Course: Two Marys
Lecture #10: Marian Apparitions II
NOTE: Text in Highlight is Optional
INTRODUCTION TO 20TH CENTURY APPARITIONS;
The film, lasting about one hour, is approximately 2 years old so it is not totally up to date. However, it does cover most of the major 20th century apparitions around the world and give some explanations.
After the film, I will attempt to sum up the meaning, in healing spring general, of the apparitions from Fatima to today giving some psychological, sociological and other meanings, the main thing being the WORLDVIEW that is being promulgated.
SHOW FILM: MARIAN APPEARANCES IN THE 20TH CENTURY W/ RICARDO MONTALBLAM
Film has: Fatima – Belgium healing spring
Garabandal Spar (1961-66) over 2000 apparitions
Zeitum, Egypt -- 1968-70 Coptic Church
Akita, Japan -- 1973-1981 Fatima prayer taught Weeping statue
Betania, Venezuela -- 1976-now / 1994-public (approved)
Medyegorge 1981-present Gospa
Kibeho Rowanda – 1981-1989 Jesus & Mary
Naju S. Korea – 1985-now weeping blood
Ukrain3 – 1987-now Chernobyl anniversary
WHAT DO THESE MEAN TO CATHOLIC BELIEVERS
Most apparition devotees have understood recent Marian apparitions as part of a pattern of Divine activity in the days" immediately preceding the 2nd coming of Christ. They connections between the apparitions and other events going on in the world today, both religious and secular.
They see Mary and her messages as part of an all-encompassing divine plan in which Mary has a special role. The virgin has been, in this view, intervening for over a century now with weeping, exhortation, pleading, threatening and miracles, to turn people away from folly and wickedness and urge them to pray and do penance.
Among those who subscribe to both the recognized and non- recognized apparitions something like a single, transcultural, apocalyptic ideology based on the messages has grown up in recent years around the edges of mainline Roman Catholic institutions. It is sort of a popular, free-floating apocalyptic worldview built on images and themes prominent in the messages of the more recent apparitions.
Fundamental to this worldview are the images of intercession and intervention and it assumes that a divinely appointed figure may intercede with Christ or God and change the predetermined course of events.
Intercession as it is understood here usually involves a dramatic interaction between God, who in the persons of the father and the son represents the divine law, and the virgin who represents divine mercy.
In this schema, God is portrayed as angry with the world because the sins of humanity have overturned or disrupted the established order. He is so angry, in fact that his justice demands immediate chastisement.
Starting with La Salette, the "beautiful lady" said that the arm of her son was "so heavy and pressing" that she could no longer restrain it and only her unceasing entreaties had thus far held back the chastisement and the people would never be able to repay her for this.
In this worldview and the apparition messages on which it is based, God is portrayed as most offended by sins of a particular kind.
In the La Salette messages, the sins which were said to be most offensive to Mary's son were working on Sunday, swearing in her son's name, neglecting to attend Mass, mocking religion, and eating meat during lent all transgressions against a ritually defined sacred order.
At Fatima, the epitome of sin and evil is a kind of violation of such a sacred order. In the second part of the secret at Fatima in the warning about Russia, the great calamity threatening the world is seen as the spread of atheism, i.e., the collapse of the ritual of confession of faith in God.
There is however a prescribed ritual which would restore the sacred order. The Virgin told Lucia that she had come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her immaculate heart and the communion of reparation on first Saturdays. If heeded, Russia would be converted and there would be peace.
In the Medjugorje messages, in contrast to those at Fatima, atheism is understood more in a practical than purely theoretical sense, and the converted Russia is portrayed as spiritually superior to the nations of the west.
Mary is reportedly to have said in 1981 that "Russia is the people where God will be most glorified. The West has advanced civilization but w/o God, as though it were its own creator."
Future chastisements are not seen in this worldview as inevitable. Indeed, the major purpose of the Virgin's latter-day appearances is to give the world a last opportunity to restore the disrupted sacred order and the divine-human relationship which this order represents through repentance and conversion, a return to appropriate devotional practices, and submission to the ordinances of the Church. This includes saying the Rosary, taking part in the Eucharist, fasting and prayer, etc.
In the context of more recent apparitions, in answer to one devotee's question of why she has been appearing so often in recent times, Mary's motherly qualities have been especially emphasized.
In most of these apparitions, there have been messages suggesting that it is a mother who is best able to rescue her children from impending disaster.
For example: At Garabandal in the 1960's, over 4 years of the appearances, Mary was pictured as a mother concerned to educate her children in moral and spiritual matters. She taught the girls how to pray and told them to add the phrase "and our Mother" to the petition "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
These themes of Mary as Mother and, as at San Damiano, Mother as savior, are prominent in the later apparitions believed to be in the last days. These are the unifying themes of the free-floating apocalyptic worldview that comes to expression in the more popular apparition literature.
CONCLUSIONS: MARY MAGDALENE AND MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS
One can not help but be struck by the firm way in which the Catholic Church's tradition has put Mary, the Mother of Jesus in the foreground while pushing Mary Magdalene, the first proclaimer of the resurrection message, to the back of the stage, so to speak.
As discussed, Mary Magdalen appears in all four gospels as witness to the very beginning of the resurrection message, only the circumstances and those accompanying her differ.
The character of the charge she is given varies too: In Luke and the later final ending of Mark she tells the disciples only what she has experienced. However, in Mark's first ending and Matthew she and the other women are charged to proclaim what they have heard. In John she is given this charge by the risen Jesus himself.
