Was surprised that this was noteworthy event was not mentioned as of yet.
Last of 3 Fatima miracle children is laid to rest
Sister Lucia, two siblings say they saw Virgin Mary as kids in 1917
Reuters
Updated: 3:07 p.m. ET Feb. 19, 2006
FATIMA, Portugal - Tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims braved cold and
rainy weather on Sunday to pay their final respects to the last of three
shepherd children who said they had seen the Virgin Mary in Portugal in
1917.
Sister Lucia, the last of the three, died a year ago and on Sunday her
remains were moved to her last resting place in the Shrine of Fatimawhere
they saw visions of the Virgin which have become some of the most important
in the Catholic Church.
Church officials said around 100,000 people packed the Fatima sanctuary,
about 95 miles north of Portugals capital Lisbon. They had come from all
over Portugal and the world.
Sister Lucia died a year ago, aged 97, at her Carmelite convent in Coimbra
where she had been buried until now. She had wished to be buried at the
convent for a year before being removed to Fatima.
Fulfilling her profound wish we will give her body to the (Fatima)
sanctuary, said the Bishop of Coimbra, Albino Cleto, during a mass held at
the local cathedral.
Sister Lucias remains had been driven from Coimbra and when they arrived in
Fatima volunteers carried them.
I have been here 8 hours to venerate a saint, said Efigenia Silva as she
clutched a picture of Lucia and carnations as the procession with Lucias
remains passed by.
The coffin was buried in the Basilica next to the sepulchre of Sister
Lucias cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the other two children who saw
the Virgin. Jacinta died in 1919 and Francisco in 1920 in an influenza
pandemic.
The two were beatified, the last stage before sainthood, in 2000.
Sundays ceremonies ended with a farewell procession with pilgrims from
around the world waving white handkerchiefs.
Lucia dos Santos, who said she and her cousins first saw the Virgin on an
oak tree on May 13, 1917, died on Feb. 13, 2005, at the age of 97.
The children said the Virgin appeared six times and witnesses said an
estimated 50,000 people saw bright lights and rainbow colors at her last
appearance.
Dos Santos, who became a nun after having the visions, also said she had a
vision that foretold the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul on May
13, 1981.
Pope John Paul later placed one of the bullets that nearly killed him in the
crown of the statue of Fatima.
Dos Santos was said by believers to have received prophecies from the Virgin
about a vision of hell and the outbreak of World War II.
The Vatican interpreted the prophecies as foretelling Communisms
persecution of Christianity. The apparitions took place the same year as the
Russian Revolution.
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