The Miracle of the Sun at Fatima was Real: Scientific Confirmation

New book proves it was neither an illusion nor a hoax!

The Miracle of the Sun at Fatima was Real:
Scientific Confirmation

On October 13, 1917, approximately 70,000 people gathered in a field known as the Cova da Iría in Fatima, Portugal, to witness a spectacular miracle that a little shepherd girl had told them the Blessed Virgin Mary would perform on that day. At the precise time predicted, for approximately ten minutes, there occurred what has become known as the “Miracle of the Sun”, described as “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” (Wikipedia). Details from eye-witness accounts can be found in the article “The Miracle of the Sun” by Peter Chojnowski.

In the Catholic Dictionary, the term “miracle” is defined as follows:

An effect wrought in nature directly by God. It is not necessarily a breach of the laws of nature, or even a suspension of these laws, but an effect wrought independently of natural powers and laws and of such a character that man reasonably concludes that God himself, who alone is above and beyond nature, is the immediate and direct cause of the effect, without having acted as normally through the series of intermediate causes we call Nature. …Though a Catholic is bound to accept this principle [of miracles occurring in the Church] as a matter of faith, the miraculous character of each individual occurrence must be settled by the evidence. Hence no individual miracles, except those mentioned in holy Scripture, are of faith.

(Donald Attwater, ed., A Catholic Dictionary, third ed. [New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1958], s.v. “miracle”; underlining added.)

What, then, is the evidence that what took place on Oct. 13, 1917, in Fatima was truly a miracle and not just a pious story, a mass hallucination, an ordinary natural occurrence, or a hoax?

Dr. Ignacio Ramón Ferrín is a seasoned astrophysicist at the Institute of Physics of the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. He is not a practicing Catholic or Novus Ordo, so he cannot be accused of confirmation bias. Ferrin relates that while doing research for a book project about asteroids, he stumbled across extraordinary scientific anomalies that occurred over Fatima, Portugal, on Oct. 13, 1917, and began to dig a bit deeper. He explains:

My book [about asteroids] was progressing along, and as a byproduct, new circumstantial evidence having to do with Fatima was being uncovered and accumulated, until one day I realized that I had a scientific and astronomical explanation of what had happened in 1917 in Portugal! I couldn’t believe it!

I abandoned the other chapters of the book and began to concentrate on the Fatima Chapter, until [the] information grew so much in extent and intent, that a separate book had to be written to include all the evidence gathered.

(Source)

That “separate book” on Fatima has now been published. It is entitled An Astronomical Explanation of the Fatima Miracle and is available for immediate shipping from Amazon. An electronic version for Kindle will be released on May 13, 2021, and is available now for pre-order:

• Paperback Edition: An Astronomical Explanation of the Fatima Miracle by Ignacio R. Ferrin, Ph.D.
• Electronic Edition: An Astronomical Explanation of the Fatima Miracle by Ignacio R. Ferrin, Ph.D.

(Full disclosure: Novus Ordo Watch makes a small commission on any copies sold through the above links.)

Do not misunderstand: Ignacio Ferrin is not disputing the miraculous character of the solar activity observed that day. Rather, he is saying that he has found empirically verifiable proof that what the people saw really did happen. It was not a hallucination or some other subjective phenomenon!

In his book, Prof. Ferrin shows that the probability of the Fatima solar event happening from natural causes (“by chance”) is 1 in 61,428,000,000,000,000 (that’s 61.4 quadrillion) — talk about an “astronomical” number!

That alone makes it a miracle, keeping in mind the definition given earlier, namely, “an effect wrought independently of natural powers and laws and of such a character that man reasonably concludes that God himself, who alone is above and beyond nature, is the immediate and direct cause of the effect”.

However, the miracle does not stop there. In fact, there is even greater miracle associated with the Miracle of the Sun. Dr. Ferrin writes:

Science in general and Astronomy in particular, were capable of explaining the physical effects observed in Fatima.

But Science could not explain the prediction itself. There is no way for a 10 year old uneducated peasant girl to predict three times, with three months in advance, the date and time of such an astronomical event.

Thus, by validating the event, but not validating the prediction, Science is actually validating the miracle.

(Source)

It is a miraculous thing for an event as unlikely as 1 in 61.4 quadrillion to actually occur. But it is an even more miraculous thing for Lucia dos Santos, who was but a 10-year-old shepherd girl, to predict the precise moment when this event will occur.

The purpose of the miracle at Fatima is, of course, to authenticate the Messenger and her message. For God to work a miracle as spectacular as that of the sun, witnessed by so many thousands of people, and now also scientifically corroborated, is clearly a heavenly warning that says: Pay attention! Pay attention to what this Lady has to say! And who is this Lady? Quite fittingly, it is the “woman clothed with the sun” (Apoc 12:1).

People unfamiliar with the Fatima events and messages, or related controversies, will find the following links helpful:

• In brief: The Fatima Message
• Devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and Her Message
• Our Lady of Fatima’s 100th Anniversary
• Fatima Centennial: The Miracle of the Sun turns 100
• The Novus Ordo Church and Fatima: Separating Fact from Fiction
• MONSTER-ance! How Francis commemorated the 100th Anniversary of Fatima
• False Lights at Fatima: Basilica Facade profaned with Light Show
• Fatima in the Dark: Audiovisual Light Show to be projected onto Fatima Cathedral
• No Friend of Fatima: Unspinning Christopher Ferrara’s Defense of Benedict XVI
• Lucia dos Santos: Sister Lucy of Fatima and the Impostor who replaced her

To be clear: A Catholic is not required to believe the Miracle of the Sun actually took place or that Our Lady even appeared at all in Fatima. Denying the authenticity of the Fatima events may be unreasonable, but it does not make one a heretic or less of a good Catholic. What is certain is that after intense investigation, in 1930 the Catholic Church judged the miracles that took place at Fatima to be “worthy of belief”, and it is therefore safe for a Catholic to accept them as authentic and to believe in the Fatima message.

In addition to the Miracle of the Sun, the other most controversial aspect of the Fatima apparitions is no doubt the message Our Lady entrusted to Sr. Lucy known as the “Third Secret”. To make a very long story very short: The full text of this Third Secret has never truly been revealed, although several texts have been floating around claiming to be the “real” Third Secret. Among them is one that seems to disclose with great precision what has actually come to pass:

• “A Wicked Council… The Church will Bleed from all Her Wounds”: Is THIS the real Third Fatima Secret?

Beyond all miracles, secrets, and other spectacular phenomena, however, we must never forget what Fatima is all about: In a nutshell, Our Lady says to us: Repent! Believe, hope, love, make reparation, and pray, for time is running out and souls really are going to hell in droves.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Image source: amazon.com
License: fair use