Marian apparition

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A Marian apparition is an event in which the Virgin Mary is believed to have supernaturally appeared to one or more persons regardless of their religious faith. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the sobriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition. They have been interpreted in psychological terms as pareidolia, and in religious terms as theophanies.

Apparitions sometimes recur at the same site over an extended period of time. In the majority of Marian apparitions only a few people can see Mary. An exception to this is at Zeitoun, where thousands claimed to have seen her over a period of three years.

Contents 1 What is an appearance? 2 Catholic belief 2.1 Criteria for evaluating apparitions 2.2 Local diocese approval 2.3 Papal Marian apparitions 2.4 Apparitions and statues 3 Impact of apparitions 3.1 Conversions and shrines 3.2 Societies and devotions 3.3 Mariology 3.4 Pilgrimages 4 Historical feasts 4.1 Our Lady of the Pillar 4.2 Our Lady of the Snow 4.3 Our Lady of Walsingham 4.4 Our Lady of the Rosary 4.5 Our Lady of Mount Carmel 5 Approved apparitions 5.1 Roman Catholic approved 5.1.1 Our Lady of Guadalupe 5.1.2 Our Lady of Laus 5.1.3 Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal 5.1.4 Our Lady of La Salette 5.1.5 Our Lady of Lourdes 5.1.6 Our Lady of Pontmain 5.1.7 Our Lady of Fatima 5.1.8 Our Lady of Beauraing 5.1.9 Our Lady of Banneux 5.1.10 Our Lady of Akita 5.2 Coptic approved 5.2.1 Our Lady of Zeitoun 5.2.2 Our Lady of Assiut 6 Apparitions with mass appeal 7 Reported but unapproved apparitions 8 Criticism 9 Further reading 10 See also 11 References 12 External links 13 Gallery of apparition-based Marian Churches

[edit] What is an appearance?

The term "appearance" has been used in different apparitions within a wide range of contexts and experiences.

In some apparitions such as Our Lady of Lourdes or Our Lady of Fatima an actual vision is reported, fully resembling that of a person being present. In some of these reports the viewers (at times children) do not initially report that they saw the Virgin Mary, but that they saw "a Lady" (quite often dressed in white) and had a conversation with her. In these cases the viewers report experiences that resemble the visual and verbal interaction with a person present at the site of the apparition. In most cases, there are no clear indications as to the auditory nature of the experience, i.e. whether the viewers heard the voices via airwaves or other miraculous methods. Yet, the 1973 messages of Our Lady of Akita, which were approved at the Holy Office in 1988 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope benedict XVI) are due to Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa who had been totally deaf before 1973 (and remained deaf until 1982 when she was cured during Sunday Mass as foretold in her messages), suggesting means of communication beyond airwaves.

In some apparitions just an image is reported, often with no verbal interaction, and no conversation. An example is the reported apparitions at Our Lady of Assiut in which many people reported a bright image atop a building, accompanied by photographs of the image. The photographs at times suggest the silhouette of a statute of the Virgin Mary but the images are usually subject to varying interpretations, and critics suggest that they may just be due to various visual effects of unknown origin.

And apparitions should be distinguished from interior locutions in which no visual contact is claimed. In some cases of reported interior locutions such as those of Father Stefano Gobbi a large amount of text is produced, but no visual contact is claimed. Interior locutions usually do not include an auditory component, but consist of inner voices. Interior locutions are generally not classified as apparitions.

Physical contact is hardly ever reported as part of Marian apparitions, unlike in cases of interaction with Jesus Christ. In rare cases a physical artifact is reported in apparitions. A well known example is the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe which is reported to have been miraculously imprinted on the cloak of Saint Juan Diego.

