The Earliest Alleged Marian Apparition Dates to… A.D. 40

From http://www.churchpop.com/2015/07/16/the-earliest-alleged-marian-apparition-dates-to-a-d-40/

Our Lady of Guadalupe dates to 1531. Our Lady of Lourdes dates to 1858. Our Lady of Fátima dates to 1917.

The most popular Marian apparitions all occurred in the last few centuries, which, in the greater perspective of Church history, is fairly recent. But there was a whole other millennium and a half of Church history before that. Did Mary only start appearing to people recently?

Not at all! Amazingly, the first alleged Marian apparition dates all the way back to A.D. 40.

Yes, in the first century, just a few years after the Ascension of Jesus.

The story goes that the Apostle St. James the Greater was in modern-day Spain preaching the Gospel, but without great success. After a lot of work, he had only made a few converts, and he was beginning to lose heart. So, on October 12th, A.D. 40, he gathered a small group of his disciplines and started praying.

Suddenly, Mary miraculously appeared to them. She was standing on top of a pillar, surrounded by angels. She assured them that the people to whom they were preaching would eventually be converted and that their faith would be as strong as the pillar she was standing on. She instructed James to build a chapel in that spot, and she then vanished, leaving the pillar where it was, as well as a wooden image of herself atop the pillar where she had stood.

St. James did as he was instructed and built a chapel around the pillar and statue. He then returned to Jerusalem, where he was martyred in A.D. 44.

What makes this story even more incredible is the fact that Mary may have been still living in Ephesus at the time. We don’t know the exact year of her Assumption, but if she was still living in Ephesus, it would mean her appearance may have been an instance of bi-location.

The pillar and statue remain in Spain to this day and can be seen in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. Our Lady of the Pillar is venerated today as the patroness of Spain and the whole Hispanic world.

The current Basilica was built between the 17th and 19th centuries.

As it the case with lots of old stories, it’s hard to tell. Many popes have approved of the devotion and encouraged pilgrims to visit the pillar and statue. But according to theCatholic Encyclopedia, the earliest recorded testimony of the devotion dates back only to the 12th century.

There’s also a dispute about whether or not the current statue is even the original statue (whenever it was first created). Some traditions say the original wooden statue was lost when the church it was in burned down in 1434 and that the current statue is a replica. Others say the statue survived.

The Catholic faith does not stand or fall on the veracity of this particular story. And either way, I think we can be sure that Our Lady loves us and wants us to lead more people to her Son!

Death of Beauraing Visionary Renews Message of Apparition

From http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2015/02/17/death-beauraing-visionary-renews-message-apparition/

The last living visionary from Beauraing, Belgium died on February 10, 2015. I was not surprised Gilberte Degeimbre’s death elicited no coverage in the United States by Catholic writers or Marian enthusiasts. The thirty-three apparitions of Our Lady to five children in Beauraing are virtually unknown to Catholics in the United States. More common to the United States are Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lourdes, or Fatima, given their liturgical celebrations (December 12, February 11, May/October 13/First Saturdays, respectively) or the 1859 apparition in Champion, Wisconsin which received ecclesiastical approval in 2010.

The death of Gilberte, who I had the privilege of meeting in January 2015, provides an occasion to present the message of Our Lady anew. In the messages, we will not find anything different from other apparitions of Our Lady throughout time; it is the same call to prayer, the sacraments, and conversion of life. As we approach the Lenten season, Our Lady’s message encourages us to live Lent more fully in the spirit of prayer and sacrifice.

The Beginning of the Apparitions

On November 29, 1932, two children from the Voisin family, (Fernande and Albert), went to the nearby school to retrieve their sister, Gilberte. Along the way, the two children stopped at the Degeimbre household to see if their friends, Andree and Gilberte, could join them. The four children left the Degeimbre home and continued on their way to the school. After ringing the doorbell, Albert looked toward the railroad bridge and saw a woman walking in the air near the Lourdes grotto. Albert was not alone in seeing the mysterious woman, as Gilberte Voisin, upon leaving the school, did as well. The children reported seeing the woman again on November 30 and December 1. Our Lady did not convey her first message until December 2 and she continued to appear through January 3, 1933. In the course of the apparitions, Our Lady would reveal her Golden Heart and identify herself as the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, and the Queen of Heaven. She also requested the construction of a chapel, because as she stated, she appeared so people would come on pilgrimage.

The Simple Messages

Our Lady appeared to children and spoke very simple messages to them. As we approach the Lenten season, I believe we can see the spirit of Lent through the messages.

Always be good (Dec. 2)

I will convert sinners (Jan. 3)

The first message relayed by Our Lady to the children on December 2 was simple, considered trite by some: “Always be good.” This message coincides well with what Our Lady said in her individual messages to the children during the last apparition on January 3, 1933. To Gilberte Voisin, Our Lady said, “I will convert sinners.”

The conversion of our lives entails being good. It means living a good Christian life, obeying the commandments and loving our neighbor. When we are not good, we recognize this by going to the Sacrament of Penance and seeking out God’s pardon and mercy. Our Lady’s greatest desire in her apparitions throughout time is the conversion of sinners. She wants people to live lives that do not displease her Son. Our Lady’s declaration that she will convert sinners should startle us and call us to greater awareness of the failings in our lives.

Many people who read these words readily accept Our Lady’s apparitions. We go to these holy sites and pray there because of our devotion to Our Lady. But do we allow her message to pierce us the entire way through? Do we allow the message of conversion to sink in totally, that we are willing to experience conversion in thought, word, and deed?

Mary desires to convert sinners, meaning she wants the attitudes of our hearts to change. When we want to speak ill of another, we must realize the need for conversion. When we wish to use curse words—conversion. Our Lady exhorts us to live more consciously of our need every day for conversion. It is not enough to think about conversion; we truly need to change. During our Lenten discipline let us realize the moments that we need conversion and embrace them, so that the words Our Lady speaks, “I will convert sinners,” can be actualized.

Pray. Pray very much. Pray Always.

Our Lady exhorted the children to pray, not once, not twice, but three times and intensified each request. Prayer is communication with God. For many, the word ‘prayer’ is quite limited. We think of prayer as asking God for something or thanking God. These are good places to start, but prayer is meditative and contemplative. It is about conversing with God and listening in the silence of one’s heart for His response. Our Lady wants us to pray because it means we will be in constant relationship with her Son, a constant conversation and dialogue with Jesus. This conversation will begin to guide every moment of our lives, and through that dialogue, we will identify how God wishes for us to be converted.

We are to pray, pray very much, and pray always. Ultimately, we can make our entire day a prayer. This can be done in a simple way each morning by praying a Morning Offering. Our Lady exhorts us to pray—she wants us to pray from the moment we wake to the moment we fall asleep. Each one of us will have to figure out how we can fulfill this request.

Do you love my Son? Do you love me? Then sacrifice yourself for me.

Fernande Voisin received the last words spoken by Our Lady in Beauraing. Mary asked, “Do you love my Son? Do you love me? Then sacrifice yourself for me.” We can make small sacrifices for Our Lord and Blessed Lady by fasting this Lent. But we can sacrifice ourselves in greater ways by serving God in our neighbor. Sacrifice yourself by serving Jesus in the poor, homeless, and the sick. Live the corporal works of mercy. Sacrifice yourself for the good of the other—your spouse, children, and friends. Sacrifice yourself in the vocation you live by emptying yourself of all desires, and filling yourself only with the desires of God. In prayer, when God asks us for conversion, it will mean sacrifice. God will ask us to sacrifice time for prayer. He will ask us to sacrifice things that put up barriers between Him and us. When we sacrifice, we become more fully open and receptive to God’s action in our lives.

