signs of holy mother

signs of holy mother "The Search for Mary", Time Magazine's 1991 year-end cover story, seriously examines the "grass-roots revival of faith in the Virgin ... taking place world-wide," including the many "claimed sightings of the Virgin, from Yugoslavia to Colorado, in the past few years." The article reports on the increasing number of people visiting Marian pilgrimage sites around the world: Lourdes, France; Fatima, Portugal; Knock, Ireland; Czestochowa; Poland; and Emmitsburg, Maryland. But it says that the "boom at such long-established sites is almost overshadowed by the cult of the Virgin that has developed through new reports of her personal appearances." Medjugorje is discussed, as are other reported visitations: in Cuapa, a small town in Nicaragua, in 1980 (President Violeta Chamorro is reportedly a firm believer in the appearances); in the Ukraine in 1987; and more recently in Denver, Colorado, and Santa Ana, California.

The article also refers to Pope John Paul II's devotion to Mary. The Pope believes that the Virgin Mary personally interceded to spare his life during an assassination attempt in 1981, and that, in accordance with the Fatima prophecies of 1917, Mary brought an end to Communism throughout Europe. The article further states that the Virgin Mary's renewed popularity throughout the world has spawned new interpretations of her life and works which challenge traditional notions such as the Immaculate Conception.

The photo ( above right ), was taken by a woman from New Jersey while on holiday in Arizona. She had asked her husband to stop their car when, driving through the desert, she saw a distinctive bush covered with white flowers. Her husband did not see the flowers. On the picture they cannot be seen either, but in their place is the unmistakable image of the Madonna.

Visions of the Virgin Mary - from Lubbock to Mbuye by Carrol Joy


The Madonna of Medjugorje

Late in the afternoon of 24 June 1981, two young girls went for a walk. On their way home, one of the girls, Ivanka, saw a bright figure on a hill nearby. She immediately called to her friend: "Mirjana, look, the Madonna!" Mirjana replied: "Come on, do you really think the Madonna would appear to us?" Continuing on their way, they met Milka who reminded them that the sheep had to be brought in. They returned with Milka to where Ivanka had first seen the Madonna. This time she saw her holding the infant Jesus in her arms; she called to Mirjana and Milka and they too saw.

A fourth girl, Vicka, used to spend most of her summer holidays with her friend Ivanka. That same afternoon of 24 June she had arranged to meet Ivanka, as they did every afternoon, to go for a walk. But that day she came home tired and went to sleep. When she awoke her mother told her that Ivanka and Marijana had left a message for her to go to Jakov's house. Vicka went immediately and was told where to find her friends. In an interview with Father Tomislav Vlasic she recounted what happened there: "When I reached the road they were waving to me and calling me to come. I was wearing slippers. When I reached them, Mirjana said: "Look up there - the Madonna." I said: " What do you mean, the Madonna? What's the matter with you?" I didn't look - I didn't even bother to look. I kicked off my slippers and ran barefoot back along the road. On my way I met Ivan Dragicevic and Ivan Ivankovic picking apples. I said, "Ivan, the Madonna - they say the Madonna has appeared up there. Let's go there together. I'm afraid to go alone." "Of course we'll go," said Ivan, "but why be scared?" I thought he wasn't afraid, but when we got up there and I turned toward him to ask "Do you see anything?" he had gone. I saw him running away. This was after 6.30. It was raining slightly and beginning to get dark. I SAW IT. It was very white: I saw a gown, dark hair. All the time she was covering and uncovering something she held in her left hand. Then she called us to come closer …

That was how the Medjugorje story begins. The tiny village in the former Yugoslavia is now a major centre of pilgrimage attracting millions of visitors from all over the world. Although recent apparitions of the Virgin Mary are claimed by many in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, only the six visionaries from Medjugorje have continued to see apparitions and receive messsages daily since 1981.

Scientists have not been able to find an explanation for this manifestation of the Madonna. Even the most advanced research techniques of psychologists and neurologists have proved inadequate to throw light on the phenomenon. A Dutch professor of Theological psychology Dr J. Weima concluded, after submitting the group to regular and thorough physical and psychological examinations, that there is no question of deceit or derangement. Dr Weima affirms that something very unusual is being perceived which others cannot see, but for exactly what happens, "science, as it is at present, has not yet found an explanation".

"The Madonna of Medjugorje" by Carmen Zurl

"Manifestations from Medjugorje " by Monte Leach

"The visions of the children : messages from Medjugorje" by Wayne Peterson

Is Mary protecting Medjugorje?

