Perseverance, Sirach 3:17-29, Psalms 68:4-11, Luke 14:1-14, Pope Francis's Angelus, Inspirational Hymns - Gregorian Chants, Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Message, Saint Augustine and Saint Monica, Marian Apparations, 54 Day Novena for Our Nation and World Peace, Mystical City of God Book 1 Chapters 1-3 The Decree of Creation, Catholic Catechism - Part Three - The Life of the Christ - Chapter 3 Article 1 Social Justice, RECHARGE: Heaven Speaks to Young Adults
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
JESUS I TRUST IN YOU (Year of Mercy). "Always Trust in Jesus, He the beacon of light amongst the darkest clouds" ~ Zarya Parx 2016
"Where There is a Will, With God, There is a Way", "There is always a ray of sunshine amongst the darkest Clouds, the name of that ray is Jesus" ~ Zarya Parx 2014
The world begins and ends everyday for someone. We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge, reason and free will, make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in Heaven. The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, wonder and awe (fear of the Lord) , counsel, knowledge, fortitude, and piety (reverence) and shun the seven Deadly sins: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony...Its your choice whether to embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit rising towards eternal light or succumb to the Seven deadly sins and lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to the Darkness, Purgatory or Heaven is our Soul...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...~ Zarya Parx 2013
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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2016 - YEAR OF MERCY
Pope Francis has declared an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. This Holy Year of Mercy began December 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council. It will close November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King. This year’s motto is “Merciful Like the Father.”
Sometimes, when we think of the word mercy, we picture someone throwing themselves on their knees before a cruel villain, pleading to be spared some punishment. This is not our understanding of God’s mercy. We do not ask for God’s mercy because we are afraid of incurring his wrath as punishment for our sins. Rather, when we call on God to have mercy, we are calling on God in the only way we know him—as one who responds with compassion to those in need. When we show mercy to others, we are responding as God responds, with compassion.
Liturgical Cycle: C - Gospel of Luke - 21th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daily Rosary
(MON, SAT) - Joyful Mysteries
(TUES, FRI) - Sorrowful Mysteries
(WED,SUN) - Glorious Mysteries
(THURS) - Luminous Mysteries
(MON, SAT) - Joyful Mysteries
(TUES, FRI) - Sorrowful Mysteries
(WED,SUN) - Glorious Mysteries
(THURS) - Luminous Mysteries
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Inspirational Hymns
Contents
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Our Lady of Medjugorje Monthly Messages
August 25, 2016 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
“Dear children! Today I desire to share Heavenly joy with you. You, little children, open the door of your heart so that hope, peace and love, which only God gives, may grow in your heart. Little children, you are too bound to the earth and earthly things, that is why, Satan is rolling you like the wind rolls the waves of the sea. Therefore, may the chain of your life be prayer with the heart and Adoration of my Son Jesus. Give over your future to Him so that, in Him, you may be joy and an example with your lives to others. Thank you for having responded to my call.” ~ Blessed Mother Mary
August 2, 2016 message from Our Lady of Medjugorje:
Dear children,
I have come to you - among you - for you to give me your concerns so that I may offer them to my Son; that I may intercede for you before Him for your good. I know that each of you has his concerns, his trials. Therefore I am inviting you in a motherly way: come to the table of my Son. He is breaking bread for you; He is giving Himself to you; He is giving you hope; He is asking for more faith, hope and serenity from you. He is seeking of you to battle within against egoism, judgement and human weaknesses. Therefore, as a mother, I am saying: pray; because prayer gives you strength for the interior battle. My Son, when He was little, often said to me that there will be many who will love me and call me 'mother'. Among you, I feel love. Thank you. For the sake of that love I am imploring my Son that none of you, my children, will return home the same as he came; that you may take with you all the more hope, mercy and love; that you may be my apostles of love who will witness with their lives that the Heavenly Father is the source of life and not of death. Dear children, anew, in a motherly way I am imploring you, pray for the chosen ones of my Son, for their blessed hands - for your shepherds - that they may preach my Son with all the more love and in this way bring about conversions. Thank you.. ~ Blessed Mother Mary
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Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)
Pope Francis Angelus:
August 28, 2016
2016-08-28 Vatican Radio
Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the final Sunday in the month of August and the twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. In remarks to the pilgrims and tourists gathered in the Square ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel reading of the day, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke (14:1, 7-14), in which Jesus dines as the guest of a leading Pharisee, and teaches a hard truth about pride and the Kingdom of God and issues a challenge to all present to focus their thoughts and order their actions to the promise of the Resurrection.
Pope Francis prayed the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, the final Sunday in the month of August and the twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time. In remarks to the pilgrims and tourists gathered in the Square ahead of the traditional prayer of Marian devotion, Pope Francis reflected on the Gospel reading of the day, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke (14:1, 7-14), in which Jesus dines as the guest of a leading Pharisee, and teaches a hard truth about pride and the Kingdom of God and issues a challenge to all present to focus their thoughts and order their actions to the promise of the Resurrection.
As often happens, Jesus taught the Gospel lesson through parables,
the first of which regarded the behavior of guests at a banquet:
The Second, equally famous lesson regarded the attitude and behavior of the one, who gives the banquet:
Remarking the lessons, Pope Francis offered words of praise for the
many people who have heeded the call and offer their assistance at
shelters and soup kitchens, feeding the hungry and performing many other
works of mercy.
“Let us ask the Virgin Mary – who was humble all her life – to lead us every day on the way of humility,” he said, “so that we are capable of making our own gestures of welcome toward and solidarity with the marginalized, seeking nothing in return, so that we might become worthy of the divine reward.”
When you are invited by someone to a
wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more
distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host
who invited both of you may approach you and say, “Give your place to
this man,” and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the
lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place
so that when the host comes to you he may say, “My friend, move up to a
higher position.” Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at
the table. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one
who humbles himself will be exalted.
When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your
wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have
repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the
crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of
their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection
of the righteous.
“Let us ask the Virgin Mary – who was humble all her life – to lead us every day on the way of humility,” he said, “so that we are capable of making our own gestures of welcome toward and solidarity with the marginalized, seeking nothing in return, so that we might become worthy of the divine reward.”
Reference:
- Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2016 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed - 08/28/2016
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Today's Word - perseverance [pur-suh-veer-uh ns]
Origin: 1300-50; Middle English perseveraunce < Middle French perseverance < Latin persevērantia. See persevere, -ance
1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.
2. Theology. continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29
17 My child, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver.18 The greater you are, the more humbly you should behave, and then you will find favour with the Lord;
20 for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble.
28 For the disease of the proud there is no cure, since an evil growth has taken root there.
29 The heart of the sensible will reflect on parables, an attentive ear is the sage's dream.
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Today's Epistle - Psalms 68:4-5, 6-7, 10-11
4 Sing to God, play music to his name, build a road for the Rider of the Clouds, rejoice in Yahweh, dance before him.5 Father of orphans, defender of widows, such is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God gives the lonely a home to live in, leads prisoners out into prosperity, but rebels must live in the bare wastelands.
7 God, when you set out at the head of your people, when you strode over the desert,
10 Your family found a home, which you in your generosity provided for the humble.
11 The Lord gave a command, the good news of a countless army.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 14: 1.7-14
The parable of the first and the last places:
for everyone who raises himself up will be humbled
Luke 14,1.7-14
for everyone who raises himself up will be humbled
Luke 14,1.7-14
1. Listening to the Text
a) Initial Prayer:
Lord, we all have an
insatiable need to listen to you, and you know it, because your yourself
has created us like that. “You alone have words of eternal life” (Jn 6,
68). We believe in these words, we are hungry and thirsty for these
words; for these words, in humility and love, we commit all our
fidelity. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam 3, 9). It
is the frantic prayer of Samuel who does not know; ours is somewhat
different, but it has been precisely your voice, your Word, which has
changed the shaking of the ancient prayer in the yearning for communion
of a son who cries to his Father: Speak for your son is listening.
b) Reading of the Gospel:
1 Now it happened that
on a Sabbath day he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the
leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely.
7 He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this, 8 'When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, 9 and the person who invited you both may come and say, "Give up your place to this man." And then, to your embarrassment, you will have to go and take the lowest place. 10 No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, "My friend, move up higher." Then, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured. 11 For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be raised up.' 12 Then he said to his host, 'When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relations or rich neighbours, in case they invite you back and so repay you. 13 No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again.'
c) Moment of prayerful silence:
In order to be
affected by the word of Christ and so that the Word made flesh, who is
Christ, can dwell in our heart and that we can adhere, it is necessary
that there be listening and profound silence.
2. The word is enlightened (Lectio)
a) Context:
The parable on the
choice of place is narrated on a Saturday when Jesus is already in
Jerusalem, where the Paschal Mystery will be fulfilled, where the
Eucharist of the new Covenant will be celebrated, to which then follows,
the encounter with the living one and the entrusting of mission of the
disciples which prolongs thus the historical mission of Jesus. The light
of the Passover makes all those who are called to represent him as
servant, diakonos, within the community, gathered around the table, to see
the road that the Lord follows. It is the theme of the guests at table
or of joyful living together of Saint Luke. Jesus has realized the most
beautiful reality, proclaimed and taught at table in a joyful, sociable
frame.
In chapter 14, Luke,
with his art of a capable narrator, paints a picture, in which he
superimposed two images: Jesus at table defines the face of the new
community, convoked around the Eucharistic table. The page is subdivided
in two scenes: first, the invitation to dinner in the house of one of
the chief Pharisees, on a feast day, Saturday (Lk 14, 15-16), which also
concerns the problem of the guests: who will participate at the table
of the Kingdom? This is prepared beginning now in the relationship with
Jesus, who convokes around himself the persons in the community-Church.
b) Exegesis:
- Saturday a day of feast and of liberation
This is the passage in Luke: “On a Sabbath day he had gone to share a meal in the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely.” (Lk
14, 1). On a feast day Jesus is invited by the one who is responsible
for the movement of the observant or Pharisees. Jesus is at table. The
first episode takes place in this context: the healing of a man with
dropsy prevented by his physical disability to participate at table.
Those who are sick in their body are excluded from the community by the
observants as the Rule of Qumran says. The meal on Saturday has a
festive and sacred character especially for the observant of the Law. In
fact, on Saturday, there is a weekly remembrance of Exodus and of the
creation. Jesus, precisely on that Saturday gives back freedom and
reintegrates in full health the man with dropsy.
He therefore, justifies his gesture before the teachers and the observant of the Law with these words: “Which of you here if his ass or ox falls into a well, will not pull it out on a Sabbath day?”God
is interested in persons and not only in the property or possessions of
man. Saturday is not reduced to external observance of the sacred rest,
but is in favour of man. With this concern turned toward man, is also
given the key to define the criteria of convocation in this community
symbolized by the table: How to choose the place? Whom to invite and who
participates at the end in the Banquet of the Kingdom? The gesture of
Jesus is a program: Saturday is made for man. On Saturday he does that
which is the fundamental significance of the celebration of the memory
of the getting out of Egypt and of creation.
- On the choice of places and of the guests
The criteria to choose
the places are not based on precedence, on the roles or the fame or
renown, but are inspired on the acts of God who promotes the last ones, “because the one who raises himself up will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be raised up” (Lk
14, 11). This principle which closes the parable of the new etiquette,
that of the turning over of the worldly criteria, refers to God’s action
by means of the passive form “will be raised up”. God raises
up the little ones and the poor as Jesus has done introducing the man
with dropsy, who was excluded, to the table to eat together in the
Sabbatical feast .
Then we have the criteria for the choice of guests. The criteria of recommendation and of corporative solidarity are excluded: “Do
not invite your friends, or your brothers or your relations or rich
neighbours…” “On the contrary, when you have a party, invite the poor,
the crippled, the lame, the blind…” (Lk 14, 12.13).
The list begins with the poor, who in Luke’s Gospel are the beneficiaries of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven”. In
the list of the guests the poor are mentioned as the physically
disabled, the handicapped, excluded from the confraternity of the
Pharisees and from the ritual of the time (cf. 2 Sam 5, 8; Lv 21, 18).
This same list is
found in the parable of the great banquet: the poor, the crippled, the
blind, the lame, take the place of the respectful guests. (Lk 14, 21).
This second parable on the criteria of choice of the guests is proclaimed with this proclamation: “Then you will be blessed, for they have no means to repay you and so you will be repaid when the upright rise again” (Lk
14, 14), at the end of time when God will manifest his sovereignty
communicating eternal life. At this point there is a phrase of one of
the invited guests which is like a souvenir between the two small
parables and the parable of the great banquet: “Blessed is anyone who will share the meal in the Kingdom of God” (Lk
14, 15). This word which recalls the Beatitude of the Kingdom and the
condition to participate in it through the image of the banquet, “to eat the bread”, introduces
the parable pf the great banquet in its eschatological meaning. But
this final banquet, which is the Kingdom of God and the full communion
with Him, is prepared at present by sitting and eating together at the
same table. Jesus narrates this parable to interpret the convocation of
men with the announcement of the Kingdom of God and through his
historical action.
3. The word enlightens me (to meditate)
a) When Jesus was in
the house of the Pharisee who had invited him to eat observes how those
invited try to get the first places. It is a very common attitude in
life, not only when one is at table: each one tries also to get the
first place regarding attention and consideration on the part of others.
Everyone, beginning by ourselves, we have this experience. But let us
pay attention, the words of Jesus which exhort to abstain from seeking
the first place are not simply an exhortation of good education; they
are a rule of life. Jesus clarifies that it is the Lord to give to each
one the dignity and the honour, we are not the ones to give it to
ourselves, perhaps claiming our own merits. Like he did in the
Beatitudes, Jesus turns over the judgement and the behaviour of this
world. The one who recognizes himself a sinner and humble is raised up
by God, but, who instead intends to get recognition and the first places
risks to exclude himself from the banquet.
b) “Do not take your
seat in the place of honour, a more distinguished person than you may
have been invited… then to your embarrassment you will have to go and
take the lowest place” (Lk 14, 8-9). It seems that Jesus takes as a joke
the childish efforts of the gusts who struggle in order to get the best
positions; but his intention has a more serious purpose. Speaking to
the leaders of Israel he shows which is the power which builds up the
relations of the Kingdom: “Whoever raises himself up will be humbled and
who humbles himself will be raised up” (Lk 14, 11). He describes to
them the “good use of power” founded on humility. It is the same power
which God releases in humanity in the Incarnation: “At the service of
the will of the Father, in order that the whole creation returns to him,
the Word did not count “equality with God something to be grasped, but
he emptied himself taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings
are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even
to accepting death on the cross” (Phil 2, 6-8). This glorious kenosis
of the Son of God has the capacity to heal, to reconcile and to liberate
all creation. Humility is the force which builds up the Kingdom and the
community of the disciples, the Church.
4. To pray – Psalm 23
The Psalm seems to
turn around a title: the Lord is my shepherd”. The Saints are the image
of the flock on the way: they are accompanied by the goodness and the
loyalty of God, until they definitively reach the house of the Father (L. Alonso Schökel, The Psalms of trust, Dehoniana Books, Bologna 2006, 54).
Yahweh is my shepherd,
I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.
By tranquil streams he leads me
to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice
as befits his name.
I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.
By tranquil streams he leads me
to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice
as befits his name.
Even were I to walk
in a ravine as dark as death
I should fear no danger,
for you are at my side.
Your staff and your crook
are there to soothe me.
in a ravine as dark as death
I should fear no danger,
for you are at my side.
Your staff and your crook
are there to soothe me.
You prepare a table for me
under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup brims over.
under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup brims over.
Kindness and faithful love
pursue me every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh
for all time to come.
pursue me every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh
for all time to come.
Final Prayer
“Lord, thanks to your
light which descended on me, it flooded my life with the conviction that
I am a sinner. I have understood more deeply that your Son Jesus is my
Saviour.
My will, my spirit, all my being hold Him tightly. May the omnipotence of your love, conquer me, Oh my God. Overthrow the resistance which frequently renders me rebellious, the nostalgia which impels me to be indolent, lazy; may your Love conquer everything so that I can be a happy trophy of your victory.
My hope is anchored in your fidelity. Whether I have to grow in the whirlwinds of civilization, I have converted into a flower and your watchman in this Spring which has blossomed, sprout out from the Blood of your Son. You look at each one of us, you take care of us, you watch over us; you, the Cultivator of this Spring of Eternal Life: you, Father of Jesus, and our Father; you, my Father!” (Anastasio Ballestrero).
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Feast Day : St Augustine of Hippo
Feast day August 28
Died: 430
Attributes: Bishop and Docotr of the Church
Died: 430
Attributes: Bishop and Docotr of the Church
Patron Saint of : brewers,ptinters, theologians
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| Saint Augustine of Hippo |
Saint Augustine of Hippo (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, St. Augustin, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba, Algeria). He was a Latin philosopher and theologian from Roman Africa
and generally considered as one of the greatest Christian thinkers of
all times. His writings were very influential in the development of Western Christianity.
According to his contemporary, Jerome, Augustine "established anew the ancient Faith." In his early years he was heavily influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by the Neo-Platonism of Plotinus.
After his conversion to Christianity and baptism in AD 387, Augustine
developed his own approach to philosophy and theology, accommodating a
variety of methods and different perspectives.
He believed that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human
freedom, and he framed the concepts of original sin and just war.
When
the Western Roman Empire was starting to disintegrate, Augustine
developed the concept of the Catholic Church as a spiritual City of God
(in a book of the same name), distinct from the material Earthly City. His thoughts profoundly influenced the medieval worldview. Augustine's City of God was closely identified with the Church, the community that worshipped God.
In
the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, he is a saint and
pre-eminent Doctor of the Church, and the patron of the Augustinian
religious order;
his memorial is celebrated 28 August, the day of his death. He is the
patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, the alleviation of sore
eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses.
Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider him to be one of the
theological fathers of the Reformation due to his teaching on salvation
and divine grace. In the Eastern Orthodox Church he is also considered a
saint, his feast day being celebrated on 15 June. He carries the additional title of Blessed. Among the Orthodox, he is called "Blessed Augustine", or "St. Augustine the Blessed".
Life
Early childhood
Augustine was born in 354 in the municipium of Thagaste (now Souk Ahras, Algeria) in Roman Africa.
His father, Patricius, was a pagan, and his mother, Monica, was
Christian. Scholars believe that Augustine's ancestors included Berbers,
Latins and Phoenicians. Augustine's family name, Aurelius, suggests that his father's ancestors were freedmen of the gens Aurelia. Augustine's family had been Roman, from a legal standpoint, for at least a century when he was born. It is assumed that his mother, Monica, was of Berber origin, on the basis of her name, but as his family were honestiores, Augustine's first language is likely to have been Latin.
At the age of 11, he was sent to school at Madaurus (now M'Daourouch), a
small Numidian city about 19 miles south of Thagaste. There he became
familiar with Latin literature, as well as pagan beliefs and practices. While at home in 369 and 370, he read Cicero's dialogue Hortensius (now lost), which he described as leaving a lasting impression on him and sparking his interest in philosophy.