Lenten Observation

Our Lenten discipline reminds us of our need for conversion, prayer, and sacrifice. In the apparitions received by the five children of Beauraing, we clearly see these principles. Mary desires the conversion of sinners. As the Mediatrix of Grace, Mary intercedes for the grace of conversion. This Lent, pray for a greater desire to conform your life to Christ. Identify one area to improve. Mary asks us to pray always. How will you pray more this Lent? Consider taking up the recommendation of Pope Francis to read the scriptures and converse with God about them. Mary wants us to make sacrifices. How will you sacrifice yourself this Lent?

Concluding Reflections

During my stay in Beauraing I was struck by the simplicity of Our Lady’s words and the depth of meaning they conveyed. I also had the opportunity to view a documentary about the apparition. When Gilberte Degeimbre (recently deceased visionary) spoke about the apparitions, you could sense the authenticity of what she said. She greatly desired to go home to God. When Gilberte would visit the Hawthorne tree, where Our Lady appeared, she would tell people to close their eyes, because they would see Our Lady better. In death, Gilberte has closed her eyes and she sees again the Queen of Heaven reigning with her Son. Inspired by the example of Gilberte, let us begin to interiorize the message of Our Lady and allow it to take root in our hearts and lives this Lenten season.

External Links:

Interview with Gilberte Degeimbre in French with English Subtitles

Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC is leading a pilgrimage to Beauraing and other holy sites

- See more at: http://www.ignitumtoday.com/2015/02/17/death-beauraing-visionary-renews-message-apparition/#sthash.R9A4jPim.dpuf

December 12th - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

One of the most beautiful series of apparitions of the Queen of Heaven occurred on the American continent on a December day of 1531, only ten years after the Spanish conquest. A fervent Christian Indian in his fifties, Juan Diego, a widower, was on his way to Mass in Mexico City from his home eight miles distant, a practice he and his wife had followed since their conversion, in honor of Our Lady on Her day, Saturday. He had to pass near the hill of Tepeyac, and was struck there by the joyous song of birds, rising up in the most melodious of concerts; he stopped to listen. Looking up to the hilltop, he perceived a brilliant cloud, surrounded by a light brighter than a fiery sun, and a gentle voice called him by name, saying, “Juan, come.”His first fear was transformed into a sweet happiness by this voice, and he mounted the slope. There he beheld the One he had intended to honor by hearing Her Mass. She was surrounded by a radiance so brilliant it sent out rays that seemed to transform the very rocks into scintillating jewels.
“Where are you going, My child?” She asked him. “To Saint James to hear the Mass sung by the minister of the Most High in honor of the Mother of the Saviour.” “That is good, My son; your devotion is agreeable to Me, as is also the humility of your heart. Know then that I am that Virgin Mother of God, Author of Life and Protector of the weak. I desire that a temple be built here, where I will show Myself to be your tender Mother, the Mother of your fellow citizens and of all who invoke My name with confidence. Go to the bishop and tell him faithfully all you have seen and heard.”
Juan continued on his way, and the bishop, Monsignor Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan of great piety and enlightened prudence, heard him kindly and asked questions, but sent him home without any promises. Juan was disappointed, but on his way past the hill, he once again found the Lady, who seemed to be waiting for him as though to console him. He excused himself for the failure of his mission, but She only repeated Her desire to have a temple built at this site, and told him to return again to the bishop. This he did on the following day, begging the bishop to accomplish the desires of the Virgin. Monsignor said to him: “If it is the Most Holy Virgin who sends you, She must prove it; if She wants a church, She must give me a sign of Her will.” On his way home, Juan Diego found Her again, waiting, and She said to him, “Come back tomorrow and I will give you a certain mark of the truthfulness of your words.”
The next day Juan was desolate to find his uncle, with whom he lived, fallen grievously sick; the old gentleman was clearly on the brink of death. Juan had to go and find a priest in the city. As he was passing the hill, Our Lady again appeared to him, saying, “Do not be anxious, Diego, because of your uncle’s illness. Don’t you know that I am your Mother and that you are under My protection? At this moment your uncle is cured.” “Then please give me the sign you told me of,” replied Juan. Mary told him to come up to the hilltop and cut the flowers he would find there, place them under his cloak, and bring them to Her. “I will tell you then what to do next.” Juan found the most beautiful of roses and lilies, and chose the most fragrant ones for Mary. She made a bouquet of them and placed it in a fold of his cloak or tilma — a large square of coarse cloth resembling burlap. “Take these lilies and roses on My behalf to the bishop,” She said. “This is the certain sign of My will. Let there be no delay in raising here a temple in My honor.” With joy Juan continued on to the city and the bishop’s residence, where he had to wait nearly all day in the antechamber. Other visitors noted the fragrance of his flowers, and went so far as to open his mantle to see what he was carefully holding in it, but found only flowers pictured on the cloth. When finally he was admitted to the presence of the prelate, he opened his cloak and the fresh flowers fell on the floor. That was not the only sign; on his cloak there was imprinted a beautiful image of the Virgin. It remains today still visible in the Cathedral of Mexico City, conserved under glass and in its original state, having undergone no degeneration in 470 years.
Juan found his uncle entirely cured that evening; he heard him relate that Our Lady had cured him, and had said to him also: “May a sanctuary be raised for Me under the name of Our Lady of Guadalupe.” The bishop lost no time in having a small church built at the hill of Tepeyac, and Juan Diego himself dwelt near there to answer the inquiries of the pilgrims who came in great numbers. In effect, nearly all of the land became Catholic in a few years’ time, having learned to love the gentle Lady who like God their Father showed Herself to be the ever-watchful friend of the poor. In 1737 the pestilence ceased immediately in Mexico city after the inhabitants made a vow to proclaim Our Lady of Guadalupe the principal Patroness of New Spain. In 1910 She was proclaimed by Saint Pius X “Celestial Patroness of all Latin America.”
Source: Message MTimes New Roman, by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (FEC Press: Montreal, 1947).

The Authentic Message of La Salette

See http://www.arcaneknowledge.org/catholic/lasalette.htm

Kibeho in Rwanda: Africa’s only site where Virgin Mary has appeared

See http://www.newsofrwanda.com/featured1/20993/kibeho-in-rwanda-africas-only-site-where-virgin-mary-has-appeared/

England's Unknown Marian Apparition: Our Lady of Walsingham

Canterbury Tales September 25, 2012:

