On 13 October 1917, Fatima was wet and rainy, the ground muddy and people’s clothes soaked. Eyewitness reports say it was completely overcast and raining heavily. Dominic Reis, who had traveled 100 miles to Fatima, said, “There was a good three inches of water where I stood and mud on the ground. I was soaking wet. Then around noon time, the sun started breaking through the clouds and we could see the sun. Now it was raining just like you open a faucet in your house.” Estimates of the crowd averaged about 70,000, a mix of believers and skeptics. And then the rain stopped, the clouds disappeared, and Mary arrived. Before the miracle, she took on “a more sorrowful air” and told Lucia, “Do not offend the Lord Our God anymore, for He is already too much offended!” And then the Miracle of the Sun began.
Eyewitness reports say the sun dimmed, so you could look at it without shielding your eyes, then it “shook and trembled; it seemed like a wheel of fire.”
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