Studying at Carthage
At age 17, through the generosity of fellow citizen Romanianus,Augustine
went to Carthage to continue his education in rhetoric. Although raised
as a Christian, Augustine left the church to follow the Manichaean
religion, much to the despair of his mother, Monica. As a youth Augustine lived a hedonistic
lifestyle for a time, associating with young men who boasted of their
sexual exploits with women and urged the inexperienced boys, like
Augustine, to seek out experiences or to make up stories about
experiences in order to gain acceptance and avoid ridicule. It was during this period that he uttered his famous prayer, "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet" (Latin: da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo).
At a young age, he began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. She
was his lover for over thirteen years and gave birth to his son
Adeodatus, who was said to have been extremely intelligent.
Teaching rhetoric
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| St Monica and St Augustine |
During the years 373 and 374, Augustine taught grammar at Thagaste.
The following year he moved to Carthage to conduct a school of rhetoric,
and would remain there for the next nine years. Disturbed
by the unruly behavior of the students in Carthage, in 383 he
moved to establish a school in Rome, where he believed the best and
brightest rhetoricians practiced. However, Augustine was disappointed
with the Roman schools, where he was met with apathy. Once the time came
for his students to pay their fees they simply fled. Manichaean friends
introduced him to the prefect of the City of Rome, Symmachus, who had
been asked to provide a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at
Milan.
Augustine won the job and headed north to take up his position in
late 384. At the age of thirty, he had won the most visible academic
position in the Latin world – at a time when such posts gave ready
access to political careers. During this period, although Augustine
showed some fervor for Manichaeism, he was never an initiate or "elect"
but remained an "auditor", the lowest level in the sect's hierarchy.
While he was in Milan, Augustine's life changed. While still at
Carthage, he had begun to move away from Manichaeism, in part because of
a disappointing meeting with the Manichean Bishop, Faustus of Mileve, a
key exponent of Manichaean theology.[26]
In Rome, he is reported to have completely turned away from
Manichaeanism, and instead embraced the scepticism of the New Academy
movement. At Milan, his mother pressured him to become a Christian.
Augustine's own studies in Neoplatonism were also leading him in this
direction, and his friend Simplicianus urged him that way as well. But it was the bishop of Milan, Ambrose,
who had most influence over Augustine. Ambrose was a master of rhetoric
like Augustine himself, but older and more experienced.
Augustine's mother had followed him to Milan and he allowed her to
arrange a society marriage, for which he abandoned his concubine. It is
believed that Augustine truly loved the woman he had lived with for so
long. In his "Confessions," he expressed how deeply he was hurt by
ending this relationship, and also admitted that the experience
eventually produced a decreased sensitivity to pain over time. However,
he had to wait two years until his fiancee came of age, so despite the
grief he felt over leaving "The One", as he called her, he soon took
another concubine. Augustine eventually broke off his engagement to his
eleven-year-old fiancee, but never renewed his relationship with "The
One" and soon left his second concubine.
It was because of otium that Alypius of Thagaste steered
Augustine away from marriage. He said that they could not live a life
together in the love of wisdom if he married. Augustine looked back
years later on the life at Cassiciacum, a villa outside of Milan where
he gathered with his followers, and described it as Christianae vita otium - the Christian life of leisure.
Augustine had been awarded a job of professor of rhetoric in Milan at
the time he was living at Cassiciacum around A.D. 383. In 388 he
returned to Africa and his home country and pursued a life of
aristocratic otium at his family's property.
In 391 he was ordained bishop of Hippo Regius (hence obtaining the name
"Augustine of Hippo") and gave his property to the church of Thagaste.
Christian conversion
In
the summer of 386, after having heard the story of Placianus about his
and his friends' first reading of the life of Saint Anthony of the
Desert, which greatly inspired him, Augustine underwent a profound
personal crisis, leading him to convert to catholic Christianity,
abandon his career in rhetoric, quit his teaching position in Milan,
give up any ideas of marriage, and devote himself entirely to serving
God and to the practices of priesthood, which included celibacy.
According to Augustine his conversion was prompted by a childlike voice
he heard telling him in a sing-song voice, "Take up and read" (Latin: tolle, lege):
I threw myself down somehow under a certain figtree, and let my tears flow freely. Rivers streamed from my eyes, a sacrifice acceptable to you [Ps 50:19] and (though not in these words, yet in this sense) I repeatedly said to you: 'How long, O Lord? How long, Lord, will you be angry to the uttermost? Do not be mindful of our old iniquities.'[Ps 6:4]. For I felt my past to have a grip on me. It uttered wretched cries: 'How long, how long is it to be?' 'Tomorrow, tomorrow.' 'Why not now? Why not an end to my impure life in this very hour?'
As I was saying this and weeping in the bitter agony of my heart, suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house chanting as if it might be a boy or a girl (I do not know which), saying and repeating over and over again 'Pick up and read, pick up and read.' At once my countenance changed, and I began to think intently whether there might be some sort of children's game in which such a chant is used. But I could not remember having heard of one. I checked the flood of tears and stood up. I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find. For I had heard how Antony happened to be present at the gospel reading, and took it as an admonition addressed to himself when the words were read: 'Go, sell all you have, give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me'[Matt 19:21]. By such an inspired utterance he was immediately 'converted to you' (Ps. 50.15). So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting. There I had put down the book of the apostle when I got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eyes lit: 'Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts'[Rom 13:13-15].
I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled.
— The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Book VIII, Paragraphs 28 and 29.
The volume Augustine read was Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He wrote an account of his conversion in his Confessions (Latin: Confessiones),
which became a classic of Christian theology. Ambrose baptized
Augustine, along with his son, Adeodatus, on Easter Vigil in 387 in
Milan, and a year later they returned to Africa. Also in 388 he completed his apology On the Holiness of the Catholic Church. On the way back to Africa Augustine's mother Monica died, and Adeodatus soon after.
Priesthood
 |
| The Consecration of Saint Augustine |
Upon his return to north Africa Augustine sold his patrimony and gave
the money to the poor. The only thing he kept was the family house,
which he converted into a monastic foundation for himself and a group of friends. In 391 he was ordained a priest in Hippo Regius (now Annaba, in Algeria). He became a famous preacher
(more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and was
noted for combating the Manichaean religion, to which he had formerly
adhered.
In 395 he was made coadjutor Bishop of Hippo, and became full Bishop shortly thereafter.
He remained in this position until his death in 430. Augustine worked
tirelessly in trying to convince the people of Hippo to convert to
Christianity. He left his monastery, but continued to lead a monastic
life in the episcopal residence. He left a regula his monastery that has led him to be designated the "patron saint of regular clergy"
Much of Augustine's later life was recorded by his friend Possidius, bishop of Calama (present-day Guelma, Algeria), in his Sancti Augustini Vita.
Possidius admired Augustine as a man of powerful intellect and a
stirring orator who took every opportunity to defend Christianity
against its detractors. Possidius also described Augustine's personal
traits in detail, drawing a portrait of a man who ate sparingly, worked
tirelessly, despised gossip, shunned the temptations of the flesh, and
exercised prudence in the financial stewardship of his see.
Death
 |
| Tomb of St Augustine, Arca di Sant'Agostino |
Shortly before Augustine's death, Roman Africa was invaded by the Vandals, a Germanic tribe that had converted to Arianism.
The Vandals besieged Hippo in the spring of 430, when Augustine entered
his final illness. According to Possidius one of the few miracles
attributed to Augustine took place during the siege. While Augustine was
confined to his sick bed, a man petitioned him that he might lay his
hands upon a relative who was ill. Augustine replied that if he had any
power to cure the sick, he would surely have applied it on himself
first. The visitor declared that he was told in a dream to go to
Augustine so that his relative would be made whole. When Augustine heard
this, he no longer hesitated, but laid his hands upon the sick man, who
departed from Augustine's presence healed.
Possidius also gives a first-hand account of Augustine's death, which
occurred on August 28, 430, while Hippo was still besieged. Augustine
spent his final days in prayer and repentance, requesting that the
penitential Psalms of David be hung on his walls so that he could read
them. He directed that the library of the church in Hippo and all the
books therein should be carefully preserved.
Shortly after his death the Vandals lifted the siege of Hippo, but they
returned not long thereafter and burned the city. They destroyed all of
it but Augustine's cathedral and library, which they left untouched.
According to Bede's True Martyrology,
Augustine's body was later removed to Cagliari, Sardinia by the
Catholic bishops expelled from North Africa by Huneric. Around 720 his
remains were moved again by Peter, bishop of Pavia and uncle of the
Lombard king Liutprand, to the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, in
order to save them from frequent coastal raids by Muslims. In January
1327 Pope John XXII issued the papal bull Veneranda Santorum Patrum, in which he appointed the Augustinians
guardians of the tomb of Augustine, which was remade in 1362 and
elaborately carved with bas-reliefs of scenes from Augustine's life.
By
that time, however, the actual remains of Augustine could not be
authenticated. Stonemasons working in the crypt altar removed paving
blocks and discovered a marble box. Within it were other boxes; in the
third box were fragments of wood, numerous bones and bone fragments, and
glass vials. Some of the workers later claimed to have seen the name
"Augustine" written in charcoal on the top of the box.
A factor
complicating the authentication of the remains was that San Pietro was
shared by two Augustinian religious orders in bitter rivalry.
The Augustinians were expelled from Pavia in 1700, taking refuge in
Milan
with the relics of Augustine, and the disassembled Arca, which were
removed to the cathedral there. San Pietro fell into disrepair and was a
military magazine during the Napoleonic occupation of the city. It was
finally rebuilt in the 1870s, under the urging of Agostino Gaetano
Riboldi, and reconsecrated in 1896 when the relics of Augustine and the
shrine were once again reinstalled.
References:
- Portalié, Eugène. "Life of St. Augustine of Hippo" The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company (1907). Retrieved 26 Aug. 2012
- "Blessed Augustine of Hippo: His Place in the Orthodox Church: A Corrective Compilation". Orthodox Tradition XIV (4): 33–35. Archived from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 2012-08-26
- TeSelle, Eugene (1970). Augustine the Theologian. London. pp. 347–349. ISBN 0-223-97728-4. March 2002 edition: ISBN 1-57910-918-7.
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Feast Day: Saint Monica
Feast day: August 27
Patron Saint of
: Mothers, Difficult marriages, difficult children, victims of
adultery or unfaithfulness, victims of (verbal) abuse, and conversion
of relatives.Died: 387
Saint Monica
(331– 387) is a Christian saint and the mother of Augustine of Hippo,
who wrote extensively of her virtues and his life with her in his Confessions.
Because
of her name and place of birth, Monica is assumed to have been of
Berber origin. She was married early in life to Patritius (or
Patricius), who held an official position in Tagaste (present-day Souk
Ahras, Algeria). Patritius was a pagan, though like so many at that
period, his religion was no more than a name; his temper was violent
and he appears to have been of dissolute habits. Consequently Monica's
married life was far from being a happy one, more especially as
Patritius's mother seems to have been of a like disposition with
himself. There was, of course, a gulf between husband and wife; her
alms deeds and her habits of prayer annoyed him, but it is said that he
always held her in a sort of reverence. Monica was not the only matron
of Tagaste whose married life was unhappy, but, by her sweetness and
patience, she was able to exercise a good example amongst the wives and
mothers of her native town; they knew that she suffered as they did,
and her words and example had a proportionate effect.
Monica
had three children: Augustine the eldest, Navigius the second, and a
daughter, Perpetua. Monica had been unable to secure baptism for her
children, and she experienced much grief when Augustine fell ill. In
her distress she asked Patritius to allow Augustine to be baptized;
Patritius agreed, but on the boy's recovery withdrew his consent.
All
Monica's anxiety now centered in Augustine; he was wayward and, as he
himself tells us, lazy. He was sent to school at Madaurus.
Her
husband Patritius subsequently became a Christian. Meanwhile, Augustine
had been sent to Carthage, to prosecute his studies, and here he lived
dissolutely. Patritius died very shortly after converting to
Christianity and Monica decided not to marry again.
At
Carthage Augustine had become a Manichean and when on his return home
he shared his views regarding Manichaeism Monica drove him away from
her table. However, she is said to have experienced a strange vision
that convinced her to reconcile with her son.
It
was at this time that she went to see a certain holy bishop, whose
name is not given, but who consoled her with the now famous words, "the
child of those tears shall never perish." Monica followed her wayward
son to Rome, where he had gone secretly; when she arrived he had already
gone to Milan, but she followed him. Here she found St. Ambrose and
through him she ultimately had the joy of seeing Augustine convert to
Christianity, after seventeen years of resistance.
In his book Confessions,
Augustine wrote of a peculiar practice of his mother in which she
"brought to certain oratories, erected in the memory of the saints,
offerings of porridge, bread, and wine."[4]
When she moved to Milan, the bishop Ambrose forbade her to use the
offering of wine, since "it might be an occasion of gluttony for those
who were already given to drink". So, Augustine wrote of her:
In place of a basket filled with fruits of the earth, she had learned to bring to the oratories of the martyrs a heart full of purer petitions, and to give all that she could to the poor - so that the communion of the Lord's body might be rightly celebrated in those places where, after the example of his passion, the martyrs had been sacrificed and crowned.
Mother and son spent six months of true peace at Rus Cassiciacum
(present-day Cassago Brianza) after which time Augustine was baptized
in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan. Africa claimed them,
however, and they set out on their journey, stopping at Civitavecchia
and at Ostia. Her death overtook Monica and the finest pages of
Augustine's Confessions were penned as the result of the emotion he then experienced.
Veneration
Saint
Monica was buried at Ostia, and at first seems to have been almost
forgotten, though her body was removed during the 6th century to a
hidden crypt in the church of Santa Aurea in Osta. Monica was buried
near the tomb of St. Aurea of Ostia.[5]
Anicius Bassus wrote Monica's funerary epitaph, which survived in ancient manuscripts.[5]
The actual stone on which it was written was rediscovered in the
summer of 1945 in the church of Santa Aurea. The fragment was
discovered after two boys were digging a hole to plant a football post
in the courtyard beside Santa Aurea.[6]
A translation from the Latin, by Douglas Boin, reads as:
About
the 13th century, however, the cult of St. Monica began to spread and a
feast in her honour was kept on 4 May. In 1430 Pope Martin V ordered
the relics to be brought to Rome. Many miracles occurred on the way, and
the cultus of St. Monica was definitely established. Later the
Archbishop of Rouen, Cardinal d'Estouteville, built a church at Rome in
honour of St. Augustine, the Basilica di Sant'Agostino, and deposited
the relics of St. Monica in a chapel to the left of the high altar. The
Office of St. Monica, however, does not seem to have found a place in
the Roman Breviary before the 16th century.
The
city of Santa Monica, California, is named after Monica. A legend
states that in the 18th century Father Juan Crespí named a local
dripping spring Las Lagrimas de Santa Monica ("Saint Monica’s
Tears") (today known as the Serra Springs) that was reminiscent of the
tears that Saint Monica shed over her son's early impiety.[7] As recorded in his diary, however, Crespí actually named the place San Gregorio.[7]
What is known for certain is that by the 1820s, the name Santa Monica
was in use and its first official mention occurred in 1827 in the form
of a grazing permit.[7] There is a statue of this saint in Santa Monica's Palisades Park by sculptor Eugene Morahan; it was completed in 1934.[8]
References
Bibliography
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Featured Item from Litany Lane
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Today's Snippet I: Marian Apparitions
The Vision of St Bernard, by Fra Bartolommeo, c. 1504 (Uffizi).
A Marian apparition is a supernatural appearance by the Blessed Virgin Mary. The figure is often named after the town where it is reported, or on the sobriquet given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition. They have been interpreted in religious terms as theophanies.
Marian apparitions sometimes are reported to recur at the same site over an extended period of time. In the majority of Marian apparitions only a few people report having witnessed the apparition. Exception to this include Zeitoun, and Assiut where thousands claimed to have seen her over a period of time.
Apparitions and appearances
 |
| A photostatic copy of a page from Ilustração Portuguesa, October 29, 1917, showing the crowd looking at the miracle of the sun during the Fátima apparitions (attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary) |
The term "appearance" has been used in different apparitions within a wide range of contexts and experiences. And its use has been different with respect to Marian apparitions and visions of Jesus Christ.
In some apparitions such as Our Lady of Lourdes or Our Lady of Fátima an actual vision is reported, fully resembling that of a person being present. In some of these reports the viewers (at times children) do not initially report that they saw the Virgin Mary, but that they saw "a Lady" (often but not always dressed in white) and had a conversation with her. In these cases the viewers report experiences that resemble the visual and verbal interaction with a person present at the site of the apparition. In most cases, there are no clear indications as to the auditory nature of the experience, i.e. whether the viewers heard the voices via airwaves or an "interior" or subjective sense of communication. Yet, the 1973 messages of Our Lady of Akita are due to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa who went deaf before 1973 and remained deaf until 1982 when she was cured during Sunday Mass as foretold in her messages; this suggests means of communication other than airwaves.
In some apparitions just an image is reported, often with no verbal interaction, and no conversation. An example is the reported apparitions at Our Lady of Assiut in which many people reported a bright image atop a building, accompanied by photographs of the image. The photographs at times suggest the silhouette of a statue of the Virgin Mary but the images are usually subject to varying interpretations, and critics suggest that they may just be due to various visual effects of unknown origin. However, such image-like appearances are hardly ever reported for visions of Jesus and Mary. In most cases these involve some form of reported communication.
And apparitions should be distinguished from interior locutions in which no visual contact is claimed. In some cases of reported interior locutions such as those of Father Stefano Gobbi a large amount of text is produced, but no visual contact is claimed. Interior locutions usually do not include an auditory component, but consist of inner voices. Interior locutions are generally not classified as apparitions.
Physical contact is hardly ever reported as part of Marian apparitions, unlike in cases of interaction with Jesus Christ. In rare cases a physical artifact is reported in apparitions. A well-known example is the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is reported to have been miraculously imprinted on the cloak of Saint Juan Diego.
Catholic Doctrine
 |
| Eternal Father painting the Virgin of Guadalupe. Anonymous, 18th century, an example of Roman Catholic Marian art related to an apparition |
According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the era of public revelation ended with the death of the last living Apostle. A Marian apparition, if deemed genuine by Church authority, is treated as private revelation that may emphasize some facet of the received public revelation for a specific purpose, but it can never add anything new to the deposit of faith. The Church will confirm an apparition as worthy of belief, but belief is never required by divine faith. The Holy See has officially confirmed the apparitions at Guadalupe, Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, Paris (Rue du Bac, Miraculous Medal), La Salette, Lourdes, Fátima, Pontmain, Beauraing, and Banneux.
As a historical pattern, Vatican approval of apparitions seems to have followed general acceptance of a vision by well over a century in most cases. According to Father Salvatore M. Perrella of the Marianum Pontifical Institute in Rome, of the 295 reported apparitions studied by the Holy See through the centuries only 12 have been approved, the latest being the May 2008 approval of the 17th- and 18th-century apparitions of Our Lady of Laus. Other apparitions continue to be approved at the local level, e.g. the December, 2010 local approval of the 19th-century apparitions of Our Lady of Good Help, the first recognized apparition in the United States.
