To Order Ordering information

Marian Helper Book Interview

Intimate thoughts about Sister Lucia’s Family Life
by Fr. Fox ~ Januray 2001

Our Blessed Mother who appeared in the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal to Lucia and her two little shepherd cousins, Jacinta and Francisco, told the ten year old Lucia to learn to read. In 1917 most girls in Portugal did not go to school, only boys. Lucia's mother however knew how to read and was quite a catechist. The neighboring children came to her home when she would teach her own children catechism. Maria Rosa Santos told her children she did not want to be ashamed when the priest examined the children regarding their knowledge of the catechism. This he did in the presence of parishioners.

Something that many, even devotees of Fatima, have still not discovered is that in time for the Great Jubilee 2000 a 5th Memoir and then a 6th Memoir by Sister Lucia was published in Portugal, edited by Fr. Louis Kondor, SVD, Secretary of the Little Shepherds' Causes.

When the Mons. Luciano Guerra, Rector of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal came to our 1989 national Fatima Family Apostolate Congress in Alexandria, SD he announced that Sister Lucia would soon be coming out with a fifth memoir on her father. Mention of Lucia's father in former memoirs were incomplete and he wished to make the Santos' home a place of reflection about the family.

While the Fatima Family Apostolate does not publish the 5th and 6th memoirs, they can be obtained in Fatima at the Postulation Center.

In the 5th memoir, first published in March 1990, Sister Lucia cherishes fond memories of her father and shares intimate thoughts. She speaks of the compassion of her father for the poor. The Santos home was open to everyone in any need.

Lucia's father taught her when but a small child to make the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, Hail Mary, the Creed, how to prepare for Confession, the Act of Contrition, the Commandments of God, etc.

When Lucia's mother saw how the child had learned her catechism so well from her father she said to Manuel, "You are indeed a very good man! May you always be so!" Lucia's father answered: "God has given me the best woman in the world!" Lucia wrote: "This is what made me believe that my mother was the best in the world, and, when the other children came to our patio to play with me, I used to ask them: "Is your mother good? My mother is the best in the world!""

Lucia tells of the gentleness of her father, "always serene and tranquil." Her father always showed great confidence in the protection of Our Lady. Lucia tells how on the 13th of October 1917, because of the rumors that the children would be killed, her parents for the first and last time, accompanied her to the Cova, saying: "If she is going to die, we want to die also at her side." When the crowd on the 13th was so great that Lucia got separated from her parents, her father broke through the crowd to take her by the hand up to the little holm-oak tree. (Lucia wrote this to Fr. Kondor on April 16, 1989).

It is precious to note that Lucia kept for many years two crochet needles with which her mother and her two older sisters, Maria and Teresa, taught her to crochet, when she was still a child. One was made of metal and the other of bone. With the one of medal Lucia taught Jacinta to make narrow lace to decorate underclothing. Lucia kept these needles in memory of her mother and childhood. Only on March 15, 1989 did Lucia, with the permission of her Mother Prioress, detach herself from these needles, together with an Imitation of Christ book which her mother had sent to Porto for her when in school there. She sent them to the Rector of the Fatima Sanctuary to place in the house belonging to her parents "which today is Hers, for the glory of God and joy of our pilgrim brothers and sisters."

An old American movie on Fatima had portrayed Lucia's father as a rather weak character who imbibed too much. Lucia however, wrote of her father: "Despite the great mystery of human weakness, my father never went to excess, to the point of losing his balance, nor failing in the awareness of his duties as a Christian and practicing Catholic, always maintaining the dignity of his personality as head and father of the family, faithful to his matrimonial promises, friend of his wife and children, preserving peace and serenity in his home."

Even though Sister Lucia made good mention of her mother in her original famous four memoirs, written decades earlier, (between the years 1935 and 1941) Mons. Luciano Guerra, Rector of the Shrine in Fatima, asked Sister Lucia to write a special one on her mother. The Sixth Memoir was begun in 1992 and completed by March 25, 1993, and delivered to the Rector on June 23, 1993.

