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123-493: Fátima ( Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈfatimɐ] ) is a city in the municipality of Ourém and district of Santarém in the Oeste e Vale do Tejo Region of Portugal , with 71.29 km of area and 13,212 inhabitants (2021). The homonymous civil parish encompasses several villages and localities of which the city of Fátima is the largest. The civil parish has been permanently associated with Our Lady of Fátima ,

246-451: A British Journal of Ophthalmology article that discusses some modern examples of Sun Miracles. Prof. Stöckl, a meteorologist from Regensburg, also proposed a similar theory and made similar observations. Critics also suggest that a combination of clouds, atmospheric effects and natural sunlight could have created the reported visual phenomena. Steuart Campbell , writing for the edition of Journal of Meteorology in 1989, postulated that

369-533: A sundog , a relatively common atmospheric optical phenomenon. Nickell also highlights the psychological suggestibility of the witnesses, noting that devout spectators often come to locations where Marian apparitions have been reported "fully expecting some miraculous event", such as the 1988 Lubbock apparition of Mary in Texas, the Mother Cabrini Shrine near Denver, Colorado, in 1992, and Conyers, Georgia , in

492-517: A "lady dressed in white" and shining with a bright light. The three shepherd children were born in Aljustrel, a small hamlet about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from Fátima. To the west, near Aljustrel, is Loca do Cabeço, a smaller agglomeration of rocky outcroppings where, in 1916, an angel appeared twice to the three children. The children claimed to have seen the Marian apparition on six occasions; they said

615-486: A canonical investigation of the event in November 1917, to review witness accounts and assess whether the alleged private revelations from Mary were compatible with Catholic theology . The local priest conducting the investigation was particularly convinced by the concurring testimony of extraordinary solar phenomena from secular reporters, government officials, and other skeptics in attendance. Bishop José da Silva declared

738-573: A central area containing buildings with special economic, political, and religious significance. Archaeologists refer to this area by the Greek term temenos or if fortified as a citadel . These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its wider sphere of influence . Today cities have a city center or downtown , sometimes coincident with a central business district . Cities typically have public spaces where anyone can go. These include privately owned spaces open to

861-665: A central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there and can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory . National censuses use a variety of definitions – invoking factors such as population , population density , number of dwellings , economic function, and infrastructure – to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. states using

984-461: A central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces of town walls and citadels marking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by ring roads moving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem are structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such as Moscow , this pattern

1107-512: A cloud of stratospheric dust changed the appearance of the Sun on 13 October, making it easy to look at, and causing it to appear to be yellow, blue, and violet, and to spin. In support of his hypothesis, Campbell reported that a blue and reddened Sun was reported in China as documented in 1983. Paul Simons, in an article entitled "Weather Secrets of Miracle at Fátima", stated that it is possible that some of

1230-449: A collection of contradictory accounts of a case in any of the research that he had done in the previous ten years, he was specifically referring to accounts of the alleged Marian apparitions that the three children witnessed, not the accounts of the Miracle of the Sun phenomena itself, when making such a claim. According to professor of religion Lisa J. Schwebel, claims of the miracle present

1353-539: A combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations . The degree of urbanization is a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)". This metric was "devised over years by the European Commission , OECD , World Bank and others, and endorsed in March [2021] by

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1476-604: A continuous urban landscape called urban agglomeration , conurbation , or megalopolis (exemplified by the BosWash corridor of the Northeastern United States .) The emergence of cities from proto-urban settlements , such as Çatalhöyük , is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of early urbanization . The cities of Jericho , Aleppo , Byblos , Faiyum , Yerevan , Athens , Matera , Damascus , and Argos are among those laying claim to

1599-423: A different Portugal town of a different solar phenomenon. The misattributed image, however, continues to circulate on the internet. The three children (Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto) who originally claimed to have seen Our Lady of Fátima also reported seeing a panorama of visions, including those of Jesus , Our Lady of Sorrows , Our Lady of Mount Carmel , and Saint Joseph blessing

1722-430: A distinctive elite social class, but it should indeed be considered a city based on a functional redefinition of urban development. In particular, Jenné-Jeno featured settlement mounds arranged according to a horizontal, rather than vertical, power hierarchy, and served as a center of specialized production and exhibited functional interdependence with the surrounding hinterland. More recently, scholars have concluded that

1845-426: A few days later, he saw the exact same motions and colour changes in the Sun as he did on 13 October. He says, "One doubt remained with us however. Was what we saw in the Sun an exceptional thing? Or could it be reproduced in analogous circumstances? Now it was precisely this analogy of circumstances that presented itself to us yesterday. We could see the Sun half overcast as on Saturday. And sincerely, we saw on that day

1968-466: A grid plan with specialized districts used across the Hellenistic Mediterranean . The urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the city proper in a form of development sometimes described critically as urban sprawl . Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of

2091-500: A hotel and medical centre, have also been built over the decades within and around the Sanctuary. The city has become an important international destination for religious tourists , receiving between 6 and 8 million pilgrims yearly. The name of the town and parish is a rendition of the Arabic given name Fátima ( فاطمة Fāṭimah ). According to the traditional narrative, Fátima

