Sister Lucia Memorial in Coimbra is expected to reach 10,000 visitors by the end of the year

The Carmel of St Teresa in Coimbra estimates that the number of visitors to the Sister Lucia Memorial will exceed 10,000 by the end of the year, confirming the growing curiosity about the life and work of the Fatima seer.

“Lately we’ve had a lot more people visiting the Memorial. We’ve had 7,000 visits so far and we hope to exceed 10,000 by the end of the year,” said Sister Ana Sofia, who was Superior of St Teresa’s Carmel for the last six years and until about three months ago.

Visitors come from all over the world to learn more about the life of the eldest of the three seers of Fatima. “This space serves precisely to remember who Sister Lucia was, here in the Carmel of St Teresa, as a Carmelite, and where she was for more than 50 years, until her death in 2005,” he added.

Two years later, “a space that isn’t very big” was built next to the Carmel of St Teresa, but which aims to “be welcoming” and make “visitors feel closer to Sister Lucia”.

An archive has also been built next to the Sister Lucia Memorial to house the other objects and documents that belonged to her.

“Among her writings, there are letters that are authentic pieces of history. In the years to come, we’d like to put Sister Lucia in a more academic light and have her documents be an asset to historians and researchers,” he concluded.