volumes of correspondence she wrote as a cloistered Carmelite nun.
Our Lady of Fatima – Pray for us.