Let me begin with a confession: I honestly don’t know what to make of the “miracle of the sun” that occurred in Fatima, Portugal, on October 13, 1917, and that was witnessed by a crowd of 70,000 people (although a few people in the crowd saw nothing) and also by people who were more than 10 kilometers away from Fatima at the time, as well as by sailors on a British ship off the coast of Portugal. On the other hand, no astronomical observatory recorded anything unusual at the time.
Rather than endorsing a particular point of view, I have decided to lay the facts before my readers, and let them draw their own conclusions.
Here are some good links, to get you started.
Neutral accounts of the visions and the “solar miracle” at Fatima:
Our Lady of Fatima (Wikipedia article: describes the visions leading up to the solar miracle). Generally balanced.
Miracle of the Sun (Wikipedia article). Discusses critical explanations of the miracle, and points out that people both in Fatima and the nearby town of Alburitel were expecting some kind of solar phenomenon to occur on October 13, 1917: some had even brought along special viewing glasses. Also, the solar miracle on October 13 was preceded by some bizarre celestial phenomena witnessed by bystanders at the preceding vision on September 13, including “a dimming of the sun to the point where the stars could be seen, and a rain resembling iridescent petals or snowflakes that disappeared before touching the ground.” In short: the “solar miracle” of October 13, 1917 didn’t come entirely as a bolt from the blue.
The Fatima Prophecies by Stephen Wagner, Paranormal Phenomena Expert. Updated April 10, 2016.
Catholic, pro-miracle accounts:
Meet the Witnesses of the Miracle of the Sun by John Haffert. Spring Grove, Pennsylvania: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, 1961. John M. Haffert is a co-founder of the Blue Army of Fatima. He interviewed dozens of witnesses of the solar miracle at Fatima, and carefully records their testimonies in his book.
The True Story of Fatima by Fr. John de Marchi. St. Paul, Minnesota: Catechetical Guild Educational Society, 1956. Fr. de Marchi is an acknowledged expert on Fatima, whose account is based on the testimony of the seers, members of their families, and other acquaintances.
The Sixth Apparition of Our Lady. A short article containing eyewitness recollections, from the EWTN Website Celebrating 100 years of Fatima. (Very well-produced and easy to navigate.)
The Apparitions at Fatima. A short account of the visions and the solar miracle.
Catholic attempts to rebut skeptical debunkings of the solar miracle at Fatima:
Debunking the Sun Miracle Skeptics by Mark Mallett, a Canadian Catholic evangelist and former TV reporter. The author’s tone is irenic, and he evaluates the evidence fairly. His blog is well worth having a look at.
Ten Greatest (And Hilarious) Scientific Explanations for Miracle at Fatima by Matthew Archbold. National Catholic Register. Blog article. March 27, 2011. Rather polemical and sarcastic in tone.
Why the solar miracle couldn’t have been a hallucination:
Richard Dawkins And The Miracle Of Sun by Donal Anthony Foley. The Wanderer, Saturday, November 5, 2016. Makes the telling point that it was seen by sailors on a passing ship, who knew nothing about the visions.
A Catholic account by a scientist-priest who thinks that the “miracle” was a natural meteorological phenomenon, but that the coincidence between the timing of this natural event and the vision can only have a supernatural explanation:
Miracle of the Sun and an Air Lens (Theory of Father Jaki) by Dr. Taylor Marshall. Blog article. “Fr Jaki suggests that an ‘air lens’ of ice crystals formed above the Cova in Portugual. This lens would explain how the sun ‘danced’ at Fatima, but not over the whole earth. Thus, it was a local phenomenon that was seen at the Cova, and by others who were not present with the three children of Fatima within a 40 mile radius.” An air lens would also explain how the muddy and wet ground at the site of the apparitions suddenly dried up, after the miracle.
God and the Sun at Fatima by Fr. Stanley Jaki. Real View Books, 1999. Reviewed by Martin Kottmeyer. See also the attached footnote by Joaquim Fernandes, Center for Transdisciplinary Study on Consciousness, University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal, who argues that on the contrary, it was a UFO.
