Today, February 20, is the memorial of Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
Visionaries of Our Lady of Fatima.
On May 13, 1917, Francisco and Jacinta were tending sheep with their cousin, Lucia Santos, when they received the first of six visions of the Virgin Mary. Francisco was 9 years old, and Jacinta was 7 during the apparitions.
The Blessed Virgin instructed the three children to pray for the conversion of sinners and offer sacrifices. Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia took her messages to heart. They mortified themselves by fasting and wearing tight belts.
In 1918, Europe was suffering from the massive flu epidemic. Francisco and Jacinta were struck by the flu. Despite being very sick, they still attended Mass and received the Holy Eucharist. No matter how difficult it was, they would still kneel and pray for hours with their heads on the ground.
Francisco refused hospital treatment and died in 1919 at the age of 10.
Jacinta suffered more. She was moved from one hospital to another. She endured a painful operation of the ribs. Because she had a heart condition, she underwent surgery without anaesthesia.
Jacinta offered her difficult illness for the conversion of sinners. She predicted that she would die alone in the dark hospital—and so it happened in 1920. She died at age nine.
They were beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000. Pope Francis canonized them in 2017. Francisco and Jacinta became the youngest non-martyrs to be beatified and canonized in the history of the Catholic Church.