On the 30th day of March, 1907, a female child was baptized, of the name Lucia, born at Aljustrel… on the 22nd day of March of the same year, at 7 o’clock in the evening. » This is the wording shown in the Parish Register. Her parents were António dos Santos and Maria Rosa, residents of Aljustrel, a hamlet belonging to the parish of Fatima. As the youngest of seven children, six girls and one boy, Lucia was the family favorite and was surrounded with affection from her earliest childhood. Although the family met with many troubles and misfortunes, Lucia’s mother bore them all in an exemplary Christian spirit.

At the age of six, Lucia received her first Holy Communion, the account of which will move our readers to joy and wonder. Family circumstances obliged her to start out in life straight away as a shepherdess. At first, in 1915, her companions were the girls and boys of Aljustrel and its surroundings.

As from 1917, her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto were her sole companions. That was the year in which the Blessed Virgin appeared. Lucia had a special role during the apparitions, as the Vision spoke only to her, and gave her a message which was only to be revealed at a 9 future date. She lived and suffered, together with Francisco and Jacinta, on account of the apparitions. She alone has remained on earth for a longer period, in order to fulfill her mission. The Blessed Virgin actually requested her to learn to read… She started attending school, however, only after the apparitions; but with her talents and her good memory she learned to read and write very quickly. As soon as the apparitions were over, of course, Lucia found herself in the position of a “visionary”, with all the dangers resulting therefrom. Something, therefore, had to be done about her.

One of the primary interests of the new Bishop of the re-established Diocese of Leiria was her education; he tried to keep her away from the dangers threatening her in an atmosphere so permeated with the extraordinary. On the morning of June 17th, 1921, she entered the College of the Sisters of St. Dorothy at Vilar, which is now a suburb of Porto. We are giving a description of what she looked like in those days which, by the way, corresponds perfectly to the well-known photographs: “High and broad head; large brown, lively eyes; thin eye-brows; flat nose, wide mouth, thick lips, round chin. The face radiates something supernatural. Hair light and fine; of slight build, but tall for her age; 13 years and six months. Strong features, but a likeable face. Lively, intelligent, but modest and without presumption. Hands of normal size, roughened by work.”

As a young girl of 14 years and three months, Lucia entered the College of Porto, and there she received an excellent moral and religious formation. Her schooling was rather inadequate however, as it went barely beyond elementary levels. From the beginning, she was thoroughly trained in domestic work. Nevertheless, with her great ability, her good memory, her perseverance and her serious behavior, this young girl succeeded in acquiring a fairly complete education.

Even before she entered the College, Lucia already felt drawn to dedicate herself to God in the religious life. The intensely pious life of the College, however, caused her to reflect more deeply, and her first thought went to the Carmelites… But the example of her teachers and her gratitude towards them made her decide to enter the Institute of St. Dorothy.

The Portuguese Novitiate was at that time, 1921-1925, at Tuy, where Lucia entered on October 24th, 10 1925, at the age of 18. She went first to the house at Pontevedra, where she spent some months as a postulant. This house was situated in a side street known as “Travesía de Isabel II”, and there she stayed from the 25th October, 1925, to the 20th July, 1926. She then went to the Novitiate House of Tuy to complete her postulancy, and began her novitiate with her Clothing on 2nd October, 1926.

After two years, she made her profession of Vows on the 3rd October, 1928. She remained on in the same house, but with the professed Sisters, until she took her Perpetual Vows on the 3rd October, 1934. A few days later, she was transferred to the Convent of Pontevedra and only returned to Tuy in May, 1937, where she remained until she was sent to Portugal at the end of May, 1946. After a few days’ visit to the Cova da Iria and Aljustrel, where she identified the places of the Apparitions, Sister Lucia was assigned to the house at Sardão in Vila Nova de Gaia near Porto.

And finally, when the desire she had had for a long time to live in seclusion and solitude re-awakened, she received, by kind favour of Pope Pius Xll, permission to change over to the Discalced Carmelites, whom she joined on March 25th, 1948. And there she lived a life of prayer and penance until her holy death, which occurred on 13 February 2005, at the great age of almost 98 years.