These are not chance variations, but important to the evangelist’s theology. Luke tells of now special charge, and there the group of disciples is already viewed as an elite, celibate community which the group of women serves and in which Mary Magdalen's function is also restricted.
Her presence at the cross in Luke is not mentioned either as it is in the other three gospels. He neutralizes her unique character in his gospel by putting her call, as the healing of a demonic sickness, in the same context as the call to other women.
MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS
Mark brings out all the conflict and sharpness between mother and son and is probably based on historical fact. Matthew tempers this by leaving out the family's suspicion that Jesus was mad (Mark 3:20-21).
Luke softens Jesu's hard saying that only the person who does the will of God belongs to the eschatological family, mitigating it by presenting Mary in his stories as the "obedient handmaid of the Lord" who fulfills these demands.
John's gospel does not carry thru this picture of the believing, obedient Mary. He does put her at the foot of the cross, but it is in order to make her the mother of the beloved disciple, who represents the ideal picture of the believing Christian or community.
So, one can see that the picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus in the New Testament is a conflicting one and the two main themes of later Mariology --the virgin birth and the presence under the cross--are clearly later in origin.
Thus, one can see already in Luke's gospel (@ 85-90 AD) a tendency to minimize Mary Magdalen's uniqueness in favor of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
It is in Mark's gospel, the oldest in the canon, that it is the women, including Mary Magdalen, who are the true disciples as opposed to the men who were in love with success. It is they who perceive the true identity of Jesus and serve him.
FREE WOMAN VS. TAME WOMAN
Thus, we already can see the two views of women, the two traditions, present in the New Testament. Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel calls these the TRADITION OF FRIENDSHIP and THE TRADITION OF MOTHERHOOD. The friendship tradition was mostly cultivated in the protest movements (Gnostics) while the motherhood tradition was mainly cultivated by the "mainline" church.
This culminated with the Council of Ephesus (431) when Mary, mother of Jesus was named as THEOTOKOS. about 160 years later, Mary Magdalen was named by Gregory the Great as the Whore and Mary of Bethany as well as herself thus making her forever the repentant prostitute.
The women's real historical role in Jesus' history was smothered under the feminine stereotype into which they were forced just as the ancient goddesses lost their original independence in an earlier era. The Reformers did nothing to change these images of the women.
Thus, protestant thought, even with the higher critical study of the Bible the past century, still has, in the popular mind, the images of the virgin mother and the repentant prostitute, the epitome of the forgiven sinner.
Christian Research Journal
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary:
A Protestant Look at a Catholic Phenomenon: Part One
by Kenneth R. Samples
from the Christian Research Journal, Winter, 1991, page 20. The Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Research Journal is Elliot Miller.
Devotion to the "Blessed Virgin Mary" (as she is commonly called by Catholics) has been a centerpiece of Catholic belief and piety for centuries. However, the last century and a half has seen a dramatic increase in Marian devotion. This resurgence of the "cultus of the Virgin" can be attributed to two primary factors. First, Mary's already exalted status in the church was substantially enhanced by Catholicism's official acceptance of the Marian dogmas known as the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950).[1] The second force behind Mary's growth in popularity, especially among the laity, is not so much doctrinal as experiential. It is her alleged appearances to people throughout the world.
These appearances (called apparitions) have occurred with increasing frequency since the nineteenth century, and have attracted widespread attention. Pope Pius XII, in calling attention to the apparitions, referred to the nineteenth century as the "century of Marian predilection [i.e., preference]." And the present century cannot be far behind: one leading Marian scholar notes that there have been more than 200 reported apparitions since the 1930s alone.[2] With the various shrines dedicated to the particular apparitions attracting millions of pilgrims each year, it is easy to see that this phenomenon is having a substantial impact on the almost one-billion-member Roman Catholic church.
The focus of this two-part article will be to address this somewhat mysterious matter of Marian apparitions. In approaching this unusual phenomenon, many questions immediately arise. What actually is an apparition? What were the circumstances surrounding these supposed appearances? How does the Catholic church officially evaluate these claims? And more importantly, at least for evangelicals, what is the biblical perspective on these events? Are they supernatural in origin, or is there some natural or psychological explanation?
The intent of this article, therefore, is to address these questions through providing a survey of the phenomenon itself (especially its effect on Catholic piety), as well as furnishing a biblical and theological critique. Since this phenomenon is attracting the attention of millions of people throughout the world, it demands careful examination in the light of Scripture.
Glossary
Marian dogma: A truth concerning the Virgin Mary which is proposed by the Catholic church as an article of divine revelation.
pious belief: A belief that is recognized by the church as being in harmony with Catholic teaching.
Immaculate Heart of Mary: A symbol both of Mary's maternal love for humanity and of her total commitment to God.
Immaculate Conception: The dogma defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX declaring that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without the taint of original sin.
Assumption: The dogma defined in 1950 by Pope Pius XII declaring that the Blessed Virgin Mary was bodily assumed into heaven upon her death.
WHAT IS AN APPARITION?
The word "apparition" comes from the Late Latin word apparitio which means "appearance" or "presence." An apparition refers to the sudden appearance of a supernatural entity which directly manifests itself to a human person or group. Within a Catholic context, it could be the presence or manifestation of any supernatural figure. Catholic scholar Louis Bouyer describes an apparition as "a manifestation of God, angels or the dead (saints or not) appearing under a form that surprises the senses."[3] This revelation to the senses involves seeing, but frequently the other senses as well. Some apparitions -- usually of Mary -- have included the hearing of voices, touching the figure, and even the smelling of specific fragrances.
