The
Miracle of the Sun ( ) is an alleged miraculous event witnessed by 30,000 to 100,000
people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da
Iria fields near Fátima
, Portugal
.
Those in attendance had assembled to observe what the Portuguese
secular newspapers had been ridiculing for months as the absurd
claim of three shepherd children that a miracle was going to occur
at high-noon in the Cova da Iria on 13 October 1917.
According to many witness statements, after a downfall of rain, the
dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc
in the sky. It was said to be significantly less bright than
normal, and cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the
shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds.
The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a
zigzag pattern, frightening some of those present who thought it
meant the
end of the world. Some
witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became
"suddenly and completely dry."
Estimates of the number of witnesses range from 30,000-40,000 by
Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper
O Século, to 100,000,
estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett,
professor
of
natural sciences at the
University of Coimbra, both of whom
were present that day.
The event was attributed by believers to
Our Lady of Fátima, an apparition of
the
Blessed Virgin Mary to three
young shepherd children in 1917, as having been predicted by the
three children on 13 July, 19 August, and 13 September 1917. The
children reported that the Lady had promised them that she would on
13 October reveal her identity to them and provide a miracle "so
that all may believe."
According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten
minutes. The three children also reported seeing a panorama of
visions, including those of
Jesus, the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and of
Saint Joseph blessing the people.
Descriptions
The most widely cited descriptions of the events reported at Fatima
are taken from the writings of John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic
priest and researcher. De Marchi spent seven years in Fátima, from
1943 to 1950, conducting original research and interviewing the
principals at undisturbed length. In
The Immaculate Heart,
published in 1952, De Marchi reports that, "[t]heir ranks (those
present on 13 October) included believers and non-believers, pious
old ladies and scoffing young men. Hundreds, from these mixed
categories, have given formal testimony. Reports do vary;
impressions are in minor details confused, but none to our
knowledge has directly denied the visible prodigy of the
sun."
Some of the witness statements follow below. They are taken from
John De Marchi's several books on the matter.
- "Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was
biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the
sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic
laws — the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the
people." ― Avelino de Almeida, writing for O Século
(Portugal's most widely circulated and influential newspaper, which
was pro-government and anti-clerical at the time Almeida's previous
articles had been to satirize the previously reported events at
Fátima).
- "The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at
another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an
exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be
loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly
radiating heat." ― Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the
newspaper Ordem.
- "…The silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy grey light, was
seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds… The light
turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the
stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the
people who knelt with outstretched hands… people wept and prayed
with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had
awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they." ―
Reporter for the Lisbon newspaper O Dia.
- "The sun's disc did not remain immobile. This was not the
sparkling of a heavenly body, for it spun round on itself in a mad
whirl, when suddenly a clamor was heard from all the people. The
sun, whirling, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and
advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its
huge fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was
terrible." ― Dr. Almeida Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at
Coimbra University.
- "As if like a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched
apart, and the sun at its zenith appeared in all its splendor. It
began to revolve vertiginously on its axis, like the most
magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the
colors of the rainbow and sending forth multi-colored flashes of
light, producing the most astounding effect. This sublime and
incomparable spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times,
lasted for about ten minutes. The immense multitude, overcome by
the evidence of such a tremendous prodigy, threw themselves on
their knees." ― Dr. Formigão, a professor at the seminary at
Santarem, and a priest.
- "I feel incapable of describing what I saw. I looked fixedly at
the sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt my eyes. Looking like a
ball of snow, revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down
in a zig-zag, menacing the earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself
among the people, who were weeping and expecting the end of the
world at any moment." ― Rev. Joaquim Lourenço, describing his
boyhood experience in Alburitel, eighteen kilometers from
Fatima.
- "On that day of October 13, 1917, without remembering the
predictions of the children, I was enchanted by a remarkable
spectacle in the sky of a kind I had never seen before. I saw it
from this veranda…” ― Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira.
Critical evaluation of the event
De Marchi claims that the prediction of an unspecified "miracle",
the abrupt beginning and end of the alleged miracle of the sun, the
varied religious backgrounds of the observers, the sheer numbers of
people present, and the lack of any known scientific causative
factor make a
mass hallucination
unlikely. That the activity of the sun was reported as visible by
those up to away, also precludes the theory of a collective
hallucination or
mass hysteria,
according to De Marchi.
Despite these assertions, not all witnesses reported seeing the sun
"dance". Some people only saw the radiant colors. Others, including
some believers, saw nothing at all. No scientific accounts exist of
any unusual solar or astronomic activity during the time the sun
was reported to have "danced", and there are no witness reports of
any unusual solar phenomenon further than out from Cova da
Iria.
Pio Scatizzi, S.J. describes events of Fátima and concludes
The ... solar phenomena were not observed in any
observatory. Impossible that they should escape notice of so many
astronomers and indeed the other inhabitants of the hemisphere…
there is no question of an astronomical or meteorological event
phenomenon …Either all the observers in Fátima were collectively
deceived and erred in their testimony, or we must suppose an
extra-natural intervention.