[edit] Catholic belief

According to the doctrine of the Catholic Church, the era of public revelation ended with the death of the last living Apostle. A Marian apparition, if deemed genuine by Church authority, is treated as private revelation that may emphasize some facet of the received public revelation for a specific purpose, but it can never add anything new to the deposit of faith. The Church will confirm an apparition as worthy of belief, but belief is never required by divine faith.^[1] The Holy See has officially confirmed the apparitions at Guadalupe, Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, Paris (Rue du Bac, Miraculous Medal), La Salette, Lourdes, Fátima, Portugal, Pontmain, Beauraing, and Banneux.^{[2] [3]}

As a historical pattern, Vatican approval of apparitions seems to have followed general acceptance of a vision by well over a century in most cases. According to Father Salvatore M. Perrella of the Mariunum Pontifical Institute in Rome, of the 295 reported apparitions studied by the Holy See through the centuries only 12 have been approved, the latest being in May 2008 in Laus.^[4][5][6][7]

An authentic apparition is believed not to be a subjective experience, but a real and objective intervention of divine power. The purpose of such apparitions is to recall and emphasize some aspect of the Christian message. The church states that cures and other miraculous events are not the purpose of Marian apparitions, but exist primarily to validate and draw attention to the message. ^[8] Apparitions of Mary are held to be evidence of her continuing active presence in the life of the church, through which she "cares for the brethren of her son who still journey on earth." ^[9]

Not all claims of visitations are dealt with favourably by the Roman Catholic Church. For example, claimed apparitions of Our Lady, Jesus Christ and various saints at Bayside, New York have not been condoned or sanctioned in any way, nor those at the Necedah Shrine in Necedah, Wisconsin. The behavior of Ms Veronica Lueken and Mary Ann Van Hoof, who claimed these heavenly favors, was deemed not to compare favorably with the "quiet pragmatism" of St. Bernadette Soubirous — Church authorities are said to use Bernadette as a model by which to judge all who purport to have visitations. Indeed, both women seriously criticized the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, allegedly even harshly, and Mrs. Van Hoof is said to have subsequently left Roman Catholicism for an independent local Old Catholic Church.

Possibly the best-known apparition sites are Lourdes and Fatima^[10] Over sixty spontaneous healings, out of thousands reported at the Lourdes Spring, have been classified as "inexplicable" by the physicians of the Lourdes Bureau, a medical centre set up by the Church in association with local medical institutes to assess possible miracles. The so-called Three Secrets of Fatima received a great deal of attention in the Catholic and secular press.

[edit] Criteria for evaluating apparitions

A series of articles on Roman Catholic Mariology
General articles Overview of Mariology • Veneration of the Blessed Virgin • History of Mariology • Mariology of the saints • Mariology of the popes • Encyclicals & Apostolic Letters • Marian Movements & Societies
Devotions Rosary • Immaculate Heart • 7 Sorrows • Acts of Reparation
Dogmas and Doctrines Doctrines • Mother of God • Perpetual virginity • Immaculate Conception • Assumption • Mediatrix • Co-Redemptrix
Expressions of devotion Art • Music • Architecture
Key Marian apparitions (approved or worthy of belief) Guadalupe • Miraculous Medal • La Salette • Lourdes • Pontmain • Laus • Banneux • Beauraing • Fátima • Akita

In 1978 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (former Holy Office) issued "Norms of the Congregation for Proceeding in Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations" containing the following provisions:^[11]

• The diocesan bishop can initiate a process on his own initiative or at the request of the faithful to investigate the facts of an alleged apparition. The bishop may refrain from looking into it if he chooses, especially if he thinks that not much will come of the event.
• The national conference of bishops may intervene if the local diocesan bishop refers it to him or if the event becomes important nationally or at least in more than one diocese.
• The Apostolic See (the Vatican) can also intervene at the request of the local bishop himself, at the request of a group of the faithful, or on its own initiative.

The steps in the investigation are mandated as follows: An initial evaluation of the facts of the alleged event, based on both positive and negative criteria:

Positive Criteria

1. moral certainty (the certainty required to act morally in a situation of doubt) or at least great probability as to the existence of a private revelation at the end of a serious investigation into the case
2. evaluation of the personal qualities of the person in question (mental balance, honesty, moral life, sincerity, obedience to Church authority, willingness to practice faith in the normal way, etc.)
3. evaluation of the content of the revelations themselves (that they do not disagree with faith and morals of the Church, freedom from theological errors)
4. the revelation results in healthy devotion and spiritual fruits in people's lives (greater prayer, greater conversion of heart, works of charity that result, etc.)

