Today in History: Tens of thousands reported witnessing miracles in Fátima, Portugal in 1917

The following are some of the major events that occurred on October 13 throughout history:

1. 54 CE – Roman Emperor Claudius died on October 13, AD 54, likely from poisoning, and was succeeded by his adopted son Nero. This marked a major transition in the Roman Empire as Nero’s infamous reign began, ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and influencing the empire’s subsequent course in history.

2. 1307 – Hundreds of Knights Templar were arrested at dawn in France on Friday, October 13, 1307, by order of King Philip IV (“Philip the Fair”). This effectively dismantled the powerful medieval monastic-military order; under torture many Templars confessed to heresy, and the order was dissolved soon after, a dramatic event later linked to the superstition of Friday the 13th.

3. 1775 – The Continental Congress in America authorized the creation of a naval force on October 13, 1775, establishing the Continental Navy, precursor to the United States Navy. This decision, made during the Revolutionary War, laid the foundation for one of the world’s most influential navies and marked a key step in the American colonies’ fight for independence.

4. 1821 – Mexico formally declared its independence from Spain in the fall of 1821. On October 13, 1821, the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire was publicly proclaimed in Mexico City, following the defeat of Spanish colonial authorities. This proclamation consummated the Mexican War of Independence and marked the birth of Mexico as a sovereign nation.

5. 1884 – An international conference in Washington, D.C. selected Greenwich, England as the Prime Meridian (0° longitude) on October 13, 1884. Delegates from 25 countries chose the Greenwich Meridian as the global standard for timekeeping and navigation, a landmark agreement that established Greenwich Mean Time as the world’s reference point for maps and clocks.

6. 1917 – The famed “Miracle of the Sun” occurred in Fátima, Portugal on October 13, 1917. On that day tens of thousands of people, gathered for a prophesied Marian apparition, reported seeing the sun spin and change colors in the sky. This phenomenon had a profound cultural and religious impact, bolstering faith for many Catholics and becoming one of the most celebrated events in 20th-century religious history.

7. 1923 – Following Turkey’s War of Independence, the city of Ankara was officially declared the capital of the new Republic of Turkey on October 13, 1923. This move transferred the capital from Istanbul (the former Ottoman capital) to the Anatolian heartland, symbolizing the country’s break from its Ottoman imperial past and the start of a modern, secular Turkish nation under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

8. 1924 – During the Saudi conquest of the Hijaz, the holy city of Mecca fell to Ibn Saud’s forces on October 13, 1924. The Hashemite ruler Sharif Hussein fled, and without resistance Mecca was occupied by the Sultanate of Nejd. This victory paved the way for the unification of the Arabian Peninsula under Ibn Saud, who would proclaim the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

9. 1943 – In World War II, Italy switched sides: on October 13, 1943, the new Italian government under Marshal Pietro Badoglio declared war on its former Axis partner Germany. Coming three months after Mussolini’s fall, Italy’s alignment with the Allies marked a significant turning point in the war’s European theater, as Italian territory then became a battleground between Allied forces and Nazi Germany.

10. 1983 – The world’s first commercial cellular phone call was made on October 13, 1983, in Chicago (USA), signaling the dawn of the mobile communications era. On that day, Ameritech Mobile Communications launched the first U.S. cellular network and demonstrated the first public mobile telephone call, a breakthrough that would revolutionize global communication in the ensuing decades.