page_title: Miracle of the Sun
section_title: De Marchi accounts
hierarchical_section_title: Miracle of the Sun / The event / De Marchi accounts
caption_attribution_description: English: The crowd looking at "the Miracle of the Sun", occurred during the Our Lady of Fatima apparitions. Français&#160;: La foule regardant le "fr:Miracle du soleil", le 13 octobre 1917, à Fatima, durant les fr:Apparitions mariales de Fátima
context_page_description: The Miracle of the Sun, also known as the Miracle of Fátima, is reported to have occurred on 13 October 1917, attended by a large crowd who had gathered in Fátima, Portugal, in response to a prophecy made by three shepherd children, Lúcia Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto. The prophecy was that the Virgin Mary, would appear and perform miracles on that date. Newspapers published testimony from witnesses who said that they had seen extraordinary solar activity, such as the Sun appearing to "dance" or zig-zag in the sky, careen towards the Earth, or emit multicolored light and radiant colors. According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes.
  The local bishop opened a canonical investigation of the event in November 1917, to review witness accounts and assess whether the alleged private revelation from Mary were compatible with Catholic theology. The local priest conducting the investigation was particularly convinced by the concurring testimony of extraordinary solar phenomena from secular reporters, government officials, and other skeptics in attendance.
context_section_description: Descriptions of the events reported at Fátima were collected by Father John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher. De Marchi spent seven years in Fátima, from 1943 to 1950, conducting research and interviewing the principals at length. In The Immaculate Heart, published in 1952, De Marchi reports that, "[t]heir ranks (those present on 13 October) included believers and non-believers, pious old ladies and scoffing young men.  Hundreds, from these mixed categories, have given formal testimony.  Reports do vary; impressions are in minor details confused, but none to our knowledge has directly denied the visible prodigy of the sun."
  De Marchi authored several books on the subject, such as The True Story of Fátima. They include a number of witness descriptions.
  "The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceedingly swift and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat."―Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the Catholic newspaper Ordem.
  "... The silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy grey light, was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds ... The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands ... people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited.  The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they."―Reporter for the Lisbon newspaper O Dia.
  "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."—De Marchi attributes this description to Dr. Almeida Garrett, Professor of Natural Sciences at Coimbra University. Theologian Father Stanley L. Jaki wrote that it was actually given by Dr. José Almeida Garrett, a young lawyer, and is often mistakenly attributed to his father, a professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra, named Dr. Gonçalo de Almeida Garrett.
  "As if like a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched apart, and the sun at its zenith appeared in all its splendor. It began to revolve vertiginously on its axis, like the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multicolored flashes of light, producing the most astounding effect. This sublime and incomparable spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times, lasted for about ten minutes. The immense multitude, overcome by the evidence of such a tremendous prodigy, threw themselves on their knees."—Dr. Manuel Formigão, a professor at the seminary at Santarém, and a priest.
  "I feel incapable of describing what I saw. I looked fixedly at the sun, which seemed pale and did not hurt my eyes.  Looking like a ball of snow, revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zig-zag, 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."—Rev. Joaquim Lourenço, describing his boyhood experience in Alburitel, eighteen kilometers 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 ..."—Portuguese poet Afonso Lopes Vieira.
  De Marchi also drew on the newspaper account written by Avelino de Almeida, a journalist sent by the newspaper O Século (English: The Century), who described in detail the reactions of the crowd.
caption: Part of the crowd looking at the Sun during the event
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