Apparitions, however, are commonly associated with the broader category of religious visions. A respected Catholic dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, defines an apparition as "the name sometimes reserved for certain kinds of supernatural vision, namely, those that are bodily or visible, as is often used for the manifestation of our Lady of Lourdes, of St. Michael on Monte Gargano, etc. Owing to the meaning of the word in popular use (ghost, spook), 'appearing' better expresses these events."[4]
While present-day Western psychology frequently equates religious visions with hallucination, Catholicism maintains that an authentic apparition is of a different category. In a hallucination, the content of what is reported is delusionary; it is solely a subjective experience with no correspondence in objective reality.[5] A genuine apparition, on the other hand, is a real subject/object encounter in which the source of the perceived reality is independent of, and external to, the seer or visionary. One Catholic author describes it this way: "An authentic apparition, therefore, is not a purely subjective experience. It results from a real, 'objective,' intervention of a higher power which enables the beneficiary to make true contact with the being that appears and makes itself known."[6]
The church fully acknowledges that many so-called apparitions can be explained as nothing more than hallucinatory experience. But it maintains that if it can be shown that the seer has experienced a real objective presence that is not of this world, then an authentic apparition has occurred.
APPARITIONS-OF-MARY
Throughout the middle ages countless numbers of supposed supernatural manifestations were reported to the church. These included everything from physical healings (often connected to ancient relics) to statues and crucifixes which were reported to have bled. While many of these unusual occurrences have been discredited or rejected in modern times, apparitions have generally remained popular and credible in the eyes of Catholics. People in the past have reported seeing apparitions of Jesus, various saints, and even the Devil himself. But the most enduring and recognizable apparitions are those of the "Blessed Virgin Mary."
Apparitions of Mary have been reported in church history as early as the fourth century. In fact, while official statistics are not kept, some Catholic theologians have speculated that there have been as many as 21,000 claimed sightings of Mary throughout history.[7] Though this figure may be excessive, the Vatican "has acknowledged a 'surprising increase' in recent years in claims of 'pseudo-mysticism, presumed apparitions, visions and messages' associated with Mary."[8] As referred to earlier, the distinguished Marian scholar Rene Laurentin has counted over 200 reported apparitions in the last 60 years alone. Another international study produced similar figures, and stated that the reports covered 32 different countries.[9] In an article discussing Mary's growing popularity, Insight magazine stated that "claims of apparitions of Mary are on a worldwide
upswing."[10]
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S EVALUATION
With so many apparitions being reported throughout the world, how does the Catholic church go about evaluating them? The answer is, very cautiously and deliberately. Obviously, the church has much to lose in the area of credibility if it recognizes an apparition which later turns out to be inauthentic or even fraudulent.
As well, this phenomena is very elusive. How does one go about evaluating a reputedly supernatural manifestation which is, except to the visionaries, invisible? It is safe to say that while the church is open to the possibility of these supernatural manifestations, it is at the same time highly skeptical. In the words of one Catholic scholar: "The church accepts the authenticity of a supernatural intervention only with great circumspection. She requires that the facts, which she submits to a severe examination, should in themselves be striking and also insists on waiting before passing judgment."[11]
According to the Catholic church, apparitions come under the heading of "private revelations." The messages of approved apparitions add nothing to the official (public) revelation of the church which is found in the apostolic sources of Sacred Scripture and Tradition. While official revelation ended with the apostolic witness, private revelations have continued in the church. Since they contribute no new piece of revelation which is fundamental to the life of the church, apparitions are not binding upon the conscience of individual Catholics. Catholics are free to accept or reject the various apparitions authorized by the church. However, if a Catholic believer is inclined to reject authorized apparitions, he or she should do so with appropriate modesty, guarding against any indulgence in undue criticism.
In deciding whether a particular apparition is indeed authentic, the church follows a very deliberate and careful regimen. The process of checking out these ethereal and unusual events has developed over many centuries of simply struggling with the matter. First of all, if there is sufficient reason to warrant an investigation of a particular claimed apparition, the inquiry begins with the local bishop. He convenes a diocesan commission which is usually made up of various theologians, psychologists, and other trained professionals. Members of the commission attempt to weigh and evaluate the evidence through such means as interviewing and examining the visionaries, and testing both the messages and the possible fruit of the events (e.g., healings, other miracles, increased spiritual devotion, etc.).
Of paramount importance in evaluating an apparition is determining whether the message communicated by this supposed supernatural presence is in fact aligned with official Catholic teaching. If anything contained in the apparition is contrary to Catholic teaching, then it is inauthentic and should be rejected. One Catholic source
states:
If the message or messages of an "apparition" are at variance with a revealed doctrine or the teaching of the church, that-is a clear sign-of-nonauthenticity, or conscious or unconscious falsification. It is for ecclesiastical authority (and first of all for bishops in their respective dioceses) to determine if an apparition attributed to Mary meets the guarantees of authenticity. Only then may public veneration in the place of apparition and promulgation of the message be authorized. 33
The decisions of ecclesial authority in this matter are not infallible and do not command the inner assent of faith. Nevertheless, when the authority "interdicts" says no the external compliance demanded of the faithful binds the conscience to obedience. In no way could Mary work against the Church of her Son.[12]
Along with not contradicting official church teaching, apparitions should also not cause division or disunity in the church. Rene Laurentin states that "one of the criteria that a vision comes from God is that it does not divide the church, but remains in charity, order, and obedience."[13] The following five characteristics, Laurentin believes, are exhibited by genuine apparitions, and can thus be used as part of a criteria in evaluating such phenomena: 1) manifests the hidden presence of God, 2) renews community life, 3) leads to conversion of hearts, 4) promotes the reawakening and stimulation of faith, 5) helps to renew hope and dynamism in the church.[14] These characteristics give some guidelines in evaluating whether a given apparition is bearing genuine fruit.