Negative Criteria

1. glaring errors in regard to the facts
2. doctrinal errors attributed to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or to the Holy Spirit in how they appear
3. any pursuit of financial gain in relation to the alleged event
4. gravely immoral acts committed by the person or those associated with the person at the time of the event
5. psychological disorders or tendencies on the part of the person or persons associated

After this initial investigation, if the occurrence meets the criteria, positive and negative, an initial cautionary permission can be granted that basically states: "for the moment, there is nothing opposed to it." This permits public participation in the devotion in regard to the alleged apparition.

Ultimately, a final judgment and determination needs to be given, giving approval or condemnation of the event.

[edit] Local diocese approval

An initial assessment by the local bishop that allows the devotion to an apparition to proceed forward should not be treated as formal approval from the Holy Office, which may follow a few centuries later. A recent example is Our Lady of Laus which was recognized by the local diocese in 1665 and was the subject of devotions, but obtained approval from the Holy Office only in 2008.

Moreover, Marian apparitions often involve complications at the local diocese, and a letter of approval or disapproval from a local bishop, does not automatically signal approval or denial. A recent example is the apparitions of Our Lady of Kibeho in the 1980s in Kibeho, Rwanda. In 1982 the teenagers who saw the visions reported truly gruesome sights and said that the Virgin Mary asked everyone to pray to prevent a terrible war. Some today regard the visions as an ominous foreshadowing of the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, and particularly in that specific location in 1995, where some teenagers died a decade after their vision. The apparitions were accepted by the local bishop (accused by many of complicity in the genocide himself), but have not been given final approval by the Holy Office.^{[12][13][14][15]}

[edit] Papal Marian apparitions

It has been claimed that apparitions were experienced by a number of popes, including Pope Leo XIII in 1884^{[citation needed]}, Pope Pius XII at various stages during his papacy^{[citation needed]}, and Pope John Paul II in 1981^{[citation needed]}, while he recovered from an assassination attempt which occurred on May 13, the anniversary of the Fatima apparition. While he only reported focusing on her image in order to stay conscious as per paramedic instructions, a number of rumors have circulated about this event, including that he actually saw her for a minute^{[citation needed]}, or that he witnessed a solar phenomenon as at Fatima^{[citation needed]}; if so, he said nothing on the record about it. He was quoted some time later as saying he thought "a motherly hand guided the bullet's path" ^[16] so that he would be only injured and not killed. John Paul II's particular devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was indicated in his coat of Arms (image, left), which contains a large letter "M," representing Mary at the foot of the Cross, as well as his motto "Totus Tuus," ("Totally yours"), dedicated to Mary. He also visited many of the most famous apparition sites, notably Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes, Licheń, and Knock, and may have experienced another visitation on his last visit to Lourdes in 2004, when he lost his balance and said: 'I feel with emotion that I have reached the end of my pilgrimage'.

[edit] Apparitions and statues

Marian apparitions are sometimes reported along with weeping statues of the Virgin Mary. However, to date only one single example of a combined weeping statute and apparition (namely Our Lady of Akita) has been approved by the Vatican and the rest have usually been dismissed as hoaxes.

Weeping statues are one of the rare instances where the Church authorities and the skeptics simultaneously pursue hoaxes. The upper levels of the Vatican have been very careful in their approach and treatment of weeping statues, and generally set very high barriers for their acceptance. For instance when a statue of the popular Saint Padre Pio in Messina, Sicily was found to have tears of blood one day in 2002, Church officials quickly ordered tests that showed the blood to belong to a woman and then dismissed the case as a hoax.^[17][18] Even at the local level, Catholic priests have expelled people who claim weeping statues with apparations from their local Church.^[19]

In 1995, the owner of a Madonna statue that appeared to weep blood in the town of Civitavecchia in Italy refused to take a DNA test and the case was dismissed as a hoax.^[20] In 2008 church custodian Vincenzo Di Costanzo went on trial in northern Italy for faking blood on a statue of the Virgin Mary when his own DNA was matched to the blood.^[21]

[edit] Impact of apparitions

While Marian apparitions may at times seem like fanciful tales told by young children of no significant education about experiences they say they had with a Lady on a mountain top that few people had ever heard of before, factual analysis indicates that the impact of apparitions on the Roman Catholic church has been significant. Marian apparitions have lead, to or impacted, the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Mariology and the lives of millions of Roman Catholics in several ways:

• The convesion of millions of people to Roman Caholicism.
• The construction of some of the largest Roman Catholic Marian churches ever.
• The formation of the largest Marian Movements and Societies ever.
• The spread of Marian devotions (such as the rosary) to millions of people.
• The declaration of specific Marian dogmas and doctrines.
• Hundreds of millions of Marian pilgrimages.

