Children of Fatima

(Continued from page 1) a body has of course no essential relation to sanctity and we had certainly seen the temple of a very holy soul and a potent instrument of grace.
When we come to Francisco the story is more confused.
On opening the coffin it was discovered that the remains which were thought to be his were those of a much older boy and the doctors refused to admit their authenticity.
The Bishop therefore decided to have the coffin replaced in the cemetery pending further investigations.
The confusion is as yet unexplained hut it must be inferred that Francisco's body. which, unlike Jacinta's. was buried without any special ceremony in the village graveyard, was not properly identified at the first reburial and that another coffin was mistaken for the true one.
This is rather more understandable in a country where tombs and graves bear no names.
Perhaps in time the mystery will be cleared up. Meanwhile a tribute must be paid to the conscientiousness of the Bishop of Leiria who has acted with prudence and objectivity in this latest development.
Jacinta's second funeral was both simple and splendid. All the pomp of the Church's ceremony accompanied this child to her last resting place but her mourners were for the most part the humble villagers who had known her in childhood.
PILGRIMS' ROAD
In the strong wind and sunshine of the Fatima hills the procession took the road which elle children knew so well and which has been trodden by millions of pilgrims since, from the parish church to the Cove da Iria.
In front, two long lines of surpliccd seminarians intoned the liturgical chants. Around Jacinta's black and gold draped coffin we prayed the familiar words of the Rosary.
Close to it walked "Ti Marto" and Senhora Olimpia. the children's parents, also Mother Godinho in whose orphanage Jacinta passed her last days before she went to hospital to die.
Wending our way through the olive groves we turned down the avenue which leads to the vast esplanade in front of the basilica. Within the basilica the Bishopwho is Bow very old and infirmwas waiting to receive the coffin and preside at the Solemn Requiem and Libera we which was sung by Canon Galamba de Oliveira.