a year notable for disasters; a fateful year.

In a sentence:
Tom’s mother always claimed that her son was born during an annus mirabilis; within a year she was able to find an adoption agency to take him away.

In a different sentence:
This year coastal California experienced yet another annus mirabilis; disastrous earthquakes were followed by even more disastrous Hollywood break-ups!

Fact:
In America, 1968 was considered the annus mirabilis of its generation, with the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy and the explosion of the war in Vietnam.