Medjugorje Web



Philippines ( 1982 )

From the Share International letters column :

Dear Editor,

Five hundred children of Emilia Auginaldo elementary school on the island of Luson witnessed a vision (the paper called it an apparition) in the sky, of Mother Mary and baby Jesus. About four thirty in the afternoon of November 19, 1982, a ten year old 4th grader was sitting on the playground of the school. When she looked up in the sky, she saw three angels, Mother Mary with a baby in her arms and an old man standing next to her. They were coming out of a golden palace in a carriage pulled by winged horses. The girl, Janet Holly, an orphan, started to cry because she thought angels were coming to take her. She ran into the classroom and called her teacher who came out but did not see anything. Other children came running out of the buildings and saw the same vision in the sky.

They described the vision to a reporter in great detail: Mary was wearing ... gown and a gold crown on her head; the angels had golden hair and more long flaming gowns; one of them had a key in her hand; and so on. One teacher who had seen the vision told the reporter that she felt an awesome force making her kneel down.

A week later, the children still told the same story about the vision. When they waved their hands, they said, Mary waved at them and the vision disappeared.

The Philippines is a predominantly catholic country and St. Mary is a most important figure in their beliefs. This is one of many stories about visions or apparitions that people have seen all over the world. In the United States those visions often include figures of Jesus Christ; in Japan, they are images of Maitreya Boddhisatva!

What is unique about this story is that 500 children saw the vision together.

(Name and address with-held)

( published September 1983 )


Ireland ( 1982 )

For the past six years, three women have been receiving visions of the Virgin in a humble shrine in Ireland. Every Friday evening they gather at a tiny grotto near Blackwatertown village on the Tyrone/Armagh border to pray and witness the visions which began on 31 May 1982 - significantly, some might think, the date of Maitreya's intended emergence. The Virgin appears dressed in blue and calls for peace, prayer, fasting and confession. Patrinne McConville, one of the women, relays the messages she receives in a matter-of-fact way: they stress the need for prayer and ask all who witness the miracle to go and set up "strong centres of prayer". The Virgin makes clear that the shrine is for Catholic and Protestant; she is critical of the situation in Ireland but promises there will be no civil war.

As at Medjugorje, people's lives, including alcoholics and former non-believers, have been transformed for the good as a result of visiting the shrine. Predictably, the Catholic Church, and the local priest, have ignored the visions. Meanwhile Eileen McPhillips, Patrinne McConville and 17-year-old Maria McClements plan to build facilities for visitors when the funds become available. ( Source: Sean O'Neil in the Irish News, 1988 )


Ireland ( 1985 )

Thousands of people in the little Irish village of Ballinspittle, west of Cork, have seen a statue of the Virgin Mary move. Since this phenomenon was first seen in July, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the grotto where the statue stands. According to witnesses it moves after sunset and consequently hundreds of people have begun keeping night vigils near the 153 kilo concrete statue.

A 17 year old schoolgirl, Claire Mahony, was the first to report seeing the statue move. Later, hundreds of villagers and visitors confirmed that they had seen the statue suddenly start to rock forward and moving either one, or both arms. The church so far has no comment on the phenomenon. Psychologists maintain that it is not the statue that moves, but the crowds around it.


1986 Update -

The statue of the Virgin Mary at Ballinspittle, Co Cork is moving again according to recent reports from Ireland. After vandals attacked it with a sledgehammer last winter, sculptor Maurice O'Donnell created a new head and hands and reinforced the statue with three hundredweight of concrete. Much to his amazement (she never moved while he was repairing her, he said), the Virgin's head has been seen to move again. The statue is now back in the grotto and the village, so quickly deserted after the attack, is preparing for another flood of visitors.


Cameroon ( 1986 )

The Tablet, an international weekly Catholic magazine, of 21 September 1996 carries an article which alleges that in May 1986 the Virgin Mary appeared in the small village of Nsimalen near Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. She was seen by seven teenagers over a period of nine days. Belinga Luc Marc, a pupil at the local primary school at the time, was one of them: "It was about 1pm and there was no sunshine and little wind," she said. "We could see her on the tree tops dressed in pure white. She was accompanied by men also dressed in white. They appeared to be floating in the air. At this time, only the children could see her." Many thousands of people from all over the country flocked to the site which is now a shrine and still attracts many visitors.

The tree on which the Virgin Mary is said to have perched before she disappeared again -now known as the tree of peace - has apparently great healing powers. Its bark is boiled with water from one of the many holy pools below the sanctuary and taken by the sick. Miracles and miracle cures have been reported: a little dumb girl could speak again after seeing the Virgin Mary; a blind man regained his sight; a cripple threw away her crutches and walked; the sun and the moon were shining at 9am.


Cairo ( 1987 )

An old Coptic church in a slum suburb of northern Cairo has become a place of pilgrimage for thousands of Egyptians. The magnet is the Virgin Mary; numerous visions of the Virgin have been reported. Mary has been seen not only by devout Christians but by Muslims too, who are said to leave the church amazed and overjoyed at their experiences and visions. The Coptic church is in a poor, predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Cairo. Miracles of healing are reported to take place in the church which is never empty now.