Most Catholics know of France's famous Marian apparitions, such as those at Lourdes and Rue du Bac, and also the greater Marian apparition sites such as the one at Fatima, Portugal or Guadalupe, Mexico.
England's once famous shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is not as well known due to the onset of Protestantism in the 1500s. Thankfully, the apparition is receiving greater devotion due to the efforts of Catholics and Anglicans with a love for the Blessed Virgin.
The tradition of Our Lady of Walsingham began with an apparition of the Immaculate Mother of God  to Richeldis de Faverches, a Catholic English noblewoman, in 1061 in the village of Walsingham in Norfolk, England.
The Mother of God revealed the archetectural plans of the Holy House of the Holy Family in Nazareth and she asked Lady Richeldis to build the house as a shrine and place of pilgrimage.
The Holy House of Walsingham was an exact copy of of the home in which the Annunciation occurred. The chapel was founded in the time of Edward the Confessor, about 1053, the earliest deeds naming Richeldis, the mother of Geoffrey of Favraches as the founder. In 1169, Geoffrey granted 'to God and St. Mary and to Edwy his clerk the chapel of our Lady' which his mother had founded at Walsingham with the intention that Edwy should found a priory. These gifts were, shortly afterwards, confirmed to the Austin Canons of Walsingham by Robert de Brucurt and Roger, earl of Clare.
By 1500, Our Lady of Walsingham had become one of the greatest religious centres in England, and Europe, together with Glastonbury and Canterbury. It became the third most popular place of pilgrimage next to Rome and Compostella, Spain.
The suppression of Walsingham came late in 1538. The Protestant bishop Latimer wrote of the image of Mary that "She hath been the Devil's instrument, I fear, to bring many to eternal fire; now she herself with her older sister of Walsingham, her younger sister of Ipswich, and their two sisters of Doncaster and Penrhys will make a jolly muster in Smithfield. They would not be all day in burning". Horrid words that reveal the hate of early Anglicans for images and for the Blessed Virgin.
King Henry VIII approved for the image of Our Lady of Walsingham to be burned. This confirms that Henry VIII was an impious and perfidious tyrant. Those who claim that Henry VIII remained Catholic "in his heart" are deceived. He was a murderous and adulterous man who mocked the papacy.
"It was the month of July, the images of Our Lady of Walsingham and Ipswich were brought up to London with all the jewels that hung around them, at the King's commandment, and divers other images, both in England and Wales, that were used for common pilgrimage...and they were burnt at Chelsea by my Lord Privy Seal".
In 1897 Pope Leo XIII re-established the restored 14th century Slipper Chapel as a Roman Catholic shrine, now the centre of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. The Holy House had been rebuilt at the Church of the Annunciation at King's Lynn.
There is a prophecy that when England returns to Our Lady of Walsingham, Our Lady will return to England. It seems, then, that this Marian shrine is intimately associated with the spiritual health of Merry Ol' England.
Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

The Guadalupe Story

The traditional story of Guadalupe, translated from the original Nahuatl language of the Aztecs 

See  http://www.trappistabbey.org/index_Guad_Story.html#1

APPEARANCE OF MARY ESTABLISHING SCAPULAR OCCURRED IN FLURRY OF HOLY WONDERS

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/scapular.htm

There were great holy men and there was much mysticism during the medieval period, particularly in the 1200s. If St. Dominic and St. Francis in themselves were enough to make this a special period, the extraordinary thing was that the episode of great wonders was only beginning. No longer were there only the one-shot sightings of Mary, as was the case most of the time, since her first apparition in Spain (in the first century). 

By the Middle Ages there were plenty of people experiencing multiple or "serial" apparitions and as usual Mary seemed to favor the humble but appeared to people of all persuasion. Among the new seers were Pope Honorius III, Queen Helene of France, and Princess Ermesinde of Luxembourg. The princess's occurrence took place near a clear spring (or clairefontaine) that gave the area its name. Clairefontaine wasn't far from Luxembourg and had been blessed by Saint Bernard on a journey through the area six decades before. Apparently it was known even then as a place of sacred marvels, the sparkling water running past luxuriant foliage in a delightful stream. 

It was in this charming valley that Princess Ermesinde, recovering from the recent death of her husband, was meditating under a tufted oak when she had her vision. It was an experience that would inspire erection of a convent dedicated to the Heart of Jesus. Some say she was dozing, others that she was awake and sitting. Whether a vision or apparition, what she saw was the sky "open" and a woman of incomparable grace descend on a fleecy white cloud. The woman was Mary, holding Jesus. She approached the princess and stationed herself by the stream. Around her was a flock of unearthly white lambs. As they gathered she smiled at the animals and caressed them. On their back they bore unusual and unforgettable black crosses but the most striking feature was the Child, Who was of such beauty that Ermesinde felt there could be no equal in the world.   

While Ermesinde's experience, if it occurred with her eyes closed, in a sleeping state, was technically more a "vision" (and a fleeting one at that, lasting but a few moments), there were many other instances at this same time, at this important historical juncture, that were experienced in a fully wakeful state or that left physical evidence. Such was the case in Spain of a young shepherd named Francisco Alvarez who lived on the outskirts of Alcaraz and whose case typified many of Mary's appearances during this particular period. One afternoon Alvarez, who had a badly crippled arm, was dozing at the foot of an ancient holm-oak when he awoke at the sudden rustling noise of his cattle, which were trying to flee the area. The same thing happened the next day. They were being spooked by something. When Alvarez finally saw why, it took away his breath: A strange and intense light was emanating from the holm-oak and stranger still was the sound of sweet music. (Recall that a holm-oak would later be the site of the Fatima apparitions.)

Overcome, Alvarez fell into sort of a faint and when he recovered noticed that the light was gone -- replaced by a statue of Mary nursing Jesus. The image, which may have been hidden in the tree during the Moslem invasions, spoke to Alvarez, requesting the townsfolk to build a chapel. When the herdsman expressed concern that no one would believe his story, he was told to extend his useless arm and it was immediately healed. That case was more the combination of locution and statue phenomena, which were by far the most frequent manifestations, but of most interest remained visions or apparitions. While visions could be symbolic manifestations or like a dream, apparitions were living images seen with the physical eyes and often Mary was not transparent or ephemeral but a corporeal apparition, meaning she had tangible aspects.
  
She seemed physically present. She could touch a seer. She appeared to a man we know as Blessed Reginald of Saint-Gilles while he was in Rome and anointed his eyes, ears, hands, and feet, which brought him out of a serious illness. She had also appeared to Anthony of Padua in 1221 encouraging him when he was challenged about her Immaculate Conception ("My son, feel assured that I was born without sin") and her visit to Pope Honorius had come in 1226, when she told him to ignore a group of cardinals who were opposed to establishment of the Carmelite Order. 
In like fashion she appeared at least twice to Albert the Great, who as a youth had been an untalented, even "dim-witted" student but who through the Rosary, through beseeching Christ and Mary, was granted the gift of intelligence -- miraculously illumined -- and went on to become an authority on physics, astronomy, chemistry, and biology, such a natural scientist that there were those who would soon compare him to the great Roger Bacon. (He also excelled at philosophy and when he went to Cologne, Thomas Aquinas was among his pupils.) 

In 1225 there was also testimony that Mary had been seen at a grave accompanying a young deceased boy's soul as it sailed skyward and she appeared to a Dutch woman named Lutgardis who experienced stigmata (specks of blood as if from a crown of thorns) on her forehead. The standard apparition was to those whose names were lost to history or who attained the merest of footnotes. In Kiev there was a missionary known as Hyacinth who in 1231 was beginning Mass when word came of an attack by a tribe of Mongols. The Tartars had suddenly burst into the city and their mission was to destroy everything and everybody. There was no choice but to take immediate flight and still dressed in his vestments, Hyacinth grabbed the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle and was ready to leave when he heard an inexplicable voice. It seemed to come from an alabaster statue. "Hyacinth, my son, said Mary. "Are you going to leave me behind to be trampled underfoot by the Tartars? Take me with you."
"How can I?" protested Hyacinth. "Thy image is too heavy!" 
"Take me nonetheless," beseeched Mary. "My Son will lighten the burden." Somehow Hyacinth grabbed the large statue with one arm while carrying the Blessed Sacrament with the other and in that way did he escape the raging flames of Kiev. 

We see then that Mary spoke several ways, sometimes while she was seen, sometimes in a pure locution, sometimes in a nonverbal fashion, and sometimes through statues. Her very presence said that mankind was in great need and again hinted at chastisement. Flame. Fire. Disease. There were already so many warnings. They indicated big trouble as the Church stumbled into worldliness and sexual scandal (more and more notorious in the monasteries) and as society as a whole headed toward the error of materialism, underscored by Mary's tremendous appearance to seven wealthy merchants in Florence. This rarity -- a simultaneous apparition to a group of people -- occurred on August 15, 1233, as the merchants, devout if caught up in money, were in thanksgiving after Communion. It was at that time that each saw a bright light encompassing the Queen of Heaven and her angels. "Leave the world and retire together into solitude in order to fight yourselves," said the Blessed Virgin. "Live wholly for God. You will thus experience heavenly consolations." 

