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The second class relics “ex indumentis” (from the clothing) of the soon to be saints, Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco Marto with a piece of Holm Oak tree where the Our Lady of Fatima appeared in Portugal will be available for public veneration from May 4 to 13, 2017 at the Our Lady of Veritas Chapel in Quezon City.
The enthronement of these relics from the Work of the Saints Apostle and the image of Our Lady of Fatima is part of the stations initiatives in taking part of the celebration of the Centennial of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima this year and to pay tribute to Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco who will be declared as saints on May 13, 2017.
Radio Veritas President Rev. Fr. Anton C.T. Pascual invites the public to venerate the relics and the image at the Veritas Chapel.
“Before the canonization of Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco and the start of the centennial celebration of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima both happening on May 13, I am inviting you all to visit their relics and Our Lady’s image at the Veritas Chapel in Quezon City from May 4 to 13 and may our prayers for God’s forgiveness and compassion be heard through their intercession,” Fr. Pascual said.
Francisco Marto and his sister Jacinta Marto together with their cousin Lúcia Santos were children from Aljustrel near Fátima, Portugal, who said to witnessed six apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary from May 13 to October 13, 1917. As a result of these apparitions, Mary was given the title Our Lady of Fátima and Fátima became a major center of world Christian pilgrimage.
Blessed Virgin told them that she had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman and child living in our century. Coming at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and bloody violence, she promised that Heaven would grant peace to the entire world if her requests for prayer, reparation and consecration were heard and obeyed.
In all her appearances at Fatima, the Blessed Mother repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying the Rosary daily, of wearing the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. She also asked that the faithful must practice a new devotion of reparation on the first Saturday of five consecutive months (“The Five First Saturdays”).
In 1918, Francisco and Jacinta succumbed to the flu epidemic. Francisco died on April 4, 1919, at the age of ten and Jacinta died at the age of nine on February 20, 1920. Olímpia Marto said that her children happily predicted their own deaths many times to her and to curious pilgrims. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 13, 2000.
On April 20, 2017, His Holiness Pope Francis announced the canonization of Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francisco. Two of the three child shepherds to whom the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared in Fatima will be declared as saints on May 13, 2017, which is also the start of the celebration of the Centennial of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima until October this year. Their relics were first enthroned at the Veritas Chapel last year on October 14, 2016.
Devotees seeking healing and other petitions may visit the image and relics from 8:00am to 5:00pm at the Radio Veritas Chapel located at the second floor of Veritas Tower, 162 West Avenue cor EDSA in Quezon City. For inquiries, please call Ms. Renee Jose or Mr. Rey Isabela at (02) 925-7932 to 39 local 129.
Radio Veritas 846, the number one faith-based Radio in the Philippines, is owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Manila. Established in 1969, the Ramon Magsaysay recipient Catholic radio station continues to be the leading social communications ministry for truth and new evangelization in the country today.
