Our Lady of Lujan -- Patroness of Argentina

According to Facts and History The Statue of Our Lady of Lujan owes its origin to a Portuguese Settler who lived for many years as a Rancher in Argentina.Once on a visit to Brazil He was enchanted by a Beautiful Statue of Our Lady and brought it back with him to Argentina.

Let us forward to a couple of hundred years back now. The Marian Basilica of Our Lady of Lujan is the most important Marian Centre of Pilgrimage for all Catholics of South America and Central America as well.

Lujan is a great religious center, with many churches.

Soon after the first church had been completed, it proved insufficient to provide for the pilgrims who came from all over the vast country. Many recorded miracles occurred, and various Kings of Spain (Argentina was then a colony of Spain) bestowed upon the shrine gifts and jewels as ornate as those donated to the oldest and most famous ones in Europe.

Argentina has many other holy places dedicated to the Virgin, but Lujan is the most outstanding.Several religious orders, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Jesuits, the Franciscans and others have established churches and monasteries around the shrine, which now is in the custody of the Lazarists.

In 1904, the image was placed in the new cathedral, while it was still under construction. The cathedral was completed and consecrated in 1910. It is one of the most important in the world and can best be compared with the Gigantic Spanish Cathedrals.The Tiny Figure of the Madonna, with her wide open blue eyes, surrounded by a golden aureole, clothed in heavy, shining robes looks into the distance. Everything about her is of a corresponding grandeur. Both the material wealth of a country and the vigorous faith of its people here give expression to the spirit of the New World.

By the end of the eighteenth century Lujan became the most important national pilgrimage site in Argentina. During the fight for independence, she became the symbol of victory and the captured flags were placed in the sanctuary.

General San Martin, who passed through the Andes with his army following his successful campaign, laid his sword down forever in the cathedral in honor of Our Lady of Lujan.

In 1930, on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the sanctuary, the church housing the image was elevated to the rank of a Basilica. At the same time, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay recognized Our Lady of Lujan as their Protectress.

Recently the Argentine Army chose the Virgin of Lujan as its patroness. And according to an old custom a regiment of the army was dedicated to her services. This regiment becomes her "property" and the members of the regiment call her "La generala del Lujan."

Credits : Catholic Culture on Our Lady of Lujan  

Brazil's Patroness

Popular Religiosity has an important place in the life of Brazilian Catholics and has helped to bring people closer to God and deepen their faith.

By far the biggest religious attraction of all is the Shrine of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at Aparecida (Nossa Senhora de Conceicao Aparecida). 

As many as 8 million pilgrims come here every year to pray to Our Lady of Aparecida ("Our Lady Who Appeared"), who is not only Patron Saint of Brazil, but also of mothers-to-be, the newborn, the rivers, the sea, gold, honey and beauty. 

It is arguably the most important Marian shrine in the Americas.

Saint Pope John Paul II prayed there in 1980.

The devotion's origins date to 1717, when three fishermen threw a net into the Paraiba River, less than 200 miles from Sao Paulo. On hauling it in, they found a headless statue of a Black Virgin. 

Casting their net a second time, they dragged in the head. After that, they caught enormous amounts of fish and concluded that the statue had miraculous powers.

One of the fishermen, Felipe Pedroso, took the 3-foot-tall dark brown wooden statue back home. 

People flocked to see it, and a cult soon started. Many graces were reported as people in Brazil and all over Latin America came to know about the miraculous statue.

In 1904, the 50th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Sao Paulo's Archbishop crowned the statue, which by then was covered with a heavy mantle of richly embroidered cloth. 

In 1930, Pope Pius XII proclaimed Our Lady of Aparecida, whose feast day is Oct. 12, to be the Principal patroness of Brazil.

After many earlier churches, a Shrine was built in 1955 to accommodate the crowds. 

Pope John Paul II blessed the shrine during his visit in 1980. 

It holds 45,000 people.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor 

National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians Slovenia

Many faithful are rediscovering the traditional walking pilgrimage on some truly outstanding routes.

