“Dona Lucilia!” is the first thought that, like a prayer, comes to the lips and hearts of many of her devotees in any difficulty. Some entrust small everyday matters to her maternal care, others seek solutions to great difficulties; and she attends to both, in a discreet way, respecting the times of grace proper to the spiritual life of each one.

Now, Dona Lucilia sometimes finds hearts somewhat hesitant towards her endeavours… This is not, however, an obstacle to her maternal care, which lovingly overcomes the impediments of uncertainty.

Let us see how she confirmed the effectiveness of her action in the great and small cases that we narrate below.

In tribulation, the encounter with Dona Lucilia

Cássia Oliveira and her husband were going through a difficult ordeal: they had lost a baby about two months before the birth, and time was passing without them being consoled by the arrival of a new child. Furthermore, health complications made this possibility even more remote, a situation that greatly saddened them.

One day, while visiting the city of Cotia, they came across the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima and decided to attend Holy Mass. At the end of the Liturgy, they approached to greet the celebrant, as is customary among the faithful. They took the opportunity to tell the Herald priest about their difficulties and ask for his blessing in the intention of being able to have a child.

The priest agreed, encouraging them in the hope of receiving the grace within a year… And before they could accuse him of being presumptuous, he explained that he would entrust the matter to Dona Lucilia, briefly describing who she was and how she promptly answered requests made with faith. He recommended that they ask for her intercession and that, if their prayers were answered, they should return there to baptize their new child, as a token of gratitude.

The long-awaited birth

This is how Cássia recounts it:

“The following month, in September, I discovered I was pregnant! My husband and I were overjoyed! I was certain I had received the grace and said, ‘We will have to fulfil this promise!’ The pregnancy was quite turbulent. I was hospitalized several times, feeling very insecure and afraid of losing the baby, but always trusting in God; and I also began to trust in the intercession of Dona Lucilia, always asking for her help.”

Her son, Gregório, was eventually born very healthy and, as promised, was baptized in the same church where his parents received the promise of Dona Lucilia’s help.

However, Cássia maintained a certain reserve regarding her intercessor, feeling reticent to trust her completely:

“I confess that I was very grateful for the blessings; I fully believed that the priest had interceded, that he had been the channel of this grace, but I remained a little reluctant, for I thought: ‘Dona Lucilia hasn’t been canonized yet, so is she really a saint?’ I did not quite know what to think. Of course, I believe that people who lead exemplary lives and leave this legacy while still alive are in the glory of God; but even so, something was stopping me from writing my testimony.”

And so, Cássia allowed time to pass…

Another predicament, another prayer

Suddenly, a new need led her gaze back to Dona Lucilia.

Cássia is a teacher and, as at the beginning of every school year, there was a restructuring of schedules at the school where she works, which obliged her to accept some night classes. Seeing that this would greatly affect her routine as a mother and force her to spend a lot of time away from her son, she did not hesitate to ask Dona Lucilia for help. “Lord, I know there are so many problems worse than mine, so many sick people,” she thought, “but this is my reality today, this is the request I have to make: that I be dispensed from these evening classes and be able to teach during the day.”

With great confidence, Cássia prayed a novena to Dona Lucilia, gazing fervently at the same photograph she had received some time before, on her first visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima. The narration continues:

“I prayed: ‘Dona Lucilia, I ask for your intercession again. You are by God’s side, you already helped me the first time; so, I ask for your intercession.’ I also made a promise: if everything went well, if I didn’t have to give the night classes, I would send a report and speak of the two blessings I received in my life.”

By learning more about Dona Lucilia’s life and researching her on social media, Cássia became convinced that she would be heard. It only remained to be seen when and how this would happen.

The second intervention by Dona Lucilia

Perhaps to encourage Cássia’s faith, Providence wished to answer her gradually and demand persistence in prayer from her.

On the eve of the first day of classes, an unexpected and tragic death obliged the administration to change the schedules of several teachers, making it possible for Cássia to receive almost all the daytime hours she desired. She only had three evening classes left; therefore, she would only be away from her son for one night a week. Cássia, however, persisted in prayer, for she longed for the complete grace and was already certain that Dona Lucilia would obtain it from God.

And she continued waiting:

“I never imagined how this could happen… Two days went by and the teacher who would be giving the other daytime classes, which were the ones I wanted, told me: ‘Cássia, I’m contacting you because I am leaving the daytime classes. I won’t be able to give these classes because I am working at another school. I wanted to know if you could switch with me: you give these classes during the day, and I’ll take the evening classes.’”

It was the perfect solution for the case!

Cássia ends her account very grateful and convinced that she has a faithful intercessor, watching over her needs: “Now I have to fulfil my promise, believing that I have indeed received Dona Lucilia’s intercession once again, and it gives me great joy!”

A serious accident

For Maria Fernanda Aguiar, a resident of Maringá, the plea “Dona Lucilia, our mother, help me!” would have been her last words in this life, were it not for the immediate help that this kind lady granted her at the moment of a serious traffic accident that occurred on BR-376 highway.

