St. Jacinta & the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady
Spiritual Direction Notes (from Fr. Nuno Rocha, Portugal) help our team introduce the message of Fátima with a focus on humility and purity of St. Jacinta
A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”1
EXCERPT from “Salt of the Earth”There is a well-known saying of Karl Ranher:
“The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, or he will not be at all.”
I would not ask for so much, because people are always the same. We always remain just as weak as ever, which means that we will not all become mystics.
…
But Ranher is correct in that Christianity will be doomed to suffocation if we don’t learn something of interiorization, in which faith sinks personally into the depth of one’s own life and in that depth sustains and illuminates. Mere action and mere intellectual construction are not enough. It’s very important that we recall simplicity and interiority and the extra- and supra- rational forms of perceiving reality” (“Salt of the Earth” Pg. 267, J. Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI).
THE ROSARY HOUR PODCAST NEWSLETTER | March 5, 20243rd Edition - updated multiple issues not saved by earlier updates. Prepare to pray the Chaplet to Divine Mercy novena starting Good Friday.
ABOUT ST. JACINTA 
The “Acclamation before the Gospel” (Jl 2:12-13) on Feb 20th was:“Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart
for I am gracious and merciful”.
These words reflect the wisdom of St. Jacinta whose optional Memorial is celebrated each year in Portugal on February 20th. Today is the memorial of her birth: March 5th.
In 1917, three “Little Shepherds” known as “Os Pastorinhos”, St. Francisco and St. Jacinta and their cousin, now a Venerable, Lúcia led a simple, humble life unknown to the world as “privileged witnesses” of the six Apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary, as well as the apparitions of the Angel of Portugal in the years leading up to that set of encounters recounted by Ven. Lúcia.
The story of these children is told from the memory Venerable Lucia passed on through her diary: she writes about events in a small community located in the Cova da Iria, near Fatima, in the center of the country of Portugal, almost 2.5 hours drive from Porto and about 1 hour by bus from Lisbon.
Their testimony is now part of our Catholic tradition, and they are known locally and nationally as "the Three Little Shepherds" (“os Três Pastorinhos”) or "the Seers of Fatima" (“os Videntes de Fátima”).
The age of “os Três Pastorinhos” at the time of the apparitions is important: Lucia was 10-years-old.
Francisco was 9-years-old.
Jacinta was 7-years-old.
Being chosen to receive the Message in which the "Lady brighter than the Sun" (“Senhora mais brilhante que o Sol”), together these three children asked for prayers, sacrifices and reparation for offences to her Immaculate Heart and to God (“sacrifícios e a reparação das ofensas ao seu Imaculado Coração e a Deus”).
Fr. Anthony Gramlich noted in his past podcast explanations that each apparition is often able to (meant to) speak to a specific historical time in which Our Lady gives instruction as the great catechism teacher. Note: If you need a refresh on Marian Apparitions, watch this microtalk.
In the case of Fátima, these apparitions are also arguably in a category that goes beyond private revelation, which Fr. Elias Mary Mills will explain in a future return talk — and he will observe this idea of seeing the events in 1916, 1917 in Fatima in light of its essential historical role as “public prophecy.” Stay tuned.
Of the children of Fátima, Padre Nuno Rocha, pastor on the Camino to Santiago at Lapa / Desterro / S. José in Portugal notes that of this history, the world can focus spiritually on two main points:
the humility & the purity of these children.
What does it mean to be a child of God?Lúcia was given the ability to see, hear and speak during these Apparitions; while Jacinta could only see and hear. St. Francisco could only see; and thus, his cousin and sister would tell him afterwards everything they had heard from Our Lady.
What level of understanding God granted to each of these children is based on the receptivity of their souls as was needed by God — not to impose passivity, but to relate certain metaphysical certitude about the mysteries of God’s Truth which is “made to our humble human measure” (Henri de Lubac, 257-258 “The Splendor of the Church”, Ignatius Press).
For de Lubac, “this living truth, true life”, in other words, we can encounter by being in the presence of Christ (something taught to the Children by the Angel of Portugal / Angel of Peace in 1916) when they were taught the value of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, i.e. by modelling the adoration of the angel who demonstrated the significance of the Eucharist by a deliberate act of prostration before the sacred host.
It is the humility of “Os Pastorinhos” which, for instance, inspired them to follow the angel who even taught then and teaches from the 1916 apparition how to genuflect and lower ourselves before the Real Presence.
Likewise, their purity allows these 20th century mystics to listen to the Blessed Mother and acknowledge and follow to the letter the Gospel and her requests, starting with their own need for repentance so as to pray for the conversion of sinners and the Pope, etc.
This outcome happens not simply because they had any “spiritual merit” on their own, but because they had complete trust that allowed them to be obedient to Our Lady’s requests; as children of God, they also obediently gathered to pray on the days corresponding to Our Lady’s invitation to all many people to pray the public Rosary on the 13th of the month. It is for this reason that “The Rosary Hour Podcast” wishes to host a worldwide call to public prayer on the 13th of the month from May 13 to Oct 13, 2024.
This novena can encourage children and families to lead the Rosary everyday in the Domestic Church -starting in English and ending in Portuguese.
We hope this conversation can link back to the children of Fátima, allowing us to explore the why and the how related to embracing their identities as beloved children of God.
At the same time, their humility and purity reflect the response of Christ to God’s will, especially given that we know how “the whole basis of time for the Son is receptivity to God’s will” (“A Theology of History, Hans Urs von Balthasar” pg. 40, Ignatius Press).