Italy ( 1987 )

The Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf, in a full page article, recently reported that throughout the world, but particularly in Italy, there is an enormous increase in reports of visions of the Virgin Mary.

One is about the 'inexplicable case' of the-75-year-old, almost illiterate farmer, Domenico Masselli, who communicates with the 'Madonna of Storarella'. He receives letters from people who ask the Madonna questions and puts them, unopened, on the altar of the church of Storarella. "Without hesitation they are answered by him in the Virgin Mary's name, completely accurately. His explanation is simple: "I am the postman for the Madonna", the newspaper quotes him.

Professor Maria Macioti, lecturer in sociology at the University of Rome, has made a special study of visions of the Madonna over a period of many years. She told De Telegraaf that there have been three cycles of such appearances in recent history: the first during the period 1947-1949, the second in the 70s and the third cycle during the past two years.

Perhaps one of the most convincing testimonies to the authenticity of such appearances is from the now 74 year old Bruno Cornacchiola who in the late 1940s saw the Virgin Mary appear to him. Cornacchiola was a dyed-in-the-wool communist, not of the casual Italian sort who profess communism during the week and go to church on Sunday, but an extremely principled one who fought against General Franco in the Spanish civil war.

"Having come from a very poor family I was filled with hatred for the Church," he told the Dutch newspaper. "I even considered assassinating the Pope in the belief that it would be a service to humanity." In 1947 Bruno went out for a day in the country with his wife and children, planning quietly to prepare a lecture in which he would criticise the Church's teaching about the Virgin Mary. Not a likely candidate, therefore, for seeing visions. Suddenly, he saw the "bella signorina" standing before him, as did his children. On this occasion he was given the first of a series of messages.

A more recent case reported in De Telegraaf is that of Renato Baron, secretary of the Christian-Democratic Party in San Martino di Schio. "One day he came face to face with the Madonna. She was dressed all in white with a blue cloak. He was intelligent enough, before telling the outside world, to go quickly to a psychiatrist for a certificate to prove that he was completely sane. Today, tens of thousands of believers come every week from all over Europe to see the miracle of San Martino: a crucifix in the place where the Madonna first appeared which miraculously gives out a strong scent of roses."


Paris ( 1988 )

A devout member of a Greek Orthodox Church in Paris has reported several miraculous experiences with an apparition of the Virgin Mary which occurred in the church's private chapel. During the second of these experiences, oil began flowing from his hands. Hundreds of people have since witnessed this phenomenon, and extraordinary healings have been associated with the oil. It is reported that the oil smells of olives and some undefinable perfume. Word of the events spread so quickly that the French national news agency, AFP, conducted interviews with the man in question and photographed the phenomenon inside the chapel. (From: The Independent, 10 September, 1988 )


Louisiana, USA ( 1989 )

In yet another manifestation of the Virgin Mary, between 8,000 and 10,000 people flocked to a clearing in rural Tickfaw, Louisiana, where they had been told the Virgin would appear. As in other such instances, some of the viewers claimed they saw strange lights emanating from the sun; some said they saw Jesus, Mary and Joseph; and a few claimed they had received messages from the Virgin.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the crowd was drawn to the site because word had spread that a local man, Alfredo Raimondo, had been asked by the Virgin in February to sponsor a Mass in honor of St. Joseph. Raimondo explained that the Virgin was especially pleased because so many people from the area had visited Medjugorje, where apparitions of the Virgin have appeared for years.

Among the faithful at Tickfaw were two women and a boy who said they saw the Virgin. One of the women said they had received a message they were asked not to reveal, an experience which is common at such manifestations.

A priest from New Orleans spent five hours at the site hearing confessions: "Some people said it had been 10, 20, 30 years since they had been to confession. Some people had tears running down their faces." The county sheriff's deputy remarked that the event was the first time in 12 years of directing traffic that nobody had complained to him, and noted that "This is the nicest, most well-behaved group of people".


Ireland ( 1990 )

The tiny village of Fahy in County Galway, Ireland, has become the focal point for pilgrims from North and South since apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been seen inside the Church of Our Lady.