A few cases can illustrate these items.

[edit] Conversions and shrines

By all accounts, when a young Juan Diego reported the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill in Mexico in 1531, he did not receive a lot of attention in Rome, since the Church was busy with the challenges of the Protestant Reformation of 1521 to 1579 and perhaps very few Cardinals in Rome had ever heard of Tepeyac hill. Yet, just as a large number of people were leaving the Catholic Church in Europe as a result of the Reformation, Our Lady of Guadalupe was instrumental in adding almost 8 million people to the ranks of Catholics in the Americas between 1532 and 1538. The number of Catholics in South America has grown significantly over the centuries. Eventually with tens of millions of followers, Juan Diego impacted Mariology in the Americas and beyond, and was eventually declared venerable in 1987. Furthermore, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill in Mexico is now the third largest Catholic Church in the world, after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil.

[edit] Societies and devotions

The Marian apparition of Our Lady of Fátima on a remote mountain top to three young Portuguese children in 1917 also seemed fanciful and the local administrator initially jailed the children and threatened that he would boil them one by one in a pot of oil. However, over the years the impact of Fátima has been undeniable. With over 25 million registered Catholic members, the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima (which was approved by Pope Pius XII in 1947) is the largest Marian Society in the world. And the message of Fátima has inspired the spread of other devotions. An example is Our Lady's Rosary Makers formed by Brother Sylvan Mattingly in 1949 with $25 to distribute free rosaries, based on his devotion to Fátima. Our Lady's Rosary Makers has since distributed hundreds of millions of free rosaries to Catholic missions worldwide.

[edit] Mariology

Marian apparitions such as Our Lady of Lourdes (which promoted Immaculate Conception) have also influenced the direction of Roman Catholic Mariology, as illustrated by the ex cathedra exercise of Papal infallibility on the dogma of Immaculate Conception. This also illustrated that unlike most Roman Catholic theology which originates from the upper levels of the Church, Mariology has quite often been driven from the ground up by the tens of millions of Catholics with a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin. As Marian apparitions create strong emotions among large numbers of Roman Catholics, they lead to sensus fidelium. This strong response among Catholics in turn influences the higher levels of the Roman Catholic hierarchy as sensus fidei gains strength.

To this end, the official Vatican website Agenzia Fides stated in 2004 that:

"The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was defined by Pius IX not so much because of proofs in Scripture or ancient tradition, but due to a profound sensus fidelium, a century-old sense of the faithful, and the Magisterium".^[22]

The Vatican quotes in this context the encyclical Fulgens Corona, where Pius XII supported such a faith.^[23] In several Marian teachings, the "theology of the people" such as the immaculate Conception, the profound and century-old sense of the faithful has taken precedence over academic theology.^[22]

[edit] Pilgrimages

Marian apparitions are also responsible for tens of millions of Marian pilgrimages per year. About 5 million pilgrims visit Lourdes every year and within France only Paris has more hotels than Lourdes. And about 10 million pilgrims visit Our Lady of Guadalupe each year, where each mass can accommodate up to 40,000 people.^[24] Thus each decade, just Lourdes and Guadalupe amount to over one hundred million Catholic pilgrimages, based on Marian apparitions to two young people on two early mornings on two remote hilltops.

[edit] Historical feasts

A number of feasts based on historical traditions involving apparitions are celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. These apparitions do not technically fall in the Holy Office approved category, since they generally predate the formation of the Holy Office in 1542. They are recognized based on the papal declaration of the feast day rather than formal analysis by the Holy office.

[edit] Our Lady of the Pillar

In the year 39 AD, before the Assumption of Mary, according to legend and tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint James the Great, in Zaragoza, Spain. The vision is now called Our Lady of the Pillar and is the only reported Marian apparition before her Assumption. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar was built in Zaragoza, Spain and the key piece of Roman Catholic Marian art the statute of Our Lady of the Pillar refers to this apparition.

