FATIMA CHILDREN: THE FACTS TO BE BEATIFIED

REMAINS OF FRANCISCO NOT IDENTIFIED AT RE-BURIAL
A REPORT that the body of Jacinto Marto, one of the three children to whom Our Lady appeared at Fatima, has been found wholly incorrupt, and that the body of Francisco Marto, another of the three, has been reburied with her is cor rected in a special message to THE CATHOLIC HERALD from an official observer at the recent exhumation ceremony in the Fatima cemetery.
There was, indeed, so much doubt about the identity of the remains supposed to be those of Francisco that they were replaced
hi the cemetery.
By 1, M. KINGSBURY THE exhumation of the bodies of Jacinta and Francisco Marto and their transference to the Basilica in the Cove da Iria, had been kept a close secret even in Portugal and very few people knew of the ceremony.
1 was present to make a report for the official organ of the Shrine, The Voice of Fatima. and so am able to give readers of THE CATHOLIC HERALD a first hand account.
The canonical examination and identification of the bodies took place on the morning of April 30.
In the presence of the Bishop of Leiria, Canon Galamba de Oliveira, Canon J. Venancio and the parents and relatives of the children, the tomb in the Fatima cemetery was opened and the coffins taken to a nearby convent where the exhumation was carried out.
TWO DOCTORS
Two well known doctors, Maximine Correia, Rector of Coimbra University, and Hermani Monteiro, of the Oporto Faculty of Medicine, were in charge of the technical arrangements at fhe invitation of the Bishop.
When i saw Jacinta's body it was lying in the coffin entirely exposed to view. Very little is left of the trunk and lower limbs but their shape could clearly be discerned under the covering of quicklime.
But it was the face and head which chiefly arrested our attention.
Jacinta's features were still conserved and although somewhat sunken and discoloured could be recognised easily as those of a little girl.
The head was inclined downwards and to the left and the face, which seemed to be made of wax, held an impression of mingled suffering and peace.
The wreath of flowers and first Holy Communion veil in which Jacinta was buried were clearly distinguishable as well as the material of her dress.
NEGATIVE
From the quicklime peeped out a small brown shoe.
The question remains : Is Jacinta's face incorrupt as was thought to be the case at the first exhumation in 1935 ?
The answer would seem to be in the negative.
In Portugal coffins are hermetically sealed from all contact with the air and long conservation of corpses from perfectly natural causes, though rare, is by no means unknown. In the case of Jacinto., although it seems strange that an organism attacked by a purulent disease should still he partly conserved 30 years after death. the doctors state it as their opinion that the body will eventually mummify naturally.
The corruption or incorruption of
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