Many were almost forgotten.

One outstanding shrine is in the Julian Alps—mountains named after Julius Caesar, who founded the city at the foot of the mountains.

There, in the southern limestone mountains near the Austrian border, along the Slava River, a tributary of the Danube, is the National Marian Shrine of Brezje, in the beautiful and friendly land of Slovenia. It's an easy train ride from Venice, Italy.

The story of the Slovene National Shrine begins in 1800, when a parish priest gave orders to enlarge the Church of St. Vitus with a small chapel in honour of Mary, Help of Christians. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was great devotion to Our Lady under this title.

In 1814, Leopold Layer, a Slovenian artist from nearby Kranj, painted the image of Our Lady enshrined there today, based upon a popular motif from Innsbruck, Austria. In 1863, after several miraculous healings, word spread and pilgrimages began to be organized.

Brezje became a popular place of prayer, and the church was too small for all the pilgrims, so a new and truly majestic basilica was built in 1900.

Today the shrine, staffed by Franciscans, draws many pilgrims. Some choose to walk from nearby Ljubljana, a former Roman city and today the capital of Slovenia and the largest city in the country.

St. John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Brezje in May 1996. He said, "A pilgrimage is an image of our life, and pilgrimage shrines are images of the heavenly Jerusalem."

Pilgrims who set off on foot to Brezje find many others on their path. This journey requires a firm will and some sacrifice to reach the destination to meet Mary, Mother of hope and consolation.

The miraculous image of Our Lady is enshrined in a massive golden frame held in place by an exquisite golden-leaf reredos, a work of art itself, visible to all pilgrims in an intimate side chapel where arriving groups gather for prayer.

Each day grace can be seen at work in the presence of the image: arriving pilgrims make their peace with God, seeking holy things and receiving reconciliation with the God of peace and mercy through the sacrament of mercy, confession.

The Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians, at Brezje is a national shrine not only for Slovenians, but also for their diaspora throughout the world. Since Slovenia opened up from Soviet oppression in 1991, the site has drawn thousands of Slovenian nationals and a growing number of others.

The shrine is amid majestic Alps, with the highest peak in Slovenia, Triglav, towering above. The Creator's magnificent works are visible for all to contemplate.

The pilgrimage to Brezje, an important undertaking historically for the Slovenian people, is today being rediscovered and growing in popularity. Making a vow to reach Brezje on foot is a longstanding custom. The walk 40 kilometres can be done in one long day.

An important decision in any pilgrim's life is where to travel and visit. Brezje is highly recommended for those who have the time or wish to enjoy untouched countryside. Travel back in time to a country described by many as one of Europe's best-kept secrets.

As a sign of gratitude and devotion to Mary, Help of Christians, locals take part in a candle-lit procession after Mass on Saturdays from Pentecost to All Saints Day. The candles are handmade by Carthusian Monks, and the devotion includes praying the rosary and singing folk songs. Entire Slovenian Parishes participate.

A pilgrims' office, gift shop, and museum are open year round. Picnics in the lovely park in front of the church are welcome. The church is open at 7 a.m. each day of the year. It closes at 8 p.m. in the summer and 7 p.m. in the winter.

Many groups conclude their pilgrimage with a prayer to Our Lady, Help of Christians, strengthening their devotion to Our Lady.

Devotion to Our Lady under this title has long had a special place in the hearts of many Europeans: Austrians, Croats, Italians, and Hungarians.

May this custom continue to develop among the new generation.

Credits : B.C. Catholic 

The Queenship of Our Lady

This Feast is celebrated every year on August 22.

With the certainty of faith we know that Jesus Christ is king in the literal, and absolute sense of the word; for He is true God and Man. This does not, however, prevent Mary from sharing His royal prerogatives, though in a limited manner; for she was the Mother of Christ, and Christ is God; and she shared in the work of the Divine Redeemer, in His struggles against enemies and in the triumph He won over them all.

