Gonçalo Xavier de Almeida Garrett

They were as follows: 1st The phenomena lasted some 8 to 10 minutes; 2nd The sun lost its dazzling brightness, taking on the appearance of the moon, and could be looked at easily, 3rd The sun three times, during that period of time, showed a rotating movement at its periphery, throwing off sparks of light at its edges, like what [1v] happens with the well-known firework wheels, of fire, 4th This rotating movement of the edges of the sun, 3 times manifested and 3 times interrupted, was rapid and lasted 8 or 10 minutes, more or less; 5th Next, the sun took on a violet colour and then an orange one, spreading these colours over the earth, finally regaining its brightness and brilliance, impossible to look at with the eye. 6th It was a little after noon and near the zenith, (which is most important) that these events took place.

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At the last apparition my whole family saw the cloud, and as they were [4] some distance away they thought there was fire and incense at the spot. Through a relative of mine and others who were near the children it was ascertained that there was no fire at all.

A distinguished retired professor of astronomy at the University of Coimbra, recently deceased, Dr. Gonçalo Xavier de Almeida Garret, in an interesting booklet he published with the title "Fátima" and the subtitle "The miraculous cloud of smoke", says that this fact, to which perhaps only moderate attention has been paid, is nevertheless most important, naturally inexplicable, and can and should serve as an element of proof of the reality of the apparitions at the Cova da Iria. In his authoritative opinion, it was a physico-chemical phenomenon, independent of the nervous action of the human organism. On the thirteenth of October, during the last apparition, the cloud of smoke became visible at a great distance and could be made out from the district road with the most perfect clarity. It seemed to come out of the holm oak, envelop the seers and rise to a height of more than six metres, occupying an area of about six square metres. Among the great crowd of people who came to Fátima that day there were well-known and entirely trustworthy persons who attest that no fire was lit at that place that could have given rise to the cloud of smoke.