Sts. Francisco and Jacinta are brother and sister, and are two of the three children who saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary, along with their cousin, Lucia Santo, in the fields of Fatima, Portugal, while they tended their families’ sheep.
On May 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared to the children for the first time, and asked them to say the rosary and make sacrifices, offered up for the conversion of sinners. The children did as she asked, praying often, giving away their lunches to beggars, and fasting. They offered up daily struggles, and even kept from drinking water on hot days as a sacrifice.
In October 1918, Francisco and Jacinta both caught the Spanish flu. Our Lady appeared to them and told them she would soon take them to heaven. Francisco requested his first Communion from his bed, and died the next day, on April 14, 1919, at age 11.
Jacinta suffered from her illness for a long time. She was eventually taken to a hospital in Lisbon, and received an operation on the abscess in her chest, but she never recovered. Jacinta died on Feb. 20, 1920, at age 10.
Francisco and Jacinta are the youngest non-martyrs to be made saints. Pope John Paul II canonized them in 2000, and Pope Francis officially canonized them in 2017, showing the Church that even young children can become saints.