From this union with Christ the King she obtains so eminent a status that she stands high above all created things; and upon this same union with Christ is based that royal privilege enabling her to distribute the treasures of the kingdom of the Divine Redeemer.

And lastly, this same union with Christ is the fountain of the inexhaustible efficacy of her motherly intercession in the presence of the Son and of the Father. Without doubt, then, The Blessed Mother possesses a dignity that far transcends all other creatures. In the eyes of her Son she takes precedence over everyone else. In order to help us understand the preeminence that the Mother of God enjoys over all creation, it would help to remember that from the first moment of her conception the Holy Virgin was filled with such a plenitude of grace as to surpass the graces enhancing all the saints.

Credits : Catholic Culture on the Queenship of Mary

Mother Mary The Perfect Companion For Lent

Mary is the perfect companion for Lent, and Lent is a perfect time to deepen our love, knowledge and veneration of the Mother of God.

At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary told the servers: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). In a similar way, Mary directs us all to be faithful to Christ, her divine Son. If we wish to draw closer to Christ during Lent, there is no better way than by entrusting ourselves to Mary, our spiritual mother.

In his great work, “True Devotion to Mary” St. Louis de Montfort (1673–1716) teaches that the entire purpose of devotion to Mary is to provide “a smooth but certain way of reaching Jesus Christ” (No. 62). He says that devotion to Mary “is a way of reaching Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully”.

For St. Louis, “the more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus,” and consecration to Mary “is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism"'. If Lent is a season when we recall our own baptism , devotion to Mary is one of the best ways to do this.

 Lent is a perfect time to renew our devotion to Mary as our spiritual mother who cares for us in the midst of challenges and difficulties.

 Because Lent is a time to turn away from sin, it is also an ideal time to recognize the gift that Our Lord himself gave us, giving us his own mother as our mother while he was dying on the cross (Jn 19:25–27). Pope St. John Paul II recognized that Jesus gave Mary as mother not only to the beloved disciple but to all of the faithful. Mary’s spiritual motherhood is the basis for the “Marian dimension” of the life of each of the disciples of Christ.

 Lent is a time to deepen our prayer life, and Mary provides the best example of prayer in her canticle, known as the Magnificat (Lk 1: 46–55). This canticle expresses the attitudes of praise, gratitude and humility that are at the heart of all authentic prayer to God.

In the Gospel of Luke, Simeon told Mary that her heart would be pierced so that “the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” (Lk 2:35). This prophecy was fulfilled during Christ’s passion when Mary stood beneath the cross witnessing her Son’s crucifixion (Jn 19:25–27).

Vatican II tells us that Mary “faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, grieving exceedingly with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a maternal heart with His sacrifice, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth” (Lumen Gentium, No. 58).

 Because Lent points to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows assumes particular importance. But even under the cross, Mary remains a teacher and a model. She shows how all of the faithful, like her, can unite their sufferings to the passion of Christ for the redemption of the world.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor

A Sacred Gem of Austria

The Basilica of Mariazell shows an astonishing theological concept. The pilgrim is invited to recognize a copy of his/her earthly pilgrimage when walking through the building and to get inspiration from it.

The pilgrim enters the Mariazell Basilica through its main entrance. The arch of the main entrance shows a crucifixion scene as well as depictions of the founding process of the pilgrimage site. On both sides of the main entrance, two lead figures - Duke Henry of Morovia and King Louis I., both important figures for Mariazell - invite the pilgrims to enter the Basilica. Upon entrance, the pilgrim is captivated by the Baroque beauty of the Basilica's interior.

The Chapel of Grace attracts the pilgrim's attention right away and constitutes the center of the Basilica. The plain wooden statue of the Mother of God welcomes the faithful and points at the aim of the pilgrimage: Jesus Christ. The Mariazell Mother of God is 48 cm tall and is made of linden wood. The early-Gothic statue of Mary is holding Baby Jesus on her lap. The child is holding an apple and reaches with His left hand for the fruit which Mary is offering Him. The fruits are a symbol for the salvation from Adam's fall. With her right hand, Mother Mary points at Jesus indicating the mystery of her and all human life: "Looking on Christ!" Since the 16^th century, statues of grace have been decorated with preciously embroidered clothes. The statue can be seen without the so-called "Embroidered Clothes" on only two days a year: the founding day of Mariazell, December 21, and the day of  Mary's Birth, September 8.

