Miracle of the Sun

The Miracle of the Sun (Portuguese: O Milagre do Sol) was an event which occurred on 13 October 1917, reportedly attended by 30,000 to 100,000 people gathered near Fátima, Portugal. Several newspaper reporters were in attendance and they took testimony from many people who claimed to have witnessed extraordinary solar activity.

According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes. The three children (Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto) who originally claimed to have seen Our Lady of Fátima also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people.

The event was officially accepted as a miracle by the Catholic Church on 13 October 1930. On 13 October 1951, the papal legate, Cardinal Tedeschini, told the million people 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.

In the fourth edition of her memoirs, written in 1941, Lucia said that on the occasion of their third visit to the Cova da Iria, on July 13, 1917, she asked the lady to tell them who she was, and to perform a miracle so that everyone would believe. The lady told to her that they should continue to come to the Cova each month until October, when the requested miracle would occur.

Estimates of number present range from 30,000 and 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.

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