Lucia's Itinerary

On 17 June 1921, Lucia left Aljustrel and was admitted as a boarding pupil in the school of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy at Vilar, a suburb of Oporto. On 24 October 1925, she entered the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy and was accepted as a postulant in that congregation's convent of Tuy, just across the Spanish border.

On 2 October 1926, Lucia became a novice. On 3 October 1928, she took her first vows as a lay sister. Six years later, on the same day in October, she took her perpetual vows. She took the religious name of Sister Maria of Sorrows.

During the communist revolution in Spain, she was transferred for safety reasons to the school of Sardão at Vila Nova de Gaia, where she remained for some time.

On 20 May 1946, Sister Lucia was again able to see the sites of the apparitions on a visit to Cova da Iria, Loca do Cabeço, and the property of Valinhos.

On 25 March 1948, she left the Institute of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy to enter the Carmel of Saint Joseph in Coimbra; she took the name of Sister Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart, ⁶¹ taking the habit of Saint Teresa on 13 May of the same year. On 13 May 1949, she was professed as a Discalced Carmelite.