Four Categories of Evaluation
After the supposed apparitions have been carefully scrutinized, the commission votes on whether there is genuine evidence of the supernatural connected to the apparition. Upon completion of the investigation, the bishop makes the commission's findings known to further church officials. The church does not always make an official pronouncement, but when it does it is usually years after the apparitions have ceased. The official evaluations given by the church have generally fallen into four broad categories. These categories were described for me by Catholic scholar Mark Miravalle, Assistant Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University at Steubenville, an authority on Marian apparitions. The first category reflects those apparitions that are "prohibited" by the church. This would include any apparition whose content directly contradicts Catholic faith or morals. Since Catholicism affirms that genuine apparitions would never contradict the official teaching of the church, these apparitions would be considered inauthentic, and therefore unworthy of pious belief. The source of this type of apparition could range anywhere from intentional human deception to a manifestation of the demonic.
The second category is where the church says nothing officially about a particular apparition. The vast majority of apparitions go unevaluated and unrecognized. Many of these apparitions, while not contrary to Catholic faith and morals, simply lack conclusive evidence to support a supernatural interpretation. Some of these apparitions, however, while not receiving an official evaluation, have received unofficial acceptance because their shrines are visited by many priests, bishops, and even popes. Such apparitions then are accepted by individual Catholics privately, without receiving an official word from the church.
The third category is somewhat of a neutral class where the church merely states that there is nothing contrary to Catholic faith or morals. In this case the church is not guaranteeing the authenticity of the apparition, but is giving its negative approbation or approval. That is, since there is nothing in the messages of these apparitions which runs contrary to church teaching, Catholics are free to incorporate the messages into their lives in accord with the leading of their conscience.
Because apparitions are private revelations, the church does not speak with certainty as to the authenticity of the event. Mark Miravalle explains:
Private revelation consists of a supernatural manifestation of Christian truth made after the close of public revelation (Sacred Scripture and Tradition) with the death of the last apostle. The Church can give her "negative approval" to a private revelation or apparition by stating that there is nothing contained in it that is contrary to faith and morals. In approving an apparition or a revelation, the Church does not intend to guarantee that authenticity of the respective private revelation, but states that the content of the apparition can be accepted by the faithful without any doctrinal danger in regard to faith and-morals.--
Yet, it is considered reprehensible if after the Church has given her negative approval of a private revelation, any member of the faithful were to contradict or ridicule the revelation. Further, if after prudent judgment, it has been personally determined that a given revelation is authentic, the one who has received the revelation should accept it in the spirit of faith, and if the private revelation contains any message for others, those persons have an obligation to accept the truth of the revelation and act upon it.[15]
According to Miravalle, the fourth category is the highest level of evaluation and includes a "positive affirmation" by the church. Apparitions in this category would be officially approved or recognized by the church as "worthy of pious belief." Approved apparitions have been judged as exhibiting characteristics that show forth the intervention of the divine. This level of endorsement by the church is rare. In fact, an article on apparitions in U.S. News & World Report stated: "During the past 160 years, the Catholic Church authenticated 14 apparitions as 'worthy of pious belief...."[16] The specific differences between category three (negative approbation) and this fourth category are not clearly spelled out.
A SURVEY OF MARIAN APPARITIONS
Having gained an appreciation for how the Catholic church evaluates this phenomena, we will now examine six different claimed apparitions of Mary. The church's response to these six apparitions covers all four categories mentioned above. In examining these alleged supernatural appearances we will focus on several key points. First we will review the historical events of the apparition: its claimed identity as well as any messages connected to it. Further, we will consider any miracles connected to the apparition, along with the influence the specific apparitions are having today (shrines, pilgrimages, etc.). Finally, we will note the church's response to each specific apparition.
Guadalupe, Mexico 1531
Ten years after the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards in 1521, Juan Diego, an Indian and recent convert to Catholicism, claimed to have seen and talked with the Virgin Mary. This religious experience would greatly influence Mexico and all of Latin America.
On December 9, 1531, while walking to church, Diego supposedly saw a brilliant vision of a young woman at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. The radiating apparition spoke to Diego in Nahuatl, his own dialect, and identified herself as none other than the Virgin Mary, the blessed Mother of God. Diego, a man more than fifty years old, was ecstatic when he learned the identity of the radiant woman. She instructed him to have the bishop of Mexico construct a sanctuary at Tepeyac which would be a sign of her motherly love and compassion for the people. Diego, convinced that he had dialogued with the true Mother of God, eagerly set out to see the bishop.