The Chapel of Grace is still located at the place of the foundation and was altered several times in the course of the centuries. The trapezoid ground plan goes back to 1690. The columns on the outside covered by Gothic canopies are the statues of St. Benedict and St. Lambrecht, the two patrons of the convent.

Statues of St. Joseph and Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne, crown the Chapel of Grace. These statues are works of Lorenzo Mattielli dating back to 1734.

Facing the Mariazell Mother of God, the pilgrim notices the space within the Basilica behind the Chapel of Grace. Continuing on the way through the Basilica, the pilgrim meets Mary again, when approaching the Statue of Mother Mary on the Woman's Column, who always accompanies humans on their ways. The Statue of Mother Mary on the Woman's Column is also venerated as a Statue of Grace. The impressive statue with a height of almost 2m was made in 1520 and is located on a 5m-high marble column. The Madonna is portrayed as crowned Queen of the Heavens and is carrying Baby Jesus on her right arm. In the left hand she is holding a scepter. This Marian statue, also called the "Pilgrims' Madonna," used to be the center of various penitential rituals. Today, devotional pieces are blessed at the foot of the statue.

The "Mother of God on the Woman's Column" is looking at the high altar which was designed by the famous Baroque-artist Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and was consecrated in 1704. In a visionary mode, the artist portrays central teachings of traditional Christianity: the salvation of humanity through Christ's death and resurrection as well as the Holy Trinity, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. At Jesus' hour of death, God, the Eternal Father, descends from the golden Heavenly Spheres to the silver earthly reality to extend His hand to His Son, and lead Him from death to resurrection. In this way, God the Father points out the aim of the pilgrimage to the faithful: Jesus Christ, the crucified and resurrected Son of God.

The globe serves as the tabernacle and holds the sacramental Body of Christ in the bread of the Eucharist. For believers, this is a powerful source of comfort. The Eucharist inside the globe makes clear that the saving love of Christ lives inside a world which is threatened by evil forces but even in the face of evil Christ's love turns into the Bread of Life. The altar is the place of the celebration of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the highlight of every pilgrimage which shall transform the pilgrim's life.

Like many other churches, the Mariazell Basilica is directed east. The East is the place of the rising sun, the symbol of Christ, whose return has traditionally been expected to start from this direction.

The building and its fascinating theological concept help the pilgrim to direct themselves towards Christ while walking through the Basilica. This walk through the Basilica leading towards Christ shall act as an instruction and example for the pilgrim's "pilgrimage on earth."

Credits : The Theological Concept of Mariazell 

Lourdes Where Jesus Christ Is At The Heart of Everything

In the Apparitions at the Grotto, Mother Mary led Saint Bernadette to Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and today intercedes for pilgrims and leads them to Jesus Christ.

At the Grotto in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, a Statue of Mother Mary stands on the right side and the altar for the Holy Eucharist is at the centre, because the Holy Eucharist is the "Centre of Devotion".

The Lourdes Motto is very simple.

"Through Mary to Jesus". Our Blessed Lady asked that a Chapel be built here wherein the "Living Sacrifice of the Mass" be offered up in supplication and atonement.

Devotion to Holy Mass and Frequent Holy Communion are the "Fruits of a Lourdes Pilgrimage".

Every major Marian Shrine is Christ-centred because it is centred around the Holy Eucharist.

Most of the reported miracles that take place at Lourdes, take place not only amidst a bath in those sacred waters but most specially during a Blessing with the Blessed Sacrament.

It is of utmost significance, that there is a Huge Basilica at Lourdes dedicated to Pope Saint Pius -- The Tenth -- The Pope of the Holy Eucharist.