An authentic apparition is believed not to be a subjective experience, but a real and objective intervention of divine power. The purpose of such apparitions is to recall and emphasize some aspect of the Christian message. The church states that cures and other miraculous events are not the purpose of Marian apparitions, but exist primarily to validate and draw attention to the message. Apparitions of Mary are held as evidence of her continuing active presence in the life of the church, through which she "cares for the brethren of her son who still journey on earth."
Not all claims of visitations are dealt with favourably by the Roman Catholic Church. For example, claimed apparitions of Our Lady, under the title of "Our Lady of the Roses, Mary, Help of Mothers", Jesus Christ and various saints at Bayside, New York have not been condoned or sanctioned in any way, nor those at the Necedah Shrine in Necedah, Wisconsin. The behavior of Ms Veronica Lueken and Mary Ann Van Hoof, who claimed these heavenly favors, was deemed not to compare favorably with the "quiet pragmatism" of St. Bernadette Soubirous — Church authorities are said to use Bernadette as a model by which to judge all who purport to have visitations. Indeed, both women seriously criticized the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, allegedly even harshly, and Mrs. Van Hoof is said to have subsequently left Roman Catholicism for an independent local Old Catholic Church.
Possibly the best-known apparition sites are Lourdes and Fátima Over sixty spontaneous healings, out of thousands reported at the Lourdes Spring, have been classified as "inexplicable" by the physicians of the Lourdes Bureau, a medical centre set up by the Church in association with local medical institutes to assess possible miracles. The Three Secrets of Fátima received a great deal of attention in the Catholic and secular press.
Criteria for evaluating apparitions
In 1978 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly of the Holy Office) issued "Norms of the Congregation for Proceeding in Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations" containing the following provisions:
- The diocesan bishop can initiate a process on his own initiative or at the request of the faithful to investigate the facts of an alleged apparition. The bishop may refrain from looking into it if he chooses, especially if he thinks that not much will come of the event.
- The national conference of bishops may intervene if the local diocesan bishop refers it to him or if the event becomes important nationally or at least in more than one diocese.
- The Apostolic See (the Vatican) can also intervene at the request of the local bishop himself, at the request of a group of the faithful, or on its own initiative.
The steps of the investigation are mandated as follows: An initial evaluation of the facts of the alleged event, based on both positive and negative criteria:
- Positive Criteria
- moral certainty (the certainty required to act morally in a situation of doubt) or at least great probability as to the existence of a private revelation at the end of a serious investigation into the case
- evaluation of the personal qualities of the person in question (mental balance, honesty, moral life, sincerity, obedience to Church authority, willingness to practice faith in the normal way, etc.)
- evaluation of the content of the revelations themselves (that they do not disagree with faith and morals of the Church, freedom from theological errors)
- the revelation results in healthy devotion and spiritual fruits in people's lives (greater prayer, greater conversion of heart, works of charity that result, etc.)
- Negative Criteria
- glaring errors in regard to the facts
- doctrinal errors attributed to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or to the Holy Spirit in how they appear
- any pursuit of financial gain in relation to the alleged event
- gravely immoral acts committed by the person or those associated with the person at the time of the event
- psychological disorders or tendencies on the part of the person or persons associated
After this initial investigation, if the occurrence meets the criteria, positive and negative, an initial cautionary permission can be granted that states: "for the moment, there is nothing opposed to it". This permits public participation in the devotion in regard to the alleged apparition.
Ultimately, a final judgment and determination needs to be given, giving or withholding approval of the event.
Local diocese approval
If the local bishop authorizes devotion inspired by an apparition to proceed based on an initial assessment, that permission does not constitute formal approval, which recognizes an event as being supernatural in origin. Such approval may follow years or even centuries later. A recent example of such a delay is the case of Our Lady of Laus, in which devotion was approved by the local diocese in 1665, but obtained formal recognition as a supernatural event only in 2008.
Moreover, Marian apparitions often involve complications at the local diocese, and a letter of approval or disapproval from a local bishop, does not automatically signal approval or denial. A recent example is the apparitions of Our Lady of Kibeho in the 1980s in Kibeho, Rwanda. In 1982 the teenagers who saw the visions reported truly gruesome sights and said that the Virgin Mary asked everyone to pray to prevent a terrible war. Some today regard the visions as an ominous foreshadowing of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, and particularly in that specific location in 1995, where some teenagers died a decade after their vision. The apparitions were accepted by the local bishop (accused by many of complicity in the genocide himself), but have not been given final approval by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Apparitions and statues
Marian apparitions are sometimes reported along with weeping statues of the Virgin Mary. However, to date only one single example of a combined weeping statue and apparition (namely Our Lady of Akita) has been approved by the Vatican and the rest have usually been dismissed as hoaxes.
Impact of apparitions
While Marian apparitions may at times seem like fanciful tales even to devout Catholics, factual analysis indicates that the effect of apparitions on the Roman Catholic Church has been significant. Marian apparitions have led to, or affected, the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Mariology and the lives of millions of Roman Catholics in several ways:
- The conversion of millions of people to Roman Catholicism.
- The construction of some of the largest Roman Catholic Marian churches ever.
- The formation of the largest Marian Movements and Societies ever.
- The spread of Marian devotions (such as the rosary) to millions of people.
- The declaration of specific Marian dogmas and doctrines.
- Hundreds of millions of Marian pilgrimages.
A few cases can illustrate these items.
Conversions and shrines
 |
| Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. |
By all accounts, when Juan Diego, age 57, reported the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill in Mexico in 1531, he did not receive a lot of attention in Rome, since the Church was busy with the challenges of the Protestant Reformation of 1521 to 1579 and perhaps very few Cardinals in Rome had ever heard the details of Mexico and its environs. Yet, just as a large number of people were leaving the Catholic Church in Europe as a result of the Reformation, Our Lady of Guadalupe was instrumental in adding almost 8 million people to the ranks of Catholics in the Americas between 1532 and 1538. The number of Catholics in South America has grown significantly over the centuries. Eventually with tens of millions of followers, Juan Diego had an effect on Mariology in the Americas and beyond, and was eventually declared venerable in 1987. Juan Diego was declared a saint in 2002. Furthermore, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill in Mexico is now the third largest Catholic Church in the world, after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil. Recent reported apparitions such as Medjugorje have also attracted a large following.
Societies and devotions
The Marian apparition of Our Lady of Fátima on a remote mountain top to three young Portuguese children in 1917 also seemed fanciful and the local administrator initially jailed the children and threatened that he would boil them one by one in a pot of oil. However, over the years the effect of Fátima has been undeniable. With over 25 million registered Catholic members, the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima (which was approved by Pope Pius XII in 1947) is the largest Marian Society in the world. And the message of Fátima has inspired the spread of other devotions. An example is Our Lady's Rosary Makers formed by Brother Sylvan Mattingly in 1949 with $25 to distribute free rosaries, based on his devotion to Fátima. Our Lady's Rosary Makers has since distributed hundreds of millions of free rosaries to Catholic missions worldwide.
The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima (now most known as the World Apostolate of Fátima) is a public international association of the Christian faithful that has as its general purpose "the promotion of the authentic teaching of the Roman Catholic Church and the strict adherence to the tenets of the Gospel; the personal sanctification of adherents through faithful adherence to the Message of Fátima and the promotion of the common good by the spreading of that Message of Fátima".
The Blue Army was founded in 1946 by Rev. Fr. Harold V. Colgan, parish priest of St. Mary of Plainfield, New Jersey (USA). Father Colgan had fallen seriously ill and was hospitalized. During his illness he prayed to Our Lady of Fátima that if she should cure him he would spend the rest of his life spreading devotion to her. He attributed his recovery to his prayers and began preaching to his congregation on a regular basis about the Virgin Mary.
In the spring of 1947 the message from apparition at Fátima began to seep into the American mass media, and Fr. Colgan felt that this revelation, and devotion to Our Lady of Fátima, were something that he should impress upon his congregation.
He summed up the message of Our Lady's apparition as this:
- Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
- Daily recitation of the Rosary and
- Righteous observance of the duties of one's state of life.
His message was highly successful; however, he wanted to make more of a lasting impression upon his congregation, and so he added two further items of his own invention. The first was a signed promise that one would try to uphold these values and the second was to wear a blue ribbon or blue medal in order to remember the promise. This was also a success and the congregation all enrolled. It was then that Fr. Colgan began to think about extending this to other parishes and other nations. Thus was born the Blue Army, from Colgan's own words: "We will be the Blue army of Mary and Christ, against the red of the world and of The Evil One"
Fr. Colgan began preaching his message and gained massive success, especially with the assistance of famous writer John Haffert who began delivering conferences on the message of Fátima and the Blue Army. Colgan then went to the Vatican in May 1947 to meet Pius XII in order to present his project for approval from the Pontiff. The Holy Father approved with the words, "As the world chief against communism I bless you and all members of the Blue Army." In 1950 there were already one million enrolled members, and in 1953 five million. Currently, there are over 20 million members.
The World Apostolate of Fátima has its world headquarters in the Domus Pacis ("House of Peace"), a pilgrim guest house in Fátima, Portugal. While the Blue Army was founded in 1947, because of its rapid spread around the world, it became necessary to erect a new society. The Decree of Erection of the World Apostolate of Fatima was signed on 7 October (the Feast of the Holy Rosary), 2005. Then on 3 February 2006, the World Apostolate of Fátima held an official ceremony for the consignment of the decree and the approval of its statutes at the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome.
The Apostolate is broken up into prayer cells which are found in parishes throughout the world. These cells fall under state and national Apostolate centers which in turn are subordinate to the International Secretariat based at Fátima in the Domus Pacis. The International Secretariat exists in order to coordinate the activities of the organization throughout the world and to carry out the policy decisions of the Board of Trustees, an elected group of nine members of the Apostolate who represent various regional centers of the Apostolate. They meet once a year to discuss the internal affairs of the Apostolate.
Membership in its most basic sense is through making a Pledge promising the following:
- To offer up every day the sacrifices demanded by one's daily duty to the faithful observance of God's law
- To say five decades of the Rosary daily while meditating on the mysteries
- To wear the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as a sign and reminder of personal consecration to our Lady and
- On the first Saturday of five consecutive months, with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, confess and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep company with Our Lady for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary.
The official pledge of membership is :
I pledge myself to Our Lady and wish, thereby, to join the World Apostolate of Fátima.
Dear Queen and Mother, who promised at Fátima to convert Russia and bring peace to all mankind, in reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world, I solemnly promise to Your Immaculate Heart:
I shall renew this promise often, especially in moments of temptation.
- To offer up every day the sacrifices demanded by my daily duty
- To pray at least five decades of the Rosary daily while meditating on the Mysteries
- To wear the Scapular of Mount Carmel as profession of this promise and as an act of consecration to You,
- To accomplish the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month, including the fifteen minute meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary.
The daily offering mentioned, is traditionally the following:
O my God in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss the brown scapular). I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars throughout the world, joining with it the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day.
O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate – that She may best apply them to the interests of Thy Most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Thus are delineated the primary devotions of the World Apostolate. These are the devotions mandated by the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Apparitions at Fátima. Traditionally this pledge is printed, and signed by the person who desires membership. It is also traditional that this signed pledge is then sent to the international headquarters in Fátima where it is then taken and buried near the shrine there.
Aside from the daily offering, recitation of the rosary, the wearing of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the five Saturdays in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Apostolate also recommends to its members the practices of nine first Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Home Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, and family consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
A further practice associated with the World Apostolate is the Pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fátima. There are several designated "pilgrim statues," however the primary one is the international pilgrim statue which has traversed the globe several times since its sculpting in 1947 by José Ferreira Thedim. The purpose of the statue is to renew interest in Catholic parishes in the message of Fátima, and to stir up affection to Our Lady.
The National Blue Army Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Washington Township (Warren County), New Jersey, is located on 150 acres (0.61 km2) and rises over the Muscontecong Valley. It hosts more than 50,000 pilgrims annually.
The Symbol of the apostolate consists of a pair of doves forming an image of praying hands holding a rosary. These are then surrounded by an image of a brown scapular, containing the words in Latin Orbis Unus Orans, (One World Praying) the motto of the Apostolate. All of these surmounted on a blue disc, blue being the symbolic liturgical color of the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church.
In 1996, John Haffert (co-founder of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima) spoke about Fatima and his book “Meet the Witnesses” in which he personally interviewed nearly 200 witnesses to the Fatima Miracle, describing their detailed witness accounts.
Pilgrimages
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| Our Lady of Lourdes, France |
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima also attracts a large number of Roman Catholics, and every year pilgrims fill the country road that leads to the shrine with crowds that approach one million on May 13 and October 13, the significant dates of Fatima apparitions. Overall, about four million pilgrims visit the basilica every year.
In Canada, millions of Americans and Canadians have visited the national shrine of Our Lady of the Cape, in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, where the first pilgrimages began in 1888.
Historical Feasts
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| Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
The Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Saint Simon Stock, who was Prior General of the Carmelite Order in the mid 13th century. The earliest reference to the tradition of his Marian apparition, dating from the late 14th century, states that "St. Simon was an Englishman, a man of great holiness and devotion, who always in his prayers asked the Virgin to favor his Order with some singular privilege. The Virgin appeared to him holding the Brown Scapular in her hand saying, 'This is for you and yours a privilege; the one who dies in it will be saved.'" A scapular is an apron-like garment that forms part of the Carmelite religious habit, and in the original context the Blessed Virgin Mary's promise was an assurance that religious who persevered in their vocation would be saved; beginning in the latter half of the 16th century the small devotional scapular became very popular as a sacramental.The historicity of Saint Simon Stock's vision is disputed, and as a result today neither the liturgy for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (which originally had no association with scapular devotion, but became strongly connected with Saint Simon Stock's vision in the 17th century), nor that of Saint Simon Stock make any reference to the vision of Mary or the scapular.The Brown Scapular itself remains warmly approved and recommended by the Catholic Church. Various devotional sources quote an interview with Lucia Santos in which she speaks about the Brown Scapular, saying "Our Lady wants all to wear the Scapular", especially when praying the Rosary, because "the Rosary and Scapular are inseparable".
Our Lady of the Pillar
In the year AD 39, according to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint James the Great, in Zaragoza, Spain. The vision is now called Our Lady of the Pillar and is the only reported Marian apparition before her Assumption. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar was built in Zaragoza, Spain and a key piece of Roman Catholic Marian art, the statue of Our Lady of the Pillar, refers to this apparition.Our Lady of the Snow
Our Lady of the Snow is based on a legend that during the pontificate of Pope Liberius, during the night of August the 5th, snow fell on the summit of the Esquiline Hill in Rome. Based on a vision that night, a basilica was built in honour of Our Lady, on the spot that had been covered with snow. The church built there is now the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, and the feast was celebrated at that church for centuries on August 5 each year. However, there was no mention of this alleged miracle in historical records until a few hundred years later, not even by Pope Sixtus III in his dedicatory inscription, and it may be that the legend has no historical basis. However, in the 14th century the feast was extended to all the churches of Rome and finally it was made a universal feast by Pope Pius V.Our Lady of Walsingham
According to the tradition of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Virgin Mary appeared in a vision to Richeldis de Faverches, a devout Saxon noblewoman, in 1061 in Walsingham, England, instructing her to construct a shrine resembling the place of the Annunciation. The shrine passed into the care of the Canons Regular sometime between 1146 and 1174. Late in 1538, King Henry VIII’s soldiers sacked the priory at Walsingham, killed two monks and destroyed the shrine. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII re-established the restored 14th century Slipper Chapel as a Roman Catholic shrine. The Holy House had been rebuilt at the Catholic Church of the Annunciation at King's Lynn (Walsingham was part of this Catholic parish in 1897). Today there are two shrines at Walsingham: the Roman Catholic shrine centered on the Slipper Chapel and the Holy House maintained by the Church of England. There are also two separate feast days: September 24 in the Roman Catholic Church and October 15 in the Anglican Communion.Our Lady of the Rosary
The apparition of Our Lady of the Rosary is by tradition attributed to Saint Dominic in 1208 in the church of Prouille, in France. According to the attribution, the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Dominic and introduced him to the rosary. Some sources suggest that Alan de Rupe (rather than Saint Dominic) was the major influence on the rosary in the 15th century, while other sources seek a middle ground to these two views. For centuries, Dominicans became instrumental in spreading the rosary and emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the rosary. In 1571 Pope Pius V instituted "Our Lady of Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory of Lepanto, the victory being attributed to Our Lady. In 1969, Pope Paul VI changed the name of the feast to Our Lady of the Rosary.Approved Marian Apparitions
A Roman Catholic approved Marian apparition is one that has been examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith either based on the criteria listed above (or internal procedures in place before that) and has been granted approval either through the local Bishop based on the direction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or received a direct approval from the Holy See.Although a local bishop may provide a preliminary assessment (and allow the devotion to proceed forward), formal approval can only be provided after detailed analysis by the Holy See. For instance, although the apparitions at Our Lady of Laus were recognized by the local diocese in 1665, they received approval from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith centuries later, in 2008.
Apparitions favored by the Holy See usually:
- Become the site of major Roman Catholic Marian churches such as Lourdes, France or the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill in Mexico.
- Receive papal visits such as Popes Paul VI's, John Paul II's and Benedict XVI's visits to Fátima, Portugal, Knock Ireland and Beauraing, Belgium.
Approved by the Roman Catholic Church
Our Lady of Guadalupe
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| Our Lady of Guadalupe |
Two accounts, published in the 1640s, one in Spanish, one in Nahuatl, tell how, while walking from his village to Mexico City in the early morning of December 9, 1531 (then the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Spanish Empire), the peasant Juan Diego saw on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac a vision of a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age, surrounded by light. Speaking to him in Nahuatl, the local language, she asked that a church be built at that site, in her honor; from her words, Juan Diego recognized the Lady as the Virgin Mary. Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her identity.The first sign was the Virgin healing Juan's uncle. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. Although December was very late in the growing season for flowers to bloom, Juan Diego found at the usually barren hilltop Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, which the Virgin arranged in his peasant tilma cloak. When Juan Diego opened the cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric.
The icon is now displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most visited Marian shrines. The icon is Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image, bearing the titles: the Queen of Mexico, and was once proclaimed Patroness of the Philippines (but later revised) by Pope Pius XI in 1935. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin Mary Patroness of the Americas, Empress of Latin America, and Protectress of Unborn Children under this Marian title.
Our Lady of Laus
The apparitions of Our Lady of Laus between 1664 and 1718 in Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, France to Benoîte Rencurel, a young shepherdess are the first Marian apparitions approved in the 21st century by the Roman Catholic Church. The apparitions were recognized by the diocese of the Roman Catholic Church on September 18, 1665. They were approved by the Vatican on May 5, 2008. Currently, the site where the apparitions took place receives more than 120,000 pilgrims a year.
Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
The vision of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is said to have appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 in the convent of Rue du Bac, Paris. She reported that one night in the chapel, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her and asked that a medallion be made to a design that she dictated. The lady added that, "All who wear this medal will receive great graces." After spending two years examining her claims, her priest eventually took the information to his archbishop. The medal eventually produced came to be referred to as the Miraculous Medal. The front of the medal displays a picture of the virgin as she appeared to Catherine Labouré. The design on the reverse includes the letter M and a cross. Pope John Paul II used a slight variation of the reverse image as his coat of arms, the Marian Cross. This is a plain cross with an M underneath the right-hand bar, to signify the Blessed Virgin standing at the foot of the Cross while Jesus was being crucified.
Sister Justine Bisqueyburu is said to have also had an apparition in 1840 within the same chapel at Rue du Bac as Saint Catherine Labouré. These visitations instituted the Green Scapular, which involves a very simple devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and is associated with healing. The Green Scapular has its own association but has not yet been approved by the Holy See and does not have an associated confraternity.
Our Lady of La Salette
The apparitions of Our Lady of La Salette were reported in La Salette in France in 1846 by two shepherd children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, followed by numerous accounts of miraculous healings. The Roman Catholic Church investigated the claims and found them basically credible. However, in the late 19th century controversy surrounded the claims of one of the seers, Mélanie Calvat in a France hostile to religion. Recent releases from the Vatican Secret Archives may have clarified the situation to some extent, but some controversy still remains attached to this apparition.
Our Lady of Lourdes
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Our Lady of Lourdes |
In 1858 Saint Bernadette Soubirous was a 14-year-old shepherd girl who lived near the town of Lourdes in France. One day she reported a vision of a miraculous Lady who identified Herself as "the Immaculate Conception" in subsequent visions. In the second vision she was asked to return again and she had 18 visions overall. According to Saint Bernadette, the Lady held a string of Rosary beads and led Saint Bernadette to the discovery of a buried spring, also requesting that the local priests build a chapel at the site of the visions and lead holy processions there. Eventually, a number of chapels and churches were built at Lourdes as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes—which is now a major Catholic pilgrimage site. One of these churches, the Basilica of St. Pius X can accommodate 25,000 people and was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France.
Our Lady of Pontmain
The apparitions at Our Lady of Pontmain, France also called Our Lady of Hope were reported in 1871 by a number of young children.[48] The final approval for the apparitions of Our Lady of Hope was given in 1932 by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, who later became Pope Pius XII
Our Lady of Fátima
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| Lucia, Bl Franciso and Jacinta, Children of Our Lady of Fatima Apparition 1917 |
The visions of the Virgin Mary appearing to three shepherd children at Our Lady of Fátima in Portugal in 1917 were declared worthy of belief by the Catholic Church in 1930. Five popes — Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI — have supported the Fátima messages as supernatural. John Paul II was particularly attached to Fátima and credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life after he was shot in Rome on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fátima in May 1981. He donated the bullet that wounded him on that day to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima. Benedict XVI, on May 13, 2010, prayed and gave the second Golden Rose to Our Lady of Fátima and also pronounced in front of more than 500,000 pilgrims a reference to the Fátima prophecy about the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In 1925, eight years after the Fátima events, Sister Lúcia reported another set of apparitions, which became known as the Pontevedra apparitions. Also Blessed Alexandrina of Balasar reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary (following the Our Lady of Fátima request of World Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary).
Our Lady of Knock
On the wet Thursday evening of the 21st August, 1879, at about 8 o'clock, Our Lady, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist appeared in a blaze of Heavenly light at the south gable of Knock Parish Church. Behind them and a little to the left of St. John was a plain altar. On the altar was a cross and a lamb with adoring angels. The appearance of St Joseph, St John and the Lamb make the apparation unique in church history. The Apparition was seen by fifteen people whose ages ranged from six years to seventy-five and included men, women and children.
The witnesses described the Blessed Virgin Mary as being clothed in white robes with a brilliant crown on her head. Over the forehead where the crown fitted the brow, she wore a beautiful full-bloom golden rose. She was in an attitude of prayer with her eyes and hands raised towards Heaven. St. Joseph stood on Our Lady's right. He was turned towards her in an attitude of respect. His robes were also white. St. John was on Our Lady's left. He was dressed in white vestments and resembled a bishop, with a small mitre. He appeared to be preaching and he held an open book in his left hand.
The witnesses watched the Apparition in pouring rain for two hours, reciting the Rosary. Although they themselves were saturated not a single drop of rain fell on the gable or vision.
Subsequent commissions of enquiry set up by the local Bishop and the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland formally approved the apparations as worthy of devotion and they were officially recognised by the Catholic church culminating in the visif of Pope John Paul II in 1979 which he called the ultimate goal of his pastoral visit to Ireland. Knowck shrine is ranked among the major Marian shrines in the world and is served by the old church, of which only a fragment of the original gable wall exists, a purpose built Basillica designed and built to cater for the significant number of pilgrims and an International Airport.
Our Lady of Beauraing
The 33 apparitions of Our Lady of Beauraing were reported in Belgium between November 1932 and January 1933 by five local children ranging in age from 9 to 15 years. From 1933 to World War II, pilgrims flocked to the little village of Beauraing. The final approbation for the apparition was granted on July 2, 1949, under the authority of the Holy Office by the decree of Andre-Marie Charue, Bishop of Namur, Belgium. These apparitions are also known as the Virgin of the Golden Heart.
Our Lady of Banneux
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| Our Lady of Banneux Shrine |
The apparitions of Our Lady of Banneux were reported by a young child, Mariette Beco a native of Banneux, Belgium in the 1930s. They are also known as the Virgin of the Poor. The apparitions were approved by the Roman Catholic Church in 1949.
Beco reported eight visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary between January 15 and March 2, 1933. She reported seeing a Lady in White who declared herself the Virgin of the Poor and told her: "Believe in me and I will believe in you". In one vision, the Lady reportedly asked Mariette to drink from a small spring and later said that the spring was for healing. Over time the site drew pilgrims. Today, the small spring yields about 2,000 gallons of water a day with many reports of miraculous healings.
Her claims were subject to an official investigation from 1935 to 1937 by an episcopal commission. The evidence collected was submitted to Rome for further analysis. In May 1942 Bishop Kerkhofs of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège (Belgium) gave a first recognition of the authenticity of the reports. Then, in 1947, approval for the apparitions came from the Holy See. It was declared definite in 1949.
After the apparitions, Beco decided to remain a private person, married and led a quiet family life. A small chapel stands where the Virgin of the Poor is said to have requested it to be built. Beco died 2 December 2011 at the age of 90. In 2008 she made a final statement about her role in the apparitions: "I was no more than a postman who delivers the mail. Once this has been done, the postman is of no importance any more".
Our Lady of Akita
The apparitions of Our Lady of Akita were reported in 1973 by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, near the city of Akita in Japan. For several decades, Agnes Sasagawa had encountered many health problems but her health reportedly improved after drinking water from Lourdes. After going totally deaf, she went to live with the nuns in the remoteness of Yuzawadai. In 1973 she reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary, as well as stigmata and a weeping statue of the Virgin Mary that continued to weep over the next six years on 101 occasions. According to EWTN, up to November 2011 no ecclesiastical decree appears to exist from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
However, some individuals, such as former Ambassador of the Philippines to the Holy See, Mr. Howard Dee, have stated that they were given private assurances by Cardinal Ratzinger of the authenticity of Akita. In any case, in keeping with the current norms, given the absence of a repudiation of Bp. Ito's decision by his successors, or by higher authority, the events of Akita continue to have ecclesiastical approval..
Apparitions approved by a local Church ordinary
The apparitions of Our Lady of Cuapa began on April 15, 1980, in San Francisco de Cuapa, Nicaragua. The Virgin Mary repeatedly appeared to Bernardo Martinez, a sacristan, and according to the visionary this began when he saw a strange light emanating from a statue of the Virgin Mary in the parish church. In May, when walking through the fields, he claimed that he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary, who encouraged him to pray the rosary and promote peace saying: "Make Peace. Don't ask Our Lord for peace because, if you do not make it, there will be no peace".
At this time, Nicaragua was going through a civil war. The Sandinista government was facing armed opposition from the Contras. Bernardo Martinez claimed that the Blessed Virgin Mary ordered him to burn bad books, which was interpreted to mean Marxist books. The auxiliary Bishop of Managua complied with this request. Sandinista commentators responded by describing the apparition as 'Saint Mary of the Contras', 'Our Lady of Oliver North and Our Lady of Cuapa. On November 13, 1982, the Bishop of Juigalpa released an official statement as Bishop of the area where the apparitions took place assuring the faithful of the authenticity of the events. The apparitions at San Francisco de Cuapa are thus among the few Marian apparitions approved by the Catholic Church in the twentieth century. In 2005, Silvio Sirias wrote a novel, "Bernardo and the Virgin" based on these events.
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| Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho |
The apparitions of Our Lady of Kibeho began on November 28, 1981, in the African college of Kibeho, Rwanda. The Virgin Mary repeatedly appeared to Alphonsine Mumureke, Nathalie Mukamazimpaka, and Marie Claire Mukangango. The apparition identified herself in the native Rwandan dialect as “Nyina wa Jambo", ( "Mother of the Word"), which is synonymous with "Mother of God.” The apparitions communicated various messages to the schoolchildren, urging the people to love each other, and warning of an apocalyptic vision of Rwanda descending into violence and hatred, foretelling the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. In 2001 the Holy See released the declaration of Bishop Misago of Gikongoro approving the apparitions. The Marian sanctuary at Kibeho was named "Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows" in 1992, two years before the genocide. An estimated 500,000 pilgrims visit the site every year.
The apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success began on 2 February 1594 at the Conceptionist Convent in Quito, Ecuador. The Virgin Mary repeatedly appeared to Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, identifying herself as 'Our Lady of Good Success'.The apparition requested that a statue be made in her likeness and made several predictions concerning a crisis in the church specifically a fall in vocations, a lack of availability of the sacraments and a fall in moral standards in the 20th century. The apparitions were approved by the local Bishop, Salvador de Riber on 2 February 1611. In 1991 The Vatican granted the canonical coronation of our Lady of Good Success as 'Queen of Quito' after being petitioned by the Archbishop of Quito.
The apparitions of Our Lady of Good Help were reported by Adele Brise in 1859. In December 2010, Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin approved the apparition as worthy of belief, as the first Marian apparition approved in the United States at the local level. In Robinsonville (now called Champion) WI, a young Belgian immigrant woman named Adele Brise was walking through a wooded area when she saw a beautiful woman standing between a maple and a hemlock tree. She saw the lady again on her way to Mass, and walked past her again. After Mass she told her priest about the apparition, and he told her to ask the Lady "In God's name, who are you and what do you want of me?" When Adele walked past the spot again, the Lady was there, and Adele asked what she was told by the priest. The Lady replied, "I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners." She gave Adele the mission to teach the children of the area their Catechism, which Adele did faithfully. Soon after, Adele's father built a small chapel between the trees, and later two more churches were built on the spot before the present brick church, built in 1942. The apparitions, attributed to Our Lady of Good Help, were approved on December 8, 2010, by Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay.
Apparitions with no or undocumented approval
A list of some notable reports of Marian apparitions is provided below. The apparitions discussed here do not have approval, and only those apparitions listed and explained in the sections above have received either Roman Catholic or Coptic approval, and the others shown in the table here are simply based on legend, reports of individuals or are still awaiting approval. There are hundreds of other reported apparitions around the world without major references or church investigations and they can not be included in this section, due to their lack of notability.
A number of claimed apparitions sites still not fully approved continue to gather pilgrims and become the site of major Marian basilicas. The apparitions at these sites are often the subject of legends. An example is Our Lady of Walsingham where according to legend the Blessed Virgin appeared in a vision to a noblewoman in 1061 and her son built a simple wooden structure there that later became an abbey. No details of the content of vision have been preserved, but pilgrims continued to arrive at Walsingham for centuries until 1st Earl of Essex destroyed it in 1538.
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| The statue and shrine of Our Lady of Međugorje (Bosnia and Herzegovina). |
Among recent visions, the reported apparitions of The Virgin Mary to six children in Medjugorje in 1981 have received much attention. The Our Lady of Međugorje messages are published and distributed worldwide and often emphasize five key elements: Daily prayer of the Holy Rosary, Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, Daily reading of the Bible, Monthly Confessions and Holy Communion.
The reports of visions at Medjugorje were vigorously opposed by the responsible bishop, Bishop Pavao Žanić of Mostar-Duvno. A Commission appointed by him to investigate the apparitions underlined the theological and disciplinary difficulties posed by the events and the messages of Medjugorje. In 1991, the Bishops' Conference of Yugoslavia stated, "On the basis of the investigations so far it can not be affirmed that one is dealing with supernatural apparitions and revelations."
On March 17, 2010, the Vatican announced it was beginning a formal investigation of the apparitions at Medugorje. Cardinal Camillo Ruini is to head the commission that will study the matter.
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| Shrine of Our Lady of Guardia. |
The 1490 apparition reported by Italian peasant Benedetto Pareto regarding Our Lady of Guardia is somewhat similar, but has a happier ending. Pareto also reported that the Virgin Mary appeared to him and asked him to build a church atop the mountain. Pareto at first refused, saying that he was just a poor man, but he eventually built a small wooden structure, which in time gathered many pilgrims. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guardia is now a thriving basilica atop Mount Figogna, near Genoa Italy.
Some major Marian basilicas and traditions are based on legends that do not involve any specific apparitions, but sacred objects that are assumed to have been associated with apparitions. The key example is the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Aparecida, Brazil. It is the second-largest Catholic place of worship in the world, second only to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and the largest Marian Church in the world, receiving over 6 million pilgrims a year. There is no specific vision or apparition associated with Our Lady of Aparecida, and it is based on a simple wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin (found by fishermen) that over the centuries drew millions of pilgrims, based on its reported healing powers. The festivals surrounding Our Lady of Chiquinquirá in Venezuela are based on a piece of wood that, according to legend, grew luminous with the image of the Blessed Virgin in 1709. In the case of Our Lady of Kazan, legend holds that the Blessed Virgin revealed the location of the precious icon to a 10-year-old girl in 1579.
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| Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni |
The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, Tamil Nadu in southern India does, however, have a legend that involves a number of apparitions. There is no historical record of the apparition of Our Lady of Good Health but the oral tradition suggests that there was an apparition to a Hindu boy in mid 16th century and later Portuguese sailors were saved by another apparition. Also another one major Marian apparitions in India is of Korattymuthy at Koratty in Kerala. Similarly, the legend Our Lady of La Vang is based on an apparition to a group of Vietnamese Catholics in the rain forest in 1798, and the site of a basilica.
The Basilica of our Our Lady of Siluva in Siluva, Lithuania is also based on a legend of an apparition to four children in 1608, and houses a famous painting (perhaps based on Salus Populi Romani) called Our Lady of Siluva, usually considered Lithuania's greatest treasure.
Although both She Shan Basilica in Shanghai, China and Our Lady of China in Donglu, near Beijing, were popular pilgrimage sites at one time, with the arrest and imprisonment of the Catholic bishops in the 1950s by the communists and with the establishment of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association against the Vatican, these pilgrimages have slowed down.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen, the largest church in Poland (and the 11th largest in the world) is based on legends on the Virgin Mary appearing to different people in the Lichen area in the early 19th century.
Between 1941 and 1988, Felisa Sistiaga reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows in Umbe, near Bilbao, Spain. The messages left by Our Lady were very similar to that given in the Marian apparitions of Garabandal.
In 1945, two children - Marcelina Barroso Expósito and Afra Brígido Blanco - reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows near La Codosera, in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. A few years later, the Bishop of Badajoz gave permission for the construction of a large Marian shrine in the place of the apparitions and one of the visionaries, Marcelina, became a cloistered nun.
On June 4, 1947, seven-year-old Angela Volpini was grazing cattle near her hometown of Casanova Staffora, near Oltrepò Pavese in northwest Italy, when she felt someone embrace her from behind and lift her up. Assuming it was her aunt, she turned around and saw "a woman's face -- beautiful, sweet and unknown." The apparitions occurred on the fourth day of every month for ten years, and many were filmed. Ms. Volpini's father supported her, but her mother, while believing in the apparitions, feared for the girl's life. The local priest, Father Gianni Baget Bozzo, believed the child and formed a lifelong friendship with her. He often compared the apparitions to those of Our Lady of Lourdes. On his death May 8, 2009, he left one-sixth of his fortune to Volpini. People who believe in Ms. Volpini's experiences formed a devotional organization called Nova Cana—the name invented by Ms. Volpini herself—to commemorate the events.
Between 1958 and 1962, Mathew Lashut reported several apparitions of the Virgin Mary on a forest near Turzovka, a town in north-western Slovakia. This apparition was predicted to come about as “a second Lourdes" or "the Lourdes of Slovakia” by the German Catholic mystic and stigmatic Therese Neumann.
The reported apparitions of Our Lady of Kibeho in 1982 included exceptionally long and dramatic visions lasting eight hours. According to the teenage visionaries, in 1982 the Virgin Mary asked everyone to pray to prevent a terrible war. A war and genocide eventually took place at the same location in 1995 and claimed the lives of some of visionaries. The apparitions were accepted by the local Roman Catholic bishop, Bishop Misago, but have not been given final approval by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The bishop himself went on trial for nine months on charges of involvement in the genocide but was not convicted.
The reported apparitions of Our Lady of America in 1956 in Rome City, Indiana, did receive a positive response from the local bishop and have been Canonically approved by several Archbishops and Bishops, but no decision has been rendered with regard to the supernatural origin and characters of the reported apparitions. Pilgrims arrive daily to pray and offer their devotion in the Our Lady Mother of Mercy Chapel, which sits on the grounds of what is now Sylvan Springs.
The fact that pilgrims continue arriving at a reported apparition site and the fact that church figures a continent away may be sympathetic towards the apparition does not mean that approval has been obtained. For instance, although the Village of Pellevoisin in France does receive pilgrims, and there is a small shrine of Our Lady of Pellevoisin in St. Paul's church in New York, according to the University of Dayton Marian Library, archbishops of Bourges have never pronounced on the subject of Pellevoisin and have been very reserved on the topic. However, various independent (and colorful) lists of apparitions websites declare Pellevoisin as approved, with no clear reference for the approval.
The apparitions reported between 1945 and 1959 by Ida Peerdeman in Amsterdam as The Lady of all Nations include a short prayer called the Amsterdam Blessing. In May 2002, Bishop Jozef Marianus Punt of Haarlem-Amsterdam issued a letter that declared this apparition as having a supernatural origin. However, this apparition has not been officially approved by the Holy See, and has approval only at the local bishop level.
Between 1968 and 1976, a young boy named Jesús José reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Graces in Onuva, near La Puebla del Río, province of Seville, Spain. In the last apparition, the message from heaven explains that «Onuva means: Land of Mercy, Land of Mercy!».
Between 1990 and 1995, two young girls - Ivetka Korcakova (born 1978) and Katka Ceselkova (born 1977) - reported several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of The Immaculate Purity on the Zvir Mountain, in Litmanová, a village of northern Slovakia. During these religious events, the visionaries were accompanied by many priests and now there is a Marian shrine on the place of apparitions. Many people, not only Slovaks, make pilgrimages to this location to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and obtain water from a holy stream.