Upon finding Juan de Zumarraga, the newly appointed Bishop of New Spain, Diego communicated the apparition's message. The bishop was naturally skeptical, and gave the story little credence. Three days later, during a second appearance of the apparition, Diego asked for a sign that would convince the bishop of his story's authenticity. The woman instructed him to fill his cloak (tilma) with roses, which were blooming unnaturally in December, and take them to the bishop. When the seer unrolled his cloak before the bishop, a permanent image of the Virgin Mary was imprinted on his cloak. The bishop accepted this as a genuine sign of the Virgin's presence to the people of Mexico. This tradition began popular devotion to the one known as "Our Lady of Guadalupe."[17]
The first sanctuary at Guadalupe was erected around the year 1533. In 1709 a basilica was built which displayed Juan Diego's tilma with the famous image upon it. In 1976 a new basilica was built and dedicated in Mexico City, with the old one still standing.
The story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe has been extremely popular, particularly in Mexico and the rest of Latin America. In 1737 the Lady of Guadalupe was chosen as the Patroness of the City of Mexico, and in 1910 Pepe Pius X declared her the-Patroness of all Latin-America. In 1945, Pope Pius XII stated that the Virgin of Guadalupe was the "Queen of Mexico and the Empress of the Americas."[18]
While more than a dozen popes have expressed love and veneration for the image and its tradition, the apparitions have never been received officially as worthy of pious belief. Nonetheless, the high honors given the Virgin of Guadalupe put it in the second category of "unofficial acceptance." Millions of people come to Mexico to visit the basilica dedicated to "Our Lady of Guadalupe." In fact, Pope John Paul II, in his first "apostolic journey," made a "pilgrimage of faith" to this shrine in January, 1979. During his pilgrimage the pope addressed these words to the Mexican people: "I come to you bearing in my eyes and in my soul the Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, your Protectrix. You bear a filial love toward her which I have been able to spot not only in her shrine but also while passing through the streets and cities of Mexico. Wherever there is a Mexican, there is the Mother of Guadalupe. Someone recently told me that 96 out of 100 Mexicans are Catholic but 100 out of 100 are Guadalupeans!"[19]
Lourdes, France 1858
Possibly the most famous of the apparitions of Mary are associated with an obscure village known as Lourdes,
in southwest France. Bernadette Soubirous, a fourteen-year-old illiterate girl from the poor village of Lourdes, claimed to have received 18 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary from February 11 to July 16, 1858.20 These apparitions, which are known around the world, have had a profound influence on Marian devotion among Catholics.
The first apparition took place when Bernadette was standing near the rock formation known as the grotto of Massabielle. There she encountered a bright light which gradually revealed a lady in white who was holding a rosary. While the apparition did not speak, the lady smiled at Bernadette and motioned for her to come closer. As Bernadette recalled it:
I saw a Lady in white, she was wearing a white dress and a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot the color of the chain of her Rosary....I put my hand in my pocket, I found my Rosary in it, I wanted to make the sign of the cross, I could not get my hand up to my forehead; it fell back, the vision made the sign of the cross, then my hand shook, I tried to make it and I could, I said my Rosary, the vision ran the beads of hers through her fingers but she did not move her lips, when I finished my Rosary, the vision disappeared all of a sudden....[21]
Over a five-month period Bernadette received numerous messages from this Lady, with the primary emphasis being in two areas. The first emphasis was the need for prayer, especially the reciting of the rosary. Emphasis upon the rosary was evidenced by the fact that the apparition herself appeared with a rosary in hand. The second emphasis was the urgent need of offering penance to God for the conversion of sinners. This call was revealed through the apparition's request that Bernadette perform such penitential acts as walking on her knees, eating grass, and drinking from a spring which the visionary discovered through direction from the apparition.[22]
Along with the messages, the apparition disclosed three so-called "secrets" to Bernadette which she was forbidden to reveal. The apparition also stated that the priests should allow the people to come in procession to the sight of the apparition, and that a chapel should later be built there.
During earlier apparitions to Bernadette, the Lady had been reluctant to reveal specifically her identity. However, during the 16th apparition -- which took place on March 25, 1858, the feast day of the Annunciation - the Lady revealed her very precise identity. In Bernadette's own words:
After having poured out my heart to her I took up my Rosary. While I was praying, the thought of asking her name came before my mind with such persistence that I could think of nothing else. I feared to be presumptuous in repeating a question she had always refused to answer. And yet something compelled me to speak. At last, under an irresistible impulse, the words fell from my mouth, and I begged the Lady to tell me who she was. The Lady did as she had always done before; she bowed her head and smiled but she did not reply. I cannot say why, but I felt myself bolder and asked-her-again to graciously tell me her name; however she only bowed and smiled as before, still remaining silent. Then once more, for a third time, clasping my hands and confessing myself unworthy of the favour I was asking of her, I again made my request....At the third request her face became very serious and she seemed to bow down in an attitude of humility. Then she joined her hands and raised them to her breast....She looked up to heaven....then slowly opened her hands and leaning forward towards me, she said to me in a voice vibrating with emotion: "I am the Immaculate Conception!"[23]
The Lady of Lourdes had identified herself by referring to the Catholic dogma that had been defined by the church only four years before. On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception to be an official dogma of the church. From his bull Ineffabilis Deus we read: "We declare, pronounce and define that the most blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin...." Obviously, by giving such a response the Lady of Lourdes was claiming to be the Blessed. Virgin Mary -- the mother of Jesus Christ.
