MovieChat Forums > The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952) Discussion > MIRACLE OF THE SUN

MIRACLE OF THE SUN

posted 18 years ago by ajr01
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A couple of days ago, we passed the anniversary of the miracle seen in the movie, on October 13, 1917.

Of course being the early 1950s when the movie was made, the ability to reproduce this was somewhat limited, as it just showed the "sun" falling to the earth.

For a more in depth analysis of this miracle, I include this link from wikipedia for those who are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Miracle_of_Fatima

As you can see, a number of very interesting explanations have been given as to what the miracle acutally was, but what I find fascinating here, is that it seems nobody actually denies that it happened.

If I was a juror in a civil trial (and an outcome there is always determined by a preponderance of evidence) I would have to conclude that this was in fact a miracle, as no theories of deception, mass hallucination etc fit the available facts at all.

And if this was just a bizarre meterological event, how come it came at the time precisely when three illiterate children said it would, in the area where everyone came? To me, that strains credulity somewhat.

I defy anyone to point out any other historical example like this, when an event of the magnitude of a spinning sun radiating sectors of color reflected in the trees, the landscape and the people, happened when so many of its witnesses came to scoff at the prediction, and make fun of the recipients of the message.

One can only ascribe these events in the conext in which they happened, ie the authenticity of the message of the Virgin Mary at Fatima given to these children.

[–] ajr01 (51) 4 years ago

I have been reflecting on a new argument to demonstrate the veracity of the report of the miracle of the sun, or at least that something compelling happened on that fateful 13 October 1917, in the Cova da Iria.

In various accounts I have read of the events leading up to that day, a number of clerics and even her own family (in particular her mother) tried very hard to persuade Lucia to admit that the whole thing had been a fraud.

They reasoned that if a huge crowd of people shows up there on the day and nothing happens, they would have cause to believe that the children (specifically Lucia as she was the eldest), had deliberately deceived them, and the multitude of persons would then vent their anger on them and their families, and may even kill them for their lies. The crowd that day was estimated to have been between 50,000 and 100,000 persons.

To make matters even worse, was the torrential rain that started to pour the day before, when crowds were starting to make their way to the site of the apparitions, which made the physical conditions in a mountainous area, extremely hazardous.

In spite of the threats of possible harm, the children however repeated their claim that the miracle would indeed happen on this day, where they said the lady had appeared.

Maria Rosa dos Santos (Lucia's mother) who had scoffed about the events right from the start, told her daughter they better go to confession beforehand, lest they receive the wrath of a disappointed crowd of people. Lucia said she was happy to go to confession, but not for those reasons.

After the miracle occurred, there are no published accounts of any group of persons, trying to seek vengeance on the children, or their families. If anything they now became the town celebrities, with so many people gathering around, and even entering the children's homes, in particular to give them prayer petitions. For months of course, the anti clerical press in Lisbon, had been mocking these events. But as we know, they published eyewitness accounts of the miracle, and no longer were derisive when speaking about the happenings at Fatima.

But would it not have been a different story, had nothing spectacular had happened? The children and their families would have been exposed as con artists, with the Church as their ally in this fraud having to deal with the persecution of an anti-clerical government, which they had already had dealt with since the revolution, for nearly a decade previously.