2214-507: A key role in both the economy and government. Late antique cities in the East were also undergoing intense transformations, with increased political participation of the crowds and demographical fluctuations. Christian communities and their doctrinal differences increasingly shaped the urban fabric. The locus of power shifted to Constantinople and to the ascendant Islamic civilization with its major cities Baghdad , Cairo , and Córdoba . From

2337-520: A minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some jurisdictions set no such minima. In the United Kingdom , city status is awarded by the Crown and then remains permanent. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of a cathedral , resulting in some very small cities such as Wells , with a population of 12,000 as of 2018 , and St Davids , with a population of 1,841 as of 2011 .) According to

2460-497: A miracle "so that all may believe." Newspapers reported the prophecies, and many pilgrims began visiting the area. The children's accounts were deeply controversial, drawing intense criticism from both local secular and religious authorities. A provisional administrator briefly took the children into custody, believing the prophecies were politically motivated in opposition to the officially secular First Portuguese Republic established in 1910. Various claims have been made regarding

2583-505: A miracle, even if one does not wish to see anything more in what actually happened. Clearly, the "miracle" of the sun was not a mere meteorological phenomenon, however rare. Otherwise it would have been observed before and after, regardless of the presence of devout crowds or not. I merely claim, which I did in my other writings on miracles, that in producing miracles God often makes use of a natural substratum by greatly enhancing its physical components and their interactions. According to Jaki,

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2706-715: A much higher altitude than the rest of the parishes in Ourém. This plateau represents the northernmost portion of the Estremadura Limestone Massif , which was created during the Middle Jurassic and is characterized by various geological formations including sinkholes, uvalas and polje (like the Polje de Minde-Mata), as well as karst grottoes, caves with stalactites and stalagmites , in addition to lapiez fields . As such, Fátima has geological and cultural similarities with

2829-399: A number of difficulties. Schwebel states, "Not only did all those present not see the phenomenon, but also there are considerable inconsistencies among witnesses as to what they did see". Schwebel also observes that there is no authentic photo of the solar phenomena claimed, "despite the presence of hundreds of reporters and photographers at the field", and one photo often presented as authentic

2952-688: A privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lord or having been granted self-governance by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire, became part of the Imperial Estates governing the empire with the emperor through the Imperial Diet . By the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy, medieval communes developed into city-states including

3075-495: A rule cannot produce their own food and therefore must develop some relationship with a hinterland that sustains them. Only in special cases such as mining towns which play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them. Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would, in theory, favor the creation of marketplaces in optimal mutually reachable locations. The vast majority of cities have

3198-587: A series of 1917 Marian apparitions that were purportedly witnessed by three local shepherd children at the Cova da Iria . The Catholic Church later recognized these events as "worthy of belief". A small chapel was built at the site of the apparition in 1919, and a statue of Mary installed. The chapel and statue have since been enclosed within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima , a shrine complex containing two minor basilicas . Associated facilities for pilgrims, including

3321-542: A small chapel of rock and limestone and covered in tile. It was 3.3 metres (11 ft) by 2.8 metres (9.2 ft) length, and 2.85 metres (9.4 ft) height. It became a centre for Marian devotion, receiving names such as a fé de Fátima, cidade da Paz ("the faith of Fátima, City of Peace"), or Terra de Milagres e Aparições ("Land of Miracles and Apparitions"). The focus of Fatima as a place for peace pilgrimages developed in World War II when Lucia's messages were linked to

3444-549: A super-wealthy elite living in gated communities and large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions. Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground. Urbanization can create rapid demand for water resources management , as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and

3567-423: A temple. A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing), to use as communal seasonal shelters, to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization, or to their inherent economic function. Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such as Alexander

3690-453: A walk in the Vatican gardens, he arrived at the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and began to see the miracle. He described himself in handwritten notes as "awestruck." He saw the same miracle on 31 October, again on 1 November (the date of the definition of the dogma) and then again on 8 November. He wrote that on other days at about the same time he tried to see if he could observe the Miracle of

3813-567: A workers' town associated with the pyramid of Senusret II , and the religious city Amarna built by Akhenaten and abandoned. These sites appear planned in a highly regimented and stratified fashion, with a minimalistic grid of rooms for the workers and increasingly more elaborate housing available for higher classes. In Mesopotamia, the civilization of Sumer , followed by Assyria and Babylon , gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostered multiple languages written in cuneiform . The Phoenician trading empire, flourishing around

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3936-474: Is actually "a solar eclipse in another part of the world taken sometime before 1917". There is some evidence to the effect that the miracle was expected by witnesses. The witness Joaquim Gregório Tavares, who was present at Fátima on 13 October, states, "We must declare that, although we admit the possibility of some miraculous fact, we were there while having in mind conversations we had earlier with cool-headed persons who were anticipating some changes of colour in

