What Is The Story Of The Three Children Of Fatima, And What Happened To Them?

The three children were called Lucia, Fransisco and Jacinta, and the events for which they became famous took place at the town of Fatima in Portugal.

In 1917, Lucia Marto and her two cousins, siblings Jacinta and Fransisco, claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them on the 13th day of each month over a six-month period. She had given them prophesies and told them secrets (these are referred to as the "three secrets of Fatima.") Eventually the story spread and the Catholic Church came to regard what the children had told them as true.

Fransisco and Jacinta both died in the European flu pandemic of 1919 (which killed more people than World War I); the Church later accorded them a special status. Lucia became a nun, and remained in a convent until her death in 2005. She sometimes claimed to see other visions during her long life.