After another apparition in May of 1234 the seven men set up a crude hermitage on Monte Scenario and then on April 13, 1240, which was Good Friday and also the Feast of the Annunciation, Mary appeared a third time bearing a black habit, a book, a scroll, and palms. "Beloved and elect servants, I have come to grant your prayers. Here is the habit which I wish you to wear henceforth. It is black that it may always remind you of the keen sorrows which I experienced through my Son's Crucifixion and death. This scroll bearing the words `Servants of Mary' indicates the name by which you are to be known. This book contains the Rule of Saint Augustine. By following it you will gain these palms in heaven, if you serve me faithfully on earth."

That was the start of the Order of Servites. There was also the Order of Mercy, which was likewise inspired by a simultaneous vision. That case involved three men, Peter of Nolasco, Raymond of Pennaforte (the most competent authority on canon law at that time), and King James I of Aragon in Spain, who all saw Mary on the same night but from what I can tell in different places. According to the literature she instructed them to work together to form an order whose purpose would be the ransoming or rescue of Christians who had been captured by the Moors. The three men heeded her request and one evening as King James sought a location to house the order, he was astonished to see seven unusually bright stars hovering over a hillock. It brought to mind the seven stars representing angels in Revelation 1:16 and all the countryside witnessed it. This was a place called Puig. When James directed workmen to the site, they found another of those hidden images of Mary, shielded in a bell!  

Then there was the great revelation to Simon Stock. This was a classic, corporeal apparition. A holy hermit whose father had been Lord of Kent, Simon at age 47 had entered the Carmelite Order and was sent to the order's very root, Mount Carmel in Israel. Located in the northern part of that country between Megiddo and Tyre, Carmel stood as a testimony to many generations of mankind. There, along the sparkling Mediterranean, its caves had been the habitat for ancestors who began with the prehistoric forebears known as homo erectus and went through the Neanderthal phase and then an Amudian phase linked to the emergence of modern homo sapiens.

It was a treasure trove for archeologists but more important was its spiritual history. Mount Carmel was where Elijah called down the fire, ordered death for the prophets of Baal, and then went up to the top of the mount, telling his servant seven times to look out to the sea. When he finally did the servant saw the unusual sight of "a cloud as small as a man's hand" rising from the water (1 Kings 18:44) in a way that reminds us of the puffs or billows of cloud associated with the Virgin. Indeed, the Carmelites would later claim the cloud (which of course was many centuries before her birth) was Mary's forerunner or "prefigurement," and whether or not that's true it was a very holy place and dedicated to Mary by ancient hermits. Simon was so impressed by the holy men, whose existence was uncovered by the Crusaders, that he joined the order and was soon their leader (based along the Medway River in England). But more than an administrator Simon Stock was a visionary. His most famous apparition and one of the most important in history came during a night of prayer on July 16, 1251, when his cell was flooded with a great light bearing the Blessed Mother, who held the Infant and also a sleeveless brown outer garment that was to be known as the scapular. It was a broad piece of cloth that went around a monk's head and became the Carmelite habit (later modified for laymen as a string with cloth squares). And it too indicated special times. It too indicated the need for protection. And it was protection that Mary promised. As Simon himself recounted, "She appeared to me with a great company, and holding the habit of the order said, 'This will be for you and for all Carmelites a privilege. He who dies in this will not suffer eternal fire.'"

Our Lady of China

From  http://www.indefenseofthecross.com/Lady_of_China.htm

Our Lady of China is the name given to an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Donglu, China, first appearing in 1900.

The mother of Christ appeared in China showing herself as the protector and defender for helpless and the righteous.  The significance of this apparition is just being realized now... as China begins to take center stage in the Global World and Economy.

Mary hopes for a China that could become a shiny beacon of light, a nation where the family is valued, where all Life is protected and the Chinese people have the right to freely worship the great God Almighty.  China could become the hope of the world.

On the other hand, If China went down a different path - one of darkness and persecution - then God himself would send his army to protect his beloved children.

An officially-sanctioned image of Our Lady of China was blessed, granted and promulgated by Pope Pius XI in 1928, in response to the requests made by the 1924 Shanghai Synod of Bishops in China, the first national conference of bishops in the country. Following the event, Archbishop Celso Costantini, Apostolic Delegate in China, along with all the bishops of China, declared the Chinese people dedicated to Our Lady of China, using the official image. In 1941, Pope Pius XII designated the feast day as an official feast of the Catholic liturgical calendar. In 1973, following the Second Vatican Council, the Chinese Bishops conference, upon approval from the Holy See, placed the feast day on the vigil (day preceding) of Mothers Day (the second Sunday of May).

Christian devotion to Our Lady of China has been popular in Donglu.

Several churches, chapels, and pastoral centers around the world, predominantly those focused on ministry to Chinese-speaking Catholics, have adopted the name, including a mission in Washington, DC. There is a Chapel of Our Lady of China in the National Shrine of the United States in Washington, DC, established and dedicated in 2002 under the Most Rev. Michael J. Bransfield. There has been some controversy because the image used in the Chapel is not the officially approved image of Our Lady of China, but instead a different Chinese image of the Virgin Mary.

The Virgin of Sheshan is another, similar apparition which has attained like acclamation and fame among Chinese Christians.

Our Lady of China appeared near Peiping. It stands in a village named Tong Lu. A Poor Mission was started there by the Vincentian Fathers. It was a poor place, perhaps the poorest in the whole region, formerly called "the place of beggars." In 1900, there were some seven hundred Christians gathered about the little hamlet. Suddenly, the famous Boxer rebellion swept China and grew to such proportions, that even small places like Tong Lu could not escape its fury. In April 1900, a force of ten thousand rioters attacked Tong Lu. The soldiers, in senseless rage, started to shoot into the sky. Then suddenly they fled, frightened, and never came back again. According to the legend, a woman in white appeared above the settlement, and the rioters' bullets were aimed at her. When the apparition did not fade, attackers had not even time to reorganize because a strange horseman put them to flight. Soon after they had disappeared beyond the horizon. Father Wu, a Chinese priest, confessed to his flock that he invoked the help of Mary. A new church was built on the site and Father Wu placed a picture of Our Lady on the main altar. He asked the painter to dress Our Lady in the royal robes of the dowager Empress Tzi-Hsi. The image of the Blessed Virgin in the royal robes of the pagan Empress, with the Christ Child on her knees, is vivid expression of Chinese tradition. It is a shrine of the Mother and her Son. Though her robes be pagan, she belongs to every age, to all people and to every race. As was told and promised in the Old Testament: "I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge and of holy hope."

