Wonders in the Sky (12 page)

Fig. 5: An interpretation of the sighting by Clovis

“After Clovis had passed the ford, as it is still named, of the Hart, he advanced with bold and hasty steps to prevent the escape of the enemy. His nocturnal march was directed by a flaming meteor, suspended in the air above the cathedral of Poitiers; and this signal, which might be previously concerted with the orthodox successor of St. Hilary, was compared to the column of fire that guided the Israelites in the desert.”

Shortly thereafter Clovis moved the Frankish capital to Paris.

 

Source: Gibbon, Edward.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
. London: T. Cadell (1837), 594.

41.

Circa 540, Rome, Italy: A spark grows into a disk

“Often a little spark has seemed to come down from the sky to the Earth; then,
having grown into a kind of orb like the Moon, it has been seen as disc-like.
This very thing recently happened and foretold a danger of seditions and misfortunes beyond measure.”

 

Source: John Lydus,
On Portents
, 6. Quoted in “The Roman Fireball of 76 BC” by Richard B. Stothers, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, New York.
The Observatory
107 (1987): 211.

42.

540, Monte Cassino, Italy: A Fiery Globe

At dawn, Saint Benedict of Nursia observed a glittering light that became a fiery globe. He had time to call a second witness:

“The man of God, Benedict, being diligent in watching, rose early up before the time of matins (his monks being yet at rest) and came to the window of his chamber, where he offered up his prayers to almighty God. Standing there, all on a sudden in the dead of the night, as he looked forth, he saw a light, which banished away the darkness of the night, and glittered with such brightness, that the light which did shine in the midst of darkness was far more clear than the light of the day.

“Upon this sight a marvelous strange thing followed, for, as himself did afterward report, the whole world gathered as it were together under one beam of the sun was presented before his eyes, and while the venerable father stood attentively beholding the brightness of that glittering light, he saw the soul of Germanus, Bishop of Capua, in a fiery globe to be carried up by Angels into heaven.

“Then desirous to have some witness of this so notable a miracle, he called with a very loud voice Servandus the Deacon twice or thrice by his name, who, troubled at such an unusual crying out of the man of God, went up in all haste, and looking forth saw not anything else, but a little remnant of the light, but wondering at so great a miracle, the man of God told him all in order what he had seen, and sending by and by to the town of Cassino, he commanded the religious man Theoprobus to dispatch one that night to the city of Capua, to learn what was become of Germanus their Bishop: which being done, the messenger found that reverent Prelate had departed this life, and enquiring curiously the time, he understood that he died at that very instant, in which the man of God beheld him ascending up to heaven.”

Researcher Yannis Deliyannis, who located this case, adds: “The account of the vision of Saint Benedict of Nursia is interesting enough in its description. While needing to be cautious, we cannot rule out completely the idea that it was eventually based on a (more or less) factual event which was, later on or by extrapolation, given a mystical signification.”

 

Source: Dialogues of Gregory the Great, book II, chap. xxxv.
Sancti Gregorii Papae Dialogorum Libri IV
, as published in Migne's
Patrologia Latina,
Vol. 77.

43.

November 596, Nara prefecture, West Japan
Descending canopy

An object like a canopy or lotus flower descends and appears suspended above the Houryuji temple
. It changes color and shape.

 

Source:
Fusouriyatuki
Vol. 3 (Buddhist history), quoted in: Takao Ikeda,
Nihon nu ufo
(Tokyo: Tairiki shobo, 1974). We have not seen the book and give references from it with reservations.

44.

9 June 597, Ireland: An immense pillar of fire

“Another vision also given at the same hour under a different form was related to me, Adomnan, who was a young man at the time, by one of those who had seen it, and who solemnly assured me of its truth…He said:

“‘On that night when St. Columba, by a happy and blessed death, passed from earth to heaven, while I and others with me were engaged in fishing in the valley of the river Fend, which abounds in fish,
we saw the whole vault of heaven become suddenly illuminated. Struck by the suddenness of the miracle, we raised our eyes and looked towards the east, when, lo! there appeared something like an immense pillar of fire, which seemed to us, as it ascended upwards at that midnight, to illuminate the whole earth like the summer sun at noon
; and after that column penetrated the heavens darkness followed, as if the sun had just set.

“‘And not only did we, together in the same place, observe with intense surprise the brightness of this remarkable luminous pillar, but many other fishermen also, who were engaged in fishing here and there in different deep pools along the same river, were greatly terrified, as they afterwards related to us, by an appearance of the same kind.'”

 

Source: William Reeves, ed.
Life of Saint Columba, founder of Hy
.
Written by Adamnan, Ninth Abbott of that Monastery
(Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1874).

45.

May 655, Katuragi Mountain near Nara, W. Japan
Dragon rider

A man who rides a Dragon is seen in the sky.
The figure is said to look “like a Chinese man.” We have no other data about this curious description, so our first inclination is to reject it. We mention it here in the hope to stimulate more research into ancient sources in Asia.

 

Source: Takao Ikeda,
Nihon nu ufo
(Tokyo: Tairiki shobo, 1974). The author quotes
Fusouriyatuki,
vol. 3 (Buddhist history).

46.

664, Kent, England
Pillar of light, splendid globe