[edit] Our Lady of the Snow

This apparition is based on a legend that during the pontificate of Pope Liberius, on 5 August, during the night, snow fell on the summit of the Esquiline Hill in Rome. And based on a vision the same night a basilica was built in honour of Our Lady, on the spot which was covered with snow. The church built on that spot is now the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the feast was celebrated at that church for centuries on August 5th each year. However, there was no of mention of this alleged miracle in historical records until a few hundred years later, not even by Pope Sixtus III in his dedicatory inscription, and it may be the legend has no historical basis. However, in the fourteenth century the feast was extended to all the churches of Rome and finally it was made a universal feast by Pope Pius V.^[25]

[edit] Our Lady of Walsingham

According to tradition, Mary appeared in a vision to Richeldis de Faverches, a devout Saxon noblewoman, in 1061 in Walsingham England, instructing her to construct a shine resembling the place of the Annunciation. The shrine passed into the care of Canons Regular sometime between 1146 and 1174. Late in 1538, the King Henry VIII’s soldiers sacked the priory at Walsingham, killed two monks and destroyed the shrine. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII re-established the restored 14th century Slipper Chapel as a Roman Catholic Shrine. The Holy House had been rebuilt at the Catholic Church of the Annunciation at King's Lynn (Walsingham was part of this Catholic parish in 1897). Today, there are two shrines at Walsingham: the Roman Catholic shrine centered around the Slipper Chapel and The Holy House maintained by the Church of England. There are also two separate feast days: September 24 in the Roman Catholic Church and October 15 in the Anglican Communion.

[edit] Our Lady of the Rosary

This apparition is by tradition attributed to Saint Dominic in 1208 in the church of Prouille, in France. According to the attribution, the Virign Mary appeared to Saint Dominic and introduced him to the rosary.^[26] Some sources suggest that Alan de Rupe (rather than Saint Dominic) was the major influence on the rosary in the 15th century, while other sources seek a middle ground to these two views^[27][28]. For centuries, Dominicans became instrumental in spreading the rosary and emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the rosary^[29]. In 1571 Pope Pius V instituted "Our Lady of Victory" as an annual feast to commemorate the victory of Lepanto, the victory being attributed to Our Lady. In 1969, Pope Paul VI changed the name of the feast to Our Lady of the Rosary.^[30]

[edit] Our Lady of Mount Carmel

This apparition is attributed to Saint Simon Stock in 1251, and is the origin of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also known as the Brown Scapular, perhaps the earliest of all scapulars. According to legend, the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock in Cambridge, England with a scapular in her hand and said: "Take, beloved son this scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity and for thee and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire." This feast is celebrated on July 16th each year.

[edit] Approved apparitions

A Roman Catholic approved Marian apparition is one that has been examined by the Holy Office either based on the criteria listed above (or internal procedures in place before that) and has been granted approval either through the local Bishop based on the direction of the Holy Office or received a direct approval from the Holy See.

Although a local bishop may provide a preliminary assessment (and allow the devotion to proceed forward), formal approval can only be provided after detailed analysis by the Holy See. For instance, although the apparitions at Our Lady of Laus were recognized by the local diocese in 1665, they received approval from the Holy Office centuries later, in 2008.

Apparitions favored by the Holy See usually:

• Become the site of major Roman Catholic Marian churches such as Lourdes, France or the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Tepeyac hill in Mexico.

• Receive papal visits such as Pope John Paul II's visits to Fatima, Portugal and Beauraing, Belgium.

However, a papal visit does not amount to a formal approval. For instance, Pope John Paul II visited the basilica of Our Lady of La Vang, but no formal approval was granted.

Some apparitions such as in Assiut, Egypt have been approved by the Coptic Church and can be called approved but not Roman Catholic approved.

[edit] Roman Catholic approved

[edit] Our Lady of Guadalupe

This 1531 apparition is due to Saint Juan Diego who reported 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.

