On October 13, 1917, as predicted by the three shepherd children in Fatima, a most extraordinary occurrence took place: the “Miracle of the Dancing Sun.” The miracle would be so great that all would believe in the reality of the apparitions.
More than 70,000 people gathered to witness the event at the Cova da Iria and up to more than 100,000 in the surrounding areas. What many of them reported was, indeed, most extraordinary: the sun appeared to “dance,” or zig-zag, across the sky as it advanced toward the earth. It emitted multi-colored light and radiant colors. According to reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes.
Many witnesses reported that after a period of rain, dark clouds parted, revealing the sun as an opaque, spinning disk in the sky. Witnesses also reported that their previously wet clothes has suddenly become completely dry, as well as the wet, muddy ground that had been soaked by the rain.
Theologian and physicist, Stanley L. Jaki concluded that it was by divine intervention that a coordinated interplay of natural meteorological events took place—including an enhancement of air lens with ice crystals—which occurred at the exact time predicted, all of which constituted the essence of the miracle.
Bishop José da Silva declared the miracle “worthy of belief” on October 13, 1930, permitting “officially the cult of Our Lady of Fatima” within the Catholic Church. The miracle was a stunning and convincing contradiction to the atheistic regimes at the time.
The multitude was composed of believers, sceptics, agnostics, and atheists. The suggestion of group hysteria is not plausible. Nor is it plausible that the believers simply believed what they wanted to believe. It is not likely that so many Catholics would react in a subjective manner. Perhaps some did, but to think that so many thousands did is to slur their intelligence and integrity.
Scoffers put forth the argument that since the miracle was not seen apart from a particular location and not elsewhere, it could not have happened. Nonetheless, the fact that it was a meteorological event that was localized speaks to the essence of the miracle. Many who rejected the miraculous nature of the event did so because it was not supported by reason. Yet reason is a limited mode of inquiry. God is fully capable of going beyond reason. The miracles at Lourdes and Guadalupe, after extensive investigation, have not yielded to rational explanations. Nor can we reason how the universe came to be or by what process did human beings, who are capable of love, justice, and discovering truth, come into existence in a material universe.
Many of the arguments against what transpired on that 13th day of October in 1917 have been brushed away by reports given by staunch unbelievers. The atheist editor of the anarchist Portuguese newspaper, O Seculo, was one of the witnesses. He described the event as:
…a spectacle unique and incredible…One can see the immense crowd turn toward the sun which reveals itself free of the clouds in full moon. The great star of day makes one think of a silver plaque, and it is possible to look straight at it without the least discomfort…The astonished eyes of the people, full of terror, with heads uncovered, gaze into the blue of the sky. The sun has trembled, and has made some brusque movements, unprecedented, and outside of all cosmic laws. According to the typical expressions of the peasants “the sun danced.” The sun turned around on itself like a wheel of fireworks, and it fell almost to the point of burning the earth with its rays.
The writer went on to say, in this front-page report, that the spectacle “impressed even free thinkers and other persons not at all interested in religious matters.”
According to another atheistic and antireligious paper, O Ordem:
The sun is sometimes surrounded with crimson flames, at other times aureoled with yellow and at still others, red; it seemed to revolve with a very rapid movement of rotations, apparently detaching itself from the sky, and approached the earth while radiating strong heat.
Man has free will and is at liberty to accept or deny any idea that is presented to him. God does not impose ideas on His creatures. Thus, human beings can deny the obvious or accept the ludicrous. And that has been evident throughout human history. In addition to free will, there is pride that can falsify truth simply because a person does not happen to like it.
Some people say that a “miracle” is a miracle only because reason has not yet explained it. When we take stock, however, we realize that reason has explained very little of life, love, the creation of the universe, and even freedom itself. The faith that some people have in reason is unjustified. The dance of the sun testifies that God can provide testimony to events that cannot be explained by reason.
The very fact that over 170,000 people were summoned to witness an event on the basis of a prediction made by three children is itself a kind of miracle. The three would be the envy of any publicist.
The Miracle of the Sun was, in fact, more than a miracle. It had a message, warning people to repent and pray. It manifested God’s power and Our Lady’s concern for the spiritual health of her beloved children.
Photo by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash
