Lucia Dos Santos, born in Portugal to a very humble family, was the recipient, together with her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, of a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, in the locality of Cova da Iria, near Fatima.

After the premature death of her cousins from the «Spanish» flu, she entered the Institute of Saint Dorothy with the name of Sister Maria Lucia dell'Addolorata. After the last apparition, she desired to become a Carmelite nun and entered the monastery of Coimbra, where she became Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart. In the centuries-old history of the Marian apparitions, Sister Lucy (as she is best known) is the seer who lived the longest, projecting throughout the twentieth century the light of the heartfelt and maternal message of the Virgin Mary, concerned for the salvation of souls, especially those of sinners.

She died in the Carmel of Coimbra on February 13, 2005, at the age of 98. Since 2006, the mortal remains of the visionary have been resting next to those of Jacinta Marto (beatified in 2000 together with her brother Francesco) in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, included in the Fatima Shrine.

On February 13, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI granted the decree dispensing from the five years of waiting since the death of Sister Lucy, so that the Cause could be promptly begun, corresponding to the great reputation of holiness of the Servant of God.

The Diocesan Inquiry into her "life, virtue and reputation for holiness" closed in  February, 2017, in the diocese of Coimbra. On 14^th September 2018 the decree of validity was granted.

Incontro con il Cardinale Saraiva Martins