[edit] Our Lady of Laus

The apparitions of Our Lady of Laus between 1664 and 1718 in Saint-Étienne-le-Laus, France by Benoite Rencurel, a young sheperdess are the first Marian apparitions to be approved in the 21st century by the Catholic Church. ^[31] The apparitions were recognized by the diocese of the Roman Catholic Church on September 18, 1665. They were approved by the Vatican on May 5, 2008. Currently, the site where the apparitions took place receives more than 120,000 pilgrims a year.

[edit] Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

This apparition is due to Saint Catherine Labouré in 1830 in the Rue du Bac, Paris). She reported that one night in the chapel, the Blessed Virgin Mary displayed herself and asked for a medallion to be made, saying "All who wear them will receive great graces." ^[32] After two years' worth of investigation her priest took the information to his archbishop and the medal came to be referred to as the Miraculous Medal. The medal 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, a plain cross with an M underneath the right-hand bar (which signified the Blessed Virgin at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was being crucified).

Sister Justine Bisqueyburu is said to have also had an apparition in 1840 within the same chapel at Rue du Bac as Saint Catherine Labouré.^[33]

[edit] Our Lady of La Salette

These apparitions 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 nineteenth 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 ^[34] may have clarified the situation to some extent, but some controversy still remains attached to this apparition..

[edit] Our Lady of Lourdes

In 1858 Saint Bernadette Soubirous was a 14 year old shepherd girl who lived near the town of Lourdes in France. One day she reported a vision of a miraculous Lady who identified Herself as the Virgin Mary in subsequent visions. In the first 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 asked Saint Bernadette to drink water from the spring nearby and to request that the local priests build a chapel at that site of the visions. 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 thousand people and was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France.

[edit] Our Lady of Pontmain

The apparitions at 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.

[edit] Our Lady of Fatima

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 but Catholics at large are not formally required to believe them yet. However, four popes, i.e. Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II have supported the Fatima messages as supernatural. Pope John Paul II was particularly attached to Fatima and credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life after he was shot in Rome on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima in May 1981. He donated the bullet that wounded him on that day to the Roman Catholic sanctuary at Fátima Portugal.

[edit] Our Lady of Beauraing

The 33 apparitions of Our Lady of Beauraing were reported in Belgium between November 1932 and January 1933 by five local children ranging in age from 9 to 15 years. From 1933 to the 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.

[edit] Our Lady of Banneux

These apparitions were reported by a young child, Mariette Beco a native of Banneux, Belgium in the 1930s. They are also known as the Virgin of the Poor. The apparitions were by the Roman Catholic Church in 1949.^[35][36]

Beco reported eight visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary between January 15th and March 2nd 1933. She reported seeing a Lady in White who declared herself 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.^[37]

[edit] Our Lady of Akita

These apparitions were reported in 1973 by Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa in the remote area of Yuzawadai, near the city of Akita in Japan.^[38] 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 judgement on Our Lady of Akita events and messages as reliable and worthy of belief.^[39]

[edit] Coptic approved

Some apparitions taking place within the Coptic church have been approved, but have not been formally examined or approved by the Roman Catholic Church.

[edit] Our Lady of Zeitoun

This 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. 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. The Coptic church approved of these apparitions.^[40]

[edit] Our Lady of Assiut

These 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.^[41][42] Video clips of the apparition have been posted on the internet.^[43] 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.^[44] The coptic church approved of the apparitions.

[edit] Apparitions with mass appeal

A number of claimed apparitions 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. An example is Our Lady of Walsingham where according to legend the Blessed Virgin appeared in a vision to a noblewoman in 1061 and her son built a simple wooden structure there which later became an abbey. No details of the content of vision have been preserved, but pilgrims continued to arrive at Walsingham for centuries until 1st Earl of Sussex destroyed it in 1538.

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 VirginMary appeared to him and asked him to built 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 gatherd many pilgrims. The Shrine of Our Lady of Guardia is now a thriving basilica atop Mount Figogna, near Genoa Italy.

Some major Marian basilicas and traditions are based on legends that do not involve any specific apparitions, but sacred objects that are assumed to have been associated with apparitions. The key example is the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Aparecida, Brazil. It is the second-largest Catholic place of worship in the world, second only to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and the largest Marian Church in the world, receiving over 6 million pilgrims a year. There is no specific vision or apparition associated with Our Lady of Aparecida, and it is based on a simple wooden statute 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 Venezeula 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 Blssed Virgin revealed the location of the precious icon to a 10 year old girl in 1579.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in 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 sixteenth century and later Portuguese sailors were saved by another apparition. Similarly, the legend Our Lady of La Vang is based on an apparition to a group of Vietnamese Catholics in the rainforest in 1798, and the site of a basilica.