The Tong Lu church was completely destroyed recently by the Chinese Communists, but the picture of Our Lady of China remains intact because only a copy of the picture was used in the church. The original was hidden in the wall behind the copy, and this was recovered and found intact. It is now in possession of Chinese priests who carry out their activities in disguise. Continued Persecution of the Underground Church in China

Bishop JIA Zhiguo, the underground Roman Catholic bishop of Zhengding, Hebei, was arrested on March 20, 2002. Bishop JIA is 67 years old and was ordained a bishop in 1980. He was previously in jail for approximately 20 years. He was released shortly after our press release and has been under strict surveillance for many years….. Father PANG Yongxing, 30 years of age, was arrested in his home in December 2001. On Easter Sunday, March 31, 2002, Father MA Shunbao, 50 years of age, was arrested while he was offering Holy Mass. Father WANG Limao, 32 years of age, was arrested on Palm Sunday, March 24, 2002, also while offering Holy Mass. All three priests belong to the underground Roman Catholic Church in Baoding, Hebei. On July 7, 2002, they were sentenced to three years of labor camp for “disturbing the peace of society” under the “cult” law….. Six Roman Catholics from Wenzhou, Zhejiang went to DongLu in Baoding, Hebei for a pilgrimage in May 2002 and were arrested by the authorities. They were fined a total of JMP 30,800 (US $ 3,850) for “illegal pilgrimage.” They were released soon after the fine was paid. …..On July 18, 2002, in Dong-An village, Fujian province, 31 underground Roman Catholics, 26 of whom were students under 18 years of age, were arrested during a summer vacation catechism class in a private home. Among the 31 arrested were a Catholic nun, Sister Chen Mei, 27 years of age, and four chaperons. The children and chaperons were released after one day. The situation of Sister Chen Mei is unknown…..Bishop WEI Jingyi, 44 years of age, the underground Roman Catholic Bishop of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, was arrested Sept 9, 2002. He was too released shortly after our press release.

Annual “Coast to Coast” Masses for the Underground Church in China

The Cardinal Kung Foundation is promoting the celebration of an annual Mass for the persecuted underground Roman Catholic Church in China. The Foundation has chosen, as the annual date for this Mass, the Sunday before October 1, which is the National Day of the founding the People's Republic of China and also the anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s canonization of the 120 blessed martyr saints of China

ASTONISHING REVELATION TO FRENCH NUN BORE STUNNING PARALLEL TO FAMOUS APPARITION

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/sistermary.htm

 An all but unknown 19th-century mystic received dramatic revelations that were stunningly similar to those at the famous apparition in LaSalette, France, but with this twist: her messages came before (as well as during and after) those far better known messages.

The locutions in question -- to an obscure Discalced Carmelite in the French city of Tours named Sister Mary of St. Peter -- were recorded from 1843 to 1847 and -- like LaSalette (exactly) -- focused on the sins of dishonoring the Sabbath and using the Lord's Name in vain.

It was on September 19, 1846, that two children, Mélanie Calvat and Maximim Giraud, tending a cow near the top of a mountain in the French Alps, near Corps, encountered the Blessed Mother. Mary appeared in a globe of light and sat on a rock with her face in her palms, weeping over the sins of mankind.

"I gave you six days to work," the Blessed Mother said, in that Church-approved apparition. "I kept the seventh day for myself, and no one wishes to grant it to me. This is what weighs down the arm of my Son so much. Those who drive carts cannot speak without putting the Name of my Son in the middle."

As a result -- because of this use of Jesus' Name as a swear word, she warned -- the potato crop would be ruined and there would be disease as well as famine.

Precisely this occurred beginning later that very same year as an historic failure of potatoes caused more than a million deaths in northern France and across the English Channel in Ireland (where it was known as the Great Potato Famine).

It was years before, however -- on August 26, 1843 -- that Sister Mary, the mystic in Tours, who had grown up in a devout family, and had early brushes with death, received a similar revelation when there was a "terrible storm during which I felt the Justice of an angry God as I had never before felt it in my life.

"Kneeling, so that my forehead touched the ground, I ceaselessly offered our Savior, Jesus Christ, to His Eternal Father, for the expiation of my sins and for the needs of the Holy Church. I spoke to Him about the incident of the storm. I asked Him to tell me the reason why I felt so strongly on that day the roused anger of His Eternal Father.

"My Name is everywhere blasphemed," Jesus allegedly responded, showing her that such misuse of His Name nullified His redemption and cursed Him to His Face. "There are even children who blaspheme!" the sister heard in locution.

"Our Lord then made me visualize the act of blasphemy as a poisoned arrow continually wounding His Divine Heart," recounted the nun in an autobiography that received the imprimatur of Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York as well as a Nihil Obstat. "After that He revealed to me that He wanted to give me a 'Golden Arrow' which would have the power of wounding Him delightfully, and which would also heal those other wounds inflicted by the malice of sinners."

To repair this outrage, said the religious, the Lord prescribed a prayer of "reparation" that He promised would have special power. On November 10, 1843, Christ also asked for a novena aimed at this same cause.

"Our Lord inspired me at this time to compose certain prayers of reparation in the form of a chaplet, or a small Rosary," she wrote in this fascinating work that has only now come to our attention. "This chaplet is made up of thirty-three small beads, on which is recited thirty-three times the prayer, 'Arise, Oh Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let those that hate You flee before Your Face,' and also six large beads on which are recited the ejaculation, 'My Jesus, mercy,' followed by the doxology, 'Glory be to the Father, etc.'" Sister Mary said Jesus appeared to her in an interior vision and showed precious stones on a fine gold chain as He presented her with a similar chaplet. The devotion brings to mind the Divine Mercy novena devised a century later by Saint Faustina Kowalska in Poland.

But the most electrifying aspect continues to be the warnings on using His Name in vain and violation of the Sabbath.

Two weeks after the aforementioned revelation, Sister Mary said the Lord "seized possession of the powers of my soul" and caused her to hear the following words: "The whole earth is covered with crimes and the violation of the first three of the Ten Commandments of God has aroused the anger of My Father. The crimes that fill up the cup of wickedness are blasphemies against God's Holy Name and the profanation of Sundays. These sins have reached the very Throne of Almighty God, and they have provoked His wrath which is about to strike everywhere unless His Justice be appeased. Never before have these crimes reached such a peak."

That was more than a century and a half ago.

It is daunting to think of how widespread misuse of the Lord's Name has grown in our own time -- amplified by methods of mass communication, including TV, radio, the internet, and at the theatre -- where nearly no modern movie goes by without using the Name of "God" or "Jesus" as a curse word.

"My soul is terrified at what Our Lord has just made me hear during prayer this morning, charging me with the duty of transmitting His message to my superiors without any fear of being deceived," she wrote in her autobiography, The Golden Arrow, which we will be making available. "He said He was incensed with anger against our nation, and that He has sworn in His Wrath to avenge Himself if reparation to the honor of His Divine Father were not made for all the blasphemies of which the people are guilty, making me hear that He could no longer remain among men who, like vipers, were tearing at the entrails of His Mercy."

That was in December of 1843. Sister Mary was 27 at the time. She was later to win the support of her bishop, and died in the odor of sanctity in 1848. Her mission: spreading that remarkable cause of reparation. "Yes, I will grant pardon once more, but mark my word: once!" Jesus responded in regard to her plea to spare France. "And since this crime of blasphemy extends over the whole nation, and since it is public, I demand that Reparation be extended to all the cities of the nation, and that it be public. Woe to those cities that will not make this reparation!"

Woe indeed: other fierce storms were to descend, causing, in one case, an overflowing of the River Loire that the nun described as "so frightful and so unprecedented" that such "had not been seen in centuries."

"The whole city of Tours was in imminent danger as terror and confusion gripped the citizens," she wrote. "Everywhere people acknowledged that an Omnipotent Hand was wielding the elements at will and even those persons who professed hardly any religious belief whatsoever now openly admitted that it was only through a miracle that the whole city of Tours did not perish."

The cause, she said, again: "profanation of Sunday, as Our Lord Himself told me, yet this principal fact was and continues to be ignored" -- again too, as in our time, if not far more so.

Foretelling another disaster that was soon to befall France, the Savior said, "Imagine what will be the state of things in this country when soon My powerful Arm will shake this throne and overthrow him who is now seated thereon."  The following week -- December 2, 1847 -- He said, "The executioners crucified Me on Friday but Christians crucify Me on Sundays."

