On September 26, 1917, an extraordinary event occurred in Fatima, Portugal, which has come to be known as the "Miracle of the Sun." This event was the culmination of a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children: Lucia dos Santos, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto.
According to the children's accounts, the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle on this date to prove the authenticity of their visions. Word spread, and a crowd of approximately 70,000 people gathered in the Cova da Iria fields near Fatima, eagerly awaiting the predicted miracle.
As noon approached, a heavy rainstorm drenched the crowd. Suddenly, the clouds parted, and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. Witnesses described it as a silver disc, shining with an intensity that did not hurt their eyes. The sun then began to "dance" or zigzag in the sky, spin rapidly, and emit multicolored lights across the landscape. Some witnesses even claimed that the sun appeared to plummet towards the earth, causing panic among the crowd, who thought it was the end of the world.
Surprisingly, after the event, the ground and the people's clothing, which had been soaked by the rain, were completely dry. The event lasted approximately 10 minutes and was witnessed by people as far as 25 miles away from the site.
The "Miracle of the Sun" remains an unexplained phenomenon, with no scientific consensus on what actually occurred that day. Some skeptics have attempted to explain the event as a combination of optical illusions and mass hysteria, while others maintain that it was a genuine miracle. The Catholic Church investigated the events at Fatima and, in 1930, officially declared the apparitions as worthy of belief.
Regardless of one's beliefs, the "Miracle of the Sun" continues to be one of the most fascinating and enigmatic events of the 20th century, drawing countless pilgrims to Fatima each year to commemorate this mysterious occurrence.
2024-09-26T09:51:29.713Z