Although both She Shan Basilica in Shanghai, China and Our Lady of China in Donglu, near Beijing, were popular pilgrimage sites at one time, with the arrest and imprisonment of the Catholic bishops in the 1950s by the communists and with the establishment of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association against the Vatican, these pilgrimages have slowed down.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lichen, the largest church in Poland (and the 11th largest in the world) is based on legends on the Virgin Mary appearing to different people in the Lichen area in the early 19th century.^[45] The Basilica of Our Lady of Knock in Ireland is based on a reported appearance of the Virgin Mary along with Jesus Christ and other saints in Ireland in 1879. The Basilica of our Our Lady of Siluva in Siluva, Lithuania is also based on a legand of an apparition to four children in 1608, and houses a famous painting (perhaps based on Salus Populi Romani) called Our Lady of Suliva, usually considered Lithuania's greatest treasure.^[46][47]

Among recent visions, the reported apparitions of The Virgin Mary to six children in Međugorje in 1981 have received the widest amount of attention. The Our Lady of Međugorje messages are published and distributed worldwide and often emphasize five key elements: Daily prayer of the Holy Rosary, Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, Daily reading of the Bible, Monthly Confessions and Holy Communion. The Međugorje messages have a very strong following among Catholics worldwide. The Holy See has never officially either approved or disapproved of the messages of Međugorje, although both critical and supportive documents about the messages have been published by various Catholic figures.

[edit] Reported but unapproved apparitions

A list of some of the more publicized Marian apparitions is provided in the table below. The apparitions in the table below do not have approval, and only those apparitions listed and explained in the sections above have received either Roman Catholic or Coptic approval, and the others shown in the table here are simply based on legend, reports of individuals or are still awaiting approval.

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 Holy Office in 2008. As current examples, Our Lady of Kibeho have received recognition from the local diocese, but there has been no formal approval from the Holy See. However, the 1973 apparitions of Our Lady of Akita were approved by the Holy Office in 1988, with a faster pace than usual.

And the fact that pilgrims continue arriving at a reported apparition site and the fact that church figures a continent away may be sympathetic towards the apparition does not mean that approval has been obtained. For instance, although the Village of Pellevoisin in France does receive pilgrims, and there is a small shrine of Our Lady of Pellevoisin in St. Paul's church in New York, according to the University of Dayton Marian Library, archbishops of Bourges have never pronounced on the subject of Pellevoisin and have been very reserved on the topic.^[48] However, various independent (and colorful) lists of apparitions websites declare Pellevoisin as approved, with no clear reference for the approval.

Not all reports of visions and apparitions can be taken seriously, even if they sound truly pious. For instance, the messages reported by Catalina Rivas were later found to correspond to exact pages of books written by others, and published instructional literature for Catholic seminarians. ^[49] And reported messages from Veronica Lueken as Our Lady of Bayside were declared invalid by Bishop Francis Mugavero, then Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.^[50] Similarly, reports of Our Lady of Surbiton claiming that the Virgin Mary appeared every day under a pine tree in England were flatly rejected by the Vatican as a fraud. ^[51]

Several apparition related sites on the internet exist, often with detailed messages that sound pious, accompanied by testimonies from local witnesses, and even local priests and bishops. However, these representations do not always amount to authenticity or Vatican approval. An example is the website for the apparitions of Our Lady of the Eucharist in Rome since the year 2000. ^[52] The website for Our Lady of the Eucharist includes a clear letter and a photo from Bishop Claudio Gatti who approved the apparition. Yet a more detailed search of the same website produces a letter from the Holy Office reducing the said Bishop to lay rank following a series of meetings at the Vatican on this and other matters (e.g. the Bishop's position of marriage for priests). The Bishop now uses the title ordained by God rather than Catholic Bishop.^[53]