On 2 June two girls from Cork first saw the Virgin on the wall at the side of the altar. A series of light blue patches have since appeared on the wall. Father Cathal Stanley, who believes that God is sending out warnings to mankind and that the world is on the brink of climatic disaster, has been told to take a rest by his local bishop and not talk to the media. Meanwhile, coachloads continue to descend on this latest sighting of the Virgin in Ireland. (Source: The Sunday Correspondent)


Boston, USA ( 1991)

A statue of the Madonna which was carried through a religious procession in Boston, USA, appeared to blink briefly on a videotaped recording of the event. Since the procession, thousands of people have flocked to the chapel and clubhouse of the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca Society where the statue is kept. Many people consider the 'blinking Madonna' a miracle, while others, including two video technicians who examined the videotape, believe the camera's shifting autofocus mechanism was responsible for the phenomenon. Two video experts from Harvard, however, said the autofocus theory could not be proven conclusively even after a careful analysis of the videotape. (Source: Boston Herald)


Ohio, USA ( 1991 )

Visions of the Virgin Mary have been drawing crowds to a roadside shrine at the Society of St Paul in Ellsworth, Ohio. A 17-year-old high school boy began the vigils there two months ago after claiming he had talked with Mary. Some in the community report seeing images of Mary in the setting sun, while others say the sun spins or pulsates as it sets over the shrine. (Source: Youngstown Vindicator)


San Francisco, USA ( 1991 )

Since 1991, a young Filipino man, Carmelo Cortez, has had numerous experiences of the Madonna and is able to manifest detailed images of the Christ, Mary, and others onto rose petals. Healings have also been associated with these phenomena.

Report ( from Share International, October 1996 )


The Bronx, USA ( 1992 )

Thousands of visitors from all over the world have flocked to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at St Lucy's Roman Catholic Church in The Bronx, New York. Hundreds have been healed this year after drinking the shrine's miracle water - remarkably coming not from the original spring but off the New York City water mains. People preparing for major surgery have found operations no longer necessary after drinking glasses of the water - cured by their faith, their prayers and the symbolic water, according to parish official Anthony DelGuadio. (Source: Examiner, USA)


Kentucky, USA ( 1992 )

Reverend Leroy Smith is the priest at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Cold Spring, Kentucky. Earlier this year, Reverend Smith received information from a "visionary" in nearby Ohio that the Virgin Mary would appear at his church on 31 August at midnight. Word quickly spread, and the story received a great deal of local and national media attention.

At the appointed date and time, with thousands in attendance, both inside and outside the church, Reverend Smith said: "Let's take a moment to welcome Our Lady into our midst." Some of those inside saw lights in various forms moving through the church, or flashing lights reflected in the church windows. Others outside the church saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in a tree and above the church's bell tower.

"Miracle at Cold Spring" interview with Reverend Smith by Monte Leach

"...in most of the messages - from Medjugorje and elsewhere around the world - the message is: 'Time is short. Realize that there will be difficulties and problems, and that this is not the end of the world - but perhaps the end of an era'."

( Reverend Smith )


Ohio ( 1992 )

In a tiny church located in the industrial section of a small Ohio town, a painting of the Virgin Mary is seen to weep. At St Jude Orthodox Church in Barberton, Ohio, tears are reported to flow from the Virgin's eyes on the two-by-three-foot painting. St Jude's pastor, Father Roman, like many of the visitors to the church, believes the event in Barberton is a miracle "a sign of compassion from God." He says of the painting: "If it gives some blessing, we'd like people to come and see it. We want to try to bring people back to church and God." ( Source: Knight Ridder Newspapers )


Mexico ( 1992 )

Thousands of people are flocking to a remote Mexican village to receive healings from a weeping statue of the Madonna. The healing powers of the three-foot Madonna statue in San Tomas were discovered this summer by a 12-year-old girl praying for her mother who was dying of cancer. The girl discovered tears flowing down the statue's cheeks. "I thought it was the morning dew, so I touched the droplet," said Ana Avila, a sixth-grader. "It tasted salty, like a real tear." When Ana returned home, she found her mother in the kitchen preparing dinner and singing. The woman had not been able to get out of bed for three months. Word quickly spread throughout the town, and other healings were reported. The story of the Miraculous Madonna was published in the Mexico City daily newspapers, and elsewhere throughout the world. "People have come from South and North America, from Europe and from Asia," says Father Amoros, the local priest. "And all have been healed." He says, "People arrive on stretchers and crutches, then walk away under their own power after praying to the Madonna and touching her tears. No one can explain the tears or the miracles. They've sent scientists from Mexico City and from the US. All say the tears are real, but no one knows where they come from or how they heal." (Source: The Sun, USA)


Holland ( 1992 )

From the Share International letters column :

Dear Editor,

A report of an apparition of the Virgin Mary in Geulle, South Limburg (Holland), has recently appeared on local cable TV.

A member of a Transmission Group in Heerlen contacted the family who had seen the Virgin Mary in the sky above their house and sent them Share International (November 1992 colour issue). The description of their vision matches the photograph of Mary as shown in Share International. Later a further report appeared on local TV referring to Share International and its Chief Editor, Benjamin Creme, who has been talking about such visions and phenomena for some time now. A photograph of the Madonna taken from Share International (November 1992) was also shown on TV.