4059-637: Is more or less the same. In the winter, temperatures range between 13 °C (55 °F) on the daytime and 4 °C (39 °F) at night with January being the coldest month. Humid air masses coming from N/NW that come into contact with the plateau of Fátima are the reason behind the strong rains experienced in the low-sun half of the year. Light frosts are typical from late December to mid February and temperatures can get down to −4 °C (25 °F) occasionally. Summer temperatures range between 27 °C (81 °F) at day and 15 °C (59 °F) at night, but are rather unpredictable, as influences from

4182-449: Is rare, the last significant events being in 2016 and 2013 both on 27 February. Fátima is twinned with: The economy of the city relies on religious tourism because the world devotion through Our Lady of Fátima attracts millions of Christian pilgrims. The locals have numerous shops and stalls devoted to the sale of religious articles and souvenirs. In addition, services for tourists, hotels, restaurants and other retail also benefit from

4305-508: Is still clearly visible. A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as the grid plan , has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Indus Valley Civilization built Mohenjo-Daro , Harappa , and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described by Kautilya , and aligned with the compass points . The ancient Greek city of Priene exemplifies

4428-420: Is the most urban continent, with four-fifths of its population living in cities, including one-fifth of the population said to live in shantytowns ( favelas , poblaciones callampas , etc.). Batam , Indonesia , Mogadishu , Somalia , Xiamen , China , and Niamey , Niger , are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%. In general, the more developed countries of

4551-664: The Catholic Church in 1930. A shrine was built near the site in Fátima, which has been attended by thousands of faithful. Pope Pius XII approved the "Fatima apparitions" in 1940. Four times during the week that he declared the dogma of the Assumption of Mary (33 years after the actual event said to have occurred in Fátima), Pope Pius XII claimed to have witnessed the same "Miracle of the Sun". At 4:00   p.m. on 30 October 1950, during

4674-504: The Junta de Freguesia (Parish Council), was vetoed in July 2003 by President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio . Fátima is located in central west Portugal. It borders São Mamede ( Batalha ) and Minde ( Alcanena ) to the southwest, Pedrógão and Chancelaria ( Torres Novas ) in the east, Atouguia and Nossa Senhora das Misericórdias ( Ourém ) to the north and Santa Catarina da Serra e Chainça ( Leiria ) to

4797-586: The Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa . In Northern Europe, cities including Lübeck and Bruges formed the Hanseatic League for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later challenged and eclipsed by the Dutch commercial cities of Ghent , Ypres , and Amsterdam . Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai , which enjoyed considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan. In

4920-931: The United Nations ... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison". The word city and the related civilization come from the Latin root civitas , originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond with urbs , meaning 'city' in a more physical sense. The Roman civitas was closely linked with the Greek polis —another common root appearing in English words such as metropolis . In toponymic terminology, names of individual cities and towns are called astionyms (from Ancient Greek ἄστυ 'city or town' and ὄνομα 'name'). Urban geography deals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure. Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of

5043-501: The Uruk period . In the fourth and third millennium BC , complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys of Mesopotamia , India , China , and Egypt . Excavations in these areas have found the ruins of cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large, dense populations , but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Among

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5166-716: The civilization of Djenne-Djenno was likely established by the Mande progenitors of the Bozo people . Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE. Archaeological evidence from Jenné-Jeno, specifically the presence of non-West African glass beads dated from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE, indicates that pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa. Additionally, other early urban centers in West Africa, dated to around 500 CE, include Awdaghust , Kumbi Saleh ,

5289-718: The commune ( in France and Chile ; or comune in Italy). Miracle of the Sun The Miracle of the Sun ( Portuguese : Milagre do Sol ), also known as the Miracle of Fátima , is a series of events reported to have occurred miraculously on 13 October 1917, attended by a large crowd who had gathered in Fátima, Portugal , in response to a prophecy made by three shepherd children, Lúcia Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto . The prophecy

5412-427: The government workers . (This arrangement contrasts with the more typically horizontal relationships in a tribe or village accomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or the leadership of a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or

5535-530: The knowledge economy . A new smart city paradigm, supported by institutions such as the RAND Corporation and IBM , is bringing computerized surveillance , data analysis, and governance to bear on cities and city dwellers. Some companies are building brand-new master-planned cities from scratch on greenfield sites. Urbanization is the process of migration from rural to urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until

5658-508: The marine layer of the nearby Atlantic can often lower the maxima to around 22 °C (72 °F) and thermal lows from the Iberian Peninsula can lead temperatures to surpass 35 °C (95 °F). Temperatures rarely get above 40 °C (104 °F) but when they do they are often accompanied by low humidity which can sometimes lead to unwanted forest fires around the area. The city has about 2600 hours of annual sunshine. Snow

5781-556: The service economy and public-private partnerships , with concomitant gentrification , uneven revitalization efforts , and selective cultural development. Under the Great Leap Forward and subsequent five-year plans continuing today, China has undergone concomitant urbanization and industrialization and become the world's leading manufacturer . Amidst these economic changes, high technology and instantaneous telecommunication enable select cities to become centers of

