Fátima's 'Miracle of the Sun' visions: real or not?

[Loki]

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The Miracle of the Sun (Portuguese: O Milagre do Sol) is a supposedly miraculous event witnessed by 30,000 to 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal. Those in attendance had assembled to observe what the Portuguese secular newspapers had been ridiculing for months as the absurd claim of three shepherd children that a miracle was going to occur at high-noon in the Cova da Iria on 13 October 1917.

According to many witness statements, after a downfall of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky.

It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, frightening some of those present who thought it meant the end of the world. Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry, as well as the wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling. Engineers that have studied the case reckoned that an incredible amount of energy would have been necessary to dry up those pools of water that had formed on the field in a few minutes as it was reported by witnesses."

Estimates of the number of witnesses range from 30,000 to 40,000 by Avelino de Almeida, writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século, to 100,000, estimated by Dr. Joseph Garrett, professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra, both of whom were present that day.

The event was attributed by believers to Our Lady of Fátima, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three young shepherd children in 1917, as having been predicted by the three children on 13 July, 19 August, and 13 September 1917. The children reported that the Lady had promised them that she would on 13 October reveal her identity to them and provide a miracle "so that all may believe."

According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes. The three children also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of Saint Joseph blessing the people.

Doubts from skeptics have been raised about the uniqueness and causes of the event.

What do you make of this? Was it real or imagined? My personal view is similar to that of Professor Meessen:

Professor Auguste Meessen of the Institute of Physics, Catholic University of Leuven, has stated sun miracles cannot be taken at face value and that the reported observations were optical effects caused by prolonged staring at the sun. Meessen contends that retinal after-images produced after brief periods of sun gazing are a likely cause of the observed dancing effects. Similarly Meessen states that the colour changes witnessed were most likely caused by the bleaching of photosensitive retinal cells. Meessen observes that Sun Miracles have been witnessed in many places where religiously charged pilgrims have been encouraged to stare at the sun.

I have noticed that staring at the sun (not recommended) even for a short period of time produces such optical effects. Those poor people in Portugal must have had some serious eye damage after staring at the sun for ten minutes.

[Psychonaut]

I've not researched this particular case, but those who have not experienced a hierophany are very quick to explain it away as this or that. I recall reading a book on Hildegard von Bingen which attempted to describe her visions as nothing more than migraines. While these kinds of rationalizations may sound well and good to those who are looking at this kind of phenomenon from the outside, those who have experienced das Heilige are generally quick to note the noetic character of the experience. It's like any other kind of noesis, once known internally, it is unmistakable for something like an optical illusion or headache.

[Vasconcelos]

I agree with Meessen aswell, they can't expect to stare at it for such a long period of time and not expect some wierd visual effects.


This miracle had a very furstrating effect on the government, since 1910 that Portugal had been an atheist republic - as opposed to the extremelly Catholic Monarchy of old. The government and the news papers immediatly reported it to be fake, but the people were so faithful that it fell to deaf hears.

[Eldritch]

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.

That was the origin of one of my previous nicks on other fora.

Never underestimate the ability of people to see what they want to see. All the eyes do is react to rays of light. It's the brain that does the interpreting.