An interesting feature of the events in southern Holland is that a spring of water has appeared under the family's house in Geulle. It is not clear yet whether the water has been "charged", and if it has healing properties, but already the area is being referred to as "The Lourdes of the Low-lands".

(Name and address known to the editors)

( published September, 1993 )


New Zealand ( 1993 )

In early March, during an open air meeting at the Medjugorje Peace Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, at which a representative from Medjugorje was one of the speakers, a band of colours appeared in the sky, though not in rainbow formation. Later, outside the nearby Cathedral, members of the congregation noticed that the sun appeared to be changing colour, to be spinning and "jumping". These phenomena were also accompanied by a vision of the Virgin Mary in the sky.


Flanders ( 1993 )

From the Share International letters column :

Dear Editors,

The Limburgs Dagblad of 23 October 1993 carried a report about visions of the Virgin Mary in the Flemish town of Lede. The article, entitled "The Miracle of Lede" tells how a 60-year old woman, Marie-Jeanne Vanlonderzele, began praying for healing for her dying husband. Her prayers were answered, he recovered; but during his healing Marie-Jeanne was visited by the Blessed Virgin, who requested that a chapel be built. This was done and the chapel is now visited monthly by the Virgin Mary (and sometimes also by Jesus) to give a message to those who gather there.

Visitors from all over Europe come to hear these messages and to visit the chapel. Many take photographs (of the sky above the chapel) which when developed show images of a white dove or a consecrated candle. "Everyone gets some sign," says Marie-Jeanne. She refuses all money, saying that the Virgin Mary comes not for the rich but for the ordinary people. Marie-Jeanne helps people in whatever way she believes the Blessed Virgin requires - through prayers, healing and counselling.

The messages exhort people to pray, go to Mass and confession, and to live good lives; they also warn of war, etc; in brief, difficult times ahead. Marie-Jeanne also has special messages for the local parish priest who, so far, has not commented publicly on the events in the town of Lede.

(Name and address supplied.)

( published March 1994 )


Philippines ( 1993 )

An estimated one million people gathered in a small Philippine town north of Manila on 6 March to witness a visitation of the Virgin Mary. Many people in the crowd, including top Philippine government officials, journalists, and the local Catholic bishop - acting as a representative of the Pope - attested to seeing a silhouette resembling the Virgin Mary appear above a guava tree for approximately five seconds. ( Source : Manila Bulletin, Associated Press )

Report from Share International, May 1993


Lourdes ( 1993 )

A man paralysed by multiple sclerosis since 1977 says he started walking after visiting the sanctuary in Lourdes, France. Jean Salaun said he had a vision of the Virgin Mary during his pilgrimage to the shrine in southwest France where Mary is said to have appeared in 1858 to a young girl named Bernadette. "Like everyone at Lourdes, I said my prayers, my eyes open," Salaun said. "I then saw the Virgin before me, in white, brown, barefoot, and she said to me: "Stand up." Salaun said that the following morning he felt an icy cold cover his body, from the end of the spinal cord to the top of this head, followed by a burning heat. "I looked at my hands and I started to move," he said. Salaun started walking a day later, after returning to his home in Chartres. Lourdes' Medical Bureau, which tries to verify reports of cures, issued a rare statement, calling the case a "rather remarkable observation." Any official church declaration that a 'miracle' has occurred may take years. (Source: Associated Press; Stars and Stripes Newspaper, Germany)


Texas, USA ( 1993 )

An image of the Virgin Mary has appeared on a car in Elsa, Texas. The car is Dario Mendoza's 1981 maroon Chevrolet Camaro, and the Virgin's image appeared on the rear fender on the driver's side. When Mendoza's family and friends first noticed the image, they were so moved that several of them slept outside that night so they could stay close to the image.

The next morning, Mendoza had an attack of sceptism, and washed his car. The image only grew larger. Soon the local papers carried the story and people flocked to see the image of "La Virgencita". They came to pray, bring flowers, sing, and to leave small written prayers asking for the Virgin Mary's help with their problems. The pilgrims continued to arrive each day.

When Mendoza, who gets seasonal work picking cotton in Louisiana, needed to get to work, he realized he could not take the car - which by now was the centre of a small shrine. Instead, he hitchhiked to the fields.

The church is refusing comment on the subject, just as it did when Mary's image recently appeared on a cottonwood tree in front of a boarding house in nearby Brownsville, Texas. The Mendoza family says they have no idea why the Virgin chose Dario Mendoza's car for her miracle. (Source: Wall Street Journal, USA)


Oregon, USA ( 1994 )

A little mobile home in Boardman, Oregon, USA, is drawing hundreds of people eager to see an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a landscape painting purchased at a garage sale.