Since 1992, some reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Virgin of the Eucharist in Manduria, south of Italy, are also receiving many attention worldwide, in particular by the Catholic youth. Debora Marasco, the visionary, founded a Catholic Movement for the young people named "Manduria for Young People". A similar phenomenon with Catholic youth is occurring near São Marcos da Serra, in Algarve, Portugal, were other reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Mother of Goodness attract, since 1999, many young people and priests to the place of apparitions. The Holy See has never officially approved or disapproved these apparitions.
Several apparition related sites on the internet exist, often with detailed messages that sound pious, accompanied by testimonies from local witnesses, and even local priests and bishops. However, these representations do not always amount to authenticity or Vatican approval. An example is the website for the apparitions of Our Lady of the Eucharist in Rome since the year 2000. The website for Our Lady of the Eucharist includes a clear letter and a photo from Bishop Claudio Gatti who approved the apparition. Yet a more detailed search of the same website produces a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reducing the said Bishop to lay rank following a series of meetings at the Vatican on this and other matters (e.g. the Bishop's position of marriage for priests). The Bishop now uses the title ordained by God rather than Catholic Bishop. At Soufanieh, a suburb of Damascus a series of apparitions have reportedly been observed between 1982 and 2004, without any approval to date.
As a general pattern, in most cases, formal Vatican approval for apparitions usually requires at least a century, even if the local diocese issues a preliminary letter permitting devotions. For instance, Our Lady of Laus was recognized by the local bishop in 1665 but was only granted approval by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2008. As current examples, Our Lady of Kibeho have received recognition from the local diocese, but there has been no formal approval from the Holy See. The same with the 1973 apparitions of Our Lady of Akita.
Some purported Marian apparitions initiated events that led to schism of Catholics forming their own independent churches as a result of Rome's disapproval of them. Notable examples include the revelations of Feliksa Kozłowska between 1893 and 1918, which led to the founding of the Mariavite and the Old Catholic Mariavite churches. Others include the Palmarian Catholic Church, which began after a series of purported apparitions in Palmar de Troya, while Fraternite Notre Dame, a Traditionalist Catholic church traces its origins to apparitions that were reported in Frechou, France, and is led by Bishop Jean Marie Kozik who was consecrated by Vietnamese Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
An apparition of Our Lady at Batim is the supposed appearance by the Virgin Mary in the compound of Igreja de São Simão e Judas (Church of Saint Simon and Jude), Batim-Ganxim in Goa. The first sighting is purported to have been made by Iveta Gomes on 24 September, 1994. Others have since claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary, as well as other miracles, at this location.Though the apparition has no Episcopal approval, the Church has not raised any objection to the gathering of people at the site, in expression of their faith.
Numerous apparitions were reported in 2008 in South Ossetia during Battle of Tskhinvali. Many people, including Orthodox priests, reported Marian silhouettes which appeared to be protecting Ossetians from attacking Georgians.
Apparitions NOT approved by church authorities
Not all reports of visions and apparitions are taken seriously by church authorities. For instance, the messages reported by Catalina Rivas were later found to correspond to exact pages of books written by others, and published instructional literature for Catholic seminarians. Claimed apparitions and miracles at Holy Love Ministries in Elyria, Ohio were denounced by local Bishop Richard Lennon as "not supernatural in origin" and "forbid members of the clergy of any ecclesiastical jurisdiction" to celebrate the Sacraments on the site. He also declared "that the Confraternity of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary is not an approved association of the Christian faithful in the Diocese of Cleveland and may not legitimately use the name 'Catholic' or represent itself as a Catholic group.".
The reported Garabandal apparitions from 1961 to 1965 were examined by the local Bishop and were declared as not having evidence of being of supernatural origin. However the apparitions were not declared a hoax and the possibility of future approval was left open. At Garabandal, an apparition of Saint Michael, the Archangel was reported first, announcing the arrival of the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Purported locutions received by the late Veronica Lueken from 1968 to 1994 were declared invalid by Bishop Francis Mugavero, then Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. Similarly, reports of Our Lady of Surbiton claiming that the Virgin Mary appeared every day under a pine tree in England were flatly rejected by the Vatican as a fraud.
Some reported apparitions attract negative publicity at the location of the apparition. For instance, the latter parts of the reported messages from Gianna Talone were disapproved by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore and a group of Emmitsburg, Maryland residents started a campaign against Talone and accused her of running a cult. To date, the Holy See has let the Talone matter rest at the local level of the archdiocese.
Criticism
Some Protestant Christians and non-Christians regard claims of Marian apparitions as being hallucinations encouraged by superstition, and occasionally simply as deliberate hoaxes to attract attention. Many such apparitions are reported in economically depressed areas, attracting many pilgrims who bring trade and money into the region. For instance, some sources dispute the very existence of Saint Juan Diego.
Some spontaneous healings reported at apparition sites such as Lourdes are also disputed by some scientists Other scientists have claimed that a handful of unexplained cures have occurred; the Lourdes Medical Bureau has recorded sixty "inexplicable" healings that match its requirements. Critics maintain that some other healings are incomplete, leaving the sufferer with disabilities or chronic illness, and that other claimed healings are likely to be the relatively rare but unmiraculous spontaneous remission of illness or injury. Such remissions might be expected to occur in a few of the large numbers of ill (and perhaps credulous) people who visit such sites. That viewpoint is debated by religious people and by some in the medical profession. The Lourdes Medical Bureau claims that it will not review cases of claimed healing involving illnesses known sometimes to go into remission by themselves, or incomplete healings, or those that take place gradually. although it counts cases of tumors, which are remissible.
Medical Investigations
International Lourdes Medical Committee
Yearly from March to October the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is a place of mass pilgrimage from Europe and other parts of the world. The spring water from the grotto is believed by some to possess healing properties.
An estimated 200 million people have visited the shrine since 1860, and the Roman Catholic Church has officially recognised 68 healings considered miraculous. Cures are examined using Church criteria for authenticity and authentic miracle healing with no physical or psychological basis other than the healing power of the water. Tours from all over the world are organized to visit the Sanctuary. Connected with this pilgrimage is often the consumption of or bathing in the Lourdes water which wells out of the Grotto. At the time of the apparitions the grotto was on common land which was used by the villagers variously for pasturing animals, collecting firewood and as a garbage dump, and it possessed a reputation for being an unpleasant place
The Lourdes Medical Bureau (International Medical Association of Lourdes; Association Médicale Internationale de Lourdes) is a medical organization based in Lourdes, France. It is an official organization within the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but is administered and run only by doctors. Its most noted function is the medical investigation of apparent cures associated with the shrine of Lourdes. The term Medical Bureau is also used by the International Medical Association of Lourdes to refer to a special conference of its members, which may be called to investigate reports of inexplicable healing.
The apparitions at Lourdes took place between 11 February and 16 July 1858. After this time, reports of apparently miraculous cures began to accumulate, prompting calls for the Roman Catholic Church to recognise these events as miracles. The earliest investigations of these cases were carried out by an Episcopal Commission of Inquiry led by Canon Germain Baradère and reporting directly to Mgr Laurence, bishop of Tarbes. The commission's earliest work was conducted without medical consultation, with only clerical opinion being sought as to the nature of the cures.
In 1859, Professor Henri Vergez from the Faculty of Medicine at Montpellier was appointed medical consultant to the Episcopal Commission of Inquiry. Vergez's views were often at odds with those of his clerical colleagues. Vergez decided that only eight of the early cases were genuinely inexplicable.
In 1883 a body called the Bureau des Constatations Médicales was established by doctors affiliated with the sanctuary. This was the forerunner of the current Medical Bureau. Its first titular head was the nobleman Baron Dunot de Saint-Maclou, and the Bureau was housed at the residence of the Garaison Fathers in Lourdes. Following the establishment of the Bureau des Constatations Médicales, the number of recognised cures dropped dramatically, from 143 in 1883 to only 83 in 1884.
Dunot de Saint-Maclou died in 1891 and was succeeded by Dr. Gustave Boissarie who headed the Medical Bureau until 1914, and met with the French author Emile Zola when he visited Lourdes in August 1892. Dr. Bonamy, a character in Zola's 1894 novel Lourdes, is unflatteringly based on Boissarie. Boissarie wrote a celebrated book, L'Histoire Médicale de Lourdes in 1891, which was praised by Pope Leo XIII. Boissarie moved the offices of the Bureau to accommodation beneath the right ramp of the Upper Basilica, where he met with people who claimed to have been cured.
In 1905, Pope Pius X decreed that claims of miraculous cures at Lourdes should "submit to a proper process", in other words, to be rigorously investigated. At his instigation, the current Lourdes Medical Bureau was formed
In 2011, the cure of a French man is under further examination to determine officially whether another miraculous cure has taken place. Twenty doctors from the medical bureau have concluded that the formerly paralysed man's recovery, which occurred in 2002, was 'remarkable'. To date, sixty-seven cures have been officially recognized as miraculous by the Roman Catholic Church.
Current administration
The bureau is led by a single doctor. The current head is Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis. The bureau has a modest office within the Domain (the large area of consecrated ground surrounding the shrine and owned by the Church), on the second floor of the building known as the Accueil Jean Paul II.
Any doctors practising in or visiting Lourdes may apply to become members of the Lourdes Medical Bureau. Additionally, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists and members of other allied health professions may apply to become members. Members are given (and invited to wear) a small but distinctive badge displaying a red cross on a white background surmounted by the word Credo ("I believe"). However, members of any religious affiliation or none are welcomed. Members are requested to notify the bureau of any visits which they make to Lourdes. The Lourdes Medical Bureau publishes its own quarterly journal, Fons Vitae ("Source of Life") which is circulated to members. Additionally, case-reports of interest are circulated to members for perusal.
Investigation of apparent cures associated with Lourdes
Approximately 35 claims per year are brought to the attention of the Lourdes Medical Bureau. Most of these are dismissed quickly. Three to five each year are investigated more thoroughly, by drawing up a Medical Bureau, comprising any doctors who were present in Lourdes at the time the apparent cure took place (this is the rationale for all members to notify the bureau of their visits to Lourdes).
The Medical Bureau investigates the claim, by examining the patient, the casenotes, and any test results (which can include biopsies, X-rays, CT scans, blood test results, and so on).
If this conference decides that further investigation is warranted, the case is referred to the International Lourdes Medical Committee (abbreviated in French to CMIL), which is an international panel of about twenty experts in various medical disciplines and of different religious beliefs. CMIL meets annually. A full investigation requires that one of its members investigates every detail of the case in question, and immerses him/herself in the literature around that condition to ensure that up-to-date academic knowledge is applied to the decision. This investigator may also consult with other colleagues about the case.
This information is presented at a CMIL meeting. Also present at the meeting are the head of the Lourdes Medical Bureau and the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes (currently this is Nicolas Brouwet). The cured subject is not normally present.
For a cure to be recognized as medically inexplicable, certain facts require to be established:
- The original diagnosis must be verified and confirmed beyond doubt
- The diagnosis must be regarded as "incurable" with current means (although ongoing treatments do not disqualify the cure)
- The cure must happen in association with a visit to Lourdes, typically while in Lourdes or in the vicinity of the shrine itself (although drinking or bathing in the water are not required)
- The cure must be immediate (rapid resolution of symptoms and signs of the illness)
- The cure must be complete (with no residual impairment or deficit)
- The cure must be permanent (with no recurrence)
CMIL is not entitled to pronounce a cure "miraculous"; this can only be done by the Church. The bureau may only pronounce that a cure is "medically inexplicable". A full investigation takes a minimum of five years (in order to ensure that the cure is permanent), and may take as long as ten or twelve years. It is recognised that, in rare cases, even advanced malignant disease or severe infection may spontaneously resolve.
The CMIL board votes on each case presented. A two-thirds majority is required for CMIL to pronounce a cure "inexplicable".
If CMIL decides a cure is medically inexplicable, the case is referred to the Bishop of the diocese where the cured subject lives. It is he who, in consultation with his own experts and with the Vatican, makes the decision about whether a cure is "miraculous". He may, for whatever reason, refute the claim.
Jacques Perrier, the former Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, made a statement concerning the question of miracles in Lourdes. The bishop wishes to have a new approach to cures in Lourdes, especially concerning the different stages of recognising them. In his words: “For the Church, as well as for the believer, a pilgrimage to Mary is more than a journey to a miracle. It is a journey of love, of prayer and of the suffering community.”
Occasionally cases are dismissed by the Medical Bureau but still attain a level of fame and notoriety. One example is that of Jack Traynor.
Notable cases
Pieter De Rudder
Visited Lourdes: After his healing, from 9 to 15 May 1878
Pieter De Rudder was a farm labourer, born Jabbeke July 2, 1822, died March 22, 1898. His recovery from a broken leg (1875) is one of the most famous recognized Lourdes miracles (a bronze cast of his bones is exhibited in the Lourdes Medical Bureau), although it is not supposed to have occurred in Lourdes itself, but in a sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes at Oostakker near Ghent (Belgium, East Flanders).
Jeanne Fretel
Visited Lourdes: 10 May 1948.
Age 31, a student nurse from Rennes, France. Tubercular peritonitis with complications for seven years, extreme emaciation and oscillating fever. Comatose when brought to Lourdes, was given a tiny fragment of the Eucharist and awoke. Reported being "instantly and permanently cured" later that night while lying in her wheelchair beside the spring. She had not yet bathed in or drunk the water. Her cure was recognised officially on 11 November 1950.
Brother Léo Schwager
Visited Lourdes: 30 April 1952.
Age 28, from Fribourg, Switzerland. Multiple sclerosis for five years. His cure was recognised on 18 December 1960.
Alice Couteault, born Alice Gourdon
Visited Lourdes: 15 May 1952.
Age 34, from Bouille-Loretz, France. Multiple sclerosis for three years. Her cure was recognised on 16 July 1956.
Marie Bigot
Visited Lourdes: 8 October 1953 and 10 October 1954.
Age 32, from La Richardais, France. Arachnoiditis of posterior cranial fossa (blindness, deafness, hemiplegia). Her cure was recognised on 15 August 1956.
Ginette Nouvel, born Ginette Fabre
Visited Lourdes: 21 September 1954.
Age 26, from Carmaux, France. Budd-Chiari syndrome (supra-hepatic venous thrombosis). Her cure was recognised on 31 May 1963.
Elisa Aloi, later Elisa Varcalli
Visited Lourdes: 5 June 1958.
Age 27, from Patti, Sicily. Tuberculous osteoarthritis with fistulae at multiple sites in the right leg. Her cure was recognised on 26 May 1965.
Juliette Tamburini
Visited Lourdes: 17 July 1959.
Age 22, from Marseilles, France. Femoral osteoperiostitis with fistulae, epistaxis, for ten years. Her cure was recognised on 11 May 1965.
Vittorio Micheli
Visited Lourdes: 1 June 1963.
Age 23, from Scurelle, Italy. Sarcoma (cancer) of pelvis; tumour so large that his left thigh became loose from the socket, leaving his left leg limp and paralysed. After taking the waters, he was free of pain and could walk. By February 1964 the tumour was gone, the hip joint had recalcified, and he returned to a normal life. His cure was recognized on 26 May 1976.
Serge Perrin
Visited Lourdes: 1 May 1970.
Age 41, from Le Lion-d'Angers, France. Recurrent right hemiplegia, with ocular lesions, due to bilateral carotid artery disorders. Symptoms, which included headache, impaired speech and vision, and partial right-side paralysis began without warning in February 1964. During the next six years he became a wheelchair user, and nearly blind. While on pilgrimage to Lourdes in April 1970, he felt a sudden warmth from head to toe, his vision returned, and he was able to walk unaided. His cure was recognised on 17 June 1978.
Delizia Cirolli, later Delizia Costa
Visited Lourdes: 24 December 1976.
Age 12, from Paterno, Sicily. Ewing's sarcoma of right knee. Offered amputation by her doctors, her mother refused and took her to Lourdes instead. On returning to Italy, her tumour rapidly regressed until no remaining evidence existed, although it left her tibia angulated, which required an operation (osteotomy) to correct. Her cure was recognised on 28 June 1989. She went on to become a nurse.
Jean-Pierre Bély
Visited Lourdes: 9 October 1987.
Age 51, French. Multiple sclerosis. His cure was recognised on 9 February 1999.
Physicians
Patrick Theillier
Dr. Patrick Theillier was the twelfth doctor to head the Lourdes Medical Bureau. He received his medical degree from Lille in 1964. He was head of the Bureau from 1998 until his retirement in 2009.
Alessandro di Franciscis
Italian paediatrician Dr. Alessandro ("Sandro") di Franciscis (born Naples, 1955) is the thirteenth doctor to head the Lourdes Medical Bureau, and the first non-Frenchman in that position. He succeeded Dr. Theillier on 10 February 2009 and was appointed by Bishop Jacques Perrier. Dr. di Franciscis has a Masters degree in epidemiology from Harvard, and has pursued a political as well as a medical career.
Medical care of visitors
The Medical Bureau is not responsible for the direct medical care of pilgrims and visitors to Lourdes. Legally, the position is that the general practitioners and hospital in Lourdes are responsible for the medical care of anyone visiting Lourdes.
Despite this position, many pilgrim groups (especially those with large numbers of sick pilgrims) include their own doctor(s) and/or nurse(s), who take on the day-to-day medical care of their own group. Most are volunteers who give their time and services for free.
The Domain includes a treatment area called the Dispensary, also in the Accueil Jean Paul II, which contains several bays for the treatment of acute problems. Although most such problems are minor (such as cuts and grazes), the Dispensary is equipped with full resuscitation facilities, airway equipment and a defibrillator. It also has a small electric ambulance. The Dispensary is open during daylight hours and is staffed by nurses.
About The Water of Lourdes
The water of Lourdes is not to be confused with holy Water. It's normal water, slightly calcareous, comparable to any other water from similar springs.It has no thermal virtue or specific property. It's completely independent from the Gave de Pau. An underground pipe drives this water to the baths and the water points of the Grotto.
The water of Lourdes has become popular because of the miracles. 49 on 67 official miracles are apparently linked to the use of this water, no matter if it has been drunk or used as a bath. Men have created the fountains, the baths and the way of the water.
The water of Lourdes is also the sign of baptism. Everytime someones makes the gesture of water, it gives a new meaning to ones life . A heart purifies and gets free.
In the catholic faith, God heals through the natural elements and the sacraments, with the (Intercession) help of the Virgin Mary and the prayer of the Christians. Consequently, this water is a sign and not a fetish. Bernadette Soubirous has said : “This water is considered as a drug... but you have to keep the faith and pray : this water couldn't do anything without faith!”.
However, the healing of body can't neglect the healing of heart. The sick, as the so-called healthy, meet each other at the Grotto of the Apparitions, in front of the Virgin Mary : They support each other by the crossing smiles, the exchange of gesture and the shared prayers. A quote from the Bible, dealing with water:
"anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never thirst again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring within them, welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)
References
- Johnston, Francis W. (1980). Fatima: the Great Sign. Chulmleigh: Augustine. ISBN 0-85172-723-9.
