Roman Catholics commemorate Sunday, Feb. 20, the feast day of two of the three shepherd children of Fatima – Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared at the Cova de Ira in Fatima, Portugal in the year 1917.

The Holy Father Pope Francis canonized Blessed Francisco and Jacinta in 2017 in their native Fatima, Portugal, to coincide with the centennial of the Fatima apparitions.

Saints Francisco (June 11, 1908 – April 4, 1919) and Jacinta (March 11, 1910 – Feb. 20, 1920) both succumbed to the flu epidemic.

Francisco died on April 4, 1919 at the age of ten while Jacinta died at the age of nine on Feb. 20, 1920. They were beatified by Saint Pope John Paul II on May 13, 2000.

According to their mother Olímpia Marto, her children happily predicted their own deaths many times to her and to curious pilgrims.

Francisco and his sister Jacinta, the youngest of ten siblings, together with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos were from Aljustrel near Fátima, Portugal. They witnessed six apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary from May 13 to Oct. 13, 1917. As a result of these apparitions, the Blessed Mother was given the title Our Lady of Fátima and the site became a major center of Marian pilgrimage up to this day.

Considered as the most important series of Marian apparitions in the Roman Catholic Church, the Blessed Mother requested the children to pray the Holy Rosary, perform works of mortification for the conversion of sinners, and requested for devotion to herself under the title Our Lady of Fatima.

On April 20, 2017, Pope Francis announced their canonization to be held on May 13, which was also the start of the celebration of the centennial of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima which lasted until October 2018.

The second class relics “ex indumentis” (from the clothing) of the children of Fatima with a piece of the Holm Oak tree where Our Lady of Fatima appeared in Portugal were displayed at the Our Lady of Veritas Chapel in Q.C. five years ago and was visited by hundreds of Marian devotees.