Our Lady of Fátima:
Queen of the Heavens
“If men knew what eternity is, they would do everything to change their lives.”
— St. Jacinta Marto of Fátima (1910–1920)
Cover image used with permission from Arquivo do Santuário de Fátima
By the Editorial Staff
Updated 2/16/2024
Introduction
While Christ was dying on the cross, he told his disciple John, in the presence of Mary, the mother of Jesus, "Behold, your mother," suggesting that Mary is the protective mother of John and the rest of mankind. But where’s the empirical evidence that Mary is in Heaven and cares about mortals on earth?
Throughout history, there have been many reports of Marian apparitions, or instances where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared after her time on Earth. The Vatican has recognized sixteen of these as truly supernatural. Of these sixteen, the 1917 apparitions in Fátima, Portugal, witnessed by three shepherd children, stand out because they culminated in a spectacular public event on October 13, 1917, that was witnessed by tens of thousands (Austriaco 1).
As explained in the case of Eucharistic miracles, the Catholic Church rigorously investigates claims of supernatural events before proclaiming them as authentic, as a so-called miracle that is later debunked as a hoax is extremely damaging to the faith. From the very beginning, the young seers of Fátima faced intense skepticism from the Catholic clergy, the local government, and even their own families.
Then the Miracle of the Sun changed everything.
A Brief Summary of the Apparitions
In 1917, in the midst of World War I, a series of extraordinary events unfolded in the small village of Fátima, Portugal, which would come to be known as the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima. Three young shepherd children—Lúcia dos Santos, aged ten, and her cousins Francisco, aged seven, and Jacinta Marto, aged nine—reported visions of a lady who identified herself as the “Lady of the Rosary” (a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and gave messages of prayer, repentance, and the need to convert people’s hearts back to Christ.
The apparitions occurred on the 13th day of each month from May to October 1917, with the Lady entrusting the children with three secrets: a vision of Hell, the end of World War I and the start of another war should humanity not cease offending God, and the prediction of an assassination attempt on a future pope. The first two secrets were revealed in Lúcia’s published memoir in August 1941 (Zimdars-Swartz 199), and the third was officially released by Pope John Paul II in 2000.
On July 13, 1917, the children declared that the Virgin Mary promised an extraordinary miracle later that year on October 13 at noon. They reported that she had said,
You must come here every month, and in October I will tell you who I am and what I want. I will then perform a miracle so that all may believe.
This exchange was widely publicized in the Portuguese press, and news of this prophecy spread quickly through the region in the following months. As a result, pilgrims began gathering in Fátima in the days preceding October 13 in expectation of the promised miracle. Skeptics were also drawn to Fátima to disprove the prophecy. Various journalists, including those working for secular newspapers, came to critically report on the predicted events.
A crowd of roughly 70,000 people gathered in the Cova da Iria neighborhood of Fátima on October 13, 1917. They saw the sun “dance” or “zigzag” in the sky, spin, change colors, and appear to fall to Earth before returning to its normal position. The phenomenon was reported by many eyewitnesses, including skeptics and believers alike, and was also noted in newspaper accounts of the day. This event became known as the Miracle of the Sun.
In 1930, the Catholic Church declared the three shepherd children’s visions as worthy of belief by the Church, and both Francisco and Jacinta were later canonized as saints when they died soon after (Lúcia, who died in 2005, has been declared Venerable and is thus two steps away from sainthood). The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, built at the site of the apparitions, has become a major pilgrimage site attracting millions of visitors annually. The Fátima apparitions have become one of the most significant and well-known Marian apparitions in the history of the Church.
Image used with permission from Arquivo do Santuário de Fátima
What Happened on October 13, 1917?