- Johnston, Francis W. (1980). Fatima: the Great Sign. Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers. ISBN 0-89555-163-2.
- McClure, Kevin (1983). The Evidence for Visions of the Virgin Mary. Wellingborough: Aquarian Press. ISBN 0-85030-351-6.
- Laurentin, René (1990, revised 1991). The Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today. Dublin: Veritas Publications. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/1-85390-054-9, ISBN 1-85390-119-9|1-85390-054-9, ISBN 1-85390-119-9]].
- Laurentin, René (1990). An Appeal from Mary in Argentina: the Apparitions of San Nicolás. Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company/The Riehle Foundation. ISBN 0-9625975-5-4.
- Terelya, Josyp (with Michael H. Brown) (1991). Josyp Terelya - WITNESS. Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company/The Riehle Foundation. ISBN 1-877678-17-1.
- Brown, Michael H. (1992). The Final Hour. Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company/The Riehle Foundation. ISBN 1-880033-03-8.
- Laurentin, René (1993). The Cause of Liberation in the USSR. Goleta, California: Queenship Publishing Company. ISBN 1-882972-07-4.
- Blackbourn, David (1994). Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century Germany. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-41843-1.
- Odell, Catherine M. (1995). Those Who Saw Her: Apparitions of Mary. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-87973-664-4|0-87973-664-4]].
- Brown, Michael H. (1996). The Day Will Come. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Charis. ISBN 0-89283-944-9.
- Connell, Janice T. (1996). Meetings with Mary: Visions of The Blessed Mother. United States: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-39705-3.
- Brown, Michael H. (1998). The Last Secret. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Charis. ISBN 1-57918-339-5.
- Brown, Michael H. (1998). Seven Days with Mary. Milford, Ohio: Faith Publishing Company/The Riehle Foundation. ISBN 1-880033-26-7.
- Sparrow, G. Scott (2004). Sacred Encounters with Mary. Chicago: Thomas More Association/Ave Maria Press. ISBN 1-59471-047-3.
- Brown, Michael H. (2007). Tower of Light. Palm Coast, Florida: Spirit Daily Publications. ISBN 0-615-14372-5.
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Today's Snippet II: History of the 54 Day Rosary Novena
"Whoever desires to obtain favors from Me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in thanksgiving." ~ Promise of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
On March 3, 1884, Our Lady of Pompeii appeared before the gravely ill daughter of an Italian military officer and, through her, gave the world a new devotion of tremendous power.
or over a year, Fortuna Agrelli had been in great distress and even near-death. Indeed, her case had been given up as hopeless by the most celebrated physicians. In desperation, on February 16, the afflicted girl and her family began a novena of Rosaries.
Two weeks later, the Queen of the Holy Rosary appeared before Fortuna one evening. Sitting upon a high throne, surrounded by luminous figures, Our Lady was holding the Divine Child on Her lap and a Rosary in Her hand. Both were arrayed in golden garments and were accompanied
by Sts. Dominic and Catherine of Siena.
“Child, your faith has pleased Me.” Our Lady said to Fortuna, “Whoever desires to obtain favors from Me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in
thanksgiving.”
Obedient to Our Lady’s command, Fortuna and her family completed the six novenas whereupon the young girl was restored to perfect health and her family showered with many blessings.
“This miracle of the Rosary made a very deep impression on Pope Leo XIII, He wrote 17 encyclicals on the Rosary and urged all Christians to love the Rosary and pray it fervently.
A laborious Novena, but a Novena of Love. Youwho are sincere will not find it too difficult,
if you really wish to obtain your request. Should you not obtain the favor you seek, be assured that the Rosary Queen, who knows what each one stands most in need of, has heard your prayer. You will not have prayed in vain. No prayer ever went unheard. And Our Blessed Lady has never been known to fail. Look upon each Hail Mary as a rare and beautiful rose which you lay at Mary's feet. These spiritual roses, bound in a wreath with Spiritual Communions, will be a most pleasing and acceptable gift to her, and will bring down upon you special graces. If you would reach the innermost recesses of her heart, lavishly bedeck your wreath with spiritual diamonds holy communions. Then her joy will be unbounded, and she will open wide the channel of her choicest graces to you.
if you really wish to obtain your request. Should you not obtain the favor you seek, be assured that the Rosary Queen, who knows what each one stands most in need of, has heard your prayer. You will not have prayed in vain. No prayer ever went unheard. And Our Blessed Lady has never been known to fail. Look upon each Hail Mary as a rare and beautiful rose which you lay at Mary's feet. These spiritual roses, bound in a wreath with Spiritual Communions, will be a most pleasing and acceptable gift to her, and will bring down upon you special graces. If you would reach the innermost recesses of her heart, lavishly bedeck your wreath with spiritual diamonds holy communions. Then her joy will be unbounded, and she will open wide the channel of her choicest graces to you.
Reference:
- Knights of Divine Mercy. Retreived August, 8, 2016 from http://knightsofdivinemercy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/54_Day_Novena_Rosary.pdf
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Today's Snippet III: The 54 Day Novena
Start: Monday August 15, 2016 - Feast of the Assumption
Finish: Friday, October 7, 2016 - the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary
Duration: 54 consectuvite days of a total of 6 nine days novenas starting with 3 novenas of petition (27 days) followed by 3 novenas of thanksgiving (27 days). Only Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious Mysteries are recited in order, daily as taught in original novena of 1884. NOTE: The Luminous mysteris are NOT included in this novena because they are a modern day addition. The original 54 day novena was issued in 1884 by Our lady of Pompeii with the thre original mysteries and continues in original tradition..
Intentions: Worldwide Conversion, Our Nation, and World Peace
Intentions: Worldwide Conversion, Our Nation, and World Peace
How to Recite the 54-Day Rosary Novena
Traditionally a novena is nine days. Thus, Our Lady’s words to young Fortuna, “make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary in petition, and three novenas in thanksgiving.”
The novena consists of five decades of the Rosary (one set of mysteries) each day for twenty-seven days in petition; then immediately five decades each day for an additional twenty-seven days in thanksgiving, regardless of whether or not the request has been granted yet.
So began six novenas of Rosaries, which became known as the 54-day Rosary Novena.
To do the novena properly one must pray the Rosary for 54 consecutive days, without missing a day, and must pray the particular Mystery indicated for that day following the correct sequence.
That is, the first day of the novena always begins with the Joyful Mysteries (regardless of what day of the week the novena is started); the second day, the Sorrowful Mysteries are prayed; and the third day of the novena, the Glorious Mysteries are prayed. The fourth day of the novena begins again with the Joyful Mysteries and continues on in that sequence throughout the 54 days of the novena.
The 54 day novena starts on Monday, August 15, 2015 on the Feast of the Assumption with the Joyful Mysteries. Below are included the opening petition and thanksgiving prayers for each Mystery.
Opening prayer s for Joyful Mysteries
In petition:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses snow white buds to remind thee of thy joys each bud recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my petition; from thy bounty thou wilt give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek. I despair of nothing that I ask of thee. Show thyself my Mother!
In thanksgiving:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses snow white buds to remind thee of thy joys each bud recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, Dispenser of God's graces. and Mother of all who invoke thee! thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Opening Prayers for Sorrowful Mysteries
In petition:Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my petition; from thy bounty thou wilt give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek. I despair of nothing that I ask of thee. Show thyself my Mother!
In thanksgiving:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses blood red roses to remind thee of the passion of thy divine Son, with Whom thou didst so fully partake of its bitterness each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou hast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Opening Prayers for Glorious Mysteries
In petition:
Hail, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I humbly kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses full blown white roses, tinged with the red of the passion, to remind thee of thy glories, fruits of the sufferings of thy Son and thee each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God's graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! Thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my petition; from thy bounty thou wilt give me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly seek. I despair of nothing that I ask of thee. Show thyself my Mother!
In thanksgiving:
Hail!, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, my Mother Mary, hail! At thy feet I gratefully kneel to offer thee a Crown of Roses full blown white roses, tinged with the red of the passion, to remind thee of thy glories, fruits of the sufferings of thy Son and thee each rose recalling to thee a holy mystery; each ten bound together with my petition for a particular grace. O Holy Queen, dispenser of God s graces, and Mother of all who invoke thee! thou canst not look upon my gift and fail to see its binding. As thou receivest my gift, so wilt thou receive my thanksgiving; from thy bounty thou bast given me the favor I so earnestly and trustingly sought. I despaired not of what I asked of thee, and thou hast truly shown thyself my Mother.
Indulgencies
Made by the Blessed Virgin to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan.
1. To all those who will recite my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and very great
graces.
2. Those who will persevere in the recitation of my Rosary shall receive some signal grace.
3. The Rosary shall be a very powerful armor against hell; it shall destroy vice, deliver from sin, and shall dispel heresy.
4. The Rosary shall make virtue and good works flourish, and shall obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies; it shall substitute in hearts love of God for love of the world, elevate them to desire heavenly and eternal goods. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means!
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary, shall not perish.
6. Those who will recite my Rosary piously, considering its Mysteries, shall not be overwhelmed
by misfortune nor die a bad death. The sinner shall be converted; the just shall grow in grace and
become worthy of eternal life.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the consolations of the Church, or without
grace.
8. Those who will recite my Rosary shall find during their life and at their death the light of God, the fullness of His grace, and shall share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver very promptly from purgatory the souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. The true children of my Rosary shall enjoy great glory in heaven.
11. What you ask through my Rosary, you shall obtain.
12. Those who propagate my Rosary shall obtain through me aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the confrères of the Rosary shall have for their brethren in life and death the saints of heaven.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are all my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
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St Anne and St Joachim Education of Mary Notebooks
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FEATURED BOOK
THE MYSTICAL CITY OF GOD
Mystical City of God, the miracle of His omnipotence and the abyss of His grace the divine history and life of the Virgin Mother of God our Queen and our Lady, most holy Mary expiatrix of the fault of eve and mediatrix of grace. Manifested to Sister Mary of Jesus, Prioress of the convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda, Spain. For new enlightenment of the world, for rejoicing of the Catholic Church, and encouragement of men. Completed in 1665.
THE DIVINE HISTORY AND LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
Venerable Mary of Agreda
Translated from the Spanish by Reverend George J. Blatter
1914, So. Chicago, Ill., The Theopolitan; Hammond, Ind., W.B. Conkey Co., US..
IMPRIMATUR: +H.J. Alerding Bishop of Fort Wayne
Translation from the Original Authorized Spanish Edition by Fiscar Marison (George J. Blatter). Begun on the Feast of the Assumption 1902, completed 1912.
This work is published for the greater Glory of Jesus Christ through His most Holy Mother Mary and for the sanctification of the Church and her members.
Book 1, Chapter 1
WHY GOD REVEALED THE LIFE OF MARY IN THESE OUR TIMES
Treats of the Divine Fore–Ordainment of Christ and His Mother as the Highest Ideals of all Creation; of the Creation of the Angels and Men as their Servants; of the Lineage of the Just Men, Finally Resulting in the Immaculate Conception and Birth of the Queen of Heaven; and of Her life Up to Her Presentation in the Temple.
The whole of this holy life of Mary
is divided, for greater perspicuity, into three parts. The first
treats of all that pertains to the fifteen years of her life, from
the moment of her most pure Conception until the moment when in her
virginal womb the eternal Word assumed flesh, including all that the
Most High performed for Mary during these years. The second part
embraces the mystery of the Incarnation, the whole life of Christ our
Lord, his Passion and Death and his Ascension into heaven, thus
describing the life of our Queen in union with that of her Divine Son
and all that She did while living with Him. The third part contains
the life of the Mother of grace during the time She lived alone,
deprived of the companionship of Christ our Redeemer, until the happy
hour of her transition, assumption and crowning as the Empress of
heaven, where She is to live eternally as the Daughter of the Father,
the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Ghost. These three
parts I subdivided into eight books, in order that they may be more
convenient for use and always remain the subject of my thoughts, the
spur of my will and my meditation day and night.
In order to say
something of the time in which I wrote this heavenly history, it must
be noticed that my father, brother Francis Coronel, and my mother,
sister Catharine de Arana, my parents, founded in their own house
this convent of the discalced nuns of the Immaculate Conception by
the command and will of God, which was declared to my mother, sister
Catharine, in a special vision and revelation. This foundation took
place on the octave of the Epiphany, January 13th,
1619. On the same day we took the habit, my mother and her two
daughters; and my father took refuge in the order of our seraphic
Father Saint Francis, in which two of his sons had already been
living as religious. There he took the habit, made his profession,
lived an exemplary life, and died a most holy death. My mother and
myself received the veil on the day of the Purification of the Queen
of heaven, on the second of February, 1620. On account of the youth
of the other daughter her profession was delayed. The almighty in His
sheer goodness favored our family so much, that all of us were
consecrated to Him in the religious state. In the eight year of the
foundation of this convent, in the twenty–fifth of my age, in
the year of our Lord 1627, holy obedience imposed upon me the office
of abbess, to which this day I unworthily hold. During the first ten
years of the time in which I held this office, I received many
commands from the Most High and from the Queen of heaven to write her
holy life, and I continued with fear and doubt to resist these
heavenly commands during all that time until the year 1637, when I
began to write it the first time. On finishing it, being full of
fears and tribulations, and being so counseled by a confessor (who
directed me during the absence of my regular confessor), I burned all
the writing containing not only this history, but many other grave
and mysterious matters; for he told me, that women should not write
in the Church. I obeyed his commands promptly; but I had to endure
most severe reproaches on this account from my superiors and from the
confessor, who knew my whole life. In order to force me to rewrite
this history, they threatened me with censures. The Most High and the
Queen of heaven also repeated their commands that I obey. By divine
favor I began re–writing this history on the eighth of
December, 1655, on the day of the Immaculate Conception.
I confess to Thee (Matth. 11,25) and
magnify Thee, King Most High, that in thy exalted Majesty Thou hast
hidden these high mysteries from the wise and from the teachers, and
in thy condescension hast revealed them to me, the most insignificant
and useless slave of thy Church, in order that Thou mayest be the
more admired as the omnipotent Author of this history in proportion
as its instrument is despicable and weak.
I saw a great and mysterious sign in heaven; I saw
a Woman, a most beautiful Lady and Queen, crowned with the stars,
clothed with the sun, and the moon was at her feet (Apoc. 12,1). The
holy angels spoke to me: “This is that blessed Woman, whom
Saint John saw in the Apocalypse, and in whom are enclosed, deposited
and sealed up the wonderful mysteries of the Redemption. So much has
the most high and powerful God favored this Creature, that we, his
angelic spirits, are full of astonishment. Contemplate and admire her
prerogatives, record them in writing, because that is the purpose for
which, according to the measure suitable to thy circumstances, they
will be made manifest to thee.” I was made to see such wonders,
that the greatness of them took away my speech, and my admiration of
them suspended my other faculties; nor do I think that all the
created beings in this mortal life will ever comprehend them, as will
appear in the sequel of my discourse. At another time I saw a most
beautiful ladder with many rungs; around it were many angels, and a
great number of them were ascending and descending upon it. His
Majesty said to me: “This is the mysterious ladder of Jacob,
the house of God and the portal of heaven Gen. 28, 17); if thou wilt
earnestly strive to live irreprehensible in my eyes, thou wilt ascend
upon it to Me.”
This promise incited my desires, set my will
aflame and enraptured my spirit; with many tears I grieved, that I
should be burden to myself in my sinfulness (Job 7, 20). I sighed for
the end of my captivity and longed to arrive where there would be no
obstacle to my love. In this anxiety I passed some days, trying to
reform my life; I again made a general confession and corrected some
of my imperfections. The vision of the ladder continued without
intermission, but it was not explained to me. I made many promises to
the Lord and proposed to free myself from all terrestrial things and
to reserve the powers of my entirety for his love, without allowing
it to incline toward any creature, be it ever so small or
unsuspicious; I repudiated all visible and sensible things. Having
passed some days in these affections and sentiments, I was informed
by the Most High, that the ladder signified the life of the Most Holy
Virgin, its virtues and sacraments. His Majesty said to me: “I
desire, my spouse, that thou ascend this stair of Jacob and enter
through this door of heaven to acquire the knowledge of my attributes
and occupy thyself in the contemplation of my Divinity. Arise then
and walk, ascend by it to Me. These angels, which surround it and
accompany it, are those that I appointed as the guardians of Mary, as
the defenders and sentinels of the citadel of Sion. Consider Her
attentively, and, meditating on her virtues, seek to imitate them.”
It seemed to me then, that I ascended the ladder and that I
recognized the ladder and I recognized the great wonders and the
ineffable prodigies of the Lord in a mere Creature and the greatest
sanctity and perfection of virtue ever worked by the arm of the
Almighty. At the top of the ladder I saw the Lord of hosts and the
Queen of all creation. They commanded me to glorify, exalt and praise
Him on account of these great mysteries and to write down so much of
them, as I might bring myself to understand. The exalted and high
Lord gave me a law, written not only on tablets, as He gave to Moses
(Exod. 31, 18), but one wrought by his omnipotent finger in order
that it might be studied and observed (Ps. 1,2).
He moved my will so that in her
presence I promised to overcome my repugnance and with her assistance
to set about writing her history, paying attention to three things:
First, to remember that the creature must ever to seek to acknowledge
that profound reverence due to God and to abase itself in proportion
to the condescension to his Majesty toward men and that the effect of
greater favors and benefits must be a greater fear, reverence,
attention and humility; secondly, to be ever mindful of the
obligation of all men, who are so forgetful of their own salvation,
to consider and to learn what they owe to the Queen and Mother of
piety on account of the part assumed by Her in the Redemption, to
think of the love and the reverence which she showed to God and the
honor in which we are to hold this great Lady; thirdly to be willing
to have my spiritual director, and if necessary the whole world, find
out my littleness and vileness, and the small returns which I make
for what I receive.
To these my protestations the Most Holy Virgin
answered: “My daughter, the world stands much in need of this
doctrine, for it does not know, nor does it practice, the reverence
due to the Lord omnipotent. On account of this ignorance his justice
is provoked to afflict and humiliate men. They are sunken in their
carelessness and filled with darkness, not knowing how to seek relief
or attain to the light. This, however, is justly their lot, since
they fail in the reverence and fear, which they ought to have.”
Besides this the Most High and the Queen gave many
other instructions, in order to make clear to me their will in regard
to this work. It seemed to me temerity and want of charity toward
myself, to reject the instruction which she had promised me for
narrating the course of her most holy life. It seemed equally
improper to put off the writing of it, since the Most High had
intimated this as the fitting and opportune time, saying to me in
this regard: “My daughter, when I sent my Onlybegotten, the
world, with the exception of the few souls that served Me, was in
worse condition than it had ever been since its beginning; for human
nature is so imperfect that if it does not subject itself to the
interior guidance of my light and to the fulfillment of the precepts
of my ministers by sacrificing its own judgment and following Me, who
am the way, the truth and the life (John 14,6), and by carefully
observing my commandments in order not to lose my friendship, it will
presently fall into the abyss of darkness and innumerable miseries,
until it arrives at obstinacy in sin. From the creation and sin of
the first man until I gave the law to Moses, men governed themselves
according to their own inclinations and fell into many errors and
sins (Rom. 5, 13). After having received the law, they again
committed sin by not obeying it (John 7, 19) and thus they lived on,
separating themselves more and more from truth and light and arriving
at the state of complete forgetfulness. In fatherly love I sent them
eternal salvation and a remedy for the incurable infirmities of human
nature, thus justifying my cause. And just as I then chose the
opportune time for the greater manifestation of my mercy, so now I
select this time for showing toward them another very great favor.
