Our Lady of Fatima

Three shepherd children—Lúcia (10), Francisco (9), and Jacinta (7)—reported six apparitions of Mary from May to October 1917 in Fátima, Portugal.

• Mary identified herself as "Our Lady of the Rosary" and promised a miracle on October 13
• On October 13, an estimated 70,000 people witnessed the Miracle of the Sun: the sun "danced," zig-zagged, emitted multicolored light, and seemed to advance toward the earth
• Rain-soaked clothes and muddy ground dried almost instantly
• Secular reporters and skeptics present corroborated the solar phenomena

• O Século, a liberal anticlerical newspaper, sent its editor to mock the event; he published a factual, terrified account and photographs
• Dr. José Maria de Almeida Garrett, professor at Coimbra's Faculty of Sciences, gave a detailed scientific description in a "calm and serene" state; he never observed similar phenomena before or after
• The children publicly predicted the date and time months in advance; the government jailed them to force recantation—they refused
• Soaked clothes and muddy ground dried instantly—a physical effect that mass hallucination cannot produce
• The miracle was witnessed over a wide geographic area, not just at the Cova da Iria
• Skeptics and those hostile to the Church attested to the phenomena