41
The apparitions were confirmed by the church in 1862 (only four years after they supposedly occurred -- an unusually brief period of evaluation) and the public cult of "Our Lady of Lourdes" was sanctioned.[24] The
apparitions at Lourdes actually received the church's negative approval.[25] This is the third category mentioned above where the church states that there is "nothing contrary to Catholic faith or morals." Some of the reasons cited in favor of the apparitions included: medical cures associated with the apparitions, good spiritual effects resulting from the devotion, and the accuracy and reliability of Bernadette's testimony. Bernadette, who became a nun in 1865, died in 1879 and was canonized as a saint in 1933.[26]
Today, Lourdes remains one of the most popular Marian shrines in the world. This year alone five million people will visit the shrine, which will enrich the town nearly $400 million. Without a doubt its greatest appeal is the many physical healings claimed by people who have visited the shrine. The Medical Bureau of Lourdes who investigates reported healings has stated that by 1988, there were more than 60 miraculous cures sanctioned by the church.[27] People who come to Lourdes frequently bathe in the grotto spring which is reputed to bring about healing. So many people are coming to Lourdes, in fact, there is now a shortage of water. Lourdes has actually had to ration its holy water! [28]
Fatima, Portugal 1917
Millions of people make pilgrimages to the mountainous town of Fatima every year. The shrine at Fatima, located in central Portugal, rivals Lourdes as one of the most famous Marian shrines in the world. It commemorates the Virgin's reported appearances to three children on six different occasions from May 13 to October 13, 1917.[29]
The three poor shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos (10 years old) and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco de Jesus Marto (seven and nine), said that they saw the brilliant figure of a lady standing on a cloud above some trees. The Lady requested that the children return to that place on the 13th of each month until October, when she would reveal her identity and make known her requests. Lucia gives an account of the first apparition:
High up on the slope in the Cova da Iria, I was playing with Jacinta and Francisco....We had only gone a few steps further when, there before us on a small holmoak [tree], we beheld a lady all dressed in white. She was more brilliant than the sun, and radiated a light more clear and intense than a crystal glass filled with sparkling water, when the rays of the burning sun shine through it.
We stopped, astounded, before the apparition. We were so close, just a few feet away from her, that we were bathed in the light which surrounded her, or rather, which radiated from her. Then Our Lady spoke to us:
Lady: "Do not be afraid. I do you no harm."
11
Lucia: "Where are you from?"
-Lady: "I am from heaven."
Lucia: "What do you want of me?"
Lady: "I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want....'
11
After a few moments, Our lady spoke again: "Pray the Rosary every day, in order to obtain peace for the world, and the end of the war."
Then she began to rise serenely, going up towards the east, until she disappeared in the immensity of space.[30]
One of the central messages of the apparitions at Fatima is the call to world peace. The reference to the "end of the war" in the first apparition refers to the First World War, which in 1917 was still raging in Europe. During one of the apparitions, a prediction was made that the First World War would come to an end, but that another one would soon break out. Additionally, a prediction was made regarding Russia, that it would "spread its
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errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the church." The only way to avert such a bleak future, according to the message of Fatima, is to have people pray and do penance to God for the worldwide conversion of sinners.
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
The messages of prayer, penance, and conversion are similar to the messages given at Lourdes. However, the message of Fatima (specifically the second apparition) specifies just how the world is to be converted: through daily recitation of the rosary and by worldwide devotion to the "Immaculate Heart of Mary." While the rosary will be discussed in detail in Part Two of this article, Marian scholar Mark Miravalle explains briefly the significance of devotion to Mary's Immaculate Heart in the Fatima apparitions:
The message of the second apparition offers a considerable contribution to the development of the fundamental Marian call to prayer and penance for reparation and conversion. Here Mary states that it is the wish of Christ that His Mother is more greatly known and more greatly loved throughout the world, to be specifically promulgated through a world devotion to his Mother's Immaculate Heart, symbol both of her maternal love for all humanity and for the pains suffered by that maternal Heart from the outrages committed against her by the very objects of her love, her earthly children. The message goes on to present her Immaculate Heart as a spiritual refuge in the midst of a temporal suffering and hardship. Mary accentuates the role of her Immaculate Heart as having essentially a role of intercession, as a Christ-intended path bringing the wayfarer to salvation, and never as a devotion that poses the Immaculate Heart as its own final goal.[31]
The second apparition calls on people to consecrate themselves to Mary's Immaculate Heart; that is, to give oneself totally to God through Mary's Immaculate Heart. The Gospels, we are told, contain references to Mary's pure and loving heart: "But his mother treasured all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:19, 51). Since Mary put herself totally at God's disposal and was obedient to God's requests, Catholics argue that she can also help others to give themselves solely to God. Consecration to Mary's Heart then is to allow Mary to use her full powers of intercession in and through a person's life to draw him or her to God. Mary is seen as a mother who is uniting her children.
Just as in the apparitions at Lourdes, the Lady of Fatima gives the children secrets concerning the future. The messages of Fatima are interpreted as being apocalyptically urgent. Will people respond to her call for prayer (primarily the rosary), penance, conversion, and peace?
Each monthly apparition revealed more of the Lady's desires: during the third apparition she shows the children visions of hell, in the fourth she requests that a chapel be built on the site of the appearances, but it is the sixth apparition for which Fatima is most famous.