A Catholic, “anti-miracle” account by a scientist who thinks it was an optical illusion:
Apparitions and Miracles of the Sun by Professor Auguste Meessen, Institute of Physics, Catholic Univeristy of Louvain, Belgium. Paper given at the International Forum in Porto, “Science, Religion and Conscience,” October 23-25, 2003. Excerpt:
“So-called “miracles of the sun” were observed, for instance, in Tilly-sur-Seuilles (France, 1901), Fatima (Portugal, 1917), Onkerzeele (Belgium, 1933), Bonate (Italy, 1944), Espis (France, 1946), Acquaviva Platani (Italy, 1950), Heroldsbach (Germany, 1949), Fehrbach (Germany, 1950), Kerezinen (France, 1953), San Damiano (Italy, 1965), Tre Fontane (Italy, 1982) and Kibeho (Rwanda, 1983). They have been described by many witnesses and from their reports we can extract the following characteristic features, appearing successively.
“· A grey disc seems to be placed between the sun and the observer, but a brilliant rim of the solar disc is still apparent…
· Beautiful colours appear after a few minutes on the whole surface of the solar disc, at its rim and in the surrounding sky. These colours are different, however, and they change in the course of time…
· The sun begins to ‘dance’. First, the solar disk rotates about its centre at a uniform and rather high velocity (about 1 turn/s). Then the rotation stops and starts again, but now it is opposite to the initial one. Suddenly, the solar disk seems to detach itself from the sky. It comes rapidly closer, with increasing size and brilliancy. This causes great panic, since people think that the end of the world has come, but the sun retreats. It moves backwards until it has again its initial appearance…
· Finally, after 10 or 15 minutes, the sun is ‘normal’ again: its luminosity is too strong to continue gazing at it. But after about another quarter of an hour, the prodigy can be repeated in the same way…
“…It is shown that the hypothesis of an extraterrestrial intervention is not sufficient to explain all observed facts, while this is possible in terms of natural, but very peculiar physiological processes. The proof results from personal experiments and reasoning, based on relevant scientific literature.
“…Dr. J.B. Walz, a university professor of theology, collected over 70 eye-witness reports of the ‘miracle of the sun’ that occurred in Heroldsbach [an ecclesiastically condemned apparition – VJT] on December 8, 1949. These documents disclose some individual differences in perception, including the fact that one person saw the sun approaching and receding three times, while most witnesses saw this only two times! The ‘coloured spheres’ that were usually perceived after the breathtaking ‘dance of the sun’ are simply after-images, but they were not recognized as such, since the context of these observations suggested a prodigious interpretation.
“…The general conclusion is that apparitions and miracles of the sun cannot be taken at face value. There are natural mechanisms that can explain them, but they are so unusual that we were not aware of them. Miracles of the sun result from neurophysiological processes in our eyes and visual cortex, while apparitions involve more complex processes in our mind’s brain. The seers are honest, but unconsciously, they put themselves in an altered state of consciousness. This is possible, since our brain allows for ‘dissociation’ and for ‘switching’ from one type of behaviour to another.”
Meessen’s own explanation of the miracle as an optical illusion is based on experiments which he performed on himself, while looking at the sun under carefully controlled conditions (so as not to damage his eyes). However, I should point out that Meessen’s exposure to the sun’s optical effects was fairly short in duration (30 seconds), whereas the solar miracle at Fatima lasted far longer (over 10 minutes) and didn’t damage any of the spectators’ eyes.
Catholic blogger Mark Mallett also points out: “Professor Meesen’s logic further falls apart by stating that the dancing effects of the sun were merely the result of retinal after-images. If that were the case, then the miracle of the sun witnessed at Fatima should be easily duplicated in your own backyard.”
However, Meessen does a good job of debunking the “UFO hypothesis”: he points out that had it been a UFO covering the sun, it could not have been seen 40 kilometers away. Also, at least some witnesses would have reported seeing a “partial eclipse,” but none ever did.
A paranormal explanation of the solar miracle at Fatima:
The First Alien Contact And UFO Sighting Of The 20th Century by Tob Williams. Blog article. April 10, 2011. Updated June 18, 2016.
