St. Jacinta Marto

St. Jacinta Marto was born on March 11, 1910, in Aljustrel, near Fátima, Portugal, the youngest daughter of Manuel and Olímpia Marto. She was long known as Blessed Jacinta until her canonization in 2017. With her brother Francisco and their cousin Lúcia dos Santos, she became one of the three children to whom Our Lady appeared in 1917.

Jacinta was affectionate, lively, and easily moved. After the apparitions she took to heart Our Lady's call to pray the Rosary, offer sacrifices for sinners, and console the Immaculate Heart of Mary. She chose hidden penances — giving up water, dancing, little comforts — so that souls might be saved. Lúcia later wrote that Jacinta seemed to live only for the conversion of sinners and for the Holy Father.

The Spanish influenza struck the Marto family. Francisco died at home in 1919. Jacinta was taken to Lisbon, operated on, and left among strangers. She offered the loneliness of the hospital as her last sacrifice. She died on February 20, 1920, not yet ten years old. She had seen Our Lady; she had also seen what sin costs, and she would not waste a fever.

Pope John Paul II beatified Jacinta and Francisco on May 13, 2000, at Fátima. Pope Francis canonized them on May 13, 2017, at the shrine. The Church keeps Jacinta's feast on February 20, the day of her death. The URL of this page still uses "blessed-jacinta-marto," the name by which the world first searched for her. She is a saint.

Liturgical Celebration

The Church commemorates St. Jacinta on February 20, the anniversary of her death in Lisbon. Francisco is commemorated on April 4. The great public memory of both is May 13 at Fátima, the day of the first apparition and of their canonization.

Traditions and Customs

On this feast, pray a Rosary for sinners, teach a child to offer a small sacrifice, and remember the sick who die far from home. The "Little Shepherds" are not a children's sidebar. They are canonized intercessors of the universal Church.

Prayer and Devotion

Pair Jacinta with St. Francisco Marto and with St. Thérèse of Lisieux, another child of the Little Way.