In the Pius The Tenth Basilica the sick, the crippled, and others are daily blessed by the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

The chief form of reparation at Lourdes will always be through the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is infinite reparation for the sins and errors of mankind.

When we come to Mother Mary, she looks upon us with motherly affection and tenderness and directs us to her Son in the Blessed Sacrament who is the Saviour of the World.

Conclusion :

To sum up Lourdes, is a "House of Gold", A Treasure House of grace, a "Tower of Ivory, beaconing the way to sanctity and salvation; a garden in the wilderness ready to enrich our souls and thirsting with the desire of our "Eucharistic Love".

Immaculate Queen of Heaven, Pray for us.

Credits and References :

1) Lourdes
    Page 27
   Newsbits
   Don Bosco's Madonna, Mumbai
   May 2008
   Vol -10, N0-1

2)  Guide to Lourdes
     Special Centenary Edition 1958
     By Rev. Father J.A. Shields Pages 34 and 67
     Published by C.J. Fallon Ltd
     Dublin
     Republic of Ireland

Our Lady of Divine Love

The Appian Way leading from Rome southward as far as Brindisi was built by Claudius Appius in 312 B.C.

This road, more than two thousand years old, is still in use though a Via Appia Nuova, a new Appian Way was built between the two world wars, to facilitate the increasing traffic around the Eternal City.

The existence of the new Appian Way did not alter the importance of the old one. Here the Roman legions, barbarian armies and Christian martyrs marched.

Leaving Rome on the Via Appia Antica, we have before us the Campagna and the hills of Frascati, Albano, and Castel Gandolfo, which are called the "Castelli Romani." Between the hills and walls of Rome lies that part of the Via Appia, which was the scene of much of Rome's spiritual and secular history.

This road, lined with tall pines, was a favorite burial place of rich families of ancient Rome.

Many monuments of the dead are still there and even in their silence speak of the presence of pagan Rome in the center of Christianity. Beneath the earth, there are other monuments of even greater importance: the catacombs.

Thus, Rome's present and Rome's manifold past give the particular setting to one of the most cherished Shrines of Mary in the Eternal City.

The Sanctuary of the Madonna of Divine Love is situated on the Via Ardeatina, in the region of the Via Appia and the Catacombs. La Madonna del Divino Amore is known to all pilgrims to Rome, but it is particularly dear to the hearts of the Romans and specially to those living on the outskirts of the city. This shrine's popularity is surpassed only by that of the shrine dedicated to the Protectress of Rome, the Salus Populi Romani in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The Sanctuary of the Madonna of  Divine Love was built in the middle of the eighteenth century; the image dates back to the early fourteenth century.

During World War II, when Rome was constantly in danger of becoming a center of actual fighting, the population journeyed daily by the tens of thousands in spontaneous pilgrimages to this lovely shrine, asking relief from the overpowering uncertainty and tension. The climax of the crisis approached when the Allies landed at Anzio.

At the insistent request of the population, the clergy removed the mural from the shrine on the Via Ardeatina, which was then about thirteen miles from the front.

The image was set up in the Church of St. Ignatius within the city of Rome. At that time the Holy Father placed Rome under the special protection of the Madonna of Divine Love.

After the liberation, Pius XII immediately went to the Church of St. Ignatius and, in a most moving ceremony, declared her the Saviour of Rome. After the war the image was returned to its original sanctuary.

Credits : Catholic Culture 

The Image Of Our Lady of Las Lajas

On the border between Colombia and Ecuador is a beautiful sanctuary, a wonder to its visitors.

There is a venerated image of Our Lady of Las Lajas, and thousands and thousands of pilgrims from both countries visit it each year and obtain many favors from God.

Back in the eighteenth century, María Mueses de Quiñones, a local woman from the village of Potosi, Colombia, often walked the six miles between her village and the neighbouring one of Ipiales.

One day in 1754 as she was making the journey, she approached the place called Las Lajas (the Rocks), where the trail passes through a deep gorge of the Guaitara River. Maria never liked this part of the trail because there were rumors that a cave in Las Lajas was haunted.

