On October 13, 1917, a large crowd gathered at Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal, after three shepherd children had predicted that a great sign would occur. Numerous witnesses reported unusual solar and atmospheric phenomena, including the Sun appearing to move, rotate, change color, or approach the Earth. The event became known as the Miracle of the Sun.
The Fátima Miracle of the Sun refers to the reported events of October 13, 1917, at Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal. Earlier in 1917, three local children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, had reported apparitions of a woman they identified as the Virgin Mary. They stated that a miracle would occur on October 13 so that people would believe.
On October 13, a very large crowd gathered despite heavy rain and muddy conditions. Contemporary and later estimates of the crowd vary considerably, with approximately 70,000 being one of the most commonly cited figures. Contemporary newspaper reports described the crowd watching the sky after the rain stopped and the clouds broke.
Avelino de Almeida, an editor and journalist for the Lisbon newspaper O Século, was present and published a detailed account on October 15, 1917. His report described the Sun as appearing like a dull silver disk that could be viewed without the usual discomfort, followed by apparent trembling and unusual movements. Almeida's account is particularly significant because O Século was a secular and strongly anticlerical newspaper rather than a Catholic publication.
Other eyewitnesses gave accounts describing apparent rotation, changes of color, and an apparent movement of the Sun toward the Earth. Professor Gonçalo Xavier de Almeida Garrett, a mathematician and former professor at the University of Coimbra, later provided a detailed account of the phenomenon. His testimony described an approximately eight-to-ten-minute event involving apparent rotation and changes in the appearance and color of the Sun.
Photographs taken by journalist and photographer Judah Bento Ruah document the large crowd at Cova da Iria on October 13. They do not provide a photographic record of the alleged movement of the Sun itself. Contemporary newspaper reports and numerous eyewitness testimonies provide substantial evidence that an unusual visual phenomenon was reported, but they do not establish that the Sun physically moved or that the event had a supernatural cause.
The event remains disputed. Supporters regard the mass of eyewitness testimony, the advance prediction of a sign, contemporary press coverage, and accounts from observers who were not committed believers as evidence for an extraordinary event. Skeptical explanations have included solar glare, atmospheric optical effects, retinal effects, suggestion, and other meteorological or psychological phenomena. The Catholic Church subsequently accepted the Fátima apparitions as worthy of belief, but this theological determination does not independently establish a physical change in the Sun.
| Date: | 1917-10-13 |
| Location: | Cova da Iria, Fátima, Portugal |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Category: | Civilian |
| Credibility: | Disputed |