Richard Dawkins wrote in his book The God Delusion,
On the face of it, mass visions, such as the report that seventy thousand pilgrims at Fátima in Portugal in 1917 saw the sun ‘tear itself from the heavens and come crashing down upon the multitude,’ are harder to write off. It is not easy to explain how seventy thousand people could share the same hallucination. But it is even harder to accept that it really happened without the rest of the world, outside Fátima, seeing it too—and not just seeing it, but feeling it as the catastrophic destruction of the solar system, including acceleration forces sufficient to hurl everybody into space. (Dawkins 116)
Of course, Dawkins is correct that the sun did not physically dance and plunge to Earth on October 13, 1917 (Austriaco 10). So what exactly happened in the sky on that day?
After discounting a UFO and mass hallucination in a crowd of this size as extremely unlikely causes for this event, linguist and researcher Bernard Kohout discusses three main possibilities—an optical illusion, unusual meteorological phenomenon, or supernatural miracle—or some combination of the three (Kohout 84).
For example, Professor Karl Stokl, a German meteorologist, reported that under certain atmospheric conditions, he was able to look at the sun without damaging the eye, and he was able to see a “dark blue disk” in front of the sun with a surrounding spinning solar disk, although this effect has not been reported by other meteorologists (Kohout 148-149). Physicist Auguste Meessen also notes that after staring at an intense light source such as the sun, a viewer can experience colored after-images and motional after-effects (Meessen 3-4).
Another possibility that has been put forward is a meteorological phenomenon called air lenses, or atmospheric lenses. Under certain conditions, the atmosphere may be able to produce a mirage by refraction, diffusing sunlight into component colors (Kohout 114-115).
There have been many theories proposed for what exactly happened that day, but no scientific explanation has ever been fully satisfactory. If the sun did not actually spin and move and change colors, then what caused tens of thousands of people in one place to observe this phenomenon?
Philippe Dalleur analyzed the photos of the crowd at Cova da Iria and concluded that they are not looking in the direction of the sun, which at the time was at a height greater than 42º above the horizon, but at an apparition of another less luminous object at a height 10º to 17º lower (Dalleur 31-40). This would explain 1) the eyewitnesses’ lack of vision damage and 2) the fact that distant witnesses always saw the “sun” in the direction of Fátima even though they were facing Fátima from all different directions. Although it is not clear what this observed object was, it was unlikely to truly have been the sun.
Diagram from Dalleur’s optical analysis of the light source (full paper)
Evidence for the Miracle of the Sun and the Apparitions
The Miracle of the Sun occurred at the predicted date, time, and location
The scientific explanations offered for why the sun appeared to dance or change colors usually involve isolated optical illusions or rare meteorological phenomena, such as air lenses. There was no indication in advance that the predicted miracle would affect the sun in particular, so it seems unlikely that thousands of people would all choose to painfully stare at the sun to the extent that it would affect their vision and create illusions such as retinal after-images. These theories do not explain how a huge crowd of people in one place observed unusual colors and motions of the sun at the specific date and time—October 13, 1917, around noon—predicted by three children months ahead of time. The odds of this happening by chance alone are infinitesimal, which is part of why the Catholic Church believes that a miracle is the best explanation for what occurred on this day.
Many eyewitnesses, including skeptics, provided supporting testimony
The people gathered at Fátima were not all suggestible people who simply imagined this miracle because of their fervent desire to see something happen. This phenomenon was witnessed by an estimated 70,000 individuals of all backgrounds, including hardened skeptics, curious onlookers, believers, scientists, and journalists. Despite the varied backgrounds, the core descriptions of the sun’s remarkable behavior remain strikingly consistent. Witnesses described seeing the sun dance, change colors, and appear to fall toward the earth.
O Seculo
The first newspaper to report was O Seculo, a secular anticlerical newspaper founded in 1881. Avelino de Almeida, journalist of O Seculo, reported on October 15:
The sun reminds one of a disk of dull silver, and it is possible to look straight at it without the least effort. It doesn’t burn, nor does it blind. One has the impression that an eclipse is taking place… the sun trembles, the sun makes brusque movements, never seen before, and beyond cosmic laws—the sun ‘danced’ as the typical expression of the peasants puts it. (Jaki 31-32)
Kohout notes, “In view of the wide readership of this newspaper and the unfavorable article on Fátima by the same reporter on 13 Oct, this article had a major influence on public acceptance of the apparitions and of the ‘sun dance’ as a miracle” (Kohout 308).
