About Menina Izildinha
Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro ((1897-06-17)June 17, 1897 – (1911-05-24)May 24, 1911) was a Portuguese girl to whom Brazilian Catholics have attributed inexplicable miracles, cures and healings.. She is popularly known as Menina Izildinha, Angel of the Lord or Saint Izildinha. == History == === Life and illness === Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro was born on June 17, 1897, in Póvoa de Lanhoso, northern Portugal to Aurélio Ribeiro and Ana Castro and one of the six children with five brothers: Constantino, José Bernardo, Antonio, Fernando and Júlio de Castro Ribeiro. She was baptized a Catholic on September 2, 1897, with Father João Duarte Macedo as her godfather and the Virgin Mary as her godmother, and made her Holy Communion in May 1904. She was described by her cousins, uncle and other family relatives as "cheerful and friendly" and was noted to enjoy playing the piano, completing her primary school at 11 and taking a strong devotion in angels and the Virgin Mary. Maria Izilda's health greatly weakened near 1911 and she was diagnosed with leukemia. Her troubled family placed her in a separate room and noted that Maria accepted her suffering, never complaining of the pain, and was more worried of what would become of her family through their expenses. Before she died on May 24, 1911, in Guimarães, Portugal, barely 14 years old, she reportedly told her grandfather "Jesus is coming to take me". === Belief as a saint === Many years later, Maria's brother Fernando and his wife Rosa began to see visions of her through dreams following her death, resulting in many inexplicable miracles. On 1950, Fernando was reported that Maria Izilda appeared to him one night and told him to take her body to Brazil (where her brother Constantino lived and maintained a successful industrial center and food factory), so her relatives in Brazil agreed to relocate her body there from Portugal; a wish that the family wanted for a long time, though many of the villagers disagreed with this.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.