It all began on a Thursday morning when Irma Mu-oz woke before dawn and couldn't get back to sleep. She watched a little TV while her mother made a packed lunch for her father, who was leaving for work. Irma's mother, Lourdes Mu-oz, asked her for a cup of coffee. As she took the cup to her mother, the painting above the bed caught her eye. She said she could clearly see in it an image in the shape of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"I had an uncontrollable desire to cry, so I cried," Irma Mu-oz told the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Washington. "I said to my mother: 'There is the virgin'." Her mother was sceptical, but when "she got up and saw it, she believed me," said Irma.

Many Catholics of Mexican descent are devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe, another name for the Virgin Mary, and honour her Feast Day on 12 December. The feast commemorates a day in 1531 when the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to a poor Indian in what is now Mexico City.

For 23-year-old Irma, the sight came as a complete surprise. "I wasn't a very religious person, but I am now," she said. Irma called her sister, and word quickly spread. A Spanish-language radio station in Walla Walla, Wash., picked up the story and sent a reporter to broadcast live from the scene. By the Thursday evening, the family's small mobile home was filled with roses and votive candles and people hoping to see the image for themselves. Some prayed as they gazed -- others just stared quietly -- at the image in a glossy area on the otherwise dull surface of the painting. The image is about the size of a dinner plate. Unfortunately the crowds and lighting made photographs impossible. (Source: The News-Review, Roseburg, Oregon, USA)


California, USA ( 1995 )

On the 13th of each month, hundreds of people flock to a remote spot in the Mojave Desert in southern California to witness sightings of the Virgin Mary. Maria Paula, a local Catholic woman, says she regularly has visions of the Virgin Mary. Up to three-quarters of the crowd who attend the desert gatherings each month, have reported seeing the Virgin. The local Catholic bishop hasn' officially recognized or approved Paula's activities. But the Rev. John Santillan, a priest at a Los Angeles church, acts as Paula's spiritual adviser and attends the monthly visions. "I don't completely accept it, but my tendency is to say, 'Yes, something is happening.'" ( Source: Bakersfield Californian, USA; L.A.Times, February 16, 1997)


Kentucky, USA ( 1995 )

Thousands of people are flocking to a small Kentucky farm to hear a 49-year-old grandmother deliver messages from the Virgin Mary. According to US tabloid The Sun : "The messages are basically the same -- to pray, to follow the Golden Rule, and to prepare for a change in the world coming soon."

The woman receiving the messages is known by her first name, Sandy, and has lived in the area most of her life. Sandy was not a particularly religious person until 1992, when, she says, the Virgin Mary appeared to her. The Virgin urged her to build a shrine where people could come to say the rosary and pray for peace, and hear her weekly messages given through Sandy. Some visitors say they have seen a cloud of light descend into the statue of the Virgin, the centre of the outdoor shrine, just before Sandy receives her message, and leave when the message is completed. Children say they have had the silver crucifixes on their rosaries turn to a golden colour. About 3,000 people now come to the shrine on an average weekend, with up to 30,000 on special days. (Source: The Sun, USA)


New Zealand ( 1995 )

A vision of the Madonna is said to have appeared to more than 200 people at Manu Ariki Marae, near Taumaranui, in the North Island of New Zealand. ( A marae is an indigenous community centre ). It was a Sunday evening, at about 8:30 and most of the people who live on the marae were inside their cabins preparing for bed. What they say they saw is a vision of the Madonna, or as they call it The Mother. Word spread quickly and the initial crowd of thirty swelled to more than 200.

Witnesses talked to television news about what they desribe as a miracle : "One of the women came rushing in breathless. Get up! Get up! There's a vision. There's a vision you must come," recalled one of the residents. "We had people on the phone ringing people saying 'Get here quick! Run. Come up here now'. People were arriving in cars. As I was running up the road there were other people bolting up the road. We were all running." Another added, "She was standing as high as the building. Dressed in a white robe, wearing a shoulder length veil."

The vision stayed for nearly three hours, fading slowly away around 11pm. Since the appearance, the commune has become the talk of the town. There are plenty of sceptics but those who were there are convinced that it was a miracle. Established in the 1960's the commune is a religious centre, its philosophy loosely based on Christianity but with an emphasis on the female side of God. When they pray they speak of "Father, Mother, Son and Holy Spirit" Similar groups overseas see this place as their spiritual headquarters. ( Source : TV3 Nightline, New Zealand, September 10 )

Costa Rica ( 1996 )

On the first Tuesday of every month, crowding the highways by bus and car, people travel to Sara Piqui in Costa Rica to witness the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the sky. As well as this miraculous vision, sometimes glitter has suddenly manifested on the arms of the people present. They say it is very real -- that they can pick it up with their fingers.