O Portugal
O Portugal, another anticlerical newspaper and an organ of Portugal’s Democratic Party, wrote in an article titled “The Sun Dances Madly”:
What surprises us is not that a dense and noisy crowd ran to the place of the marvel to participate in heavenly revelations—we are already very much used to the manifestations of native credulity—but what in truth surprises us is that the sun, a respectable star, one with its credits firmly established, also takes part in the affair and dances like a mad dancer in a wild country dance. (Kohout 308)
Other witnesses:
Goncalo Xavier de Almeida Garrett, PhD, Professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Coimbra, noted:
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. (Santuário de Fátima 146)
António Bastos, president of the Municipal Council of Santarem, was an unbeliever who traveled to Fátima. He asked Avelino de Almeida in a private letter to give his personal account of what he saw, saying the event gave his own rationalism “a formidable blow” (Santuário de Fátima 113).
Mario Godinho, an engineer from a distinguished family in Vila do Paco, said,
And in May of 1917 we were told about extraordinary apparitions… Naturally I did not believe it. I sincerely supposed it was only the imagination of someone… I saw in a clear area of sky (where one should not be able to stare at the sun) the very sun. It was like a disc of smoked glass illuminated behind and turning over itself, giving us the impression that it was coming down over our heads. I could then see the sun more easily than I can see the moon on a full moon night… And then I believed. (Haffert 55-59)
Luis Vasconcellos, a lawyer and the Baron of Alvaiazere, in a deposition to the Ourem inquiry board, described it thus:
Suddenly I saw an intensely rose-colored edge around the sun, that looked like a dull silver plate, as someone has already said, at the same time that I had the impression that it had moved from its original position… I yelled: ‘I believe, I believe.’ And tears fell from my eyes, astounded and ecstatic, in this demonstration of Divine Power. (Kohout 399)
Maria Francisca de Castro, a countess in Quinta de Cima, said:
Suddenly the sun began to have a greenish color, changing successively to light yellow, which made the people look ghostly. Then it made something like a turnabout, a push. It seemed it was going to fall on the earth… This lasted 10 minutes. (Kohout 297)
Fernando António de Sousa Coutinho, a military cadet at Colégio Militar, shared his account:
A dark cloud formed around the sun, which all the people could look at without hurting their eyes, [and which] took on various colors and seemed to descend on us. (Kohout 301)
What about mass hallucination? Eyewitnesses included remote spectators far from Fátima
Couldn’t this whole event have been explained away as a mass hallucination? The presence of remote spectators, who were unaware of the miracle about to occur, rules this out. The Virgin Mary had promised an unspecified miracle, and yet witnesses at Cova da Iria and elsewhere witnessed the same phenomenon in the sky.
Inácio Lourenço and his brother Joaquim in Alburitel, 18 km from Fátima:
I feel incapable of describing what I saw and felt. I looked fixedly at the sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt the eyes. Looking like a ball of snow revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zigzag, 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. (Jaki 209)
Portuguese writer Afonso Lopes Vieira at his home in San Pedro de Muel, 34 km from Fátima:
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. (Jaki 202; Haffert 40)
Ghuilhermina Lopes da Silva from Leiria, 16 km northwest of Fátima:
I was looking toward the mountain at noon when suddenly I saw a great red flash in the sky… I called two men who were working for us. They, of course, saw it, too. (Haffert 41-42)
Albano Barros near Minde, 12 km south of Fátima, while tending his sheep:
Suddenly there, in the direction of Fátima, I saw the sun fall from the sky. (Haffert 40-41)
Witnesses described their clothes, which had been drenched in rain, suddenly become dry
As evidenced by multiple witness accounts, “it began to rain in early morning or mid-morning” on October 13, 1917, and then “[the rain] gradually increased and became torrential.. The wind became strong and the rain soaked all but those in excellent shelter, mostly those in cars and carriages” (Kohout 92-93). This is supported by reports of heavy rain in various newspapers (including A Capital, La Vanguardia, La Correspondencia Militar, La Época, and El Liberal), as well as official meteorological data: “the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts … indicates that on October 13, 1917 at noon in Portugal, a large rainy area extended from eastern North America (the central part was still dark) to Russia” (Dalleur 20).