During the sixth-apparition the Lady revealed her identity "I am the Lady of the Rosary." Following the apparition celestial miracles took place in the presence of thousands. The New Catholic Encyclopedia describes the sixth apparition and the miraculous events which followed it:
On that date, in wet and dismal weather, she announced to them that she was Our Lady of the Rosary, and called for amendment in men's lives. Then the sun appeared and seemed to rumble, rotate violently, and finally fall, dancing over the heads of the throng before it returned to normal. Many of the crowd reported having seen this 'Miracle of the Sun' that was repeated twice more....[32]
In 1930, the apparitions at Fatima received the church's negative approbation, the same evaluation given to Lourdes. Fatima has received the official praises of Popes Pius XII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. As well, Tumerous magazines are dedicated to Fatima's Our Lady of the Rosary.
Beauraing and Banneux, Belgium 1933
Two of the most recent ecclesiastically recognized apparitions of Mary took place in the small towns of Beauraing and Banneux in Belgium. In Beauraing, a small town 60 miles southeast of Brussels, five children
from two families claimed to have received 33 apparitions of the Virgin Mary covering the period from November 29, 1932, to January 3, 1933. The apparition identified herself as "the Immaculate Virgin," "the Mother of God," and "the Queen of Heaven."[33]
In Banneux, it was reported that Mariette Beco, an eleven-year-old girl from a poor family, received eight apparitions of the Virgin Mary from January 15 to March 2, 1933. The young Mariette claimed that she first saw the apparition of Mary standing in the family vegetable garden. Over a number of weeks a beautiful Lady dressed in a flowing white gown, and holding a rosary, appeared to her during the evening and claimed to be "the Virgin of the Poor."
While these apparitions are not nearly as popular as Lourdes and Fatima, in 1949 both of them were recognized as worthy of belief. In fact, according to one Marian scholar, they were given the rare "positive affirmation" of the church. This is the fourth category of evaluation that was discussed above.
Bayside, New York 1970
One of the most popular and controversial claims of Marian apparitions, at least in the United States, comes from the visionary experiences of Veronica Lueken of Bayside, New York.[34] Lueken, a New York housewife, claimed that on April 7, 1970 she began receiving regular visits from the Blessed Virgin Mary. The apparitions took place outside of St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Bayside, Queens, New York.
According to Lueken, the Virgin announced that she would appear on the evening of major feast days of the church, especially those dedicated in her honor. Revealing herself as "Our Lady of the Roses, Mary Help of Mothers," the apparition requested that a shrine and basilica be built in her honor at the sight of the apparition.
The messages given at Bayside are very critical of many current trends within Catholicism. Lueken has spoken against the Catholic charismatic movement, the use of most modern Bible translations, and even the practice of (receiving the eucharistic host in one's hand rather than in the mouth at communion. The messages frequently
denounce many of the changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s.
Other messages have denounced abortion, occultic practices, and even freemasonry. A consistent theme in the Bayside messages is that the world faces an imminent apocalyptic judgment because of the moral disintegration in society.
The Bayside apparitions were investigated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. The Diocese reported that there was nothing miraculous or sacred about the apparitions or messages connected with Bayside. In fact, the commission stated that the apparitions were inauthentic, primarily because some of the messages challenged the authority of the church.[35]
Even though the-apparitions of Bayside have been denounced as inauthentic by the local bishop, thousands of people still attend vigils at the supposed site of the apparitions. Lueken's alleged visions have been widely publicized and literature concerning "Our Lady of the Roses" shows no sign of dying out.
The five apparitions we have discussed above are only meant to serve as a survey to this provocative topic. There are a host of other apparitions that could be described such as: Rue du Bac, Paris (1830), La Salette, France (1846), Pontmain, France (1871), and Knock, Ireland (1879). Apparitions of Mary are springing up around the globe. In fact, in recent years apparitions have been reported in Argentina, Spain, Egypt, Japan, Yugoslavia, America, and even Africa.
In Part Two of this article we will discuss the controversial events now taking place in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, the most significant of currently reported apparitions of Mary. This writer will discuss his impressions from his recent visit there. I will also discuss how apparitions have influenced Catholic piety, including such practices and objects as the rosary, scapulars, and other aspects of Marian devotion. Finally, the second half of this article will include a detailed evaluation of the phenomenon of Marian apparitions from a Protestant evangelical perspective.
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NOTES
For an in-depth and critical analysis of these dogmas, as well as of Mariology overall, see Elliot Miller, "From Lowly Handmaid to Queen of Heaven: The Mary of Roman Catholicism" (two parts), CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, Summer and Fall issues, 1990.
2 Rene Laurentin, quoted in Jeffery L. Sheler, "What's in a Vision?," U.S. News & World Report, 12 Mar. 1990, 67.
3 Dictionary of Mary (New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1985), s.v. "Apparitions," 25-26. 4 Donald Attwater, ed., A Catholic Dictionary (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961), s.v. "Apparition," 30.
5 The Encyclopedia of Religion, s.v. "Visions.
6 Dictionary of Mary, 25-26.
7 Kenneth Woodward, "Visitations of the Virgin," Newsweek, 20 July 1987, 54-55.
8 Sheler, 67.
9 Catherine M. Odell, Those Who Saw Her: The Apparitions of Mary (Huntington, ID: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1986), 30.
10 Charlotte Low, "The Madonna's Decline and Revival," Insight, 9 Mar. 1990, 61.
11 Louis Lochet, Apparitions of Our Lady (New York: Herder and Herder Publishing, 1960), 30. 12 Dictionary of Mary, 26.
13 Rene Laurentin, cited in Odell, 27.
14 Ibid., 19.
15 Mark Miravalle, The Message of Medjugorje: The Marian Message to the Modern World (New York: University Press of America, 1986), 103.
