Francisco Marto

Portuguese child noted for the Miracle of Fatima, during which the sun appeared to spin and fall from the sky, witnessed by 70,000 people on 13 October 1917.

On a spring day in 1916, three peasant children, Lucia dos Santos and her two cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, ages nine, eight and six, were tending sheep when they first began to see the visions.

The Lady said to Lucia on 13 June 1917, during the second apparition, "In a short time I will take Francisco and Jacinta up to heaven with me. You, on the other hand, will remain on earth for a great many years to spread the devotion to my Immaculate Heart." The two Marto children were both stricken by the Spanish flu and Francisco died on 4 April 1919 at Fatima, age ten, and Jacinta died on 20 February 1920, 22:30 GMT at Lisbon, age nine. Due to the contagious nature of the disease, their remains were covered with quicklime: nonetheless, when the bodies were examined in 1951, Jacinta's body was found to be in perfect condition.

They were both beatified by Pope John Paul II on 13 May 2000.