The Polish Connection 28

August - October 1917

I must continue with my story of Fatima. I do not know whether I believe it or not. It is so far fetched sounding, but I know that miracles do sometimes happen, and I will keep an open mind about all of this.

As the 13th of August approached, the story of the apparitions reached the anti-religious secular press, and while this ensured that the whole country knew about Fatima, it also meant that many biased and negative reports were circulating.

The children were kidnapped on the morning of the 13th by the Mayor of Vila Nova de Ourem, Arturo Santos. They were interrogated about the secret; but despite his threats and promises of money, they refused to divulge it. In the afternoon they were moved to the local prison and threatened with death but determined that they would die rather than reveal the secret.

On August 19th, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta were assembled at a place called Valinhos, near Fatima, late in the afternoon, when they again saw Mary, who spoke to Lucia: “Go again to the Cova da Iria on the 13th and continue to say the Rosary every day.” Mary also said she would perform a miracle, so all would believe, and that if they had not been kidnapped it would have been even greater. Looking very sad, Mary then said: “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and pray for them.” With that she rose into the air and moved towards the east before disappearing.

By now the children had thoroughly absorbed Mary’s plea for prayer and penance, and did everything they could to answer it. They prayed for hours while lying prostrate on the ground and went as long as they could without drinking, in the burning heat of the Portuguese summer. They also went without food, as a sacrifice for sinners, to save them from hell, the vision of which had so profoundly affected them. They even knotted some pieces of old rope around their waists as a form of mortification, not removing them day or night.

On September 13th very large crowds began to converge on Fatima from all directions. Around noon the children then arrived, and after the customary flash of light, they saw Mary on the tree. She spoke to Lucia: “Continue to pray the Rosary in order to obtain the end of the war. God is pleased with your sacrifices. He does not want you to sleep with the rope on, but only to wear it during the daytime.” Lucia then began to put forward the petitions for cures, to be told: “Yes, I will cure some, but not others. In October I will perform a miracle so that all may believe.” With that she rose, moved to the east, and disappeared.

Thursday 27th September Jo wrote to tell me that Dorothy’s sister, Edie had written an exciting account of the latest raid. The way she writes, you would think that I knew all her family and friends, but I do enjoy getting her letters. Anyway, here is what Edie said,

“We had a gay time last night - you should just have heard it - such a racket! You would have smiled if you could have seen us. Beds crowded into the ward any how and as far from the windows as we could get them, blinds down and only one dim light at the end of the ward, two or three children in each bed and most of them singing. It really took some doing to think of songs for them and one simply had to keep on to prevent them getting frightened. Every now and then there would be a crash of guns or bombs, we could hardly tell which, and the kiddies’ voices got a bit shaky but they kept it up. One doesn’t notice it at the time but it's a bit of a strain when it keeps up for two or three hours. At last we couldn't think of any more songs - we had had the national anthem (especially the second verse) and as the firing still kept on, I started them with that awful game: Have my love with an A because he’s amiable and we went right through to Z! By about nine o'clock, the firing had got very far off so we made some cocoa and they all settled down to sleep - tired out, poor little brats! We had managed to get some supper during a lull in the excitement at 8 o’clock. I was just coming out on to the verandah when whizz went a shell over us and exploded with a blaze of light and a tremendous bang followed by another and another. Star shells were shooting up, looking awfully pretty, and searchlights dodging all over the sky. It was awfully exciting.”

Life in Mellor does seem rather dull in contrast. More from Edie’s letter:

“On the 27th of September a policeman came around warning everybody that 23 or 24 Germans have escaped from a Northamptonshire camp and advising us to keep our places well locked up. He thinks they will hide in the woods overnight and try to work their way to the coast. We heard the Zeppelins last night about 11 p m. Bombs dropping and the windows rattled. Somebody has got it I suppose!

“Went for a walk today up past the searchlight station at Sapperton. There is a huge clearing in the woods, trees felled in all directions. Brown and gold leaves cling, the wind sighed lonesomely in the tree tops and there was the dull, almost continuous roar of the guns at the big camp at Belton Park, nine miles distant.”