Amid these rainy conditions, a remarkable thing happened to the spectators during the Miracle of the Sun. Let the witnesses speak for themselves:
Carlos Silva in the October 18 edition of O Mensagerio:
What amazes me is that although moments before I was soaking wet, I noticed that I was now dry. (Jaki 70)
Inacio Antonio Marques, in a letter to the Diocesan Inquiry Board on November 23, 1922:
The sun turns on itself and all those who were wet appear dry, as I was. (Kohout 411)
Dr. José Maira Pereira Gens, a medical student at the University of Coimbra at the time of the apparitions:
Although my clothes were somewhat soaked through, I felt them suddenly almost completely dry. (Jaki 326)
Sister Maria de Jesus Autunes Carreira, who was 10 years old when her mother took her to Cova da Iria that day:
I was soaked to the bones. The clothing dried instantly, even the undergarments. (Jaki 239)
Joaquim Vicente:
My clothes were wet, and then, without noticing it, they were dry. (Haffert 91)
Eyewitnesses observed a cloud of smoke at the site of the apparitions, with no known physical source
Multiple witnesses testified that they observed cloud or smoke at the site of the apparitions only on the 13th of each of the six months:
Gonçalo de Almeida Garrett, in a December 3, 1917, letter to Canon Manuel Nunes Formigão, declared:
At the moment of each apparition there always rises up towards the sky a cloud of smoke… This phenomenon, repeated six times [over six months] and at specific hours, is for me of the utmost importance, especially since it happened in front of so many, many people. (Santuário de Fátima 147; Jaki 125)
Leonor de Avelar e Silva Constâncio, in her 1917 account, described:
A sort of smoke which, coming out as if from a perfumer, rose from the ground in light spirals and immediately dissolved around the shrub. (Santuário de Fátima 91)
She noted it coincided with the time the children reported seeing the apparition.
Branca de Sousa Lobo de Moura e Vilhena Barbosa testified that from the road where her friends’ car stayed she could distinctly “see the rise of a column of smoke three times” (Jaki 139).
Manuel de Costa Pereira wrote in a letter published in Voz da Fátima:
A column of fume that resembled a cloud appeared on the same spot, rising to about four meters from the ground. (Jaki 173)
Maria Luisa Garrett Correia wrote in a handwritten statement:
From the place where the Virgin talks with the children there arose a transparent white smoke, which formed something like a little cloud, which covered the area between two small oaks where the children were awaiting the apparition. (Kohout 299)
Manuel Antonio Paula declared in a deposition to the Diocesan Inquiry that he had seen a tendril of smoke, thinking it was incense in honor of the Virgin Mary. He was later surprised when they told him “there was no smoke, that no bonfire of any kind was made, nor had a match been lit” (Kohout 517-518).
The children gave consistent testimony despite severe pressure from the state and even their own family
In August 1917, Artur de Oliveira Santos, the local administrator in Ourém who was strongly anti-clerical, imprisoned the three child visionaries of Fátima—Lúcia, Francisco, and Jacinta—and subjected them to repeated interrogations over four days (Santuário de Fátima 463-464). He took them to his house in Vila Nova de Ourém, locking them in a room and using threats, promises, and intimidation tactics to try to get them to reveal the secrets the apparition had told them and recant their claims. The children were questioned separately and together, offered bribes, and threatened with being fried in boiling oil if they didn’t cooperate. At one point the administrator even ordered oil to be heated in front of them to scare them. Yet despite their young age, the children persevered and did not contradict their account or reveal the secrets. Even when she was told that her cousins had already been burned alive, Lúcia maintained her composure. After four days of imprisonment and interrogation, the children were returned to Fátima still steadfast in their claims.