For now the hour has come and the opportune time to let men know the
just cause of my anger, and they are now justly charged and convinced
of their guilt. Now I will make manifest my indignation and exercise
my justice and equity; I will show how well justified is my cause. In
order that this may come to pass more speedily, and because it is now
time that my mercy show itself more openly and because my love must
not be idle, I will offer to them an opportune remedy, if they will
but make use of it for returning again to my favor. Now, at this
hour, when the world has arrived at so unfortunate a pass and when,
though the Word has become incarnate, mortals are more careless of
their weal and seek it less; when the day of their transitory life
passes swiftly at the setting of the sun of time; when the night of
eternity is approaching closer and closer for the wicked and the day
without a night is being born for the just; when the majority of
mortals are sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of their
ignorance and guilt, oppressing the just and mocking the children of
God; when my holy and divine law is despised in the management of the
iniquitous affairs of state, which are as hostile as they are
contrary to my Providence; when the wicked least deserve my mercy; in
these predestined times, I wish to open a portal for the just ones
through which they can find access to my mercy; I wish to give them a
light by which they can dispel the gloom that envelops the eyes of
their minds. I wish to furnish them a suitable remedy for restoring
them to my grace. Happy they who find it, and blessed they who will
appreciate its value, rich they who shall come upon this treasure,
and blessed and very wise those who shall search into and shall
understand its marvels and hidden mysteries. I desire to make known
to mortals how much intercession of Her is worth, who brought
restoration of life by giving mortal existence to the immortal God.
As recompense I desire that they look upon the wonders wrought by my
mighty arm in that pure Creature, as upon a mirror by which they can
estimate their own ingratitude. I wish to make known to them much of
that, which according to my high judgment is still hidden concerning
the Mother of the Word.”
“I have not
revealed these mysteries in the primitive Church, because they are so
great, that the faithful would have been lost in the contemplation
and admiration of them at a time when it was more necessary to
establish firmly the law of grace and of the Gospel. Although all
mysteries of religion are in perfect harmony with each other, yet
human ignorance might have suffered recoil and doubt at their
magnitude, when faith in the Incarnation and Redemption and the
precepts of the new law of the Gospel were yet in their beginnings.
On this same account the person of the incarnate Word said to his
disciples at the last supper: “Many things have I say to you;
but you are not yet disposed to receive them” (John 16, 12).
These words he addressed to all the world, for it was not yet capable
of giving full obedience to the law of grace and full assent to the
faith in the Son, much less was it prepared to be introduced into the
mysteries of his Mother. But now mankind has greater need for this
manifestation, and this necessity urges Me to disregard their evil
disposition. And if men would now seek to please me by reverencing,
believing, and studying the wonders, which are intimately connected
to the Mother of Piety, and if they would all begin to solicit her
intercession from their whole heart, the world would find some
relief. I will not longer withhold from men this mystical City of
refuge; describe and delineate it to them, as far as thy shortcomings
allow. I do not intend that thy descriptions and declarations of the
life of the Blessed Virgin shall be mere opinions or contemplations,
but reliable truth. They that have ears to hear, let them hear. Let
those who thirst come to the living waters and leave the dried–out
cisterns; let those that are seeking for the light, follow it to the
end. Thus speaks the Lord, God Almighty!”
Book 1, Chapter 2
GOD’S INSCRUTABLE ESSENCE; THE DECREE OF CREATION
O King, most high and wise Lord; How
incomprehensible are thy judgments, and inscrutable thy ways (Rom.
11, 24)! Invincible God, enduring forever and whose beginning is
unknown (Eccli. 18, 1)! Who can understand thy greatness and who can
be worthy of thy most magnificent works, or who can tell Thee why
Thou hast created them (Rom. 9, 20)? For Thou art exalted above all
of them and our vision cannot reach Thee and our understanding cannot
comprehend Thee. Mayest Thou be blest, magnificent King, because Thou
hast deigned to show me, thy slave and a vile worm of the earth,
great sacraments and most sublime mysteries.
I saw the Most High, at the same time
understanding how his Majesty is in Himself; I received a clear
intelligence and a true perception of what is meant by a God,
infinite in his substance and attributes, eternal, exalted above all,
being three in Person, and one true God. Three in Person, because of
the three activities of knowing, comprehending and loving each other;
one, so as to secure the boon of eternal unity. It is the trinity of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Father is not made, nor
created, nor begotten, nor can He be generated or have a beginning. I
perceived, that the Son derives His origin from the Father alone by
eternal generation; and that they are equal in their duration from
eternity; and that He is begotten by the fecundity of the
intelligence of the Father. The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father
and the Son through love. In their indivisible Trinity there is
nothing which can be called first or last, greater or smaller; all
three Persons are equally eternal and eternally equal; there is unity
of essence in a trinity of persons. Nor are the persons mingled in
order to form one God, nor the divine substance separated or divided
in order to form three Persons, being distinct as the Father, as the
Son and as the Holy Ghost. They are nevertheless one and the same
Divinity, equal in Each is the glory and majesty, the power, the
eternity, the immensity, the wisdom and sanctity, and all the
attributes. And though there are three Persons, in whom these
infinite perfections subsist, He is the one and true God, the Holy,
the Just, the Powerful, the Eternal and the Measureless.
I also obtained an understanding of
the manner in which this Trinity comprehends Itself by simple vision,
so that no new or distinct cognition is necessary: the father knows
that, which is known to the Son, and the Son and the Holy Ghost know
that which is in the intelligence of the Father. I understood how
they love One another with one and the same immense and eternal love;
how there is a single, indivisible and equal oneness of intelligence,
love and action, how there is one simple, incorporeal and indivisible
nature, a divine essence of the true God, in which are joined and
united all the perfections in their highest and in an infinite
degree.
I learnt also to understand the
quality of these perfections of the highest Lord: that He is
beautiful without a blemish, great without quantity, good without
need of qualification, eternal without the duration of time, strong
without any weakness, living without touch of decay, true without
deceit, present in all places, filling them without occupying them,
existing in all things without occupying any space. There is no
contradiction in his kindness, nor any defect in his wisdom. In his
wisdom He is inscrutable, in his decrees He is terrible, in his
judgments just, in his thoughts most hidden, in his words most true,
in his works holy, in his riches affluent. To Him no space is too
wide, no narrowness causes restraint, his will does not vary, the
sorrowful does not cause Him pain, the past has not passed for Him,
nor does the future happen in regard to Him. O eternal Immensity,
what illimitable expansion have I seen in Thee? What vastness do I
see in thy infinite Being? Vision does not terminate, nor ever
exhaust itself in thy abyss of being. This is the unchangeable
Essence, the Being above all other beings, the most perfect sanctity,
the most constant truth; this is the infinite, the length, the
breadth, the height and the depth, the glory and its cause, rest
without fatigue, goodness immeasurable.
I understood, that the Most High was
in the quiescent state of his own being, when the three Persons
(according to our way of understanding things), decreed to
communicate his perfections as a free gift. For greater clearness, I
must remark, that God comprehends in Himself all things by one
indivisible, most simple and instantaneous act. He does not go on
from the understanding of one thing to the understanding of another
like we do, distinguishing and perceiving first one thing by an act
of the understanding, and after that proceeding to the knowledge of
others by their connection with those already known. God knows them
conjointly all at once, without before or after, since all are
together and at once contained in the divine and uncreated knowledge
and science, just as they are comprehended and enclosed in his
infinite Being, as in their first beginning.
Although, this divine knowledge is
one, most simple and indivisible, nevertheless since the things which
I see are many, and since there is a certain order, by which some are
first and some come after, it is necessary to divide the knowledge of
God’s intelligence and the knowledge of his will into many
instants, or into many different acts, according as they correspond
to the diverse orders of created things. For as some of the creatures
hold their existence because of others, there is a dependence of one
upon the other. Accordingly we say that God intended and decreed this
before that, the one on account of the other; and that if He had not
desired or included in the science of vision the one, He would not
have desired the other. But by this way of speaking, we must not try
to convey the meaning that God placed many acts of intelligence, or
of the will; rather we must intend merely to indicate, that the
creatures are dependent on each other and that they succeed one
another. In order to be able to comprehend the manner of creation
more easily, we apply the order of things as we see them objectively,
to the acts of the divine intelligence and will in creating them.
I understood, that
this order comprises the following instants. The first instant is:
God recognizing his infinite attributes and perfections together with
the propensity and the ineffable inclination to communicate Himself
outwardly. This knowledge of God as being communicative ad
extra comes first. The majesty of God,
beholding the nature of his infinite perfections, their virtue and
efficacy operating with magnificence, saw, that it was just and most
proper, and, as it were, a duty and a necessity, to communicate
Himself and to follow that inclination of imparting and exercising
his liberality and mercy, by distributing outside of Himself with
magnificence the plenitude of the infinite treasures, contained in
the Divinity. For, being infinite in all things, it is much more
natural that He communicate gifts and graces than that fire should
ascend, or the stone should gravitate towards its center, or that the
sun should diffuse its light. This unfathomable depth of perfections,
this affluence of treasures, this impetuous infinity of riches, is
set in motion by its own inclinations to communicate itself. At the
same time God is in Himself conscious that to distribute gifts and
graces, is not to diminish his riches, but to increase them in the
only possible way, by giving an outlet to the inexhaustible fountain
of his riches.
In this enlightenment and knowledge
which I possess, two things hold my lukewarm heart in wonder and
inflame it unto annihilation. The first is the inclination and urgent
desire, which I see in God, and the strong will, to communicate his
Divinity and the treasures of his grace. The second is the
unspeakable and incomprehensible immensity of the good gifts, which I
see He wishes to distribute according to this degree, assigning them
for this purpose and yet remaining infinite, as if He had not yet
given nothing. In this desire and inclination, which fills his
Majesty I see Him prepared to sanctify, justify, overwhelm with gifts
and perfections all creatures together and each one in particular for
itself. He would be ready to give to each of the creatures more than
what is held by all the angels and seraphim together; even if all the
drops in the ocean and the grains of sand on their shores, all the
stars, the planets and the elements, and all creatures were capable
of reason and of his gifts, they would receive them without measure,
provided they would dispose themselves and place no obstacle toward
receiving them. O fearful malice of sin, which alone is capable of
holding up the impetuous stream of such great and eternal gifts!
The second instant
was to confirm and determine the object and intention of this
communication of the Divinity ad extra,
namely, that it should redound to his greater
glory and to the exaltation of his Majesty and the manifestation of
his greatness. This his own exaltation God saw as the end, for which
he would communicate Himself, make Himself known by his liberality in
the distribution of his attributes, and set in motion his Omnipotence
in order that He might be known, praised and glorified.
The third instant consisted in
selecting and determining the order and arrangement, or the mode of
this communication, so as to realize in an adequate manner the most
exalted ends. The order namely, which it is proper should be
maintained in regard to the communications of the Godhead and its
divine attributes; so that this activity of the Lord may have its
proper reasons and objects, and so that it might proceed with the
most beautiful and admirable sequence, harmony and subordination. In
this instant was decreed first of all, that the Divine Word should
assume flesh and should become visible. The perfection and the
composition of the most holy humanity of Christ our Lord was decreed
and modeled in divine intelligence. Secondarily, also were formed the
ideals of the rest of men in imitation of the First. The divine mind
prearranged the harmony and adornment of the human nature composed of
an organic body and a vivifying soul, endowed with faculties to know
and enjoy its Creator, to discern between good and evil, and with a
free will to love that same Lord.
The fourth instant was to determine the gifts and
graces, which were to be conferred upon the humanity of Christ, our
Lord, in union with the Divinity. Here the Most High opened the
liberal hands of his Omnipotence and his other attributes, in order
to enrich the most sacred humanity and the soul of Christ with the
highest possible plenitude of his gifts and graces. Then was
fulfilled what afterward David said: “The stream of the river
maketh the city of God joyful” (Ps. 45, 5). When the stream of
his gifts flowed toward the humanity of the Word, communicating to it
all the infused science, the grace and goodness of which his blessed
soul was capable of grace and glory, in order that from this
impetuous stream they might partake in the manner in which it
afterwards really happened.
To this instant also, and, as it
were, in natural sequence, pertain the decree and predestination of
the Mother of the Divine Word incarnate; for here, I understand, was
ordained that pure Creature before aught else whatever. Thus, before
all other creatures, was She conceived in the divine mind, in such
manner and such state as befitted and became the dignity, excellence
and gifts of the humanity of her most holy Son. To her flowed over,
at once and immediately, the river of the Divinity and its attributes
with all its impetuousity, in as far as a mere creature is capable
and as is due to the dignity of the Mother of God.
In the knowledge of these exalted mysteries and
decrees, I confess myself ravished in admiration and transported
beyond my proper self. Perceiving this most holy and pure Creature
formed and conceived in the divine mind from the beginning and before
all the ages, I joyously and exultingly magnify the Omnipotent for
the admirable and mysterious decree, by which He formed for us such a
pure and grand, such a mysterious and godlike Creature, worthy rather
to be admired and praised by all beings, than to be described by any
one. In my admiration I can say with St. Dionysius the Areopagite:
“If faith would not instruct me, and if the understanding of
what I see would not teach me, that it is God, who has conceived her
in his mind, and who alone could and can in his Omnipotence form such
an image of his Divinity, if this all were not present to my mind, I
might begin to doubt, whether the Virgin Mother contain not in
Herself Divinity.”
O what tears flowed from my eyes, and
what sorrowful astonishment possessed my soul, to see that divine
prodigy not acknowledged and that wonder of the Most High not
manifest to all the mortals. Much is known of it, but much more is
unknown, as this sealed book has not been opened. I am ravished in
the perception of this tabernacle of God, and I perceive that the
Author of it is more admirable in her creation, than in that of all
the rest of the world, although the diversity of the creatures
manifests the wonderful power of their Creator. In this Queen alone
are comprehended and contained more treasures than in all the rest of
things joined together, and the variety and preciousness of her
riches honor the Lord above all the multitudes of the other
creatures.
Here (according to our way of
understanding) the promise and, as it were, the contract was made
with the Word as to the degree of sanctity, and perfection and the
gifts and graces, which were to be possessed by Mary his Mother. Also
as to the protection, support and defense, which was to be provided
for this true City of God, in which his Majesty contemplated the
graces and merits, which She earned for Herself, as well as the
fruits to be gathered for his people by the loving returns, which She
was to make to his Majesty. In the same instant, and as it were in
the third and last place, God determined to create a locality and an
abode, where the incarnate Word and his Mother should converse and
dwell. For them primarily did He create the heaven and earth with its
stars and elements and all that is contained in them. Secondarily the
intention and decree included the creation of the members, of which
Jesus was to be the Head, and of whom He would be the King; in order
that with kingly providence, all the necessary and befitting
arrangements might be made beforehand.
I pass over to the fifth instant, although in
reality I have found that, which I sought. In this fifth decree the
creation of the angelic nature which is more excellent and more like
unto the spiritual being of the Divinity, was determined upon, and at
the same time the division or arrangement of the angelic hosts into
nine choirs and three hierarchies, was provided and decreed. As they
are created first of all for the glory of God, to assist before his
divine Majesty and to know and love Him, so secondarily they are
ordained to assist, glorify and honor, reverence and serve the
deified humanity of the eternal Word, recognizing Him as Head, and
honoring Him also in his Mother, the most holy Mary, Queen of these
same angels. Commission was given to these angels, “to bear
them up in their hands” in all their ways (Ps. 90, 12). In this
instant Christ our Lord earned for them by his infinite merits,
present and foreseen, all the grace, which they were to receive. He
was constituted as their Head, Exemplar and supreme King, of whom
they should be subjects. Even of the number of angels had been
infinite, the merits of Christ our highest Good, would be abundantly
sufficient to supply them all with grace.
To this instant belongs also the
predestination of the good, and the reprobation of the bad angels.
God saw in it, by means of his infinite science, all the works of the
former and of the latter and the propriety of predestinating, by his
free will and by his merciful liberality, those that would obey and
give honor, and of reprobating by his justice those who would rise up
against his Majesty in pride and disobedience on account of their
disordered selflove. In the same instant also was decreed the
creation of the empyrean heaven, for the manifestation of his glory
and the reward of the good; also the earth and the heavenly bodies
for the other creatures; moreover also in the center or depth of the
earth, hell, for the punishment of the bad angels.
In the sixth instant was decreed the
creation of a people and the congregation of men for Christ, who was
already formed in the divine mind and will, and according to his
image and likeness man was to be made, in order, that the incarnate
Word might find brethren, similar but inferior to Himself and a
people of his own nature, of whom He might be the Head. In this
instant was determined the order of creation of the whole human race,
which was to begin from one man and woman and propagate itself, until
the Virgin and her Son should be born in the predestined order. On
account of the merits of Christ our Savior, the graces and gifts were
prearranged, and also original justice, if they would only preserve
it. The fall of Adam was foreseen and in him that of all others,
except of the Queen, who did not enter into this decree. As a remedy,
it was ordained that the most holy humanity should be capable of
suffering. The predestined were chosen by free grace, and the
foreknown were reprobated with exact justice. All that was convenient
and necessary for the conservation of the human race and for
obtaining the end of the Redemption and the Predestination, was
preordained, without interfering with the free will of men; for such
ordainment was more conformable to God’s nature and to divine
equity. There was no injustice done to them, for if with their free
will they could sin, so also could they abstain from sin by means of
grace and the light of reason. God violated the right of no one,
since He forsook no one nor denied to any one that which is
necessary. Since his law is written in the hearts of men, nobody is
excused for not knowing and loving Him as the highest Good of all
creation.
In the perception of these mysteries
I saw with great clearness and force the high motives which caused
God to manifest and magnify Himself and which should induce men to
praise and adore the greatness of the Creator and Redeemer of all. I
also saw how tardy they are in the acknowledgment of these
obligations and in making return for these benefits; and I was made
aware of the complaints and the indignation of the Most High on
account of this forgetfulness. His majesty commanded and exhorted me
not to be guilty of such ingratitude, but to offer Him a sacrifice of
praise, and a new song, and that I magnify Him in the name of all
creatures.
O most high and incomprehensible
Lord! Would that I had the love and perfections of all the angels and
the just in order to confess and praise worthily thy greatness! I
acknowledge, great and mighty Lord, that such a vile creature as I
cannot merit the memorable benefit of receiving this clear and
exalted knowledge and light concerning thy exalted Majesty. At the
sight of thy greatness I perceive my littleness, which before that
happy hour was unknown to me; and I was ignorant of the greatness and
excellence of the virtue of humility, which is learnt in this
science. I do not wish to say that I now possess that virtue, but
neither can I deny that I have been shown the certain path which
leads to it. Thy light, O most high Lord, illumines me and thy lamp
shows me the paths (Ps. 118, 105), so that I see what I have been and
what I am, and fear what I may become to be. Thou hast lighted up,
most high King, my understanding and inflamed my will with its most
exalted object.