Now it is October, and I am back to the Fatima story. There is such excitement in the church. We have been having daily rosary in the church over the past month, as we always do in October anyway, as it is the month of the rosary, but far more people are attending than would normally happen. And of course we read about it in the paper too.

The proclamation of a public miracle caused the most intense speculation throughout Portugal, and the journalist Avelino de Almeida, published a satirical article on the whole business in the anti-religious newspaper O Seculo. People from other parts of the country descended, in their tens of thousands, on the Cova, despite the terrible storm that lashed the mountain country around Fatima, on the eve of the 13th. Many pilgrims went barefooted, reciting the rosary as they went, all crowding into the area around the Cova, as by midmorning the weather again turned bad and heavy rain began to fall.

The children reached the tree around noon, and then saw the flash of light as Mary appeared before them. For the last time, Lucia asked what she wanted: “I want to tell you that a chapel is to be built here in my honour. I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day. The war is going to end, and the soldiers will soon return to their homes.”

Then rising into the air and opening her hands towards the sun, growing more brilliant as she did, she disappeared, being replaced by various visions seen only by the children. At the same time the vast crowd saw a true miracle. The black clouds parted, and the sun became visible, looking like a dull grey disc that could be looked at directly quite easily. In O Seculo, Avelino de Almeida would adopt a very different tone from his earlier satirical article on Fatima:

“...one could see the immense multitude turn towards the sun, which appeared free from clouds and at its zenith. It looked like a plaque of dull silver and it was possible to look at it without the least discomfort. It might have been an eclipse which was taking place. But at that moment a great shout went up and one could hear the spectators nearest at hand shouting: ‘A miracle! A miracle!’ 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.

“People then began to ask each other what they had seen. The great majority admitted to having seen the trembling and 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 with its rays. Some said they saw it change colours successively.”

Other witnesses too, such as Maria Carreira, testified to the terrifying nature of the solar miracle: “It turned everything different colours, yellow, blue, white, and it shook and trembled; it seemed like a wheel of fire which was going to fall on the people. They cried out: “We shall all be killed, we shall all be killed!’ At last the sun stopped moving and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were still alive and the miracle which the children had foretold had taken place.”

Other people witnessed the solar miracle from a distance thus ruling out the possibility of any type of collective hallucination. A final intriguing and important point was that the heat of the sun, as it descended on the people, also had the effect of drying their clothes and the ground, so that they went from being completely soaked to being dry in about ten minutes.

I did keep in mind what John had told me about sunspots, and I even went to Manchester Library and found a recent journal which mentioned them.

That sunspot cycle activity increased and decreased in a cycle of approximately 11 years was established in the 1750s. A. L. Tchijevsky, a Russian professor of Astronomy and Biological Physics who continues his studies at the war front, noticed that particularly severe battles regularly followed each solar flare during the sunspot peak period of 1916-17.

To test his hypothesis that sunspot cycle influenced human activity, Tchijevsky investigated the histories of 72 countries during that period, noting signs of human unrest such as wars, revolutions, riots, expeditions and migrations, plus the numbers of humans involved Tchijevsky found that fully 80% of the most significant events occurred during the 5 years of maximum sunspot activity.

Tchijevsky divided the eleven year sunspot cycle into four social periods:

Period 1: (approximately 3 years, minimum sunspot activity). Peace, lack of unity among the masses, election of conservatives, autocratic, minority rule. Period 2 (approx. 2 years, increasing sunspot activity) Increasing mass excitability, new leaders rise, new ideas and challenges to the elite. Period 3: (Approximately 3 years, maximum sunspot activity)

Maximum excitability, election of liberals or radicals, mass demonstrations, riots, revolutions, wars and resolution of most pressing demands. Period 4:(Approximately 3 years, decreasing sunspot activity) Decrease in excitability, masses become apathetic, seek peace.

Tchijevsky does not believe solar disturbances cause discontent as much as they act as detonators that set off the smoldering discontent of the masses - discontent often channeled into war by their rulers. Nor did he deny that even during minimum solar activity some people would rebel against intolerable conditions or that nations would seek advantage through war and conquest.

It doesn’t answer my question about whether the Fatima sightings and miracles are really caused by sunspot activity, but it certainly has given me something to think about.