Lúcia, the oldest visionary, was treated harshly for her visions even in her own home. She suffered derision and scolding from her siblings, and her mother repeatedly threatened and punished her throughout the entire period of apparitions, until she finally witnessed the Miracle of the Sun (Kohout 17, 65).
These children led a simple life (Jaki 83), and they had no known motive to fabricate events. Francisco and Jacinta lived a devout life at home and died soon after in the flu epidemic, maintaining their accounts of the vision up to their death (Kohout 65). Lúcia avoided fame and lived a devout life at home until June 1921 and then became a nun, voluntarily entering a convent where she was forbidden from speaking about the apparitions, likely to avoid causing a distraction in the community (Walsh 195).
Medically attested healings at Fátima
Maria Augusta Dias, age 50, blindness
(Voz da Fátima No. 78 - March 13, 1929 p. 2)
Maria Augusta Dias, from Alter do Chão, Alentejo, suffered from atrophy of the optic nerves that left her completely blind in one eye and barely able to perceive light in the other. Top medical specialists in Lisbon declared little to no hope for recovery.
The article linked above contains the diagnoses by the medical specialists and is summarized as follows:
Dr. Gama Pinto diagnosed Maria with optic nerve atrophy likely resulting from tabes dorsalis (a late manifestation of syphilis). He noted: “One eye is completely blind, the other barely perceives light.” Despite treatments with Salvarsan, bismuth, and mercury, he observed no improvement. Dr. Pinto was pessimistic about Maria’s chances of regaining sight and suggested seeking advice from a serologist, though he held little hope for an ophthalmological cure.
Ophthalmologist Dr. Alfredo da Fonseca reported, in a letter to Dr. Luiz Pacheco, that Maria had optic nerve atrophy with completely abolished vision. She had a strongly positive Wasserman test (indicating syphilis) and had undergone intramuscular and intravenous mercurial treatment (a common but ineffective syphilis treatment at the time). He requested Dr. Pacheco to “carry out a neurological examination and cheer up the patient, who is very depressed.”
Maria’s son-in-law, Manuel Maia, requested water from Fátima. Against all medical odds, Maria’s vision was fully restored in both eyes after using the water for a few days.
Maria Miguel Marcote, age 28, 10-year-long arthritis and shortened left leg
(Voz da Fátima No. 220 - January 13, 1941 p. 3)
Sister Maria Miguel Marcote, originally from Finisterra, Spain, had suffered from painful, severe arthritis in her left knee for about ten years. Her knee was intensely swollen, and the left leg had atrophied to the extent that it was 7 cm shorter than the right leg. Her condition remained unchanged despite continuous limb extension, light therapy, and calcium salts.
On January 12, 1940, the community prayed for her during a candlelight procession in the convent with the image of Our Lady of Fátima. The next day, after the procession, Maria experienced a “sudden and sharp tug on her leg” and found herself radically cured. She was able to resume all her duties as a Lay Sister, including kneeling and walking normally, activities she hadn’t been able to do for a decade.
Dr. José Rodrigues Gomes, who had been treating Maria, formally attested to her initial condition, treatments, and the drastic change observed on January 13:
On that date, I observe: normal gait, without any trace of limping, lower limbs of equal length, muscle masses apparently normal (in the thigh there is a decrease of 1 cm in the circumference and in the lower leg the difference is half a centimeter), equal knee circumferences, palpation of the region does not awaken the slightest pain, perfect mobility of the kneecap, as well as all movements of the joint. Conclusion: the patient is, clinically, cured.
Eugénio Santos, age 42, 10-year-long paralysis
(Voz da Fátima No. 193 - October 13, 1938 p. 3)
Eugénio Santos was a building inspector of the Lisbon City Council who suffered from paralysis on his right side for about a decade because of complications related to syphilis, a common cause of neurological problems in the early 20th century. On January 27, 1938, he developed cerebral edema, leading to facial contractions on top of the paralysis. He underwent various electric treatments but lost all hope of recovery. His wife and friends convinced him to go to Fátima for healing.