5904-535: The " Global North " remain more urbanized than the less developed countries of the " Global South "—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting. The UN predicts an additional 2.5 billion city dwellers (and 300 million fewer country dwellers) worldwide by 2050, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa. Megacities , cities with populations in

6027-539: The "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas. The presence of a literate elite is often associated with cities because of the cultural diversities present in a city. A typical city has professional administrators , regulations, and some form of taxation (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support

6150-500: The "silver sun" described by witnesses – but at the wrong elevation to be the Sun. He states that testimonies of witnesses who observed the phenomenon from a distance place the "silver sun" neither at the azimuth of the real Sun, nor at any fixed azimuth – but invariably at the direction of Fatima, concluding that the "silver sun" was a real luminous object over Fatima. Theologians, scientists and skeptics have responded to claims that conflict with established scientific knowledge regarding

6273-524: The 18th century), Ile-Ifẹ̀ (70,000 to 105,000 inhabitants in the 14th and 15th centuries), Niani (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD) and Timbuktu (100,000 inhabitants in 1450 AD). In the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following the Peace of Westphalia in the seventeenth century. Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following

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6396-420: The 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuring markets and small-scale manufacturing. With the agricultural and industrial revolutions urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration and demographic expansion . In England , the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. In 1900, 15% of

6519-698: The 30th and 18th centuries BC. Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with the Olmec and spreading to the Preclassic Maya , the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the Aztec , Andean civilizations , Mayan , Mississippians , and Pueblo peoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such as Mexico City , in

6642-722: The 9th through the end of the 12th century, Constantinople , the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire , was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million. The Ottoman Empire gradually gained control over many cities in the Mediterranean area, including Constantinople in 1453 . In the Holy Roman Empire , beginning in the 12th century, free imperial cities such as Nuremberg , Strasbourg , Frankfurt , Basel , Zürich , and Nijmegen became

6765-552: The Andes, the first urban centers developed in the Norte Chico civilization , Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari , Chimu , and Inca cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru . It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between

6888-519: The Great founded and created them with zeal. Jericho and Çatalhöyük , dated to the eighth millennium BC , are among the earliest proto-cities known to archaeologists. However, the Mesopotamian city of Uruk from the mid-fourth millennium BC (ancient Iraq) is considered by most archaeologists to be the first true city, innovating many characteristics for cities to follow, with its name attributed to

7011-460: The Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at Oxford University , states that "a scientific perspective does not rule out miracles, and the event at Fatima is, in the view of many, particularly credible." He states that a usual prejudice involves a lack of understanding of the scope of scientific laws, which merely describe how natural systems behave isolated from free agents. Concluding that

7134-495: The Marian shrine. Later in the early 20th century, a similar event took place in which three local children, Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto , purportedly saw visions of a woman known as Our Lady of Fátima , since believed by the Catholic Church to be the Virgin Mary. On 13 May 1917, whilst guarding their families' sheep in the Cova da Iria , the children first claimed to have seen an apparition of

7257-641: The Sun and then seeing something unusual as expected. In the spring of 1916, three Catholic shepherd children near Fátima reported visions of an angel. Beginning in May 1917, they also experienced apparitions of the Virgin Mary, whom they called the Lady of the Rosary. The children claimed the Lady prophesied that prayer would bring an end to the Great War, and that on 13 October that year, she would reveal her identity and perform

7380-436: The Sun phenomena, McClure writes that "the accounts of the miracle, of the dance of the sun', are simply not consistent”. McClure remarks that perception and memory becoming uncertain during an incomprehensible event is not surprising, but that the contradictions in the accounts must raise some doubts towards the objective nature of what was seen. While McClure is often misquoted in purportedly stating that he had never seen such

7503-483: The Sun". The villagers in Alburitel were preparing for a Sun miracle too. According to Maria do Carmo, "It was anticipated that the miracle would involve the stars". This is likely because in the months of July, August and September people at Fátima claimed the Sun's light dimmed and the sky became dark enough for stars to become visible. This was denied too by many witnesses from the previous months. She also states that on

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7626-449: The Sun, but was unable to. He confided this information to a number of Vatican cardinals, to Sr. Pascalina Lehnert (the nun in charge of the papal apartments and his secretary) and finally to handwritten notes (discovered in 2008) that were later placed on display at the Vatican. In 2017, Pope Francis approved the recognition of a miracle involving two of the children involved in the Fátima event, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, which paved

7749-452: The actual sun miracle event shows a lot of dark rain clouds behind some trees and the sun poking through. There is certainly nothing in the photograph that looks unusual, but of course a photograph is static. Whatever the crowd saw was not interesting enough to be noticeable in a photograph". The photograph, originally published in 1951 by L'Osservatore Romano was subsequently determined to have been taken approximately eight years later in

7872-530: The ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda , a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao. The dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West was connected with profound changes in urban fabric of western Europe. In places where Roman administration quickly weakened urbanism went through a profound crisis, even if it continued to remain an important symbolic factor. In regions like Italy or Spain cities diminished in size but nevertheless continued to play

