The Miracle Of The Sun

The Miracle of the Sun is an alleged miraculous event which, it is claimed, was seen by an estimated 70,000 people on , writing for the Portuguese newspaper ''O Século'' (De Marchi 1952a), to one hundred thousand, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University (De Marchi 1952a:177), both of whom were present that day (De Marchi 1952a:185-187).

The miracle was attributed by believers to . The children reported that the Lady had promised them that at mid-day on October 13 in the Cova da Iria the Lady would reveal her identity to the childen (De Marchi 1952b:46) and perform a miracle "so that all may believe" (De Marchi 1952:118).

According to many witness statements (De Marchi 1952b:139-150), after a downfall of rain, the clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky (De Marchi 1952b:139-150). It was said to be significantly less bright than normal (De Marchi 1952b:139-150), and cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds (De Marchi 1952b:139-150). The sun was reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern (De Marchi 1952b:139-150), frightening some of those present who thought it meant the end of the world (De Marchi 1952b:143,149). Witnesses reported that the ground and their previously wet clothes became completely dry (De Marchi 1952b:150).

According to witness reports, the alleged miracle of the sun lasted approximately ten minutes (De Marchi 1952b). The three shepherd children, in addition to reporting seeing the actions of the sun that day (De Marchi 1952a:207-210), also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus , the Blessed Virgin Mary , and of Saint Joseph blessing the people (De Marchi 1952b:151-166).

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The Miracle Of The Sun