Santos testified:
Since I arrived in Fátima, I began to get worse. I watched the candlelight procession, seated on a wall, and on the 13th, due to the large crowd of faithful and sick people near the hospital, I almost gave up, as I was feeling worse and had already fallen once. Again my wife and friends convinced me. I went and, after being examined by the medical team, headed to the area for patients…
When the blessing came, leaning on my cane, I knelt and asked Our Lady for improvements for everyone, as there were so many patients worse off than me. At that moment, I felt something supernatural, felt life fleeing, thought I was dying, and lost consciousness. My wife, who came to lift me and saw me completely white and cold, thinking me dead, began to scream for help. People nearby asked her to be quiet...
They also thought I was dead. Only when they saw me regaining color did they realize I was alive and give me water from Our Lady to drink. When I came to, I felt an overall sense of well-being and instinctively moved my leg and saw that I could do it well, that it was not paralyzed, nor did I feel that uncomfortable contraction in my face. And I walked without the support of a cane.
The article linked above continues: “A huge uproar ensued. Many cried and laughed with joy… That same day [Santos] returned to Lisbon where he is still at work.”
Dr. Fernando Van Zeller Pessoa, who had been treating Santos during the ten years of his paralysis, testified: “I verified the existence of a paralysis of luetic origin [i.e., related to syphilis], which affected [Santos’s] right arm and leg, as well as the face.” Then on January 27, 1938, Pessoa “found the same gentleman, in a state of great excitement, unconscious, aphasic, with pupillary dilation, congested facies, and right hemiplegia,” and later “very frequent chronic contractions of the face, the right arm still paralyzed, as well as the leg, which the patient dragged while walking, forcing him to walk supported by a cane.” Finally on August 25, 1938, the date of the attestation, Dr. Pessoa found Santos “absolutely cured, without any traces of the lesions he previously presented.”
João Marques de Carvalho, age 66, deafness for 49 years
(Voz da Fátima No. 61 - October 13, 1927 p. 4)
João Marques de Carvalho, from Escales de Baixo, had been deaf since age 17 and “never improved despite consulting various doctors.” He went on a pilgrimage to Fátima and was still in the same state upon his return. Then he and his wife undertook a novena (nine days of prayer) to Our Lady of Fátima, and for nine days he applied a few drops of the “miraculous water of Our Lady of Fátima” in his ears. He testified,
After nine days, I was still the same, but on the tenth day, I felt a pop in my right ear, and the following day the same happened in my left ear, and I have been able to hear clearly ever since…
My wife also received the grace of a complete cure from a terrible disease in her left eye by washing it with the miraculous water of Our Lady of Fátima.
Dr. Joaquim Alberto de Carvalho e Oliveira testified on June 15, 1927:
Mr. João Marques de Carvalho has suffered from deafness for over 45 years, and although he was treated by various clinicians, it was without result. For 12 years, I have closely known the said gentleman and always noticed his significant hearing deficiency...
In June 1926, when I met him, I spoke to him loudly, as was usual, but he objected: ‘You can speak softly because I hear perfectly.’ When I asked what treatment he had undergone, he told me that he had gone to Fátima and after making a novena to Our Lady of Fátima, applying a few drops of Fátima water in his ears during the novena, he suddenly ceased to be deaf, continuing to hear perfectly for a year.
Cecilia Augusta Gouveia Prestes, age 22, advanced tuberculosis
(Voz da Fátima No. 20 - May 13, 1924 p. 2)
Cecilia Augusta Gouveia Prestes, part of a large family, lived with her sister Ildalina in Torres Novas, Portugal. She suffered from advanced pulmonary and peritoneal tuberculosis with severe pleurisy (inflammation around the lungs) and ascites (excess abdominal fluid). Her condition worsened despite various treatments from different doctors, to the point where she became bedridden, had fevers as high as 40° C (104° F), and developed severe abdominal swelling. She lost half her weight, dropping from 68 kg (150 pounds) before the illness to 34 kg (75 pounds) during her illness. Her doctors gave a prognosis of only days or at best weeks left to live, and she ordered a coffin and shroud for her own funeral.