Florida, USA ( 1996 )

Thousands of people are flocking to a modest Florida house to hear a woman deliver messages from the Virgin Mary. Rosa Lopez says that she receives daily messages from the Virgin who urges more prayer and devotion. Lopez offers these messages to the public once a month.

In 1992, after making a pilgrimage to a town in Georgia where visions of the Virgin had been reported, Rosa first saw what she thought was a photograph of the Virgin affixed to a tree. "What a beautiful picture," she thought -- until she saw the figure bless the crowd with a wave of her hand. After returning home, Rosa began seeing visions of both Jesus and Mary in her own bedroom, and these visions eventually became a daily part of her life.

Others have reported witnessing the visions as well. Jasinto, a local resident, doubted the visions until he himself saw the Virgin one evening. "She was in the window," he says. "I passed my hands in front of the vision and I still saw it."

Many who see nothing unusual insist they feel something. "It's a presence," says Rosa's daughter, Cari. "There's a calmness, a tranquillity, a peaceful feeling when you're there." Pilgrims to the site have also claimed healings from water flowing out of a fountain beneath a statue of Mary in Lopez' front yard.

Catholic authorities in the area have tried to discourage people from visiting the house. One statement from the archdiocese stated: "Unless it's authorized and approved, it can't become a subject of devotion and belief. It could become a source of religious and spiritual confusion." (Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, USA)


Holland ( 1996 )

From the Share International letters column :

Dear Editors,

In February 1996, my 76 year old mother felt somewhat depressed and was muttering away while she was doing her household duties of the day. Suddenly she saw a little light next to a white porcelain statue of the Madonna in one of the bedrooms of the house. At first, she muttered to that as well, but then approached the light which started to flicker. As she touched it with her hand, she suddenly was holding a flat, metal little angel in her hand. She is still flabbergasted about this event and has been wondering whose grace this was?

R.L., Amsterdam, Holland.

( published July-August 1996 )


San Francisco, USA ( 1996 )

Hundreds of people each night are visiting the Immaculate Conception Church in San Francisco to see an image of the Virgin Mary which has appeared on the church's gabled roof. The image appeared about the same time as two neighbourhood teenagers were killed in a nearby park.

The image appears after dark, and is visible throughout the night. People gather each evening to pray and sing religious songs. Some say they have smelled the scent of roses. There have also been reports of healings. "The presence of her was quite overwhelming. It was quite a spiritual experience ... From my abdomen to my neck it was like this overwhelming spiritual sense," said one visitor, Taren Sapienza.

Four local television stations and both major newspapers in San Francisco reported on the story. The Cable News Network (CNN) also produced a news story on the image. The church's priest, Father Guglielmo "William" Lauriola, told CNN: "We have a sign that is pulling our attention toward something supernatural." The image has had a positive effect on the community as well. "I've seen lots of young people come here and many people who have not been to church for years," Father Lauriola told the San Francisco Examiner.

The CNN story included a segment on Benjamin Creme. "British lecturer Benjamin Creme, who has written about religious phenomena, visited the chapel. He believes the image and similar signs signal a Second Coming as the new millennium approaches," said reporter Fred Wayne. "This is part of the signs of an extraordinary event, which to my certain knowledge is taking place in the world," said Creme. (Sources: San Francisco Examiner; CNN, USA)

Letter from Share International, November 1996


Australia ( 1996 )

" 'An image of the Virgin Mary on a wall of the Anglican church at Yankalilla is another sign pointing to the coming of a Christ-like teacher to unite all religions', a scholar of religious phenomena said yesterday."

Thus begins a news story in the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper in South Australia. The scholar mentioned is a member of a Transmission Meditation group in Adelaide.

According to the Reuters news agency: "Pilgrims and sightseers are flocking by the thousands to a small country church in South Australia after its priest described an image of the Virgin Mary and child on the altar wall."

Parish priest Andrew Nutter said that the image has grown stronger since he first noticed it in late 1994. " ... now everybody's coming in. Sceptics, secular humanists, atheists, doubters, people who have no time for the church, and people who are faithful, see it.... This has become a people's shrine,'' he said. According to Nutter, the image shows a woman looking toward the part of the church where consecrated bread is kept. The phenomenon received little attention outside the parish until Reverend Nutterís article in a church newspaper attracted the mainstream media. The large number of visitors has prompted the church to schedule a weekly pilgrim service to celebrate the vision.

The Anglican diocesan bishop Graham Walden said the vision did not seem to have been caused by anything such as salt damp or mould and he believed the church could be hosting something genuine. "If people receive something as being of God, then it is of God, they don't have some sort of mechanism for accreditation," he said.

