According to his own testimony, Pope Pius XII who declared the dogma of the Assumption saw the \u201cmiracle of the sun\u201d four times.<\/p>\n
This information is confirmed by a handwritten, unpublished note from Pope Pius XII, which is part of the Pius XII: The Man and the Pontificate display. The display opened in the Vatican to the public today and will run through until January 6.<\/p>\n
A commissioner of the display and a Vatican reporter for the Italian daily Il Giornale, Andrea Tornielli, explained to ZENIT that the note was found in the Pacelli family archives. It describes the \u201cmiracle of the sun,\u201d an episode that until today had only been affirmed by the indirect testimony of Cardinal Federico Tedeschini (1873-1959), who recounted in a homily that the Holy Father had seen the miracle.<\/p>\n
Pius XII wrote, \u201cI have seen the \u2018miracle of the sun,\u2019 this is the pure truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The miracle of the sun is most known as the episode that occurred in Fatima, Portugal, on October 13, 1917. According to the Fatima visionaries, Mary had said there would be a miracle that day so that people would come to believe. Thousands had gathered at the site of the visions, and the sun \u201cdanced,\u201d reportedly drying instantaneously the rain-soaked land and spectators.<\/p>\n
Pius XII\u2019s note says that he saw the miracle in the year he was to proclaim the dogma of the Assumption, 1950, while he walked in the Vatican Gardens. He said he saw the phenomenon various times, considering it a confirmation of his plan to declare the dogma.<\/p>\n
The papal note says that at 4.00pm on October 30, 1950, during his \u201chabitual walk in the Vatican Gardens, reading and studying,\u201d having arrived to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, \u201ctoward the top of the hill [\u2026] I was awestruck by a phenomenon that before now I had never seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sun, which was still quite high, looked like a pale, opaque sphere, entirely surrounded by a luminous circle,\u201d he recounted. And one could look at the sun, \u201cwithout the slightest bother. There was a very light little cloud in front of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Holy Father\u2019s note goes on to describe \u201cthe opaque sphere\u201d that \u201cmoved outward slightly, either spinning, or moving from left to right and vice versa. But within the sphere, you could see marked movements with total clarity and without interruption.”<\/p>\n
Pius XII said he saw the same phenomenon \u201cthe 31st of October and November 1, the day of the definition of the dogma of the Assumption, and then again November 8, and after that, no more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pope acknowledged that on other days at about the same hour, he tried to see if the phenomenon would be repeated, \u201cbut in vain \u2013 I couldn’t fix my gaze [on the sun] for even an instant; my eyes would be dazzled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pius XII spoke about the incident with a few cardinals and close collaborators, such that Sister Pascalina Lehnert, the nun in charge of the papal apartments, declared that \u201cPius XII was very convinced of the reality of the extraordinary phenomenon, which he had seen on four occasions.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Pope, in 1940, Pius XII approved the Fatima apparitions, and in 1942, consecrated the entire world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.<\/p>\n
As well, Pius XII often spoke with Sister Lucia, the visionary of Fatima, and he asked her to transcribe the messages she received from the Virgin. He thus became the first Pope to know the \u201cthird secret of Fatima,\u201d which Pope John Paul II would later make public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to his own testimony, Pope Pius XII who declared the dogma of the Assumption saw the \u201cmiracle of the sun\u201d four times. This information is confirmed by a handwritten, unpublished note from Pope Pius XII, which is part of the Pius XII: The Man and the Pontificate display. The display opened in the Vatican … Continue reading According to his own testimony, Pope Pius XII who declared the dogma of the Assumption saw the \u201cmiracle of the sun\u201d four times.<\/span>