Date	Location	To whom	Reference
1956	Rome City, IN, U.S.	Our Lady Mother of Mercy Chapel Sr. M. Neuzil	Our Lady of America
1961 – 1965	Garabandal, Spain	Four country girls	Our Lady of Mount Carmel
1961 – 1981	Budapest, Hungary	Elizabeth Kindelmann, a Hungarian mother of six children	The Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
1976 – 2004	Betania, Venezuela	Maria Esperanza, Catholic mystic and stigmatic, revelations about political issues, coming manifestation of Christ	Our Lady Mary, Virgin and Mother Reconciler of all People and Nations
1982 to 1988	Kibeho, Rwanda	To seven adolescents	Our Lady of Kibeho
1987 to present	Anguera, Brazil	Apparitions of Our Lady through Pedro Régis, apocalyptic messages	Our Lady Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Peace, Nossa Senhora de Anguera

[edit] Criticism

Many Protestant Christians, some Catholic Christians, and non-Christians regard claims of Marian apparitions as being hallucinations encouraged by superstition, and occasionally simply as lies and deliberate hoaxes to attract attention. Many such apparitions are reported in economically depressed areas, attracting many pilgrims who bring trade and money into the region.

Supposedly spontaneous healings reported at apparition sites such as Lourdes are also disputed by some scientists. Most such healings are reportedly far from spontaneous^{[citation needed]}, often taking place some time after the visit or over a period of weeks or months (rather than being instantaneous, as required by the Lourdes Bureau for a miraculous healing). Other scientists have claimed that a handful of unexplained cures have occurred; the Lourdes Bureau has recorded sixty "inexplicable" (not "miraculous") healings which match its requirements. Critics maintain that some healings are incomplete, leaving the sufferer with disabilities or chronic illness, and that other claimed healings are likely to be the relatively rare but entirely unmiraculous spontaneous remission of illness or injury. Such remissions would be expected to occur in a few of the large numbers of ill (and perhaps credulous) people who visit such sites. That viewpoint is debated by religious people and by some in the medical profession. The Lourdes Bureau will not review cases of claimed healing involving illnesses known sometimes to go into remission by themselves, such as multiple sclerosis or cancer, or incomplete healings, or those which take place gradually. In fact, the rate of "spontaneous healing" at Lourdes is higher than the remission rate for modern medicine.^{[citation needed]}

Many skeptics point out that the material "proofs" (icons weeping blood, rosary chains turning to gold, etc.) provided by witnesses of claimed apparitions are usually common items.^{[citation needed]} Catholic critics dismiss the idea of unverifiable material "proof".

[edit] Further reading

• Blackbourn, David (1994). Marpingen: Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Nineteenth-Century Germany. New York: Alfred A Knopf. ISBN 0-679-41843-1. 

• Connell, Janice T. (1996). Meetings with Mary: Visions of The Blessed Mother. United States: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-39705-3. 

• Connell, Janice T. (2007). The Visions of the Children: The Apparitions of the Blessed Mother at Medjugorje. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-36197-1. 

• Laurentin, René (1990). Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today. Dublin: Vertitas Publications. ISBN 1-853-90054-9. 

• Odell, Catherine M. (1995). Those Who Saw Her: Apparitions of Mary. Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor. ISBN 0-87973-664-4. 

• Sparrow, G. Scott (2004). Sacred Encounters with Mary. Chicago: Thomas More Association/Ave Maria Press. ISBN 1-59471-047-3. 

• [26]Fox, J. Robert (2004). Messages From the Heart of Our Mother. Minnesota: Fatima Family Apostolate. ISBN none [27]. 

[edit] See also

• Dogma (Roman Catholic)
• Mariology (Roman Catholic)
• Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic)
• Blessed Virgin Mary
• Shrines to the Virgin Mary
• Marian devotions
• Immaculate Heart of Mary
• Weeping painting
• Weeping statue
• Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Apparitions of Virgin Mary - The most complete website about Marian apparitions.
• List of Apparitions with links to letters from the local Bishop in some cases.
• The Miracle Hunter - News and actualized information about Marian apparitions.

[edit] Gallery of apparition-based Marian Churches

Main article: Roman Catholic Marian churches

Marian apparitions, and sacred objects related to them, have lead to the construction of some of the largest Roman Catholic Marian churches.