Sister Lucia in the 6th Memoir tells us that during Lent, after the evening meal, Maria Rosa, her mother, used to teach the catechism to the whole family. Sometimes young people came to their house and often stayed the night as they had come from a distance.

It is beautiful to behold Lucia sharing her intimate thoughts of her mother and home life and the teaching of our holy Catholic faith. When it came to the Ten Commandments her mother would say: "First, to love God above all things. This is the one that confuses me most because I never know whether I love God more than my husband and children, but God is so good that He will forgive me and have mercy on me."

Lucia wrote: "And she would go on, listing all the commandments. When she came to the sixth, which requires us to be chaste, she would stop again and say: "We have to be very careful about this, too, because there are many temptations and many dangers. And you, turning to my brother and sisters, "must be very careful not to let yourselves be deceived, nor have any dealings with anyone who suggests such things to you. The grace of God first and foremost, [then] our good name, our own personal honor and dignity. God gave me the grace of offering Him the pure flower of my chastity on the day I was married, when I placed it on His altar and received, in exchange, other flowers, namely the new lives which He wanted to give me. In this way, God has helped me and blessed me." And then she would go on, reciting, after the Commandments of God, those of the Church, the theological virtues, the works of mercy, and so on, as they were printed and taught in the catechism book that was used in those days."

The children would each be asked catechism questions in their turn within the home. When it finally came time for the youngest, Lucia, "Sometimes my father would say: "She doesn"t need to, as she hasn"t yet made her First Communion." But her mother would reply: "Yes, she does, because the parish priests put her standing on top of the cupboard in the sacristy and asks her the questions to which the others don"t know the answers, so she has to have it all on the tip of her tongue."

Lucia said that she would listen to, and repeat, everything, parrot-fashion, without understanding the words or the meaning. "Nevertheless, they were being absorbed by my spirit and stored in my memory, so much so that today I remember them with an intense longing for those happy times when innocence takes in and stores up everything as happy memories for later times."

Finally Lucia wrote: "The Law of God and of His Church were the bedrock of my mother's great virtue, a fact which those who knew her and had dealings with her well knew how to appreciate and admire.

Canon Galamba, who was mentioned earlier used to say of Lucia's mother: "You know, your mother is more like a woman of Old Testament times than a woman of today."

Lucia in thinking of her mother did not hesitate to say: "My mother was a saint." She was humble, a woman of great faith, who loved justice and truth, was full of charity, and was always ready to help people both in household and outside it."

Sister Lucia writes that her father used to say to his mother "You and I are one." Therefore Sister Lucia found it quite impossible to speak of one without speaking of the other.

Sister Lucia said her mother gave this advice about whom to marry when her sister had two choices of dating: "No-one can tell which of them will be better. What you must do is to choose one who is a good Christian, fulfills his duties, and is a worker, honest and respected. having nothing to do with anyone who wants to make you commit sin. Rather, turn your back on him as this is a sign that he is neither honest nor chaste, and such people will never make you happy. It is better to remain unmarried than to marry the wrong person."

At these remarks from Maria Rosa Lucia's father joined in: "I am going to tell you something that perhaps I have never yet told you. When I asked your mother to go out with me, the first thing we agreed between us was to keep the flower of our chastity pure until the day of our wedding so that we could offer it to God in exchange for his blessing and any children He chose to give us. And He has blessed us with this little brood."

Sister Lucia brings out clearly in her 6th memoir the importance of parents being in harmony in discipline of children. "If my brother or one of my sisters asked Mother for permission to go somewhere unusual, such as a wedding to which they had been invited, a party or a local fiesta and such like, my mother would want to know whether they had already asked my father if they could go. If they said "no," she would say: ""Go and ask him and we"ll see what he says." If they went to ask my father first, they would get the same reply: "Go and ask your mother, and we"ll see what she says." Thus, they always agreed tranquillity with each other."

