{"id":9274,"date":"2026-02-19T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/?p=9274"},"modified":"2026-02-21T14:54:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:54:40","slug":"saint-jacinta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-practices\/saint-jacinta\/","title":{"rendered":"St Jacinta and St Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

the Youngest Saints of the Church<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Francisco and Jacinta Marto are among the youngest saints of the Catholic Church. Francisco was 9 and Jacinta 7 when Our Lady of Fatima appeared to them in 1917. Francisco died only two years later and Jacinta the following year\u2014one hundred years ago today. Despite their young age, they lived incredibly holy lives after seeing Our Lady. Known today as the Fatima children, they show us that even young children can live extraordinarily holy lives and do great things for God.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francisco and Jacinta Marto were the youngest siblings in a Portuguese family of seven children. Along with their cousin Lucia, they took care of their family\u2019s sheep. Francisco had a placid disposition, some musical talent, and enjoyed being alone. He also liked playing games with other children but wasn\u2019t competitive, and often gave up treasured possessions rather than fight for them. He liked animals, playing with snakes and lizards (to his mother\u2019s horror), and once buying a captive bird for a penny to set it free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacinta was affectionate, emotional and spoiled, and also enjoyed music and dancing. She pouted if she wasn\u2019t given her own way and was jealous of Lucia\u2019s attention. When Lucia was sent out to watch the sheep, Jacinta moped until she was allowed to go with Lucia and the sheep too. She loved flowers, often gathering armfuls to make garlands for Lucia. She also loved their sheep, naming them and playing with the lambs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1916, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia were watching their sheep when an angel appeared to them. He said he was the Angel of Peace and asked them to pray with him. He taught them to pray, \u201cMy God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucia later said that \u201cthe presence of God made itself felt so intimately and so intensely that we did not even venture to speak to one another\u201d (Fatima in Lucia\u2019s Own Words). They remained enveloped in this supernatural atmosphere for some time, and still felt it the next day. They didn\u2019t mention it to anyone, for the Apparition felt too intimate, too hard to speak about.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Angel of Peace appeared to them again and told them to pray much and to make sacrifices. When Lucia questioned him about how they were to make sacrifices, he said, \u201cMake of everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners.\u201d The children then began to give their lunch to the sheep or to poor children, and to pray for hours at a time, and to offer other mortification to God .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koala Mom .\u00a0WEB<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the Youngest Saints of the Church Francisco and Jacinta Marto are among the youngest saints of the Catholic Church. Francisco was 9 and Jacinta 7 when Our Lady of Fatima appeared to them in 1917. Francisco died only two years later and Jacinta the following year\u2014one hundred years ago today. Despite their young age, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[44,15,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-saints-and-blesseds","category-spiritual-practices","category-spiritual-reflections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7bfMR-2pA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5988,"url":"https:\/\/www.fatherboniface.org\/wordpresshome\/spiritual-reflections\/st-francisco-and-st-jacinta-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":9274,"position":0},"title":"St Francisco and St Jacinta","author":"monks4christ","date":"February 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"the Youngest Saints of the Church Francisco and Jacinta Marto are among the youngest saints of the Catholic Church. 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