The Fatima UFO hypothesis by Lon Strickler. February 11, 2012.
https://www.paranormalnews.com/article.aspx?id=1562
“Live Science” debunking of the solar miracle:
The Lady of Fátima & the Miracle of the Sun by Benjamin Radford. May 2, 2013. Ascribes the miracle to “an optical illusion caused by thousands of people looking up at the sky, hoping, expecting, and even praying for some sign from God,” which, “if you do it long enough, can give the illusion of the sun moving as the eye muscles tire.” Also suggests that mass hysteria and pareidolia can explain some features of the visions.
Skeptic Benjamin Radford on the Fátima Miracle by Dr. Stacy Trasancos. A response to Radford’s debunking. Points out that plenty of dispassionate observers at Fatima also reported seeing the sun move. Promotes Fr. Stanley L. Jaki’s carefully researched book on Fatima. Acknowledges that there may be a scientific explanation for what happened with the sun that day, but argues that this doesn’t explain the timing of the event, and why it coincided with the visions.
Virulently anti-Fatima accounts:
Solar Miracle of Fatima and
Fraud at Fatima. The author places too much reliance on discredited sources, such as Celestial Secrets: The Hidden History of the Fatima Incident by Portuguese UFOlogist Joachim Fernandes (critically reviewed here by Edmund Grant). The author also tries to argue, unconvincingly, that only half the people at Fatima actually witnessed the miracle, whereas in fact there were only a few people who saw nothing. See Jaki, Stanley L. (1999). God and the Sun at Fátima, Real View Books, pp. 170–171, 232, 272. The author is right in pointing out, however, that Lucia’s own published account of her visions at Fatima is highly retrospective (being written over 20 years after the event) and contains a lot of added material. Also, the seers didn’t all see the same thing: Lucia, for instance, saw Our Lady’s lips move while she was speaking, while Francisco (who saw Our Lady but never heard her speak), didn’t see Our Lady’s lips moving – a point acknowledged by Fr. de Marchi (see above). Finally, some of the prophecies associated with Fatima turned out to be false.
My own take:
Given the evidence that the solar miracle was witnessed by passing sailors and also seen at several different locations within a 40-kilometer radius of Fatima, I cannot simply dismiss it as a hallucination. Professor Meessen’s arguments (discussed above) appear to rule out the possibility that it was a UFO. The theory that it was an optical illusion founders on the fact that nobody reported any damage to their eyes, subsequent to the miracle. The hypothesis that it was a natural, local meteorological phenomenon sounds promising, but the fortuitous timing of the “miracle” (which coincided with the seers’ visions) would still point to supernatural intervention of some sort. Finally, if it was really a miracle, then one has to ask: what, exactly, was the miracle? After all, no law of Nature was broken: no-one seriously suggests that the Sun actually hurtled towards the Earth, as witnesses reported. The notion of God messing with people’s senses sounds pretty strange, too: why would He do that? On the other hand, the testimony of 70,000 witnesses is very impressive, and the event clearly meant something … but what? Beats me.
Over to you.
If that is the extent of the revelation then count me in.
That is unless or until you demonstrate that you are not in fact God.
God is spelled Dios in Spanish I guess Rumraket is from a language I’m unaware of. You can spell it however you wish
peace
What form did the original revelation take that caused you to obey? If a deity gives a +1 revelation over the original one, does it “steal” you? Is this like D&D?
Ooh ooh ! Wait, wait, don’t tell me. I predict FMM will say that a 1+ revelation will only come from the same god as before. Or that there is only one god.
The original revelation took place when I was very young as soon as I was able to think so I can’t tell you exactly what it was.
The revelation that put me over the top and caused me to obey was probably the realization that God loved me individually and wanted what was best for me
Steal me from who?
There can be no revelation at all without truth (ie the Christian God). So any additional revelation would only clarify and draw me closer to truth/God
peace
I think Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams said it best when he wrote “Why should I care about a chemical reaction in your brain ?
The existence of firearms?
Touche’
To that point, nuclear weapons come to mind as well.
There may be exceptional long distance runners among humans but this is not a defining feature of humans. Pick any human at random from the earth’s population and put them up against some other animals known for their stamina, say a horse, a dog and an antelope. Would you put your money on the human to win a long distance race?
Here is a quote from an article about an annual man v horse marathon held in Wales:
Of course the horse has to carry a human over the course, maybe it would be fairer if the humans had to carry an equivalent weight handicap.
Do you really believe that the average human is the best long distance runner on the planet?
