“Before the
astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood
bareheaded, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden
incredible movements outside all cosmic laws---the sun "danced"
according to the typical expression of the people.
“… The great majority
admitted to having seen the trembling and the dancing of the sun; others
affirmed that they saw the face of the Blessed Virgin; others, again,
swore that the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel and
that it lowered itself to the earth as if to burn it in its rays. Some
said they saw it change colors successively...”
Ti Marto
(father of Jacinta and Francisco)
“We looked easily at
the sun, which for some reason did not blind us. … It cast its rays in
many directions and painted everything in different colors--- the trees,
the people, the air and the ground…. the sun appeared to stop spinning.
It then began to move and to dance in the sky until it seemed to detach
itself from its place and fall upon us. It was a terrible moment.”
Maria de Capelinha
(one of the earliest believers):
“The sun turned
everything to different colours---yellow, blue and white. Then it shook
and trembled. It looked like a wheel of fire that was going to fall on
the people. They began to cry out, "We shall all be killed!" Others
called to our Lady to save them. They recited acts of contrition. One
woman began to confess her sins aloud, advertising that she had done
this and that.... When at last the sun stopped leaping and moving, we
all breathed our relief. We were still alive, and the miracle which the
children had foretold, had been seen by everyone.
“… 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. Then, suddenly, one heard a
clamour, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun,
whirling wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance
threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery
weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible…”
Dr. Almeida Garrett, PhD
(Coimbra University):
“… 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. Then, suddenly, one heard a
clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling
wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance
threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery
weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible.
“… All the phenomena
which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of
mind, and without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to
interpret and explain them.”
There may have been many former atheists in Fátima that day, but there
were plenty in Portugal, nonetheless, to charge hallucination. For those
the Lady provided witnesses who were not at the scene and could not have
been subject to collective suggestion.
Alfonso Lopes Vieira (observed the
display from a distance of nearly 25 miles):
“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...”
Fr. Ignacio Lorenco (Alburitel, 11
miles away):
“… I feel incapable
of describing what I saw and felt. I looked fixedly at the sun, which
seemed pale and did not hurt the eyes. Looking like a ball of snow
revolving on itself, it suddenly seemed to come down in a zigzag,
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.
“Near us was an
unbeliever who had spent the morning mocking at the simpletons who had
gone off to Fátima just to see an ordinary girl. He now seemed to be
paralyzed, his eyes fixed on the sun. Afterwards he trembled from head
to foot and lifting up his arms fell on his knees in the mud, crying out
to our Lady.
“Meanwhile the people
continued to cry out and to weep, asking God to pardon their sins. We
all ran to the two chapels in the village, which were soon filled to
overflowing. During those long moments of the solar prodigy, objects
around us turned all the colors of the rainbow. We saw ourselves blue,
yellow, red, etc. All these strange phenomena increased the fears of the
people. After about ten minutes the sun, now dull and pallid, returned
to its place. When the people realized that the danger was over, there
was an explosion of joy, and everyone joined in thanksgiving and praise
to our Lady.”
_____________________
Beyond the
speculation and the apocalyptic scenarios, the Fatima message is calling
mankind to faith. This is not a global puzzle to be a solved, or a code
to be unlocked, but an invitation to personal holiness. If the Message
of Fatima is not lived and the call to "penance" embraced, it will lose
its potency and be reduced to another curiosity of the last century. For
those who love this message and want it to continue, the Church seems to
be saying: "the time for speculation is over, the time for personal
witness is upon us."
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