Witnesses /

A distinguished gentleman from Angra living on the mainland

Pilgrim

Unnamed gentleman from Angra do Heroísmo (Azores) living on the mainland, who drove to Fátima with a friend on 12 October 1917; the Angra daily A Verdade summarised his private letter to his family.

From mainland Portugal (native of Angra do Heroísmo)1 passage · 13 October 1917

Also written as: a distinguished gentleman from Angra living on the mainland (unnamed)

13 OctSecond-handSaw itPress reportCrowd scenePale / silver discColours on people & landscapeSun changing colourZig-zag motion
As told by A Verdade (from his private letter to his family)
English

From a private letter written by a distinguished gentleman living on the mainland to his family in this city, we know that this fellow townsman of ours was one of the very many witnesses of the marvellous event that took place at Fátima on the thirteenth of this month. What eyewitnesses said was happening there on the thirteenth of each month since May had so captured everyone's attention that our fellow townsman set off for the place on the twelfth of this month, by car, with an illustrious friend. At Fátima he found an immense mass of people, which he estimated at some fifty thousand, who had come there drawn by the announced prodigy, those who could not go on foot using every kind of conveyance. On that heath, dreary by nature and drearier still on that dark day, when a fine, persistent drizzle soaked all the spectators, there were more than five hundred cars, which fully agrees with the information of a correspondent of the Diario de Noticias in Vila Nova d'Ourem, who says that more than a hundred cars, one hundred and thirty-five bicycles and two hundred and forty carriages of various kinds returned from Fátima through that town.

Português

Por uma carta particular dum distincto cavalheiro que reside no continente para a sua familia, nesta cidade, sabemos que aquele nosso conterraneo foi uma das numerosissimas testemunhas do facto maravilhoso, ocorrido em trese do corrente mês, em Fátima. Vinha já prendendo tanto a atenção de todos o que testemunhas presenciaes diziam dar-se ali no dia trese de cada mês, desde maio, que aquele nosso conterraneo para lá partiu no dia dose do corrente, de automovel, com um seu ilustre amigo. Em Fátima encontrou uma imensa massa de povo, que ele calculou em cerca de cincoenta mil pessoas e que para ali tinham vindo atraidas pelo prodigio anunciado, utilisando todos os meios de condução, os que não puderam ir a pé. Encontravam-se naquela charneca, triste por naturesa e mais triste naquele dia escuro e em que uma chuvinha miuda e impertinente encharcou todos os espectadores, mais de quinhentos automoveis, o que está perfeitamente d'harmonia com as informações dum correspondente do Diario de Noticias, em Vila Nova d'Ourem, o qual diz terem regressado de Fátima, pela referida Vila mais de cem automoveis, cento trinta e cinco bicicletas e duzentos e quarenta carros diversos.

When the hour at which the miracle was expected arrived, our informant says, the sun, appearing for the first time that day, could be gazed at steadily by that whole crowd, which its rays tinged successively blue, yellow and purple, while strange tremblings and movements were noticed in it.

Chegada a hora a que era esperado o milagre, diz o citado informador que o sol, aparecendo pela primeira vez naquele dia, foi perfeitamente fixado por toda aquela multidão que os raios solares tingiram sucessivamente de azul, amarelo e cor de purpura, ao mesmo tempo que se notava naquele astro umas tremuras e movimentos desconhecidos.

DCF III-1, Doc. 236 · press · 30 Oct 1917 (2 weeks later)Scans (2)Link
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