Book 1, Chapter 3
CREATION OF THE ANGELS AND THE FALL OF LUCIFER
The Cause of all causes is God, who
created all things that have being. His powerful arm gave existence
to all his wonderful works ad extra when and how He chose. The
beginning and succession of the work of Creation is described by
Moses in the opening chapter of Genesis. Since the Lord has given me
an understanding thereof, I will mention what I think useful for
elucidating the mysterious origin of the Incarnation of the Word and
of our Redemption.
The words of the first chapter of
Genesis are as follows:
1.”In the beginning God created heaven and
earth.”
2.”And the earth was void and empty, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved
over the waters.”
3.”And God said: Be light made. And light
was made.”
4.”And God saw the light that it was good;
and be divided the light from the darkness.”
5. “And he called the light day, and the
darkness night; and there was evening and morning one day,”
etc.
Of the first day Moses says that “In the
beginning God created heaven and earth.” He created heaven for
angels and men; and the earth as a place of pilgrimage for mortals.
These places are so adapted to their end and so perfect, that as
David says of them, the heavens publish the glory of the Lord, the
firmament and the earth announce the glory of the work of his hands
(Ps. 18, 2).
The angels were created in the
empyrean heavens and in the state of grace by which they might be
first to merit the reward of glory. For although they were in the
midst of glory, the Divinity itself was not to be made manifest to
them face to face and unveiled, until they should have merited such a
favor by obeying the divine will. The holy angels, as well as the bad
ones, remained only a very short time in the state of probation; for
their creation and probation with its result were three distinct
instants or moments, separated by short intermissions. In the first
instant they were all created and endowed with graces and gifts,
coming into existence as most beautiful and perfect creatures. Then
followed a short pause, during which the will of the Creator was
propounded and intimated, and the law and command was given to them,
to acknowledge Him as their Maker and supreme Lord, and to fulfill
the end for which they have been created. During this pause, instant
or interval, Saint Michael and his angels fought that great battle
with the dragon and his followers, which is described by the apostle
Saint John in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse. The good angels,
persevering in grace, merited eternal happiness and the disobedient
ones, rebelling against God, merited the punishment, which they now
suffer.
At first they received a more
explicit intelligence of the being of God, one in substance, trine in
person, and that they were commanded to adore and reverence Him as
their Creator and highest Lord, infinite in his essence and
attributes. All subjected themselves to this command and obeyed it,
but with a certain difference; the good angels obeyed through love
and on account of the justice of it, offering their love and good
will, freely and admitting and believing what was above their
intelligence, and obeying with joy. Lucifer, on the other hand,
submitted himself, because the opposite seemed to him impossible. He
did not do it with perfect charity, for he, as it were, was divided
in his will between himself and the infallible truth of the Lord. In
consequence it happened that the precept appeared to him in a measure
difficult and violent, and his fulfilling of it was wanting in love
and in the desire to do justice. Thus he exposed himself beforehand
to the danger of not persevering. Although grace did not leave him on
account of this remissness and slowness in the accomplishment of
these first acts, nevertheless his bad disposition began with them;
for there remained with him a certain weakness and laxity of virtue
and spirit, and the perfection of his nature did not shine forth as
it should. It appears to me that the effect of this remissness in
Lucifer, is similar to that which is caused in the soul by a
deliberate venial sin. I do not say that he sinned mortally, nor even
venially at that time, since he fulfilled the precept of God; but
this fulfillment was remiss and imperfect, springing more from a
sense of overwhelming compulsion, than from a loving willingness to
obey. Thus he put himself in danger of falling.
In the second place, the angels were
informed that God was to create a human nature and reasoning
creatures lower than themselves, in order that they too should love,
fear and reverence God, as their Author and eternal Good. They were
informed that these were to stand in high favor, and that the second
Person of the blessed Trinity was to become incarnate and assume
their nature, raising it to the hypostatic union and to divine
Personality; that therefore they were to acknowledge Him as their
Head, not only as God, but as God and man, adoring Him and
reverencing Him as God–man. Moreover, these same angels were to
be his inferiors in dignity and grace and were to be his servants.
God gave them an intelligence of the propriety and equity, of the
justice and reasonableness of such a position. For the acceptation of
the merits foreseen of this Mangod was exhibited to them as the
source of the grace which they now possessed and of the glory which
they were to obtain. They understood also that they themselves had
been, and all the rest of the creatures should be created for his
glory, and that He was to be their Head. All those that were capable
of knowing and enjoying God, were to be the people of the Son of God,
to know and reverence Him as their Chief. These commands were at once
given to the angels.
To this command all the obedient and
holy angels submitted themselves and they gave their full assent and
acknowledgment with an humble and loving subjection of the will. But
Lucifer, full of envy and pride, resisted and induced his followers
to resist likewise, as they in reality did, preferring to follow him
and disobey the divine command. This wicked prince persuaded them,
that he would be their chief and that he would set up a government
independent and separate from Christ. So great was the blindness
which envy and pride could cause in an angel, and so pernicious was
the infection that the contagion of sin spread among innumerable
other angels.
Then happened that great battle in
heaven, which St. John describes (Apoc. 12). For the obedient and
holy angels, filled with an ardent desire of hastening the glory of
the Most High and the honor of the incarnate Word, to resist and
contradict the dragon, and the permission was granted. But also
another mystery was concealed in all this: When it was revealed to
the angels that they would have to obey the incarnate Word, another,
a third precept was given them, namely, that they were to admit as a
superior conjointly with Him, a Woman, in whose womb the Only
begotten of the Father was to assume flesh and that this Woman was to
be the Queen and Mistress of all the creatures. The good angels by
obeying this command of the Lord, with still increasing and more
alert humility, freely subjected themselves, praising the power and
the mysteries of the Most High. Lucifer, however, and his
confederates, rose to a higher pitch of pride and boastful insolence.
In disorderly fury he aspired to be himself the head of all the human
race and of the angelic orders, and if there was to be a hypostatic
union, he demanded that it be consummated in him.
The decree constituting him inferior to the Mother
of the Incarnate Word, our Mistress, he opposed with horrible
blasphemies. Turning against the Author of these great wonders in
unbridled indignation and calling upon the other angels, he exhorted
them, saying: “Unjust are these commands and injury is done to
my greatness; this human nature which Thou, Lord, lookest upon with
so much love and which thou favorest so highly, I will persecute and
destroy. To this end I will direct all my power and all my
aspirations. And this Woman, Mother of the Word, I will hurl from the
position in which Thou hast proposed to place Her, and at my hands,
the plan, which Thou settest up, shall come to naught.”
This proud boast so aroused the indignation of the
Lord that in order to humble it, He spoke to Lucifer: “This
Woman whom thou refusest to honor, shall crush thy head and by Her
shalt thou be vanquished and annihilated (Gen. 3, 15). And if,
through thy pride, death enters into the world (Wis. 2, 24), life and
salvation of mortals shall enter through the humility of this Woman.
Those that are of the nature and likeness of that Man and Woman,
shall enjoy the gifts and the crowns, which thou and thy followers
have lost.” To all this the dragon, filled with indignation
against whatever he understood of the divine will and decrees,
answered only with pride and by threatening destruction to the whole
human race. The good angels saw the just indignation of the Most High
against Lucifer and his apostates and they combated them with the
arms of the understanding, reason and truth.
The Almighty at this conjuncture
worked another wonderful mystery. Having given to all the angels a
sufficiently clear intelligence of the hypostatic Union, He showed
them the image of the most holy Virgin by means of an imaginary
vision (I speak here according to our way of understanding such
things). They were shown the perfection of the human nature in the
revelation of an image representing a most perfect Woman, in whom the
almighty arm of the Most High would work more wonderfully than in all
the rest of the creatures. For therein He was to deposit the graces
and gifts of his right hand in a higher and more eminent manner. This
sign or vision of the Queen of heaven and of the Mother of the
incarnate Word was made known and manifest to all the angels, good
and bad. The good ones at the sign of it broke forth in admiration
and in canticles of praise and from that time on began to defend the
honor of the God incarnate and of his holy Mother, being armed with
ardent zeal and with the invincible shield of that vision. The dragon
and his allies on the contrary conceived implacable hatred and fury
against Christ and his most holy Mother. Then happened all that which
is described in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, which I will
explain, as far as it has been given me.
The literal version of that chapter
of the Apocalypse is as follows:
1. “And a great sign appeared in heaven: A
woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her
head a crown of twelve stars:
2. And being with child, she cried
travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.
3. And there was seen another sign in
heaven; and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten
horns; and on his head seven diadems.
4. And his tail drew the third part
of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth and the dragon
stood before the woman, who was ready to be delivered; that, when she
should be delivered, he might devour her son.
5. And she brought forth a man–child,
who was to rule all nations with an iron rod; and her son was taken
up to God, and to his throne.
6. And the woman fled into the
wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, that there they
should feed her a thousand two hundred and sixty days.
7. And there was a great battle in
heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon
fought and his angels.
8. And they prevailed not, neither
was their place found any more in heaven.
9. And the dragon was cast out, that
old serpent, who is called the devil and satan, who seduceth the
whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were
thrown down with him.
10. And I heard a loud voice saying:
Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and
the power of his Christ; because the accuser of our brethren is cast
forth, who accused them before our God day and night.
11. And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony, and they loved
not their lives unto death.
12. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and
you that dwell therein. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the
devil is come down unto you, having a great wrath and knowing that he
hath but a short time.
13. And when the dragon saw that he
was cast unto the earth he persecuted the woman, who brought forth
the man–child:
14. And there were given to the woman
two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the desert unto
her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a
time, from the face of the serpent.
15. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth after the woman, water as if it were a river, that he might
cause her to be carried away by the river.
16. And the earth helped the woman
and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed the river, which the
dragon cast out of his mouth.
17. And the dragon was angry against
the woman and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep
the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
18. And he stood upon the sands of the sea.”
Next Week: Book 1 Chapters 4-6.
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Catholic Catechism
PART THREE - THE LIFE OF THE CHRIST
SECTION ONE - MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER THREE - GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE
ARTICLE THREE - MORAL LAW
CHAPTER THREE - GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE
1949 Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him:
- Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.1
ARTICLE - THE MORAL LAW
1950 The moral law is the work of divine Wisdom. Its biblical meaning can be defined as fatherly instruction, God's pedagogy. It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God and his love. It is at once firm in its precepts and, in its promises, worthy of love.
1951 Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good. The moral law presupposes the rational order, established among creatures for their good and to serve their final end, by the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator. All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law. Law is declared and established by reason as a participation in the providence of the living God, Creator and Redeemer of all. "Such an ordinance of reason is what one calls law."2
- Alone among all animate beings, man can boast of having been counted worthy to receive a law from God: as an animal endowed with reason, capable of understanding and discernment, he is to govern his conduct by using his freedom and reason, in obedience to the One who has entrusted everything to him.3
1953 The moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ. Jesus Christ is in person the way of perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God: "For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified."4
I. THE NATURAL MORAL LAW
1954 Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie:
- The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin . . . But this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted.5
- Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring.7 The natural law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation.8
- For there is a true law: right reason. It is in conformity with nature, is diffused among all men, and is immutable and eternal; its orders summon to duty; its prohibitions turn away from offense . . . . To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege; failure to apply even one of its provisions is forbidden; no one can abrogate it entirely.9
1958 The natural law is immutable and permanent throughout the variations of history;10 it subsists under the flux of ideas and customs and supports their progress. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. Even when it is rejected in its very principles, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises again in the life of individuals and societies:
- Theft is surely punished by your law, O Lord, and by the law that is written in the human heart, the law that iniquity itself does not efface.11
1960 The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In the present situation sinful man needs grace and revelation so moral and religious truths may be known "by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error."12 The natural law provides revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit.
II. THE OLD LAW
1961 God, our Creator and Redeemer, chose Israel for himself to be his people and revealed his Law to them, thus preparing for the coming of Christ. The Law of Moses expresses many truths naturally accessible to reason. These are stated and authenticated within the covenant of salvation.
1962 The Old Law is the first stage of revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments. The precepts of the Decalogue lay the foundations for the vocation of man fashioned in the image of God; they prohibit what is contrary to the love of God and neighbor and prescribe what is essential to it. The Decalogue is a light offered to the conscience of every man to make God's call and ways known to him and to protect him against evil:
- God wrote on the tables of the Law what men did not read in their hearts.13
1964 The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel. "The Law is a pedagogy and a prophecy of things to come."17 It prophesies and presages the work of liberation from sin which will be fulfilled in Christ: it provides the New Testament with images, "types," and symbols for expressing the life according to the Spirit. Finally, the Law is completed by the teaching of the sapiential books and the prophets which set its course toward the New Covenant and the Kingdom of heaven.
- There were . . . under the regimen of
the Old Covenant, people who possessed the charity and grace of the Holy
Spirit and longed above all for the spiritual and eternal promises by
which they were associated with the New Law. Conversely, there exist
carnal men under the New Covenant still distanced from the perfection of
the New Law: the fear of punishment and certain temporal promises have
been necessary, even under the New Covenant, to incite them to virtuous
works. In any case, even though the Old Law prescribed charity, it did
not give the Holy Spirit, through whom "God's charity has been poured
into our hearts."18
1965 The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the work of the Holy Spirit and through him it becomes the interior law of charity: "I will establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel. . . . I will put my laws into their hands, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."19
1966 The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given to the faithful through faith in Christ. It works through charity; it uses the Sermon on the Mount to teach us what must be done and makes use of the sacraments to give us the grace to do it:
- If anyone should meditate with devotion and perspicacity on the sermon our Lord gave on the mount, as we read in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, he will doubtless find there . . . the perfect way of the Christian life. . . . This sermon contains . . . all the precepts needed to shape one's life.20
1968 The Law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the Law. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral prescriptions of the Old Law, releases their hidden potential and has new demands arise from them: it reveals their entire divine and human truth. It does not add new external precepts, but proceeds to reform the heart, the root of human acts, where man chooses between the pure and the impure,22 where faith, hope, and charity are formed and with them the other virtues. The Gospel thus brings the Law to its fullness through imitation of the perfection of the heavenly Father, through forgiveness of enemies and prayer for persecutors, in emulation of the divine generosity.23
1969 The New Law practices the acts of religion: almsgiving, prayer and fasting, directing them to the "Father who sees in secret," in contrast with the desire to "be seen by men."24 Its prayer is the Our Father.25
1970 The Law of the Gospel requires us to make the decisive choice between "the two ways" and to put into practice the words of the Lord.26 It is summed up in the Golden Rule, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets."27
The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us.28
1971 To the Lord's Sermon on the Mount it is fitting to add the moral catechesis of the apostolic teachings, such as Romans 12-15, 1 Corinthians 12-13, Colossians 3-4, Ephesians 4-5, etc. This doctrine hands on the Lord's teaching with the authority of the apostles, particularly in the presentation of the virtues that flow from faith in Christ and are animated by charity, the principal gift of the Holy Spirit. "Let charity be genuine. . . . Love one another with brotherly affection. . . . Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality."29 This catechesis also teaches us to deal with cases of conscience in the light of our relationship to Christ and to the Church.30
1972 The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear; a law of grace, because it confers the strength of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments; a law of freedom, because it sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law, inclines us to act spontaneously by the prompting of charity and, finally, lets us pass from the condition of a servant who "does not know what his master is doing" to that of a friend of Christ - "For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" - or even to the status of son and heir.31
1973 Besides its precepts, the New Law also includes the evangelical counsels. The traditional distinction between God's commandments and the evangelical counsels is drawn in relation to charity, the perfection of Christian life. The precepts are intended to remove whatever is incompatible with charity. The aim of the counsels is to remove whatever might hinder the development of charity, even if it is not contrary to it.32
1974 The evangelical counsels manifest the living fullness of charity, which is never satisfied with not giving more. They attest its vitality and call forth our spiritual readiness. The perfection of the New Law consists essentially in the precepts of love of God and neighbor. The counsels point out the more direct ways, the readier means, and are to be practiced in keeping with the vocation of each:
- [God] does not want each person to keep all the counsels, but only those appropriate to the diversity of persons, times, opportunities, and strengths, as charity requires; for it is charity, as queen of all virtues, all commandments, all counsels, and, in short, of all laws and all Christian actions that gives to all of them their rank, order, time, and value.33
1975 According to Scripture the Law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude, and proscribes the ways of evil.
1976 "Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one who is in charge of the community" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 90, 4).
1977 Christ is the end of the law (cf. Rom 10:4); only he teaches and bestows the justice of God.
1978 The natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in the image of his Creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person and forms the basis of his fundamental rights and duties.
1979 The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law.
1980 The Old Law is the first stage of revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments.
1981 The Law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts.
1982 The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel.
1983 The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating through charity. It finds expression above all in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount and uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us.
1984 The Law of the Gospel fulfills and surpasses the Old Law and brings it to perfection: its promises, through the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of heaven; its commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts.
1985 The New Law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom.
1986 Besides its precepts the New Law includes the evangelical counsels. "The Church's holiness is fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to his disciples in the Gospel" (LG 42 § 2).
2 Leo XIII, Libertas præstantissimum: AAS 20 (1887/88),597; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II,90,1.
3 Cf. Tertullian, Adv. Marc, 2,4:PL 2,288-289.
4 Rom 10:4.
5 Leo XIII, Libertas praestantissimum, 597.
6 GS 89 § 1.
7 St. Augustine, De Trin. 14,15,21:PL 42,1052.
8 St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. præc. I.
9 Cicero, Rep. III,22,33.
10 Cf. GS 10.
11 St. Augustine, Conf. 2,4,9:PL 32,678.
12 Pius XII, Humani generis: DS 3876; cf. Dei Filius 2: DS 3005.
13 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 57,1:PL 36,673.
14 Cf. Rom 7:12,14,16.
15 Cf. Gal 3:24.
16 Cf. Rom 7.
17 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,15,1:PG 7/1,1012.
18 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II,107,1 ad 2; cf. Rom 5:5.
19 Heb 8:8, 10; cf. Jer 31:31-34.
20 St. Augustine, De serm. Dom. 1,1:PL 34,1229-1230.
21 Cf. Mt 5:17-19.
22 Cf. Mt 15:18-19.
23 Cf. Mt 5:44,48.
24 Cf. Mt 6:1-6; 16-18.
25 Cf. Mt 6:9-13; Lk 11:2-4.
26 Cf. Mt 7:13-14,21-27.
27 Mt 7:12; cf. Lk 6:31.
28 Cf. Jn 15:12; 13:34.
29 Rom 12:9-13.
30 Cf. Rom 14; 1 Cor 5-10.
31 Jn 15:15; cf. Jas 1:25; 2:12; Gal 4:1-7,21-31; Rom 8:15.
32 Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,184,3.
33 St. Francis de Sales, Love of God 8,6.
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Reference
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