On February 20, 1848, it was made known to Sister Mary that the crisis of which He spoke -- the "rumbling storm" -- was close at hand: that the Lord "has strung His bow and He is about to discharge His arrows," in the words of these locutions, which garnered the support of her bishop.

Almost immediately after this communication came word of a serious revolution in Paris that shook the very foundations of French government and all of Europe, sending King Louis Philippe fleeing with his family into exile (after eighteen years of secure rule). "The Lord told me that in consequence of the initial efforts made to establish somewhat the Work of Reparation, our country which was to be almost entirely destroyed by the darts of His Justice would now only be partly punished by the terrible flames of His Anger," wrote Sister Mary in this revelation that preceded the far better known Divine Mercy ones. "Oh, how I long entreat all the bishops to establish the Work of Reparation in their dioceses."

To console Him, she also was given a devotion to His Holy Face and led to know that daily glorifying the Holy Name of God was crucial.

It was through the Holy Face -- in our time, best represented by the Shroud of Turin, in hers, the "Veil of Veronica" -- that she said His anger is appeased. "You cannot comprehend the malice and abomination of this sin," Jesus had said in 1848, referring to blasphemy. "If My Justice were not restrained by My Mercy, indeed, it would instantly crush the guilty. In fact, all creatures, even those that are inanimate, would avenge this outrage against their Creator's Majesty, but I have eternity in which to punish the guilty." 

That uncannily parallels LaSalette, where -- referring to neglect of Sunday and use of profanation -- the Blessed Mother intoned, "These are the two things which weigh down the Arm of my Son so much." And alluding to the potatoes, she said, "They will continue to go bad; at Christmas there will be none left."

[resources: The Golden Arrow]

BANNEAUX MOURNS AS SEER AT CHURCH-APPROVED APPARITION DIES

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/banneuxmourns.htm

 

by Chris De bodt

Mariette Beco, the girl who had eight apparitions of the Virgin Mary, between January 5th and March 2nd 1933, passed away on December 2nd in the "Home de la Vierge des Pauvres" at Banneux, Belgium. She was ninety years old.

The woman was very famous in the French part of Belgium and many foreigners visited the shrine.

A little time after the apparitions of the Virgin, who presented Herself to Mariette as "The Virgin of the Poor," a chapel was build at the place of the apparitions. On the 22nd of August 1947, Bishop Kerkhofs of Liège fully recognized the authenticity the apparitions. Very soon after his recognition, it became one of the apparitions fully approved by the Vatican in 1952. In 1985 Pope John Paul II went to Banneux and had an audience with her at the sacristy.

Mariette Beco was married and was a mother of three children. It was only a few weeks ago that she went to the home. Today, Banneux Notre Dame is a place of pilgrimage and, as in Lourdes, there is a well of water with
healing power. There is also a relief center poor the sick and their children.

Banneux is situated between Liège and Spa.

Bishop and exorcist Andrea Gemma on Medjugorje: "Absolutely diabolical"

From http://catholiclight.stblogs.org/archives/2011/04/gemma-on-medjugorje.html

Here's a background item on the Medjugorje case, a May 2008 interview with Bishop Andrea Gemma from Gianluca Barile's website Petrus. It was reported in the press at the time, and some quotations did appear, but I never came across the full text until recently.

Medjugorje: the accusation of the bishop-exorcist Mons. Gemma: "The apparitions of the Madonna? Completely false: the seers lie under the inspiration of Satan to profit economically"

by Gianluca Barile

VATICAN CITY - A mixture of economic and diabolical interests, with the alleged seers and their collaborators directly involved in profits related to the increased flow of pilgrimages and visits in the area, and the Evil One well content to sow discord between the faithful most convinced of the validity of the apparitions of Medjugorje and the Church, sceptical as ever in the face of what she has declared more than once, through the words of two successive bishops of Mostar during that time, "a great deception". Monsignor Andrea Gemma, former bishop of Isernia-Venafro [served 1990-2006], among the greatest exorcists living, does not mince his words: instead of the Virgin, so far only rivers of money have appeared at Medjugorje, a grave accusation that sums up not only the courage but also the moral and spiritual capacity of the prelate who agreed to respond to questions from "Petrus" on such a prickly event.

So, Excellency, how do you define Medjugorje?

"It is an absolutely diabolical event, around which numerous underworld interests revolve. The Holy Church, which alone can make a pronouncement, through the words of the Bishop of Mostar, has already said publicly and officially that the Madonna never appeared in Medjugorje and that this whole production is the work of the Devil."

You speak of "underworld interests". Of what kind?

"I'm referring to 'the Devil's dung', to money, what else? At Medjugorje everything happens for the sake of money: pilgrimages, overnight stays, the sales of trinkets. In this way, abusing the good faith of the poor people who go there with the idea of meeting the Madonna, the false seers have set themselves up financially, they have married and live a wealthy life, to say the least. Just think: one of them, directly from America, with a direct economic profit, organizes tens of pilgrimages every year. These people don't seem to be really disinterested persons to me. Rather, with all the people vulnerable to this noisy swindle, they evidently have a great material interest in getting people to believe that they see and speak with the Virgin Mary."

Monsignor Gemma, is there no appeal from your verdict?

"Could it be otherwise? These people claim to be in contact with the Madonna, but in reality are inspired solely and exclusively by Satan, are creating chaos and confusion among the faithful for the sake of absolutely deplorable interests and advantages. Think, then, of the disobedience they have fed in the bosom of the Church: their spiritual guide, a Franciscan friar expelled from the Order and suspended a divinis, continues to invalidly administer the sacraments. [NB: The interview took place in 2008, before the laicization of Tomislav Vlasic.] And numerous priests from all over the world, despite the express prohibition of the Holy See, continue to organize and participate in pilgrimages with Medjugorje as their destination. It's a shame! This is why I speak of a mixture between personal and diabolical interests: the false seers and their helpers are pocketing money, and the Devil creates discord between the faithful and the Church; the more fanatical faithful, in fact, aren't listening to the Church, which - I repeat - has, from the beginning, warned about the mendacity of the Medjugorje apparitions."

And if the alleged seers were really seeing the Madonna?

"In reality they would be seeing Satan under false pretenses. Because Satan has great interest in splitting the Church, setting the two currents of the 'pro' and the 'contra' Medjugorje against each other. Moreover, it wouldn't be the first time: St. Paul himself asserts that the Devil can appear as an Angel of Light and can, so to speak, camouflage himself. He did that, for example, with St. Gemma Galgani. But beyond his disguises, the Evil One has already intervened and I can assure you that it is he inspiring the false seers since the beginning with the promise of easy money."

You're not exactly fond of those seers...

"Please! It's enough to see how they act: they're disobedient to the Church, they should have withdrawn to private life and instead they keep on making propaganda for their lies, for the sake of money, and thus playing the Devil's game! My thoughts go immediately to St. Bernadette, the seer of Lourdes: that sweet creature wanted to shed her life and took up the habit of a Sister to serve the Lord. Instead, the impostors of Medjugorje continue to live comfortably in the world without showing any kind of love either for God or for the Church."

The supporters of Medjugorje emphasize that the Holy See has never expressed any position on the matter.

"That's another lie! As I pointed out before, the Vatican has forbidden pilgrimages by priests to the place and has spoken through the words of the two successive bishops of Mostar, Monsignors Zanic and Peric, with whom I have spoken personally, and who have always manifested their doubts to me. You see, even for Fatima and Lourdes, the Holy See didn't express any position directly on those Marian apparitions. So why would they have to make an exception in this case? The truth is that when the Bishop of Mostar speaks, the Church of Christ speaks, and is it to him, who speaks with the authority conferred to him by the Vatican, that we need to listen. Thus, the Holy See has already expressed itself with the words of the Bishop of Mostar, making evident that Medjugorje is a diabolical trick. But I will share a secret with you. You'll see that soon the Vatican will intervene with something explosive, to unmask once and for all who is behind this swindle."

