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Fátima, Portugal

39°37′N, 8°40′W — Cova da Iria, Ourém municipality, central Portugal — Marian apparition site, 1917

What's documented

Fátima is a town in central Portugal in the Ourém municipality. The Cova da Iria, on its outskirts, is the site of a series of Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children (Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto). The final reported apparition on 13 October 1917 was attended by an estimated 70,000 witnesses and is associated with the "Miracle of the Sun" — multiple converging eyewitness accounts of atmospheric and solar anomaly. The Catholic Church declared the apparitions worthy of belief in 1930.

Public-record imagery

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima at Cova da Iria.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima at Cova da Iria.Wikipedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · eebAMDG · 2010
The Sanctuary of Fátima, photographed in 2023. On 13 October 1917, an estimated 70,000 people stood in this exact place to witness what newspapers called 'the dance of the sun' — and what the Church canonized as a Marian apparition.
The Sanctuary of Fátima, photographed in 2023. On 13 October 1917, an estimated 70,000 people stood in this exact place to witness what newspapers called 'the dance of the sun' — and what the Church canonized as a Marian apparition.Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Lark Ascending · 2019
The Chapel of the Apparitions at Fátima — a small white kiosk built on the exact patch of ground where the three shepherd children said the Lady appeared in 1917.
The Chapel of the Apparitions at Fátima — a small white kiosk built on the exact patch of ground where the three shepherd children said the Lady appeared in 1917.Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · Arian Zwegers from Brussels, Belgium · 1995
A pilgrim approaches the sanctuary on her knees — a penitential rite practiced by tens of thousands of pilgrims each year. The Third Secret of Fátima, sealed in 1944 and only partially released in 2000, remains a touchstone for end-times theology.
A pilgrim approaches the sanctuary on her knees — a penitential rite practiced by tens of thousands of pilgrims each year. The Third Secret of Fátima, sealed in 1944 and only partially released in 2000, remains a touchstone for end-times theology.Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · Güldem Üstün from Istanbul, TURKEY · 2017