Steuart Campbell, writing for the
1989 edition of
Journal of Meteorology, postulated that a
cloud of stratospheric dust changed the appearance of the sun on 13
October, making it easy to look at, and causing it to appear
yellow, blue, and violet and to spin. In support of his hypothesis,
Mr. Campbell reports that a blue and reddened sun was reported in
China as documented in 1983.
A parhelion in rainbow colors,
photographed in 2005.
Joe Nickell, a
skeptic and investigator of
paranormal phenomena, claims
that the position of the phenomenon, as described by the various
witnesses, is at the wrong
azimuth and
elevation to have been the sun. He
suggests the cause may have been a
sundog.
Sometimes referred to as a parhelion or "mock sun", a sundog is a
relatively common atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with
the reflection/refraction of sunlight by the numerous small ice
crystals that make up
cirrus or
cirrostratus clouds. A sundog is,
however, a stationary phenomenon, and would not explain the
reported appearance of the "dancing sun". Nickell suggests an
explanation for this and other similar phenomena may lie in
temporary retinal distortion, caused by staring at the intense
light and/or by the effect of darting the eyes to and fro so as to
avoid completely fixed gazing (thus combining image, afterimage and
movement). Nickell concludes that there was
likely a combination of factors, including optical and
meteorological phenomena (the sun being seen through thin clouds,
causing it to appear as a silver disc; an alteration in the density
of the passing clouds, so that the sun would alternatively brighten
and dim, thus appearing to advance and recede; dust or moisture
droplets in the atmosphere, imparting a variety of colors to
sunlight; and/or other phenomena).
Paul Simons, in an article entitled "Weather Secrets of Miracle at
Fátima", states that he believes it possible that some of the
optical effects at Fatima may have been caused by a
cloud of dust from the
Sahara.
Kevin McClure claims that the crowd at Cova da Iria may have been
expecting to see signs in the sun, as similar phenomena had been
reported in the weeks leading up to the miracle. On this basis he
believes that the crowd saw what it wanted to see. But it has been
objected that McClure's account fails to explain similar reports of
people miles away, who by their own testimony were not even
thinking of the event at the time, or the sudden drying of people's
sodden, rain-soaked clothes. Kevin McClure stated that he had never
seen such a collection of contradictory accounts of a case in any
of the research he had done in the previous ten years, although he
has not explicitly stated what these contradictions were.
Leo Madigan believes that the various witness reports of a miracle
are accurate, however he alleges inconsistency of witnesses, and
suggests that astonishment, fear, exaltation and imagination must
have played roles in both the observing and the retelling. Madigan
likens the experiences to prayer, and considers that the spiritual
nature of the phenomenon explains what he describes as the
inconsistency of the witnesses.
John Haffert, founder of the
Blue Army of Our Lady of
Fatima, explains the event as a vision of the Great
Chastisement. The 200 witnesses he interviewed while researching
his book
Meet The Witnesses reported similar descriptions
of the sun careening towards the earth and a sense of the end of
the world.
He compares this description to a recognized
vision of Our Lady of Akita on
October 13, 1973 to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in Akita, Japan
, in which she recorded:
As I told you, if men do not repent and
better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on
all humanity.
It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such
as one will never have seen before.
Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great
part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither
priests nor faithful.
Author Lisa Schwebel claims that the event was a
supernatural extra-sensory phenomenon. Schwebel
notes that the solar phenomenon reported at Fátima is not unique -
there have been several reported cases of high pitched religious
gatherings culminating in the sudden and mysterious appearance of
lights in the sky.
Many years after the events in question,
Stanley L. Jaki, a professor
of physics at Seton Hall University, New
Jersey
, Benedictine priest and
author of a number of books reconciling science and Catholicism,
proposed a unique theory about the supposed miracle. Jaki
believes that the event was natural and meteorological in nature,
but that the fact the event occurred at the exact time predicted
was a miracle.
Professor Auguste Meessen of the Institute of Physics,
Catholic University of Leuven,
has stated that the reported observations were optical effects
caused by prolonged staring at the sun. Meessen contends that
retinal after-images produced after brief periods of sun gazing are
a likely cause of the observed dancing effects. Similarly Meessen
states that the colour changes witnessed were most likely caused by
the bleaching of photosensitive retinal cells. Meessen observes
that sun miracles have been witnessed in many places where
religiously charged pilgrims have been encouraged to stare at the
sun. He cites the apparitions at Heroldsbach, Germany (1949) as an
example, where exactly the same optical effects as at Fatima were
witnessed by more than 10,000 people.
The event was officially accepted as a miracle by the
Roman Catholic Church on 13 October
1930. On 13 October 1951,
papal legate
Cardinal Tedeschini told the
million gathered at Fátima that on 30 October, 31 October, 1
November, and 8 November 1950,
Pope Pius
XII himself witnessed the miracle of the sun from the Vatican
gardens.
See also
References
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