Manuel Nunes Formigão

The Venerable Manuel Nunes Formigão
Church	Roman Catholic
Diocese	Leiria
Orders
Ordination	4 April 1908
Personal details
Born	(1883-01-01)1 January 1883 Convent of Christ, Tomar, Portugal
Died	30 January 1958(1958-01-30) (aged 75) Fátima, Ourém, Portugal
Buried	Casa de Nossa Senhora das Dores, Fátima

Manuel Nunes Formigão Júnior (Portuguese: [mɐˈnwɛl ˈnunɨʃ fuɾˈmi.ɣɐ̃w̃]; 1 January 1883 – 30 January 1958) was a Portuguese Catholic priest. Formigão was one of the first people to look into the phenomenon of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima, having been the clergyman sent by the Diocese of Leiria in 1917 to question the three little shepherd children Lúcia dos Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto to ascertain the veracity of the apparitions. He later became the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Reparation of Our Lady of Fatima, in 1927.

Formigão was the first promoter and the most prolific early writer on the Fátima apparitions, and dedicated himself to the construction of its theological and ideological interpretation, which the senior hierarchy of the Catholic Church officially acknowledged and disseminated from 1930. Ernesto Sena de Oliveira, Archbishop-Bishop of Coimbra, considered Formigão the "most fitting, most efficient and most decisive instrument of divine providence to bring into high relief the events at Cova da Iria"; Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira, Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon, described him as "the great apostle of Fátima".^[1]

The cause for his canonization was officially opened in 2000. He is venerated in the Catholic Church, having been officially recognised as having lived a life of heroic virtue by Pope Francis in 2018 and he is now referred to as "Venerable".^[2][3]

On 28 January 2017, Formigão's remains were reinterred, from the Fátima local cemetery, in a mausoleum in Casa de Nossa Senhora das Dores (of the Congregation of the Sisters of Reparation); a Requiem Mass was celebrated in the Basilica of the Holy Trinity for the occasion, presided by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, António Marto.^[4]

"Miracle of the Sun" witness

On 13 October 1917 Formigão witnessed the Miracle of the Sun and described it "As if like a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched apart, and the sun at its zenith appeared in all its splendor. It began to revolve vertiginously on its axis, like the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multicolored flashes of light, producing the most astounding effect. This sublime and incomparable spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times, lasted for about ten minutes. The immense multitude, overcome by the evidence of such a tremendous prodigy, threw themselves on their knees." —  ^[5]

References

1. Torgal, Luís Filipe (2014). "Manuel Nunes Formigão: The hidden promoter of the work of Fátima". Portuguese Journal of Social Science. 13 (3): 287–295. doi:10.1386/pjss.13.3.287_1. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
2. "An Indian among 8 new Venerable Servants of God". Vatican News. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
3. "Papa aprova decreto que abre caminho a beatificação do sacerdote Manuel Formigão" [Pope approves decree that opens the way for beatification of priest Manuel Formigão]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 14 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
4. "Trasladação dos restos mortais do «Apóstolo de Fátima»" [Reinterment of the remains of the "Apostle of Fátima"]. Sanctuary of Fátima (in Portuguese). 28 January 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2025.
5. De Marchi, John. True Story of Fatima, Catechetical Guild Educational Society, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1956