Maria Fernanda works in the city of Marialva, a few kilometres from Maringá. One day, on her way home, she was driving in the slow lane of the highway when a semi-trailer truck, whose driver seemed to be in more of a hurry than she was, began to pass her.

During the manoeuvre, however, the truck collided with the left rear tire of Maria Fernanda’s vehicle, causing her to lose control:

“My car spun, and was thrown in front of the truck – which continued advancing in the left lane – and it was pushed for several long seconds… Thinking that the car wasn’t going to stop, I literally screamed: ‘Dona Lucilia, our mother, help me!’”

“You are really protected!”

Analysing the episode later, Maria Fernanda confessed that her cry of anguish was not aimed at preserving her life, as she immediately realized that the accident would be fatal. In that plea, she asked that Dona Lucilia be her advocate before the supreme tribunal of God, and she implored for the salvation of her soul.

Now, Dona Lucilia obtained from Providence that she be spared and that her remaining in this life become a testament to supernatural power. No sooner had she called out the name of her heavenly intercessor than Maria Fernanda felt her vehicle – which until then had continued to be pushed at full speed by the truck – come to a stop, no one knows how, in the median of the highway, while the truck driver continued on his way without providing any kind of assistance.

As if to confirm the protection of Heaven, the wrecked car stopped between a sign and a pole, not colliding with either, which would have been fatal at the speed it was traveling. Furthermore, and even more remarkably, Maria Fernanda did not have a single scratch!

Some people rushed to the scene, thinking there was a casualty or at least a seriously injured person, and they could not hide their surprise when they saw her emerge from the vehicle safe and sound. Some even exclaimed: “Look, you are really protected… I thought you were going to die!”

Maria Fernanda lost her car, but what does a material loss mean compared to the precious gift of life?

Deeply grateful to her heavenly intercessor, she acknowledges that she owes much to Dona Lucilia for the constant help she receives from her in all circumstances of the day, in a life that has taken on a different value in her eyes after such a traumatic event.

Invisible to security guards…

To some, Dona Lucilia gives aid in extreme cases, like the one we just witnessed; others, she discreetly assists with everyday difficulties. This is attested to by Bernardete Monteiro from Portugal, who experienced her intervention in a common necessity.

Her account begins like this: “Last year, a very large canker sore appeared in my mother’s mouth. We had to go to the doctor urgently because she was in a lot of pain and had difficulty eating.” As the problem could be worse than it appeared, the doctor on duty recommended some more thorough procedures and further testing.

“We went to the family doctor, who sent us to a hospital. There, in the emergency room, I could not accompany my mother; I would have to stay in a room for family members. So, I asked Dona Lucilia to help me get in with my mother, and that the security guards would not notice my presence and I could accompany her to the treatment room.”

The request was simple, but in those moments of anxiety, the details take on great proportions; and a good mother, like Dona Lucilia, understands this well.

The difficulty began when one of the nurses warned Bernardete that she was not allowed to be in that area. She intensified her request to Dona Lucilia; and she was answered, because from then on no one bothered her anymore:

“The truth is that I seemed like ‘the invisible woman’, because the security guards would pass by and notice other family members present, telling them that they needed to leave and wait outside, and they did not say anything to me; the nurse who attended to us certainly saw me, but she did not say anything to me either…”

Bernardete concludes:

“I know that it was Dona Lucilia who helped and supported me that day. At the end of the appointment, we had the good news that it was a common canker sore, which only needed to be treated. It is a very simple testimony, but tells of a day of great suffering, in which I clearly felt the help of Dona Lucilia. And I promised to publish this benefit received through her intercession.”

A sweet and luminous smile

Adding to the number of her small and discreet interventions, we find Dona Lucilia resolving another domestic difficulty, but one that seemed insurmountable, in the city of Fortaleza.

Patrícia Paz, her husband, and their children were anxiously awaiting the visit of two brothers from the Heralds of the Gospel, who would bring the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to their home. Everything was prepared, and the Heralds were already on their way when a problem that Patrícia recounts occurred:

“About thirty minutes before the scheduled time, ten o’clock in the morning, the power in our house simply went out. In our situation, it was a problem that would make the visit impossible, because the place where we live is very hot, and we would need the air conditioning or at least the fan working to be able to stay in the living room. And how would that be possible if we were in a blackout?”

To put an end to everyone’s already dwindling hope, her husband received a message on his phone from the electric company informing them that the power supply system would be under maintenance until three o’clock in the entire region… What a disappointment! What could they do? The solution was completely out of their hands. They both thought of cancelling the appointment, but the Heralds were already on their way… Patricia then remembered Dona Lucilia:

“At that very moment, I asked for Dona Lucilia’s intercession, and the power came back on! Our Lady arrived soon after with our dear brothers. We prayed to her; we had some time for conviviality and took a photograph to record the moment. Soon after, the power went out again. Dona Lucilia helped us to experience Heaven that day!”

Once again, living up to her name which evokes light, Dona Lucilia illuminated a difficult situation with her presence, also inviting us to entrust the problems of our lives, whether small or large, into her hands, confiding in her prompt and efficacious help. ²