This article will relate at least a few of the best known stories of reputed Holy Virgin Mary observations. In 1917, from May 13 to September 13, three shepherd children at the quarter (urban settlement) Cova Di Iria, near Fatima, Portugal claimed to have 6 spiritual visions of the Virgin Mary. The children were Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Freancisco Marto and Jacinto Marto. Lucia dos Santos was just 8 years old at the time. She had an earlier vision during her First Confession while she was praying before an altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, Lucia saw the statue smile at her. At age 14, Lucia was admitted as a boarder in the school of The Sisters of Saint Dorothy in Vilar on the suburbs of the city of Porto. On October 25, 1925 she was a postulant in a convent of The Institute of The Sisters in Tui, Pontevedra, Spain. In 1946, Lucia left that place and entered the Catholic Carmelite Convent of Saint Teresa in Coimbra, Portugal until she died there on February 13, 2005, at age 97. The other two children died very, very early in life. Francisco Marto died at age 10 while at home. Jacinto Marto died at age 9 at Queen Stephanie’s Children’s Hospital in Lisbon on February 20, 1920. The two children died from the international flu pandemic that started in 1918 and swept the world for 2 years. The burial places of the 2 children are at the Sanctuary of Fatima. All 3 of the visionary children were beatified by Pope John Paul 2 on May 13, 2000, and canonized by Pope Francis on May 13, 2017.
In 1917, the 3 children claimed to see a luminous lady, who they believed to be the Virgin Mary, The glowing lady told the children to do penance, make sacrifices to save souls, and say the Rosary everyday. Lucia dos Santos heard the Blessed Lady to become literate to help further spread these messages to the world. The children also experienced a vision of Hell. The Holy Virgin Mary reputably told the 3 children 3 secrets. publicly revealed many years later, about the ending of the First World War, the beginning of a new World War under the reign of Pope Pius XI, if people would not keep offending God and if Russia does not convert to (Catholic) Christianity and Russia must be consecrated to “The Immaculate Heart of Mary”. These predictions were not released to the public until 1941 to coincide with a second memoriah of Lucia dos Santos. The 3rd secret, based on a vision of the Pope, and bishops, priests, clerical and lay people being killed by soldiers, which was written down by Lucias Santos and sealed in an envelope by her; not to be revealed until 1960. The Roman Catholic Christian Church claimed in 1981 that this vision was a prophecy of the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul 2 that occurred on May 13, 1981.
Back in 1917, the 3 children made a prophecy that on October 13th the Mother of Jesus Christ,the Saviorof the World, would appear and then perform a miracle so “all shall believe”. On October 13, 1917 near Fatima, Portugal, many thousands of spectators were gathered awaiting a visitation of the Holy Mother and the production of a miracle. Estimates of the assembled crowds range from 30,000 to as much as 100,000 individuals. The people did see a very spectacular event in the sky. The sun began spinning, then became blue, then yellow, and next the sun changed size for about 10 minutes before going back to normal appearance. This amazing event has been dubbed as “The Miracle of The Sun”. Some observers also saw the Blessed Mother of Jesus Christ.
The most favored theory by the scientific community on the alleged miracle of the sun is based on a very rare, highly specialized meteorological phenomenon based on “sun dogs” or “false suns” with bands of rainbow colors caused under certain conditions by ice crystals at a high altitude. The “sun dances” can be caused by more activity; stronger performance. The ice crystals picking up an electrical charge in the air and at times there are electrical charges in the air; such procedures would duplicate “the miracle of the sun”. Bishop Jose da Silva declared the miracle of the sun, and the Virgin Mary apparitions of the 3 children to be “worthy of belief” on October 13,1930. Visions of the Holy Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France: From February 11, 1858 to July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared 18 times to 14 year old Bernadette Soubirous, Full NAme: Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, in the small town of Lourdes, in the foothills of the Pyrenee mountains of southern France. Our First Lady of Lourdes was wearing a white veil and a blue girdle; she had a golden rose on each foot and had a rosary of pearls.
The Blessed Virgin Mary revealed her identity to Bernadette with the words: “I am the immaculate Conception” and among other messages and statements that deal with prayers, morality, penance, and faith. Bernadette was told a chapel dedicated to herself, The Virgin Mary, should be built there. In Lourdes, various chapels were built there to handle the vast crowds of the faithful and curiosity seekers. Such chapels include The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes and there is The Basilica of Saint Pius X.
In one revelation, Bernadette was instructed to dig out dirt so an underground spring would surface.Eventually, water did surface, muddy with grass and vegetation, but after a small number of days the water got clearer and clearer and then became safe to drink. Many people with assorted pains, illnesses, diseases, injuries, and other afflictions came to the spring for some of the holy water, and then became miraculously healed. A special shrine or “grotto” got built there and soon later a sanctuary compound was constructed that honors the Blessed Virgin Mother visitation and the holy water with very strong healing powers for at least some or certain individuals.
The spring still flows and the water is collected in a cistern and dispensed by a system of taps near the shrine. Pilgrims may drink the water or collect it in bottles or other containers to take with them.The Lourdes French government allows the water to be used or collected; taken, free of charge. Bernadette Soubirous died from tuberculosis of the bone in the right knee including several complications at age 35 on April 16, 1879 (the Wednesday after Easter) while praying the rosary. She also suffered severe asthma since early childhood.She was canonized on December 8, 1933 by Pope Pius XI of Rome, Italy.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as The Miracle of Guadalupe Vision; a Native Central American Indian Chichimecau peasant of Mexico, Juan Diego, claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to him four times between December 8, 1531 to December 19, 1531 on the Proleptic Gregorian Calender when it was used at present. The woman spoke to Juan Diego in his native Nahuatl language (the language of the Aztec Empire), revved herself as the Holy Virgin Mary “mother of the true deity”. She, also requested that a church be built to honor her.
After telling the Archbishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, Diego was told for the mysterious lady claiming to be the Holy Mother of Jesus Christ to give a convincing sign of her alleged highly spiritual identity. After Juan Diego met the unusual; spectator lady again, he mentioned to her to give him miraculous proof.
During this time,Juan Diego’s uncle, a fellow Catholic, named Juan Bernardino, became seriously ill overnight , so ill that Juan Diego called for a Catholic priest to administer Confession and Last Rites.
Juan Diego, not present with the Catholic priest meeting his very sick uncle, had another encounter with the Virgin Mary who told him his uncle had recovered. Also, Juan Diego was instructed by her to gather flowers from the summit of Tepexac Hill, that was generally barren, especially in the cold December weather they were experiencing. He did as told and found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming there.
Juan Diegoo saw the Blessed Mother again and she arranged the flowers in his tilma (cloak). When Juan saw the Archbishop later on in the day, he opened his cloak, the dozens of special roses fell out and a colorful and detailed pictorial; painted image of the Virgin Mary was on the fabric of his cloak. The Archbishop gathered up those roses and then kept the tilmal. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, built centuries ago, stands of the church for the Holy Virgin Mary apparition of Juan Diego. The venerated site is also known as La Villa de Guadalupe or, in a more popular acceptance, La villa, and has several churches and related buildings. Juan Diego (born 1474 died May 30, 1548) was canonized on July 31, 2002 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City by Pope John Paul 2.