7995-460: The athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the polis. Rome was the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority of its empire , Rome transformed and founded many cities ( Colonia ), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society. In the ancient Americas , early urban traditions developed in the Andes and Mesoamerica . In

8118-493: The behavior of the Sun. Science writer Benjamin Radford points out that "The sun did not really dance in the sky. We know this because, of course, everyone on Earth is under the same sun, and if the closest lying star to us suddenly began doing celestial gymnastics a few billion other people would surely have reported it". Radford wrote that psychological factors such as the power of suggestion and pareidolia can better explain

8241-407: The benefit of mitigating the urban heat island effect, especially in cities that are in warmer climates. These spaces prevent carbon imbalances, extreme habitat losses, electricity and water consumption, and human health risks. The urban structure generally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. The physical environment generally constrains

8364-461: The case reckoned that an incredible amount of energy would have been necessary to dry up those pools of water that had formed on the field in a few minutes as it was reported by witnesses." De Marchi wrote that the prediction of an unspecified "miracle", the abrupt beginning and end of the event, the varied religious backgrounds of the observers, the sheer numbers of people present, reports of sightings by people up to 18 kilometres (11 mi) away, and

8487-568: The conflict. The chapel has since been enclosed within a large basilica and sanctuary, part of a complex including a hotel and other facilities. In 1930, the statue of Our Lady in the Chapel of Apparitions was crowned by the Vatican. Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta in 1920, during the international Spanish flu pandemic . Lucia dos Santos became a nun and lived until 2005. The two who died young were beatified on 13 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II , and were canonised by Pope Francis on 13 May 2017,

8610-520: The core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas —creating numerous commuters traveling toward city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in a world of intensifying globalization , all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues , such as sustainable development , climate change , and global health . Because of these major influences on global issues,

8733-442: The crowds to see the Sun make "incredible" movements in the sky. Catholics have regarded Mary as a powerful " miracle worker " for centuries, and this view has continued into the present. Various theologians and apologetic scientists have discussed the limits of scientific explanations for the event and proposed possible mechanisms through which divine intervention caused the solar phenomenon. Fr Andrew Pinsent, research director of

8856-417: The density of the passing clouds, causing the sun's image to alternately brighten and dim and so seem to advance and recede, and dust or moisture droplets in the atmosphere refracting the sunlight and thus imparting a variety of colors". Nickell also suggests that unusual visual effects could have resulted from temporary retinal distortion caused by staring at the intense light of the Sun, or have been caused by

8979-536: The early Old World cities, Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan , existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a sophisticated sanitation system . China's planned cities were constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestial microcosms . The Ancient Egyptian cities known physically by archaeologists are not extensive. They include (known by their Arab names) El Lahun ,

9102-479: The emergence of an Atlantic trade. However, most towns remained small. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories and were bound to several laws regarding administration, finances, and urbanism. The growth of the modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and

9225-400: The event could certainly be deceived by their senses, or they could have experienced a localized, natural phenomenon. According to Benjamin Radford, "It is of course dangerous to stare directly at the sun, and to avoid permanently damaging their eyesight, those at Fátima that day were looking up in the sky around the sun, which, if you do it long enough, can give the illusion of the sun moving as

9348-501: The event is "a public miracle of the most extraordinary kind and credibility", he sees the year of the event, as connected to significant historical milestones that call for Fátima's message of repentance: Protestantism in 1517, Freemasonry in 1717 and atheistic Communism in 1917. Theologian, physicist, and priest Stanley L. Jaki , concurs, concluding that by divine intervention, a coordinated interplay of natural meteorological events, an enhancement of air lens with ice crystals ,

9471-593: The events reported at Fátima were collected by Father John De Marchi, an Italian Catholic priest and researcher. De Marchi spent seven years in Fátima, from 1943 to 1950, conducting research and interviewing the principals at length. In The Immaculate Heart (1952), De Marchi reported that, "[t]heir ranks (those present on 13 October) included believers and non-believers, pious old ladies and scoffing young men. Hundreds, from these mixed categories, have given formal testimony. Reports do vary; impressions are in minor details confused, but none to our knowledge has directly denied

9594-571: The events that transpired. Many witnesses reported that after a period of rain, the dark clouds parted, revealing the Sun as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was described as being significantly duller than usual, casting multicolored lights across the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The Sun was then reported to have careered towards the Earth before zig-zagging back to its normal position. Witnesses reported that their previously wet clothes became "suddenly and completely dry, as well as

9717-560: The eye muscles tire." Others, such as professor of physics Auguste Meessen, suggest that optical effects created by the human eye can account for the reported phenomenon. Meessen presented his analysis of apparitions and "Miracles of the Sun" at the International Symposium "Science, Religion and Conscience" in 2003. While Meessen felt those who claim to have experienced miracles were "honestly experiencing what they report", he stated Sun miracles cannot be taken at face value and that