16 Sheler, 67.
17 New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York/Washington, D.C.: McGraw-Hill, 1967), s.v. "Guadalupe, Our Lady of."
18 Ibid.
Dictionary of Mary, 110.
New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Lourdes," 1031.
21 As cited in Miravalle, 104.
22 Ibid., 109.
23 The Appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Grotto of Lourdes, trans. J. B. Estrade and J. H. Girolestone (Westminster: Art and Book Co., Ltd., 1912), 51; as cited in Miravalle, 108.
24 New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Lourdes."
25 Miravalle, 103.
26 New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Lourdes."
27 Ruth Cranston, The Miracles of Lourdes (New York: Image Book Doubleday, 1988), 339-51.
28 "Have Faith, Save Water," Time, 1 Oct. 1990, 67.
29 New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Fatima."
30 As cited in Miravalle, 112-13.
31 Ibid., 114.
32 New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Fatima," 855."
33 Dictionary of Mary, 32-33.
34 J. Gordon Melton, The Encyclopedia of American Religions, (Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1,989), 207.
35 Ibid.
About the Author
Samples is currently serving as director of the Augustine Fellowship Study Center at Post Office Box 23, Hemet, CA 92543; (909) 654-1429.
End of document, CRJ0078A.TXT (original CRI file name), "Apparitions of the Virgin Mary: A Protestant Look at a Catholic
THE IDEOLOGY OF SUFFERING
The motif of suffering is pervasive in most modern Marian apparitions and range from the suffering of the mother who appears and voices her laments to the suffering both before and after her appearances of those who bear her messages, to the suffering of the many people who are drawn to those appearances and messages.
This ideology of suffering as reparation is built on St. Anselm's theology of atonement which includes an angry God and the vicarious suffering of Christ to appease God's anger. The personalization of this idea in the image of the "victim Soul" has played various roles in modern R.C. piety, not all that have been associated with apparitions.
While people may come to apparition sites with different interests and concerns, it is usually the sense of suffering in and around an apparition which brings them together and creates community.
They then feel even their most personal afflictions are shared with others. This community often begins to think of itself as suffering on behalf of a larger community or the world. This is a passage from meaningless to meaningful suffering.
The experience of a typical devotee of a modern Marian apparition is an experience framed and defined by crisis. This is not impersonal but the subject is usually a person with vivid memories of past suffering, fears, imminent danger which is symbolically if not literally, life threatening (e.g. serious illness, family violence, rejection by loved ones, poverty, war)
It is in this context that the "maternal figure" is suddenly encountered and though she may bring a comforting message she also confirms or brings an explanation for, the perceived crisis and a prescriptions for ist alleviation (usually ritual, as we have discussed).
The symbolic kernel seems to be the sense of return to and realignment with the mother, who represents a pure and pristine order from which the world as such has turned away but which, for those who know themselves to be her children, is still present and accessible.
Thus, the sense of crisis which frames and defines this experience, the psychic energy which comes to focus here, and the subject's sudden perception of a new order and sense of entry into that order, suggest that this experience of the apparition seer or devotee might legitimately be called "apocalyptic".
EXPLOITATION -- Various political interests often have appropriated and profited from the energies of Marian devotions and cults. Unfortunately, there is often the manipulation of Marian devotion by repressive political regimes such as Franco's Spain which exploited the cult of Fatima.
In the case of appearances to Mary Ann Hoof of Necdah, Wis. her experiences, and the McCarthy era following, led her to paranoia leading to racism, antisemitism and hyper-nationalism.
Sometimes Marian apparitions are the focal point of the oppressive Marianism. There could be said to be an "Identity Crises" for Mary with conservatives and progressives entering into an ideological tug-of-war in which both try to deploy her cult to their advantage.
PROGRESSIVELY speaking, a number of recent Roman Catholic thinkers have defended some of the more recent apparitions on the grounds that their messages are in accord with those of the second Vatican Council or with papal statements and activities since Vatican II.
Mark Miravalle has pointed out that there are 14 "developmental themes" in the Medjugorje messages which are also found in the Vatican II statements and some post-conciliar papal statements. Particularly the idea of the present age as one critical for the future of humanity.
A fundamental question then, is WHY devotion to Mary and especially that which takes shape around Marian apparitions has lent it self to so much exploitation, both positive and negative?
The answer seems to lie in the experiential and quasi- cognitive dimensions of Marian apparitions and in the nature of the apocalyptic experience.
It is the fact that the experiences of apparition seers and devotees are quasi-cognitive experiences of the unveiling of another realm (which is what the word "apocalyptic" means) that underlies these persons' passionate concern for messages, secrets, and hidden meanings; their remarkable efforts to ascertain and disseminate certain "apparition facts"; and their inclination to think of those who cannot share their perception as children of darkness, dispatched in the last days of the world to persecute the virgin's "children of light."
The fact that these quasi-cognitive experiences are preceded by suffering and a sense of crisis and come to focus in a vision or awareness of a Maternal presence may explain the immense psychic energy with which representations of these experiences are spread and defended.
Even very simple images of these experiences are very highly treasured by their subjects, and this is probably why this energy and these people are so easily exploited.
One cannot envy the church officials who are charged with making decisions @ the authenticity of the symbols which have enabled a group of sufferers to find meaning in their suffering.