Maria Lúcia Rosa dos Santos – "Sister Lúcia of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart", better known as Sister Lúcia of Jesus – (March 22, 1907 – February 13, 2005) was a Roman Catholic Carmelite nun. Born Lucia Abóbora de Jesus dos Santos, at the age of ten she claimed to have witnessed visions and to have been spoken to by the Virgin Mary, in Cova da Iria , near Fátima, Portugal. Her two cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto also witnessed the visions but only Lúcia was able to converse directly with her. Lúcia relayed three messages from the Virgin, which became known as the Secrets of Fátima.
In March 1948, she joined the Carmel of St. Teresa at Coimbra, where she lived until her death at the age of almost 98. She had been suffering prolonged colds and flu in an unheated cell. She died of cardio-respiratory failure, due to her advanced age.
She published a book in 2001, entitled Appeals of the Fatima Message.
The day of her funeral, February 15, 2005, was declared a day of national mourning in Portugal; even campaigning for the national parliamentary election scheduled for Sunday, February 20, was interrupted.
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