9840-451: The faithful should believe that a miracle occurred at Fátima, and "those who stake their purpose in life on Christ as the greatest and incomparably miraculous fact of history", need to pay attention to facts that support miracles. De Marchi believed related miraculous phenomena, such as the Sun's effect on standing water from heavy rains that immediately preceded the event, to be genuine. According to De Marchi, "...engineers that have studied

9963-791: The first millennium AD, the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia grew into the most extensive preindustrial settlement in the world by area, covering over 1,000 km and possibly supporting up to one million people. West Africa already had cities before the Common Era , but the consolidation of Trans-Saharan trade in the Middle Ages multiplied the number of cities in the region, as well as making some of them very populous, notably Gao (72,000 inhabitants in 800 AD), Oyo-Ile (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD, and may have reached up to 140,000 inhabitants in

10086-440: The form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structures may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape. Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or to city planning . In a radial structure, main roads converge on

10209-570: The hundredth anniversary of the first apparition. The construction of the sanctuary and the steady visits by pilgrims stimulated local development. In addition to construction of a large shrine, basilica, and sanctuary, the complex includes a hotel and other facilities. The town of Fátima was elevated to the status of city on 12 July 1997. In the early 21st century, numerous residents of the parish (primarily from its business sector) worked to have Fátima designated as an independent municipality. The project, led by Júlio Silva, engineer and ex-president of

10332-800: The international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11 . Due to the efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption , dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change. However, this concentration can also have some significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands , concentrating pollution , and stressing water supplies and other resources. A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status , which may be conferred by

10455-519: The lack of any known scientific causative factor make a mass hallucination or mass hysteria unlikely. De Marchi concludes that "given the indubitable reference to God, and the general context of the story, it seems that we must attribute to Him alone the most obvious and colossal miracle of history." Leo Madigan , a former psychiatric nurse and local journalist at Fátima in the late 20th century, also dismisses suggestions from critics of mass hypnosis, and believes that astonishment, fear, exaltation and

10578-420: The land surface of the Earth. Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent of rail transport in the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river. Urban areas as

10701-492: The last would be 13 October 1917. An estimated 70,000 pilgrims went to the site for the last prophesied apparition in October. Some of them reported what has been referred to as the Miracle of the Sun , when some observers reported it appeared to be behaving unusually. The local bishop investigated the events and determined that the apparitions were worthy of belief. The site was marked by a cross erected by locals. In 1918 they built

10824-475: The longest continual inhabitation . Cities, characterized by population density , symbolic function, and urban planning , have existed for thousands of years. In the conventional view, civilization and the city were both followed by the development of agriculture , which enabled the production of surplus food and thus a social division of labor (with concomitant social stratification ) and trade . Early cities often featured granaries , sometimes within

10947-449: The mid 18th century in Ortiga, now a quarter of Fátima, when, according to popular belief , the Virgin Mary appeared to a young, mute shepherdess and asked for one of her sheep, causing the girl to speak in response. This event supposedly incited the creation of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ortiga in 1758, which, in 1801, prompted Pope Pius VII to grant an indulgence to all pilgrims visiting

11070-454: The miracle "worthy of belief" on 13 October 1930, permitting "officially the cult of Our Lady of Fatima" within the Catholic Church . At a gathering on 13 October 1951 at Fátima, the papal legate , Cardinal Federico Tedeschini , told the million people attending that on 30 October, 31 October, 1 November, and 8 November 1950, Pope Pius XII himself witnessed the miracle of the Sun from the Vatican gardens. The early and enduring interest in

11193-441: The miracle and related prophecies has had a significant impact on the devotional practices of many Catholics. There has been much analysis of the event from critical sociological and scientific perspectives. According to critics, the eyewitness testimony was actually a collection of inconsistent and contradictory accounts. Proposed alternative explanations include witnesses being deceived by their senses due to prolonged staring at

11316-475: The morning of October 13, "the people of Alburitel were darkening bits of glass by exposing them to candle-smoke so that they might watch the Sun, with no harm to their eyes." Supernatural explanations, such as those by Father Pio Scatizzi, who argues that observers in Fátima could not be collectively deceived, or that the effect was not seen by observatories in distant places because of divine intervention have been dismissed by critics who say those taking part in

11439-668: The most significant dates of the apparitions in Fátima. Fátima's major sports club is the Sport Center of Fátima , currently in Portuguese football's second tier, the LigaPro . City Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization , more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability . Present-day cities usually form

11562-492: The multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreign capital arrange for rapid industrialization, as well as the relocation of major businesses from Europe and North America, attracting immigrants from near and far. A deep gulf divides the rich and poor in these cities, which usually contain

11685-643: The nature park of Serras de Aire e Candeeiros just south of it. The soil is characteristically porous which intensifies the already low availability of water in the summer. And even though precipitation in autumn, winter and spring is relatively high, the overall flora is Mediterranean and well adapted to droughts. The trees in this area are primarily dominated by holly oak ( Quercus rotundifolia ), Portuguese oak ( Quercus faginea ), strawberry trees ( Arbutus unedo ), buckthorn ( Rhamnus alaternus ), mastic ( Pistacia lentiscus ), bay laurel ( Laurus nobilis ) and olive trees, all of which are resistant to both

