THE THREE SHEPHERD CHILDREN

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Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta: three normal children. However, God’s Love had very special plans for them, and in fact they became the main characters of the most wonderful adventure that a human being could experience: they saw the Angels and the Virgin Mary, they talked to them, they were pierced by the Light of God to become witnesses of Love and Faith in a world without God and therefore full of hatred.
They were born in Fatima, a small town in Portugal. At the time of our story, in 1917, Lucia was 10 years old, Francisco was almost 9 and Jacinta was 7; the latter were brother and sister and Lucia’s cousins. They didn’t go to school, because they had to help their families, who were very poor, by grazing their sheep.
Relying on the descriptions made by their relatives and on the testimony of those who knew them, we can be quite precise in describing them. Let’s begin with Lucia:

Lucia

Lucia was born on March 22, 1907. She was healthy and well-built, with thick black hair, a flattened nose, big lips and a wide mouth; she didn’t have delicate features. The only attraction of her dark and round face were her two big black eyes which shone under her thick eyebrows.

Of a gentle and, at the same time, strong personality, she conveyed a certain charm on her friends, and she was always the one to decide where to take the sheep to graze, which games to play and how to spend their time in the long summer days when their parents were at work. Her sister, Maria dos Anjos, says about her: «Lucia loved children very much and they too were fond of her; she often gathered up to ten or twelve in the courtyard of her house and organized processions with them, made little altars, played buttons, hide and seek, stones, tag and, when they were tired, they sat in the shade of the fig trees and she started to tell endless stories, some were real and some were invented».

She was very intelligent and had a retentive memory; she drew material for her stories from the catechism lessons her mother gave every evening to her daughters and other children. Her sister Maria dos Anjos remembers: «Our mother knew how to read, but she didn’t know how to write. Every evening, especially in winter, she read us a passage from the Old Testament or from the Gospels or from an anecdote about the apparition of Lourdes. During Lent, the readings were about Our Lord’s Passion. Lucia learned everything by heart and then told it to the children».

She learnt catechism so well that, at the age of six, she was able to receive her First Communion, while other children weren’t allowed to receive it before the age of ten.
She was very sociable and outspoken, very affectionate with mommy and daddy and she always found a way of making herself loved. Among the friends her age, she stood out because of her strong personality – and because of a bit of vanity, in dressing with special elegance and good taste on feast days. «Actually - she herself later wrote – vanity was my greatest defect».
Teresa Matias, an old friend of hers, describes her: «Lucia was very cheerful. She loved us very much, so we enjoyed being with her. She was very intelligent, she knew how to sing and dance well and she taught us beautiful songs. We all obeyed her».

 Francisco

With dark eyes, a round face, a small mouth and a broad chin, Francisco didn’t have the harsh features of mountain people. He was born on June 11, 1908.

He was exceptionally kind and calm, cheerful and friendly with everyone; he liked to play like all the children in the world, but he never argued, and preferred to give in rather than argue. However, this doesn’t mean that he lacked strength and courage; on the contrary, he was never afraid to go someplace alone in the dark at night.

 He had a very sensitive and honest conscience, he never did anything dishonest: once his mother ordered him to bring the flock onto the property of his godmother Teresa, whose permission wasn’t asked, since she wasn’t at home. Francisco refused to go there, so his mother gave him a resounding slap for his refusal and he answered seriously: «Mother of mine, are you teaching me to steal?» He brought the sheep to that place only on the following day, after asking his godmother’s permission.
He had an outspoken personality and was unable to pretend. He demonstrated a maturity which was greater than his age. «He was like a man», his mother Olimpia described him.

He had a contemplative soul, and never got tired of admiring the beauties of creation, in particular the huge starry sky and the shining sun when it rose and when it set.

Having a poetic spirit, he spent endless hours playing the pipe, sitting on a rock. He loved all animals, but especially birds, whose warble he liked to imitate, and he couldn’t stand them being removed from their nest. One day, seeing a friend of his holding a sparrow in his hand, he managed to get it from him in exchange for a twenty-cent coin, and then he let it fly away, saying: «Don’t let yourself be caught again!».

An identical episode, and with almost the same words, can be read in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Little Francisco of Fatima didn’t know this, and he had probably never heard about his patron saint; but God, who fills every soul who is willing to accept Him, at times enjoys renewing these wonders: after seven hundred years, the same Spirit of Love for the sun, plants, animals and all creatures that vibrated in the rich and brilliant merchant of Assisi beat in the little shepherd boy of Fatima.

Jacinta

Jacinta was the smallest of the three children, and was born on March 11, 1910. She had light bright eyes, normal features, a round face and thin lips; she looked very much like her brother, but very different from him personality wise: in fact, even though she was meek, she used to insist stubbornly while playing; in these cases, you just had to give in and do what she wanted. Exceptionally sensitive, she was moved to tears when she was told about the sufferings of Jesus, and repeated: «Poor Jesus, I mustn’t sin anymore, I don’t want Jesus to suffer anymore».

Like her brother Francisco, and perhaps even more, she was in love with nature, flowers and animals, especially the sheep who she called by name and the lambs who she loved to hold and kiss tenderly. Gifted with an exquisite ear for music, she often resounded her silvery voice throughout the countryside, singing harmonious religious songs of her country; she had a true love for dancing and an exceptional sense of rhythm: as soon as Francisco or another shepherd boy struck up a tune, she began to dance with Lucia, with a unique grace and vivacity.

She was very attached to her little cousin by a profound friendship, she always tried to be with her. So when Lucia’s parents entrusted her with the task of bringing the sheep to pasture, she kept begging her mother until she received permission to follow Lucia with the family’s small flock, together with her brother Francisco.

Like Francisco, she had an absolute love for the truth, and she scolded her mother when, for example, she said she was going to one place and then went to another: «Oh, mommy, you lied… telling lies is a bad thing!» If she committed a fault, she accused herself of it right away and promised not to do it again.

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