The same supporters note that at Medjugorje every year they report a record of conversions and miracles...

"It's artificial. And who is counting all these conversions? You see, if someone has a conversion, it's because he had a certain predisposition, because he thinks to look inside himself, because he receives the gift of the Spirit. The place in which this conversion happens is completely relative. Let's think of St. Paul: he converted on the road, and now what should we do, all go out to the road and wait to be converted? As regards the miracles, I'll tell a personal anecdote. I owe the miraculous healing of a person in my family to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary at Pompei, but that doesn't imply that the Madonna ever appeared to me at Pompei. So, just from believing, or from being healed inside or outside, it doesn't necessarily mean that Mary is letting people see her."

To the best of your knowledge, what opinion does the Holy Father Benedict XVI have of Medjugorje?

"I'll limit myself to underscore what he did as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to send out official notes adverse to Medjugorje, such as the one which forbade priests and religious from going on pilgrimages in that country. Do you ..."

Yet it is said that John Paul II was convinced of the goodness of the apparitions.

"An unproven legend, considering that his opinions were personal and did not in any way represent an act of the Magisterium."

[Thanks to Gianluca Barile. Translation (c) Richard Chonak, 2011, all rights reserved.]

January 17th: Anniversary of Our Lady of Pontmain

Newly Approved Apparition in USA

From http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/htmPages/g_hst_p3.html

Three important decisions were reached by the Church during the early 1850’s:
• On November 21, 1851, the Bishops of the United States admonished the faithful through the decrees of the First Plenary Council of Baltimore that no parish is complete until it has schools adequate to the needs of its children.
• On December 8, 1854, the Pope declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception
• Seven years earlier, at a conference in Baltimore, the Bishops of the United States, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, chose Our Blessed Mother as the patron of the United States
Shortly after these important events in the Church, two manifestations of the Blessed Virgin Mary occurred, one in Europe and the other in North America:
• In February of 1858, the Immaculate Mother manifested herself and expressed her will to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France.
• A year and eight months later, on October 9, 1859, the Queen of Heaven manifested herself to Adele Brise in Champion (Robinsonville), Wisconsin, USA. Note: Refer to the Snapshot on the Contact/Map page to find out why Robinsonville changed their name to Champion.
According to Sister Pauline LaPlant, to whom Adele often told her story:
“ She [Adele] was going to the grist mill about four miles from here [Champion] with a sack of wheat on her head […]. As Adele came near the place, she saw a lady all in white standing between two trees, one a maple, the other a hemlock. Adele was frightened and stood still. The vision slowly disappeared, leaving a white cloud after it. Adele continued on her errand and returned home without seeing anything more. She told her parents what had happened, and they wondered what it could be — maybe a poor soul who needed prayers?
“On the following Sunday, she had to pass here again on her way to Mass at Bay Settlement, about eleven miles from her home [...]. This time, she was not alone, but was accompanied by her sister Isabel and a neighbor woman [Mrs. Vander Niessen]. When they came near the trees, the same lady in white was at the place where Adele had seen her before. Adele was again frightened and said, almost in a tone of reproach, 'Oh, there is that lady again.'
“Adele had not the courage to go on. The other two did not see anything, but they could tell by Adele’s look that she was afraid. They thought, too, that it might be a poor soul that needed prayers. They waited a few minutes, and Adele told them it was gone. It had disappeared as the first time, and all she could see was a little mist or white cloud. After Mass, Adele went to confession and told her confessor how she had been frightened at the sight of a lady in white. He [Father William Verhoef] bade her not to fear, and to speak to him of this outside of the confessional. Father Verhoef told her that if it were a heavenly messenger, she would see it again, and it would not harm her, but to ask in God’s name who it was and what it desired of her. After that, Adele had more courage. She started home with her two companions, and a man who was clearing land for the Holy Cross Fathers at Bay Settlement accompanied them.
"As they approached the hallowed spot, Adele could see the beautiful lady, clothed in dazzling white, with a yellow sash around her waist. Her dress fell to her feet in graceful folds. She had a crown of stars around her head, and her long, golden, wavy hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Such a heavenly light shone around her that Adele could hardly look back at her sweet face. Overcome by this heavenly light and the beauty of her amiable visitor, Adele fell on her knees.
" 'In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?’ asked Adele, as she had been directed.
“ ‘I am the Queen of Heaven, who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received Holy Communion this morning, and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession, and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them’
“ 'Adele, who is it?'' said one of the women. 'O why can't we see her as you do?' said another weeping.
“ ‘Kneel,’ said Adele, ‘the Lady says she is the Queen of Heaven.’ Our Blessed Lady turned, looked kindly at them, and said, ‘Blessed are they that believe without seeing. What are you doing here in idleness…while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?’
“ ‘What more can I do, dear Lady?’ said Adele, weeping.
“ ‘Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation’
“ ‘But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?’ replied Adele.
“ ‘Teach them,’ replied her radiant visitor, ‘their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you.’ "
The manifestation of Our Lady then lifted her hands, as though beseeching a blessing for those at her feet, and slowly vanished, leaving Adele overwhelmed and prostrate on the ground.
When the news spread about Adele Brise’s vision of the Blessed Virgin, most people believed the account and were astonished. Some considered the event a demented delusion. Adele Brise, however, considered it a commission to catechize the children and admonish the sinners of the Bay Settlement. To honor the alleged apparition, Adele’s father erected a makeshift chapel near the spot of Adele’s vision.

Reports of Favors and Graces:
Because we are continually hearing stories of people who visit The Chapel and have their prayers answered, we are interested in keeping records of all favors and graces granted to those who come to this Shrine. Please send us details of healings and miraculous favors that directly result from a visit to The Chapel, or to requests made of Our Lady Of Good Help or Sister Adele. The Shrine of Our Lady Of Good Help
4047 Chapel Drive
New Franken, WI 54229

Commission of Investigation and Final Decree
God continues to reveal Himself to individuals "not indeed for the declaration of any new doctrine of faith, but for the direction of human acts" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II-II q174 a6 reply 3).
In 2009, the most Reverend David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay, opened a formal Church investigation into the apparitions that occurred in 1859 on the site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help. While private revelation, the task of the commission was to review all the historical information on the apparitions, as well as the life of the Sister Adele and test its consistency with Public Revelation as guarded by the Catholic Church. On Wednesday, December 8, 2010, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception, the Bishop announced that based on the findings of the commission, he officially approves the Marian apparitions that occurred on the site of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion, Wisconsin.
Reading from his decree, the Bishop stated, “I declare with moral certainty and in accord with the norms of the Church that the events, apparitions and locutions given to Adele Brise in October of 1859 do exhibit the substance of supernatural character, and I do hereby approve these apparitions as worthy of belief (although not obligatory) by the Christian faithful.”
This declaration makes the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help at Champion the first and only Marian shrine in the United States that is on the site of an approved apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The History of the Shrine at Monte Sant' Angelo

