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Vítor Bezerra |

Miracle of the Sun - Fátima, Portugal

 

Because it is a country with centuries of history, which since its origin has been influenced by the Catholic Church, Portugal, it has thousands of different legends linked to Christian faith and belief.

The most well-known and certainly the most important in the history of Portugal is the legend of Fátima, best known for the Apparitions of Fátima or Milagre do Sol.

Today, May 13, the Day of Our Lady of Fatima is celebrated. We let you know a little of the legend that leads us to this celebration today.

 

 

On May 13, 1917, 3 young shepherds, Lúcia, Jacinta and Francisco, aged between 10 and 7 years old, claimed to have seen “a lady brighter than the sun” on a holm oak, while grazing her flock in a place called Cova da Iria, close to the village where they lived in Aljustrel. This apparition of the Virgin Mary was repeated in the following months until on October 13, 1917, this apparition presented itself as being the Lady of the Rosary and as the bearer of an important message to the world.

 

 

There, on October 13, 1917, about 50 thousand people moved. The apparition had promised the little shepherds a miracle so that everyone could believe in their apparitions.

 

 

According to the account of many of the witnesses, after a torrential rain, the clouds dissipated in the firmament and the sun appeared as an opaque disk, rotating in the sky. Some said it was not the Sun, but a disk in solar proportions, similar to the Moon. It was reported that the alleged Sun moved with a zigzag pattern, scaring many of those who witnessed it, who thought it was the end of the world.

Many witnesses reported that the soil and previously wet clothes were completely dry in a short period of time, and also reported unexplained cures for the paralyzed and blind, and other non-explicit illnesses, in several cases also proven by the testimonies of doctors.

According to eyewitness reports, the Miracle of the Sun lasted approximately ten minutes.

 

 

The three children reported having observed the Holy Family (Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus), then Jesus with Our Lady of Sorrows, and finally, Our Lady of Mount Carmel blessing the crowd from the firmament.

 

 

Historical context:

In the historical period that followed this Miracle, Portugal was a recent Republic.

In 1908, the then King D. Carlos I was murdered, along with his son, and his successor D. Manuel II, was forced to leave the country. A New Republic, liberal and secular, was formed, immediately coming into conflict with the Catholic Church. Some of the striking facts of the conflict with the church, in a strongly Catholic country, were the expulsion of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the closure of the Convents, the prohibition of religious education in schools, the divorce law, and the separation between the State and the church.

In the second decade of the 20th century, Portugal had a predominantly illiterate population (67%), especially in rural areas.

It was an extremely poor country affected by the decay of the monarchy, the establishment of the Republic and successive changes in Governments (in the 18 years that the first Republic lasted, Portugal had 9 presidents and 45 governments, until 1926, when Portugal entered a military dictatorship, known as Estado Novo) and also for participating in the first world war (either by sending military personnel to the war in France, or by defending their colonies in Africa from German attacks).

 

 

The Apparitions of Fatima:

Before the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Cova da Iria in 1917, Lúcia, Francisco and Jacinta had in the previous year three visions of an Angel. These visions remained unpublished until 1937, when Lúcia then released them for the first time.

The apparitions of the Virgin took place in 1917, the first being dated 13 May, the rest every 13 days of the following months, with the exception of the month of August.

In the accounts of the apparitions, the shepherds described the presence of an image of the Virgin who appeared to them and asked them for their devotion and prayers to contribute to salvation and to obtain peace in the world and to return every 13th of each month.

On August 13, when the fourth appearance was due to happen, the visionaries were unable to go to Cova da Iria, as they were kidnapped by the then administrator of the municipality of Vila Nova de Ourém, Artur de Oliveira Santos, an anti-clerical republican and Freemason, who forcibly wanted to take away their secret.

On October 13, 1917, due to the fact that the little shepherds revealed that the Virgin Mary was going to perform a miracle on this day for everyone to believe, about 50 thousand people were present in Cova da Iria, according to the reports of the time. It was raining heavily and the crowd was waiting for the three children in the muddy terrain of the mountains. Not only was it known as the Miracle of the Sun, as it has already been described here, but also according to Sister Lucia's manuscripts - Memories I, II, III and IV, during the Apparitions three secrets were revealed, among them the assassination attempt of the “Holy Father”, to which the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981 at the Vatican in Rome is related.

 

 

Fatima today:

Despite much controversy that existed and exists regarding the veracity of the facts that occurred there, for the Christian community worldwide, especially the devotees of Mary, Fatima became one of the main Marian shrines in the world. It is a place of worship and pilgrimage for the faithful from all over the world, especially during the month of May.

Fatima thus became one of the Christian altars in the world and must be visited by Christians and lay people and people of other faiths who visit Portugal. Not only for its religious component, but also for its historical, architectural and cultural component.

On a visit to Fátima, you should visit the Chapel of the Apparitions in Cova de Iria (place where the apparitions took place and where the statue of Our Lady with the bullet that hit Pope John Paul II in his assassination attempt), the Shrine and Fátima Basilica, and also the Casa dos Pastorinhos in Aljustrel.

 

 

You can visit Fátima from Porto or Lisbon with Living Tours:

Tour to Fátima from Porto

Tour to Fátima from Lisbon

 

| Fátima




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