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Fatima Miracle in Hiroshima, Japan
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| In the foreground is a photo of the Church of Our Lady's Assumption and up the road the presbytery where the eight German Jesuit priests survived and lived to tell the miracle. |
In the final stages of World War II, at about 8:15 AM of August 6, 1945, an American Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber christened Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb in history over Hiroshima in Japan. The atomic blast generated an unimaginable ground heat of 6,000° C (10,832° F) and a tremendous wind at the sonic speed of 4.4 kilometers (2.7 miles) per second. Everything within a two-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius of the hypocenter was annihilated, instantly killing 140,000 people. Concrete buildings collapsed to pieces and broken glass flew as far as 16 kilometers (9.94 miles) away. The atomic radiation generated by the bomb was so unbelievably strong that many of those outside of the range who were exposed to it lost all bodily functions, their cells underwent apoptosis - a kind of cellular suicide, and died within days. Between the blast itself, the resulting fires throughout the city and the radiation burns, some estimate that 200,000 citizens of Hiroshima lost their lives.
Yet, in the midst of burned bodies, charred skeletons, and structural damage, just eight blocks from ground zero (exactly 1 kilometer or 6/10 of a mile), a two story Catholic presbytery miraculously remained intact with no apparent damage to it whatsoever, not even the windows were broken. When an investigation was made, it was discovered that there survived a community of eight German Jesuit priests who were all found unscathed, with only a few minor injuries.
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| Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima |
Yet, in the midst of burned bodies, charred skeletons, and structural damage, just eight blocks from ground zero (exactly 1 kilometer or 6/10 of a mile), a two story Catholic presbytery miraculously remained intact with no apparent damage to it whatsoever, not even the windows were broken. When an investigation was made, it was discovered that there survived a community of eight German Jesuit priests who were all found unscathed, with only a few minor injuries.
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