From http://www.catholicangelsmagazine.com/V1__Issue_2__Article_13.html

Italy has many interesting and beautiful places to visit. One such place is the sanctuary of Monte Sant' Angelo perhaps more commonly known as Monte Gargano. It is the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to the Archangel Michael.
The town of Monte Sant' Angelo was built 850 meters above sea level and overlooks both Gargano Massif and the sea. Dominated by the ruins of a Norman Castle it has kept its ancestral customs and ancient appearance with tightly packed whitewashed houses on its sloping mountainside.
It is at this lovely spot that the apparitions of St. Michael The Archangel took place and it is from here that St. Michael became known throughout Europe and the new world.
The story of the first apparition, which occurred in 490 blends with legend.
One day Elvio Emanuele, a nobleman of the area, lost the best bull of his herd. After days of searching, he found it, kneeling in an inaccessible cave. Not being able to get near it he shot an arrow but the arrow turned around and struck him. Surprised by this event he went straight to the Bishop who ordered three days of prayer and fasting.
Three days later, the Archangel appeared to the Bishop and said: "I am Michael The Archangel and am always in the presence of God. I chose the cave, which is sacred to me. There will be no more shedding of bull's blood (a reference to the fact that among the mountain the pagan cult was still thriving). Where the rocks open widely the sins of man may be pardoned. What is asked here in prayer will be granted. Therefore, go up to the mountain cave and dedicate it to the Christian cult!" The Bishop, undecided, deferred the execution of the angelic order.
Two years later, in 492, the Christian City of Siponoto at the foot of the mountain was besieged by the pagan hordes of Odoacre. The city was desperate. Bishop Laurence obtained a three day truce from Odoacre and ordered prayer and penance.
The Archangel appeared to him and promised his help to the townspeople if they would attack the enemy. They trustfully dared. Suddenly a storm broke out, sand and hail rained upon the army of Odoacre, which were terrorized. Siponoto was saved! The Bishop announced a thanksgiving procession and went up to the top of the Archangel’s mountain but he did not venture into the grotto.
On the third anniversary of the first apparition, still uncertain if he should follow the Archangel's order, the Bishop asked counsel of the Pontiff who ordered him to go there with other bishops of the region following a three day fast.
For the third time St. Michael appeared and ordered him to enter the grotto: "It is not necessary that you dedicate this church that I have consecrated with my presence. Enter and pray with my assistance and celebrate the Sacrifice. I will show you how I have consecrated this place." The Bishop finally obeyed. Upon entering the grotto he found an altar covered with a red cloth and a crystal cross upon it while at the entrance the imprint of an infantile foot confirmed the presence of the Archangel Michael.
The Bishop had a chapel built at the entrance to the grotto and dedicated it on the 29th of September, now kept as the feast of the Archangel Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. The grotto is the only place which is not consecrated by the hand of man. The title of 'celestial Basilica' was conferred during the centuries.
The last apparition of St. Michael was in answer to prayer as the terrible plague of 1656 had hit the area. The local bishop with his people invoked the Archangel and the plague ceased. It was at this time that the use of stone chips from the cave began to be used by the faithful much as medals or scapulars are used today. This custom is carried on even now by the local people who take small stones and place them around their homes and in the fields.
During the centuries, millions of pilgrims have gone to Monte Sant'Angelo in order to visit the “Celestial Basilica”. Among the pilgrims are many popes (Gelasius I, Leo IX, Urban II, Alexander III, Gregory X, Celestine V, John XXIII as Cardinal, John Paul II), saints (Bridget of Sweden, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas) emperors, kings and princes (Louis II of Italy, Otto III, Herny II, Matilda of Tuscany, Charles I of Naples, Ferdinand II of Aragon).
Francis of Assisi also went to visit the Sanctuary, but feeling himself unworthy to enter the grotto, he stopped in prayer and meditation at the entrance, kissed and carved on a stone the sign of the cross in the form of “T” (tau)
Since 13 July 1996, the pastoral care of the Saint Michael Archangel Sanctuary has been given to the Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel. The (CSMA) also known as the Michaelite Fathers, is a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church founded in 1897 by the Blessed Father Bronislaw Markiewicz, a Polish priest from Miejsce Piastowe, Poland. The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel is one of the 23 officially recognized groups of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco.

Our Lady appeared near Fatima and other places in Europe centuries before

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/fatimacenturiesbefore.htm

Many don't realize that centuries before the apparitions at Fatima, Portugal (which culminated on October 13, 1917), Mary had manifested in that very vicinity.
Heaven idealized little shepherds like those in and around Fatima where there was a girl from Reguengo do Fetal (right near Fatima) in the 1100s who found the bread and spring to which she was directed by the Blessed Mother and where there was also another girl, another seer, this one deaf, from Casal Santa Maria, a hamlet about a mile and a half from Fatima.
She saw Mary sometime in the Middle Ages -- in the 1400s -- over a cluster of ortiga bushes. Here right next to Fatima! Mary smiled and made an odd request. She asked the girl, who could suddenly hear, for one of her lambs. It was a test of obedience.
Suddenly the girl spoke as if deafness had never afflicted her. "I would have to have permission from my father," she said. And Mary smiled as the girl scurried off to do just that.
Naturally, her father was flabbergasted, awestruck and overjoyed at her ability to speak. He told his daughter that the Blessed Woman could have the lamb and anything else she wanted. We can only imagine his joy. News of the miracle swept the village and everywhere else word could spread in the era before mass communication. Numerous townsfolk went to see the "mute"child and after hearing her account followed her to the site of appearance. There to their further astonishment they found a wooden statue in the midst of the ortigas. Mary was holding the Christ Child, this time in her right arm, her cheeks rosy, her stare intent and straightforward.
Full of fervor they took the statue to the village but that night it disappeared and was found back in the bushes, the spot Mary had chosen for a chapel.
That was the hinterlands of Portugal and from here on there was a great rise in Mary's appearances. Images of the Virgin were found in chestnuts and alden trees or buried in the ground and wrapped with silk, often in mint condition, across Europe. Strange wisps of cloud were seen as in the time of Elijah (and as predicted, perhaps, in Revelation 1:7).
No one can reckon all the dreams and apparitions. No one could guess the number of visions. The Madonna appeared with special persistence in Italy, France, and Spain. Another example of a deaf-mute? On March 24 -- once more in the 12th century -- a young deaf girl was pasturing geese on a meadow in Borbiago, Italy, when she saw a magnificent lady in a light so bright that the girl had to close her eyes.
The woman approached and placed her hands on one of the girl's shoulders, asking her (as only Mary could communicate to the deaf) to bring the local priest and indicate that he dig there. If he did, explained Mary, he'd find a marble statue, which should be carried in a solemn procession to the church and enshrined.
The girl apparently was able to complete the task and as in Castellammare de Stabia the excavation was very fruitful and indeed miraculous, volunteers soon striking something that gave forth a metallic sound. Digging deeper they uncovered a bronze bell. Within its cavity was the promised statue, which depicted Mary in a standing position with the Infant as usual on her left arm, His little hands fondling her right one. There were hundreds of lost or hidden images, all with stories, all with precious secrets, during this intense period.
In Tendilla, Spain, two knights from the Saint John of Jerusalem Order were hunting in an area called the "Valley of Hell" when they were surprised by a terrific storm. Lightning flashed and thunder reverberated against the rocky cliffs. Accustomed though they were to danger, the storm, in its fury, scared even these knights, who took shelter beneath an overhang and invoked the Virgin.
Almost immediately a light shone forth from a nearby willow and as it strengthened, as it grew brighter, the storm decreased in violence. When the knights approached they were surprised to find an image of Mary in the crotch of the tree. They fell to their knees in astonishment.
Back near her first apparition site of Saragossa, Spain (Mary's very first site of known apparition), the Blessed Mother returned and manifested around this same time at a mountaintop known as Villamayor to a humble shepherd named Gerardo, who discovered a wooden statue that spoke to him. As in so many cases the Virgin's voice asked him to tell the people about her image and build a shrine on the mountain in her honor, which then allowed her greater intercession.