This February 20 is the feast of Saint Jacinta Marto, visionary of the Virgin of Fátima. She had an apparition from the Mother of God before she died, in which she received a special request.
Saint Jacinta, Saint Francis and Lucia were the three little shepherds to whom the Virgin of Fátima appeared on several occasions in 1917.
According to the saints website hearts.org , administered by the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Jacinta assiduously attended Holy Mass and dedicated herself to performing mortifications after the apparitions.
In December 1918, she and her brother Francisco fell ill during a bronchopneumonia epidemic. Months later, the child died, and Jacinta suffered greatly from his loss. The little girl's health deteriorated.
One day Jacinta told Lucía that the Virgin had visited her and asked her if she wanted to continue converting sinners. When he answered yes, the Virgin of Fátima told him that then he would go to a hospital and suffer a lot.
The Mother of God asked him to suffer everything for the conversion of the lost, in reparation for the offenses against her Heart and for love of Jesus. Likewise, she explained that her mother would accompany her, but that in the end she would be alone.
Later, Jacinta developed a large sore on her chest that became infected. He suffered great torment, but he told his cousin Lucia: "I suffer a lot, but I offer everything for the conversion of sinners and to make amends to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
She was taken to a Lisbon hospital. Her mother accompanied her for a few days, but she had to return home. She underwent an operation in which two ribs were removed and the pain she suffered was unbearable.
Jacinta told a nurse that the Virgin had appeared to her to tell her that she would soon come looking for her and that from that moment on she no longer suffered from pain.
Three days later, on February 20, 1920, the saint stated that she felt bad and asked for the last sacraments.
He managed to confess and prayed that Communion be brought to him quickly before he died. However, he could not fulfill his last wish because he died.