11808-434: The northwest. The parish contains the following localities: Aljustrel , Alvaijar, Amoreira, Boleiros, Casa Velha, Casal Farto, Chã, Charneca, Cova da Iria , Eira da Pedra, Fátima, Giesteira, Lombo da Égua, Maxeira, Moimento, Moita Redonda, Moitas, Montelo, Pederneira, Poço de Soudo, Ramila, Vale de Cavalos and Valinho de Fátima. Fátima sits on a plateau at approximately 356 metres (1,168 ft) above sea level , being at

11931-457: The optical effects at Fátima may have been caused by a cloud of dust from the Sahara . Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell wrote that the "dancing sun" effects reported at Fátima were "a combination of factors, including optical effects and meteorological phenomena, such as the sun being seen through thin clouds, causing it to appear as a silver disc. Other possibilities include an alteration in

12054-458: The people. In the fourth edition of her memoirs, written in 1941, Lúcia said that on the occasion of their third visit to the Cova da Iria , on 13 July 1917, she asked the Lady to tell them who she was, and to perform a miracle so that everyone would believe. The Lady told her that they should continue to come to the Cova each month until October, when the requested miracle would occur. Descriptions of

12177-475: The princess' original Arab name rather than her Christian one. The parish was founded in 1568, when it was annexed by the Collegiate of Ourém ( Portuguese : Colegiada de Ourém ). For centuries, most of the villagers kept herds of sheep and depended on subsistence farming . Since the 18th century, Fátima has been associated with events related to Marian apparitions . The first supposed apparition dates back to

12300-500: The public as well as forms of public land such as public domain and the commons . Western philosophy since the time of the Greek agora has considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolic public sphere . Public art adorns (or disfigures) public spaces. Parks and other natural sites within cities provide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typical built environments . Urban green spaces are another component of public space that provides

12423-449: The reported events. According to Radford, "No one suggests that those who reported seeing the Miracle of the Sun—or any other miracles at Fátima or elsewhere—are lying or hoaxing. Instead, they very likely experienced what they claimed to, though that experience took place mostly in their minds." Regarding claims of miraculous drying up of rain water, Radford wrote "it's not clear precisely what

12546-498: The reported observations were optical effects caused by prolonged staring at the Sun. Meessen contends that retinal after-images produced after brief periods of Sun gazing are a likely cause of the observed dancing effects. Similarly, Meessen concluded that the color changes witnessed were most likely caused by the bleaching of photosensitive retinal cells. Shortly after the miracle, the Catholic lawyer named Coelho said in his article that

12669-866: The rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. England led the way as London became the capital of a world empire and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for manufacturing . In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the introduction of railroads reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas. Some industrialized cities were confronted with health challenges associated with overcrowding , occupational hazards of industry, contaminated water and air, poor sanitation , and communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera . Factories and slums emerged as regular features of

12792-680: The same location as Tenochtitlan ; while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas in New Mexico , such as Acoma Pueblo near the Albuquerque metropolitan area and Taos Pueblo near Taos ; while others like Lima are located nearby ancient Peruvian sites such as Pachacamac . From 1600 BC, Dhar Tichitt , in the south of present-day Mauritania , presented characteristics suggestive of an incipient form of urbanism. The second place to show urban characteristics in West Africa

12915-410: The same succession of colors, the same rotary movement, etc." Meessen observes that Sun Miracles have been witnessed in many places where religiously charged pilgrims have been encouraged to stare at the Sun. He cites the apparitions at Heroldsbach, Germany (1949) as an example, where many people within a crowd of over 10,000 testified to witnessing similar observations as at Fátima. Meessen also cites

13038-635: The spiritual nature of the phenomenon explain any inconsistency of witnesses descriptions. Madigan wrote that what people saw was "the reflection of the Lady's own light projected on the Sun itself". Philippe Dalleur, a priest and faculty philosophy at the Pontificial University of the Holy Cross in Rome, studied photographs of the crowd taken by "O Século" photographer Judah Ruah. In his analysis of shadows, Dalleur states there are two light sources, one being

13161-483: The sun's rays... Only one observer, a lawyer, stated three decades later that the path of descent and ascent was elliptical with small circles superimposed on it. Such an observation would make eminent sense to anyone familiar with fluid dynamics or even with the workings of a boomerang. There is indeed plenty of scientific information on hand to approach the miracle of the sun scientifically... The carefully co-ordinated interplay of so many physical factors would by itself be

13284-486: The term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary. Metropolitan areas include suburbs and exurbs organized around the needs of commuters , and sometimes edge cities characterized by a degree of economic and political independence. (In the US these are grouped into metropolitan statistical areas for purposes of demography and marketing .) Some cities are now part of

