APPARITIONS OF OUR LADY AROUND THE WORLD
There
are hundreds of reported apparitions (appearance) of Our Lady around the world of which only a few are approved by Vatican and 2
by Anglican Church and 2 by Coptic Orthodox Church. Others shown below here are
based on legend, reports of individuals or are still awaiting approval.
Vatican Approved Apparitions
Our Lady of Guadalupe -1531(Mexico)
The
1531 apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe was reported by Saint Juan Diego. He
said he saw an early morning vision of the Virgin Mary in which he was
instructed to build an abbey on the Hill of Tepeyac in Mexico. The local prelate did not
believe his account and asked for a miraculous sign, which was later provided
as an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe permanently imprinted on the saint’s cloak
where he had gathered roses. Over the years, Our Lady of Guadalupe became a
symbol of the Catholic faith in Mexico
and the Mexican Diaspora
Our Lady of Laus -1664
(France)
The
apparitions of Our Lady of Laus between 1664 and 1718 in Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, France
by Benoite Rencure, a young shepherdess are the first Marian apparitions to be
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.
Our Lady of the
Miraculous Medal -1830 (Paris-France)
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.
Our Lady of La Salette
-1846 (France)
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 to be
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 -1858 (France)
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 -1871(France)
The apparitions at Our Lady of Pontmain,
France also called Our Lady of Hope were reported in 1871 by a number of young children.
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 -1917 (Portugal)
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
— Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and Pope
Benedict XVI — have supported the Fátima messages as supernatural. Pope 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.
Pope 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.
Our Lady of Beauraing -1932(Belgium)
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 -1933 (Belgium)
The apparitions of Our Lady of Banneux were reported by a young child, a native of Banneux,
Belgium
in the 1930s. They are also known as the Virgin of the Poor. Mariette BecoThe 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 her to be 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.
Our Lady of Akita -1973 (Japan)
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
which continued to weep over the next 6 years on 101 occasions. According to
EWTN, in June 1988 Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) as
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave definitive judgment
on Our Lady of Akita events and messages as reliable and worthy of belief .
(The
following apparitions are also approved by Vatican:-Paris-1830, Rom-1842,
Pellevoisin-1876, Gietrzwald-1877, Knock-1879, Syracuse-1953etc.)
Coptic approved
The following apparitions in Egypt
have been approved by Coptic authorities. For an apparition to be approved, the
Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church sends an official delegation made of
bishops and priests, all of whom must witness the apparition and document
miracles associated with it.
Our Lady of Zeitoun-1968
Our Lady of Zeitoun was a mass Marian apparition that occurred in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, over a period of 2–3 years beginning on
April 2, 1968, in the period after the six day war. It was reportedly witnessed by many
thousands of people, including Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser,
and captured by newspaper photographers and Egyptian television. According to witnesses, the Virgin Mary appeared in different forms
over the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Mary at Zeitoun for a period of
2–3 years. The apparitions lasted from a few minutes up to several hours and
were sometimes accompanied by dove-shaped luminous bodies. The sick and blind
are said to have been cured, and many people converted to Christianity as a result. In a statement dated
May 4, 1968, the Patriarchate of Cairo and Kyrillos VI stated that they
considered the events at Zeitoun as valid, and that they had received many
reports of immediate healings during the reported apparitions.
Our Lady of Assiut -2000
The apparitions of Our Lady of Assiut were also mass apparitions in Assiut,
Egypt during
2000 and 2001 and many thousands of witnesses produced photographs of them,
which were reprinted in several newspapers. The reports state that during mass,
pictures hung on the wall inside the altar, which show St Mary with a dove
above her started to illuminate first, then the light from the dove in the
pictures started to flow down. The lights thereafter appeared above the church
as well and were seen by thousands of people.
The Coptic Church approved of the apparitions.
Anglican approved
Our Lady of Lourdes
The Anglican Communion has officially recognized the apparition of Our Lady
of Lourdes and has built an Anglican Marian Shrine on the location, relatively
close the Roman Catholic shrine. In September 2008 Rowan Williams, the Archbishop
of Canterbury made a pilgrimage to Lourdes
and preached at the shrine.
Our Lady of Walsingham
Father Alfred Hope Patten OSA, appointed as the Church of
England Vicar of Walsingham in 1921, ignited Anglican interest in the
pre-Reformation pilgrimage. It was his idea to create a new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham based on the image depicted on the seal of the medieval priory. In 1922 the statue was set up in the Parish Church of Saint Mary and regular pilgrimage devotion followed. From the first night that the statue was placed there,
people gathered around it to pray, asking Mary to join her prayers with theirs.
In the United States the
National Shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham for the Episcopal Church is located
in Grace Episcopal Church, Sheboygan,
Wisconsin. Our Lady of Walsingham
is remembered by Roman Catholics on 24 September and by Anglicans on 15
October. A parish of the Pastoral Provision named for Our Lady of Walsingham is
in Houston, Texas. A Western Rite Antiochian Orthodox
parish named for Our Lady of Walsingham is in Mesquite, Texas.
Not Approved or Approval is Undocumented or in the Process of Approval
A number of claimed apparition’s
sites which have yet to be 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.
Shrine of Our Lady of Guardia.-Italy
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.
Brazil
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) which 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 which 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.
India
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.
China
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.
Poland
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.
USA
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 to be approved in the United States at the local level.
Italy
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.
Slovakia
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.
Kibeho
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.
USA
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 called Sylvan Springs.
Amsterdam
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.
Slovakia.
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.
Italy
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 much 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 this apparition.
Several apparitions’ 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.
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 has received recognition from the local diocese, but there has been no formal approval from the Holy See. However, the
1973 apparitions of Our Lady of Akita were approved by the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith in 1988, with a faster pace than usual.