Right praise to God for the Christian appears in 2 Corinthians 5: 16-17 (New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition):
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
When we reflect on the lives of the Saints, especially these children who found every way possible to make sacrifices for souls, these “non-martyred children”, sought to martyr themselves for Christ to bring others to God through the daily prayer of the Rosary.
If for the “new person” everything has “become new” then we can follow Jesus like “Os Pastorinhos” who were called to follow Christ by the example of Our Lady.
Beyond SkepticismWhile there are those skeptical of the role of Fátima in the Church today, perhaps confused about the reversal of the curse of Eve by the capacity of Our Lady to give glory to God and as St. Cardinal John Henry Newman writes, “We had better only think of [Our Lady] with and for her Son, never separating her from Him, but using her name as a memorial of His great condescension in stopping from heaven, and not “abhorring the Virgin’s womb.” In short, when we honour Mary, we honour Our Lord, argues the author in this 2nd Volume of the “Plain and Parochial Sermons”.
"The one who wills that we be happy is God; therefore, there is someone who wants us to be happy and/or who wants us to be faithful. To be a friend, (as God is friends with us; He calls us his friend) is to be faithful. And to be faithful is to be happy, the very definition of what it means to have joy."
(By: Pe. Nuno Rocha — Translated by: Travessa da Senra House Press)
Nota Histórica (IN PORTUGUESE)[Feb. 20, 2024: Memória em Portugal]
Francisco Marto e sua irmã Jacinta Marto nasceram em Fátima: aquele no dia 11 de junho de 1908 e esta no dia 11 de março de 1910. Na sua humilde família aprenderam a conhecer e a louvar a Deus. Em 1916 viram três vezes um Anjo e, em 1917, seis vezes a Virgem Maria. Nestes encontros, as duas crianças deixaram-se atrair pelo imenso amor divino, vivendo o resto das suas breves vidas numa atitude de entrega total a Deus, em oração intensa, no desejo de contribuir, pela reparação, para a salvação da humanidade e para a paz no mundo. Francisco faleceu no dia 4 de abril de 1919 e Jacinta no dia 20 de fevereiro de 1920. Foram as duas primeiras crianças não mártires a serem canonizadas.
HISTORICAL NOTES Francisco Marto and his sister Jacinta Marto were born in Fátima, Portugal — the former was born on June 11, 1908 and the latter was born on March 11, 1910. In their humble family they learned to know and praise God. In 1916 they saw an angel three times, and in 1917 they saw six times the Virgin Mary. In these meetings, the two children allowed themselves to be attracted by the immense divine love, living the rest of their brief lives in an attitude of total surrender to God, in intense prayer, in the desire to contribute, through reparation, to the salvation of humanity and to peace in the world. Francisco died on April 4, 1919 and Jacinta on February 20, 1920.
They were the first two non-martyred children to be canonized.
“Jacinta and the Immaculate Heart of Mary” (PG 132, MEMORIES)A little while before going to hospital, Jacinta said to me:
“It will not be long now before I go to Heaven. You will remain here to make known that God wishes to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When you are to say this, don’t go and hide. Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that people are to ask her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at His side. Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace since God has entrusted it to her. If I could only put into the hearts of all, the fire that is burning within my own heart, and that makes me love the Hearts of Jesus and Mary so very much!”
On the Purity and Humility of St. Jacinta and St. Francisco
On one occasion Lucia asked him: “Francisco, what do you prefer more, to console the Lord or to convert sinners?” He answered: “I prefer to console the Lord... did you not see how sad Our Lady was when she told us that men should no longer offend the Lord, who is already so offended? I would like to console the Lord and then convert sinners so that they will no longer offend the Lord.” After a while he continued: “Soon I will be in heaven. And when I get there, I will console Our Lord and Our Lady very much.”
Jacinta, for her part, participated daily in holy Mass. Her desire was to receive the Eucharist as often as possible. She offered everything for the conversion of sinners and to make reparation for the offenses done to God. She loved to be with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.2
SOURCE: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256886/francisco-and-jacinta-brought
EXCERPT: Our Lady of the Rosary smiles at Lucia, from the Journal of St. LúciaWhen my turn came round, I went and knelt at the feet of our dear Lord, represented there in the person of His minister, imploring forgiveness for my sins. When I had finished, I noticed that everyone was laughing.
My mother called me to her and said: “My child, don’t you know that confession is a secret matter and that it is made in a low voice? Everybody heard you! There was only one thing nobody heard: that is what you said at the end.”
On the way home, my mother made several attempts to discover what she called the secret of my confession. But the only answer she obtained was complete silence.
Now, however, I am going to reveal the secret of my first confession. After listening to me, the good priest said these few words: “My child, your soul is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Keep it always pure, so that He will be able to carry on His divine action within it.”
On hearing these words, I felt myself filled with respect for my interior, and asked the kind confessor what I ought to do. “Kneel down there before Our Lady and ask her, with great confidence, to take care of your heart, to prepare it to receive Her beloved Son worthily tomorrow, and to keep it for Him alone!”
In the Church, there was more than one statue of Our Lady; but as my sisters took care of the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, I usually went there to pray. That is why I went there on this occasion also, to ask her with all the ardour of my soul, to keep my poor heart for God alone. As I repeated this humble prayer over and over again, with my eyes fixed on the statue, it seemed to me that she smiled and, with a loving look and kindly gesture, assured me that she would. My heart was overflowing with joy, and I could scarcely utter a single word.
PRAY THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY today, Tuesday. FOOTNOTES
IBreviary - https://www.ibreviary.com/m2/letture.php?s=letture, Readings
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256886/francisco-and-jacinta-brought