13407-412: The turn of the first millennium BC , encompassed numerous cities extending from Tyre , Cydon , and Byblos to Carthage and Cádiz . In the following centuries, independent city-states of Greece , especially Athens , developed the polis , an association of male landowning citizens who collectively constituted the city. The agora , meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of

13530-446: The urban landscape. In the second half of the 20th century, deindustrialization (or " economic restructuring ") in the West led to poverty , homelessness , and urban decay in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a " Rust Belt " and cities such as Detroit , Michigan, and Gary, Indiana began to shrink , contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion. Such cities have shifted with varying success into

13653-404: The visible prodigy of the sun." De Marchi authored several books on the subject, such as The True Story of Fátima . They include a number of witness descriptions: De Marchi also drew on the newspaper account written by Avelino de Almeida, a journalist sent by the newspaper O Século , who described in detail the reactions of the crowd. The event was declared of "supernatural character" by

13776-400: The visions may mean, and whence they may have come," wrote that "these events remain confusing and mystifying," and that the phenomenon is unique when compared to other abnormal events such as UFO sightings. He wrote that one is "not to say that a miraculous, stupendous, incomprehensible event did not occur" while looking for possible explanations. In reference to the accounts of the Miracle of

13899-423: The visitors. Other economic activities in the region include: marble sculpturing, saw-milling, carpentry, civil construction, commerce, and services. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima , in Cova da Iria , is the principal focus of all visitors. Annually, at least five million Catholic pilgrims fill the country roads leading to the Marian shrine. Numbers can reach hundreds of the thousands on 13 May and 13 October,

14022-575: The volume of sewage begins to exceed manageable levels. The local government of cities takes different forms including prominently the municipality (especially in England , in the United States , India , and other British colonies ; legally, the municipal corporation ; municipio in Spain and Portugal , and, along with municipalidad , in most former parts of the Spanish and Portuguese empires) and

14145-462: The way for their canonization . Within Catholicism, the event is seen as the fulfillment of a promise by Mary, mother of Jesus, to the shepherd children who said she appeared to them several times before 13 October 1917. According to the children's accounts, Mary, referred to as the " Lady of Fátima ", promised them she would perform a miracle to show people they were telling the truth, and so caused

14268-537: The weather was at the time of the miracle", and photography from the time of the event does not show that it had been raining as much or as long as was reported. In The Evidence for Visions of the Virgin Mary (1983), former editor of the ASSAP 's journal, Kevin McClure, whose intention in the book was to approach Marian apparition events in a sufficiently objective format for the reader "to make an independent decision as to what

14391-415: The wet and muddy ground that had been previously soaked because of the rain that had been falling". Not all witnesses reported seeing the Sun "dance". Some people only saw the radiant colors. A number of people (thousands according to some sources ) saw nothing. Skeptic Brian Dunning commented on an image commonly mistaken for a photograph of the Sun taken at Fatima: "An old black and white photograph of

14514-624: The winter precipitation extremes and the summer drought. There are also areas of savannah , strips of land bounded by walls of loose stone. Pine and eucalyptus forests are also common in the outskirts of the city. Fátima has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb) in transition to a hot-summer (Csa). The climate is characterized by heavy precipitation during late autumn and winter, with approximately 1,150 millimetres (45 in) annually, and warm, dry summers. Fátima has considerably more precipitation than other cities nearby in part due to its higher altitude, though precipitation in summer

14637-512: The world's population lived in cities. The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents. Urbanization rapidly spread across Europe and the Americas and since the 1950s has taken hold in Asia and Africa as well. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs reported in 2014 that for the first time, more than half of the world population lives in cities. Latin America

14760-532: Was Dia , in present-day Mali , from 800 BC. Both Dhar Tichitt and Dia were founded by the same people: the Soninke , who would later also found the Ghana Empire . Another ancient site, Jenné-Jeno , in what is today Mali , has been dated to the third century BCE. According to Roderick and Susan McIntosh, Jenné-Jeno did not fit into traditional Western conceptions of urbanity as it lacked monumental architecture and

14883-457: Was made to occur at the exact time predicted, and this is the essence of the miracle. Jaki described the phenomenon: ...a sudden temperature inversion must have taken place. The cold and warm air masses could conceivably propel that rotating air lens in an elliptical orbit first toward the earth, and then push it up, as if it were a boomerang, back to its original position. Meanwhile, the ice crystals in it acted as so many means of refraction for

15006-509: Was said to be the name of a Moorish princess kidnapped by a knight, Gonçalo Hermigues, and his companions. Hermigues took her to a small village in the Serra de Aire hills, in the recently established Kingdom of Portugal . Fatima fell in love with her kidnapper and decided to convert to Christianity to marry him. She was baptized and given the Christian name "Oureana". However, the place name recalls

15129-502: Was that the Virgin Mary (referred to as Our Lady of Fátima ), would appear and perform miracles on that date. Newspapers published testimony from witnesses who said that they had seen extraordinary solar activity, such as the Sun appearing to "dance" or zig-zag in the sky, advance towards the Earth, or emit multicolored light and radiant colors. According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes. The local bishop opened

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