Brave and Free · Week 4 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto
Portugal, 1917
Portugal became a republic in blank 1, and its new government moved hard against the Church, closing religious houses and restricting worship. By 1917 Portuguese soldiers were also dying in the First World War.
Francisco and Jacinta Marto lived far from all of that, in blank 2, a hamlet of the rural parish of Fátima. They could not read. They spent their days herding sheep with their cousin Lúcia dos Santos.
On May 13, 1917, the three reported seeing a lady brighter than the sun at the Cova da Iria. She asked for the daily blank 3, for prayer and sacrifice for sinners, and for their return on the 13th of each month until October.
From the Cova da Iria to the altar
Write what happened at each point.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1908–1910 | Write your answer |
| 1916 | Write your answer |
| 1917 | Write your answer |
| 1919–1920 | Write your answer |
| 1930 | Write your answer |
| 1989 | Write your answer |
| 2000 | Write your answer |
| 2017 | Write your answer |
What the children did with it
The message was demanding. In July the children reported a terrifying vision of hell, followed by a call to pray and make sacrifices so that others might be saved. They kept parts of what they were told secret, even when the local administrator detained and threatened them in blank 4.
Each child responded in a personal way. Francisco, quiet by nature, wanted above all to console blank 5, and he spent hours alone before the tabernacle. Jacinta felt urgent compassion for sinners and for the Pope, and she gave up food and comforts for them.
Both caught influenza in the pandemic of blank 6. Jacinta died in Lisbon, far from her family.
How the Church reads Fátima
Write one detail for each card.
| Card | The detail |
|---|---|
| Private revelation | Write your answer |
| Worthy of belief | Write your answer |
| October 13, 1917 | Write your answer |
| The secret | Write your answer |
| The saints, not the visions | Write your answer |
Apply it
A classmate says, “Catholics have to believe everything about Fátima.” Which reply is most accurate? Circle one.
- A Yes, because a pope visited the shrine
- B No, approved private revelation may be believed but is not required
- C Yes, because it is recorded in Scripture
- D No, the Church has never judged the apparitions at all
Why is that the right answer?
Apply it
A video claiming a new miracle goes viral. Which response best matches how the Church handled Fátima? Circle one.
- A Share it at once so that others can believe
- B Mock it publicly so that no one is fooled
- C Trust it if it has millions of views
- D Wait, test the evidence and look at the fruits
Why is that the right answer?
Virtues they lived
For each virtue, write how the saint lived it and one way you can practice it.
| Virtue | How the saint lived it | How I can practice it |
|---|---|---|
| Fortitude | Write your answer | Write your answer |
| Contemplation | Write your answer | Write your answer |
| Charity | Write your answer | Write your answer |
Take a side
Resolved: a nine-year-old can freely choose heroic holiness, so the Church was right to canonize Francisco and Jacinta for their virtue and not for their visions.
My side: ☐ Agree ☐ Disagree
- What does a free and mature choice require? Can a child make one?
- Is there a difference between childhood innocence and chosen virtue?
- They held firm under threats and accepted painful illness. Is that evidence of virtue or of obedience to adults?
- If children can be heroically holy, what does that imply about what is expected of you now?
- Francisco chose silence over attention. Is that choice harder or easier for a teenager with a phone today?
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Let us pray
Lord Jesus, hidden in the tabernacle, teach us to stay with you in silence.
Give us courage to tell the truth and compassion for those far from you.
Grant peace to the world.
Sts. Francisco and Jacinta, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Small, hidden, faithful
Two children who could not read were canonized at Fátima on May 13, 2017. Their feast day is February 20.
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: For seven days, give ten minutes of your screen time to silent prayer for peace. Tell no one and post nothing about it.