Maria Rosa was so charitable, not only to her children, but everyone in the area that Sister Lucia in 1992 could write: "My mother was a kind of second mother to everyone and many people used to say just this: that they had found in her a second mother and that they turned to her as if she really were their mother." In her great charity helping so many in need Marie Rosa would accept payment from no one.

"My mother used to say that matrimony was the tree of life that God planted in the garden of the world, and that the fruit of these trees were the children, who had to be brought up with great love and educated with great care because they had come to bring on earth the new life with which God enriches us, and it is they who, in turn, will take care of their parents, in sickness and old age, until God chooses to transfer them from earth to heaven."

Maria Rosa used to love to have family reunions from time to time. She would say: "They promote joy, unity and peace between all."

The mother and father worked hard. When the children came of age, they too would be engaged in working. Sister Lucia, remembering the good times in the home in the evening, working on the spinning jenny asked years ago that it not ever be removed from their home.

Maria Rosa was so upset at the time of the apparitions for it seemed to her that such a thing could not be true: "Are we worthy of such a thing? Get this out of your head, child, and tell the truth!" In 1992 Sister Lucia wrote: "My mother was right. Humanly speaking, it was impossible. We were very far from being worthy of such a grace! What she did not realize was that, from one moment to the next, God is able, from mere stones, to raise up children to Abraham. God allowed it all to happen as it did so that she could ascent the steps of her steep Calvary by the light of faith alone. Now when I read in Sacred Scripture what the Book of proverbs has to say about the virtuous woman, I seem to see there a portrait of my mother: "Who can find a virtuous woman? She is far more precious than jewels."..."

Sister Lucia wrote that "it seemed as if my mother could only say "yes." She never refused her services when asked, and, on many occasions, it was she herself who offered her help. ... Even in my cradle I shared my mother's milk with another child, a little orphan girl whose mother had died when she was born, and I did not suffer in consequence, for I grew up strong and healthy, without any kind of illness."

"My mother used to say that children come to prolong the lives of those who give them their physical being, that they were like plants that, placed in the earth as seeds, burst forth with new life, clothed with fresh foliage and strength, yielding flowers and fruits of all kinds, enriching the earth and filling it with delicate scents and perfumes. That's what children are like with the grace and candor of their innocence, as are pure and chaste young people, smiling at the tomorrow that is approaching like a new garden, where fresh smiling rosebuds are bursting into bloom."

Sister Lucia in 1992 also shared stories that involved her mother and members of her family's friends intervening out of respect for human life. Once when a doctor gave a pre-mature child up as not capable of living and it was to be left to die, or gotten rid of, a family member preserved the child for life and succeeded.

While Sister Lucia writes of the "Cavalry" that the apparitions brought to her mother Lucia herself would have much to sacrifice. She would never be able to live a normal life again, certainly not in Aljustrel or the parish territory of Fatima where she was known.

When Lucia was about 15 she tells how she was sent away to school where no one would know where she was. The Diocese of Leiria [in which Fatima is] was restored and the Bishop Jose Alves Correia da Silva, as soon as he took possession of the Diocese, [now known as Leiria-Fatima] wanted to discover everything about the happenings at Fatima, and the location of the sole survivor of the three little shepherds. Lucia was asked to be brought to Leiria.

Let Lucia tell about it herself.

"The Bishop put me sitting on a sofa beside him and began to question me about the apparitions. I replied to his questions to the best of my knowledge and ability. he then asked me if I would like to leave Fatima and go to Porto, to study and be educated in a boarding school. I replied that there was already a lady in Lisbon, who had been a good friend to me, in whose house I had stayed for a time, and that she was arranging for me to go to a boarding school to study and be educated. The Bishop replied that I would be better off in Porto because I needed to be somewhere where I was not known, and that this would not be possible in Lisbon, where I was already well known; that Porto would be better as I was yet unknown there; that I would not speak about the apparitions in Fatima to anyone, nor about my parents and family, except to give their names, without saying where they lived.