Yup. Atheism in a nutshell.
(Psychiatrist speaking): What age was that? Can you remember?
“Over the top”? That’s an interesting phrase. Can you flesh that out?
Obey what, whom, how? Don’t be afraid, confess it all.
That’s what I was wondering.
Nah, nothing in evidence for that.
Oh God ,let all them chemical reactions in Donald’s head be good
Your fears are simply chemical reactions in your head.
It is the chemical reactions outside my head that concern me
How about a population 10,000 yrs ago, hypothetically?
fifthmonarchyman,
It’s curious that God does his most vigorous revealin’ in areas with a strong cultural tradition of Revealin’, though.
The demographics of salvation are indeed revealing.
According to the Baptists election is ‘unconditional’ and….
However, much like a person’s language or diet it’s obvious to anyone looking at the social distribution of religion that the single biggest predictor of an individual’s religion is the faith of their parents.
While this statistical fact is banal and demonstrable it also refutes the Baptist doctrine of unconditional election – because the numbers clearly show that in reality who gets saved is very conditional and very predictable.
My spiritual revelation is freely available to anyone with an open heart and mind. But some people are in rebellion and have closed their hearts. They believe what they want and are afraid of my judgement.
Don’t worry, I truly am God. I have given you the free will to do as you please, including closing your mind and heart to my revelation.
Christianity is false, I am God but not the false god of christianity. There can be no revelation at all without me, since I am truth.
I have performed many miracles, there are thousands of witnesses. I didn’t sacrifice myself, but I did forgive you all for your sinful natures.
My position is that humans are unique in that we have rational, thinking, self-conscious egos. This has enabled us to send men nearly a quarter of a million miles to the moon and back. It allows me to demonstrate my thoughts and feelings to other humans all over the globe in an instant. It has given us the ability to look far beyond our galaxy and deep into the microscopic world. I could go on.
Those here opposing this argue that humans are unique because we are among the top long distance runners in the animal kingdom. Possibly the top, but this has not been demonstrated. All this shows is that some animals can survive without the need to go to such extremes.
Truthfully, is there really any contest here?
I think you misunderstand what revelation is. If you have any knowledge at all it came from revelation. So revelation is pretty uniformly distributed.
Perhaps you are thinking about what is known as “special” revelation. The reason that that is less uniform is obvious
quote:
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
(Rom 10:13-15)
end quote:
peace
Well there you go claiming to be truth while also saying that what Is already known to be truth is false.
You can’t claim to be the truth with out also providing a means by which knowledge is possible as the Christian God has.
Rookie mistake
The law of non-contradiction trips up the false Gods every time. 😉
peace
obey the Truth.
You know the feeling when you know what the right thing to do is but you resist that because it’s hard or because people will think less of you, perhaps that you are foolish.
Obedience to what you know is true takes courage in situations like that don’t you agree?
peace
Unconditional election means there is nothing in the sinner that that warrants salvation it does not mean that folks are chosen at random on the contrary God tends to choose a certain type .
quote:
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
(1Co 1:26-29)
end quote:
peace
It’s not a claim, it’s just the truth. Your very ability to say it is true is through my revelation. You can’t know anything without me.
It is already known by everyone through my revelation. Some people just repress it because they are in rebellion.
Hence christianity is false, because the law of non-contradiction could not exist without me.
How can you possibly know that since there is no one to reveal it to you?
Remember that since the Christian God is a Trinity with three persons in communion revelation is part of it’s very being with each member of the Godhead giving and receiving revelation to all the others.
You’ve just stipulated that you don’t have that. So how do you know?
pesky logic 😉
peace
I am God, I know everything by definition.
That much more reason I am greater than the false christian god, since I do not require revelation from anything. I am by definition all-knowing, nothing stands in judgement to me or above me.
I know it by definition.
If folk are chosen non-randomly (weak, low, despised) then by definition their election is conditional.
how do you know that?
How do you know that?
You just said that revelation was how you know things. Now you are claiming it’s not?
I’d think that a deity could at least be able not to contradict it’s self for a minute.
How do you know that you have the correct definition?
It sounds like you are nothing like the Christian God but instead are just claiming things with out and justification whatsoever.