Cecilia’s sister secretly administered water from Fátima in her food, and Cecilia expressed a strong desire to visit Fátima herself. Against medical advice, she embarked on a painful pilgrimage to Fátima on July 13, 1923, suffering continuous fainting spells from extreme weakness.
Within several hours of her visit to Fátima, Cecilia rapidly recovered and regained her appetite and strength. Medical exams months later showed no remaining signs of tuberculosis. Several doctors, who had previously diagnosed her with incurable tuberculosis, attested to her unexpected and complete recovery:
Dr. Augusto d’Azevedo Mendes diagnosed Cecilia with “tuberculous peritonitis with a large effusion of the peritoneal cavity, and pulmonary lesions of a bacillary nature, which gave the disease an extremely poor prognosis.” He added,
The patient today appears healthy and robust, with no visible traces of her previous illness visible to observation.
Dr. Eugenio Ribeiro d’Almeida attested that Cecilia, who had been suffering from “an advanced illness of Koch’s bacillus [tuberculosis],” began to improve “against [his] expectations.”
FAQ
Why are there no photos of the Miracle of the Sun?
As Bernard Kohout notes in his book, the O Seculo photographer 1) did not have a motion picture camera (such cameras were bulky, expensive, and in their infancy), so his still camera would have produced blurred pictures when photographing moving objects, and 2) color cameras had not yet been invented, so his camera would have been useless for capturing the color phenomena (Kohout 180).
Philippe Dalleur also notes,
1) There were few photographers when cameras and light-sensitive plates were bulky and difficult to use…
2) Given the bad weather, nobody thought they had to photograph the sun, which required additional special equipment (Van den Aardweg, 1988, 25-26). Moreover, many press photographers did not use filters (Kinkaid, 1936, 177) and any extra manipulation could slow down the taking of pictures…
3) Few photographers ventured to take pictures in this dreary weather and remote place, risking damage to their cameras. (Dalleur 21)
What about spectators who saw nothing on October 13?
Critics of the apparitions sometimes mention the eyewitness testimony of Izabel Brandão de Melo:
I could fix my eyes on the sun and I was enormously upset on hearing everybody shouting that extraordinary things could be seen in the sky. I think that Our Lord did not find me worthy of seeing those phenomena, but in my heart I did not feel a need to see them in order to believe that Our Lady appeared to the children. (Jaki 272)
The Virgin Mary had allegedly promised to “perform a miracle so that all may believe.” De Melo, already a devout believer, was exempt from seeing any motion or colors, though she was able to stare at the sun with her vision intact.
What about the inaccurate prophecy about the end of WWI?
Lúcia was quoted as saying on October 13, 1917, that the Virgin Mary had told her that “the war is ending today,” whereas Jacinta recounted, “If the people amend their ways, the war would end” (Kohout 46-47). Bernard Kohout discusses this contradiction at length and concludes that Lúcia simply missed the “if the people amend their ways” part because of two factors (Kohout 51-52):
Lúcia “was extremely fatigued by the constant questioning of the seers by the many visitors.” Father Formigao, one of the witnesses, noted that the children were “answering mechanically” and feared that “their health would suffer if the questionings continue.”
Lúcia was distracted by worrying about “presenting to the Lady the many requests for healings and other factors which she had received,” as she testified to the Diocesan Inquiry Board in 1924 and to her confessor.
Regardless, this contradiction was likely one of the reasons why the diocese took 13 years to approve the devotion to the Lady of Fátima (Kohout 45).
In Conclusion
Our Lady of Fátima—the six miraculous sightings of the Virgin Mary by three children, culminating in the Miracle of the Sun “so that all may believe”—was not merely a message of three prophecies. It provided hope, comfort, and healing to many, and it affirmed or reestablished the faith of countless people during and after the period of the apparitions.
The Church’s approval of Fátima has long been established, embracing its themes of prayer and penance, of reparation and restitution, and of a benevolent God and protective Mother Mary.
Sources
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