It has also been reported that a stream of water has sprung up under the church since the image formed. (Sources: Reuters; Adelaide Advertiser, Australia)

"Image of Madonna and Child leads to discovery of Healing Water" by Pasquo Cassetta


Florida, USA ( 1996 )

Clearwater picture


During three weeks over Christmas 1996, 450,000 people went to view the wall of a black glass building in south Florida where a two-storey-high image of the Virgin Mary had appeared. The rainbow-coloured image on the outside of the Seminole Finance building in Clearwater, Florida, is about 50 feet wide and 35 feet tall, and stretches across nine panes of glass.

Some witnesses said the image began forming about the time of Thanksgiving, in late November. A couple of weeks later, a customer of Seminole Finance called a local television station to say she had seen an image of the Virgin Mary on the building. The station showed pictures of the image during their newscast, and soon large crowds began gathering.

"It's quite amazing. It's very spiritual, very peaceful," said Patty Scharn, a receptionist at the building. According to police spokesman Wayne Shelor: "People are making shrines, bringing gifts, candles, flowers, statues. Some have been overwhelmed and fainted. We have the infirm, the disabled in wheelchairs, the blind. They're coming 500 at a time.... But it's not a carnival atmosphere. There is a sense of awe and wonder."

Some visitors said the image was caused by the sun reflecting off water left by sprinklers. A spokesman for the local Catholic diocese said: "There's no reason at this point to think that what's appearing there cannot be explained by natural causes ... We're just telling people to exercise caution. Use some healthy scepticism."

But many who have come to view the image do not need to be convinced of its authenticity. "It was like you're in an angel's arms," said one visitor. ( Sources: Associated Press; Clearwater Times; St Petersburg Times, USA)

Eyewitness Report by Jane Baker and 1997 Update


Ireland ( 1997 )

On a summer evening in July 1985, an Irish girl named Clare Mahoney strolled home at dusk through the pastures and farmlands of County Cork, past a shrine to the Virgin Mary that she had passed hundreds of times before. But on that July evening in the village of Ballinspittle, when Clare Mahoney glanced up at the statue, she saw it move. The Madonna swayed back and forth. Word spread quickly, and soon thousands of people gathered to see the phenomenon. ( see story above ) But the sighting generated controversy. The faithful held masses near the shrine, but scientists said the motion was merely an optical illusion. Eventually, the scientists and sceptics won out, and the public attention died down. Some 10 years after Clare Mahoney's discovery, a writer for FATE magazine visited the statue with her family. Janet Brennan wrote of her experience: "We knelt down at the railing that separates the grotto from the gravel parking lot and looked up at the Madonna. To our amazement, she was moving. Slowly, almost eerily, she swayed back and forth a few inches. The movement was so smooth it seemed as if the statue were floating." Upon closer inspection, her son saw that the statue was held in cement, with no apparatus to make it move. Brennan concluded: "Pilgrims by the thousands still pour into Fatima and Lourdes, seeking physical cures and spiritual comfort and creating thriving tourist industries. But in a quiet corner of Ireland ... the Madonna of Ballinspittle rocks on in solitude." (Source: FATE magazine; reported in Share International, April 1997 )

Washington State, USA ( 1997 )

Thousands of belivers flocked to an ordinary traffic sign here hoping to catch a glimpse of an image of the Virgin Mary. Chico Rodriquez, a police officer in this town about 30 miles southeast of Yakima, said he saw Madonna images on a road sign east of the city limits. "It shows like the figure of the Virgin Mary," Rodriquez said last Sunday. "It's the full figure. You really can't make out the face ... more of a profile. It's just all of the collars and stuff there."

The sighting was first reported around 4 p.m. Saturday on the sign at the intersection of state Route 241 and Yakima Valley Highway. Within hours, thousands were arriving as the report spread by word of mouth among the predominately Hispanic communities in the area.

Mexico ( 1997 )

Nearly 2,000 people an hour are flocking to see an image of the so-called "Subway Virgin" formed in a puddle of water in a Mexico City metro station. The image, now a stain left by the dried-up puddle, is about 10 inches long, and bears a resemblance to the image of Mexico's Virgin of Guadalupe, a manifestation of the Virgin Mary. The Mexican archbishop's office expressed doubt that the image was a true miracle, saying it failed to rank with divine appearances such as Guadalupe in 1531, Lourdes in France in 1854, and Fatima in Portugal in 1917. "There are no theological elements that lead us to consider this a divine presence through these lines that have formed due to a water leak," the church office said in a state ment.

The image first appeared at the Hidalgo metro station in downtown Mexico City. The Mexico City metro system, one of the busiest underground railway systems in the world, transports more than one million people a day. Police officers guarding the site said as many as 1,800 people per hour were lining up to see the image. Many people laid candles, flowers and coins near the site. ( Source: Reuters )




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