Is it any wonder you don’t have many followers
peace
Again it’s unconditional from the perspective of the elect. There is nothing we do to warrant salvation.
That does not mean that God chooses randomly
peace
Omniscience is required, it seems both omnipotence and omniscience is required
By definition. It’s just what it means to be Me, I know everything. By definition.
I know everything, so I know that I know, since knowing everything means also knowing whether I know something correctly or not (if I didn’t know that, I wouldn’t know everything).
No, revelation is how YOU know things, because I reveal them. If I did not reveal it, you would know nothing. I know all things by definition.
I can’t contradict myself, I am the law of non-contradiction. It cannot stand it judgement of My Word or Deeds, only through me as Truth, can it be true.
I created you with the free will to suppress My revelation and rebel against My Word. But remember, I am truth by definition.
Because I am Truth and I know everything. You can know it too if you just open up your heart to my revelation. In fact you already do, you just suppress it in your rebellion against My Word.
How do you know that? You can’t even use logic without Me.
I have trillions of followers on other planets. And infinitely more in an infinity of other universes I created.
Bless you My child.
Same way the Christian god knows.
These are merely ‘apparent’ contradictions.
It is a presupposition
All men are without excuse. In your heart of hearts, you know I am God and know everything.
so it’s just you opinion
fine
I like Dr Pepper
you say this but unlike the Christian God you provide no means by which you could know it. Sounds like simply bluster or opinion.
To bad you can’t appeal to revelation
You claim that but unlike the Christian God you don’t provide any means mechanism for how you could possibly know? It sounds like you are just like all the other relativists here.
It’s nothing like what I have been saying. Your claims are simply demonstrating the uniqueness of Christianity. It’s definitely noting like Rumraketism
peace
FWIW, I have an uncle who follows Rumraket. I think he’s nuts myself, but, you know, religious people are nuts.
I’d buy that. We all have presuppositions
The only question is whether our presuppositions are sufficient to do what we require of them. When it comes to justifying knowledge we now know that Rumrakets are not.
we know that because he can’t tell us how he knows stuff?
peace
I actually think that Allah is a lot like Rumraket.
Muslims don’t generally like it when I point that out to them 😉
peace
The Christian God knows by revelation.
Rumracket has denied that he knows stuff that way.
Try to keep up
peace
No, it’s the Truth. The truth is what the truth is, independent of anyone’s opinion.
I have already revealed to you know I know it through my all-knowing. You need only open your heart to my revelation.
I don’t need a vicious and unjustifiable circle of endless revelations for me to know anything, since I already know everything. Nothing can stand in judgement of my knowing, since only through me is knowing something possible.
It’s not a claim, it’s just the truth. Your very ability to know something is true is through my revelation. You can’t know anything without me.
It is already known by everyone through my revelation. Some people just repress it because they are in rebellion.
Nothing I say can stand in relation to something else, My Word is absolute. I am the Word and the Truth.
Christianity is built on concepts borrowed from Rumraketism. You christians are essentially stealing concepts from My Word. Without me, there would not even be a christian religion since there would be no ultimate grounds for reasoning about truth or revelation. Your very thoughts and reasoning about christianity is only possible through My revelation.
Blessings upon you My child.
But you already know. Just open your mind and your heart and stop suppressing revelation. You are freely choosing to be in your rebellion.
So the christian god stands in judgement below revelation and must rely on it for knowledge. Only through me is revelation even possible. Christianity is founded on a concept stolen from Me.
I’m a convert. Preparing my pilgrimage to Christiania. All hail the holy Sky Rocket!
God knows he is God because he told himself?
fifth,
Rumraket is truth. Without him there would be no knowledge.
Only the unregenerate deny this. Cease your rebellion!
Rumraket,
I’m a convert. Please give me your bank details, I want to transfer some money … In! I want to transfer some money in!
Rumraket,
This could go viral! 🙂
That’s what my uncle did. He lives in a homeless shelter now. Really happy, though. So I guess I shouldn’t criticize.
It’s just that we could have used some of that dough if he was going to give it all away.
One other thing. When I told my uncle I thought he was nuts, he said thirty or thirty-five people once saw Rumraket eat a large house in Oslo. Regular people can’t do that, I guess.
walto,
Quite routine for people in Greater Scandinaviania!