Such superstitions remained among the converted South American Indians.

Maria was carrying her daughter Rosa, a deaf-mute, on her back. And by the time she had climbed to Las Lajas she was weary and sat on a rock to rest. The child got down from her back to play.  The next thing Maria knew Rosa was at the cave shouting: “Mommy, there is a woman in here with a boy in her arms!” Maria became very frightened. This was the first time she had ever heard her daughter speak! She didn’t see the figures the girl was talking about, nor did she want to. She grabbed the child and ran on to Ipiales.

When she told the people what happened nobody took her seriously at first. However, as the news spread some asked if maybe it was true. After all, the child was now able to speak. A few days later Rosa disappeared from home. After looking everywhere the anguished Maria realized that her daughter must have gone to the cave. She often said that the woman was calling her. Maria ran to Las Lajas to find her daughter kneeling in front of a splendid woman and playing affectionately with a child who had come down from His mother’s arms to let the girl enjoy His divine tenderness.

Maria fell to her knees before this beautiful spectacle; she had seen the Blessed Virgin and Jesus.

Fearful of ridicule, Maria kept quiet about the event. But frequently she and Rosa went to the cave to place wild flowers and candles in the cracks of the rocks.  The months went by with María and Rosa keeping their secret. However, one day the girl fell gravely ill and died. A distraught Maria decided to take her daughter’s body to Las Lajas to ask Our Lady to restore Rosa to life.

Pressed by the sadness of Maria’s unrelenting supplications, the Blessed Virgin obtained Rosa’s resurrection from Her Divine Son. Overflowing with joy, Maria went home. It didn’t take long for a crowd to gather. Early next morning everyone went to Las Lajas, each wanting to check the details for themselves.

That was when the most beautiful picture of Our Lady on the wall of the grotto was discovered.

Maria Muese de Quinones could not recall noticing it until then. The Child Jesus is in Our Lady’s arms. On one side of Our Lady is Saint Francis; on the other is Saint Dominic.

Her delicate and regal features are those of a Latin American, perhaps an Indian. Her abundant black hair covers her like a mantle (The two-dimensional crown is metal and was added by devotees much later on). Her eyes sparkle with a pure and friendly glow. She looks about fourteen years old.

The Indians had no doubt: this was their Queen.

As Devotion to the image grew, a good road replaced the old trail. In the early 20th century a tasteful Gothic church was built over the cave.  But who put this magnificent image there? The artist has never been identified!

But tests done when the church was built show how stupendous this image actually is. Geologists from Germany bored core samples from several spots in the image. There is no paint, no dye, nor any other pigment on the surface of the rock.

The colors are the colors of the rock itself. Even more incredible, the rock is perfectly colored to a depth of several feet!

So the mystery remains unsolved. Did angels do it? Or did God Himself do it at the dawn of creation, when he contemplated the most excellent of all His creatures?

The One whom He would make Queen of Heaven and Earth and to whose maternal care the future nation of Colombia would be entrusted.

Credits : My Consecration 

The Lourdes Of Poland

There is only one approved Marian apparition from Poland, and this year 2017 marks the 140th anniversary of the occurrence.

It was June 27, 1877. Thirteen-year-old Justyna Szafryńska was on her way home from church. As she heard the Angelus bells and said the prayer, she suddenly saw a strange light and a figure dressed in white on the nearby maple tree.


The Church in Gietrzwałd (German: Dietrichswalde) at this time was facing difficult circumstances.  

In 1873 the Polish language had been banned in all the schools in the region. Because of This, “rebellious” Catholic priests and religious congregations, with the exception of those actively involved in social work, were removed from Warmia.


Thus was the social context on June 27, 1877, when 13-year-old Justyna Szafryńska was on her way back home from the church in Gietrzwałd. She was making preparations to receive her First Communion and had just passed an exam administered by the parish priest, Fr. Augustyn Weichsel. 

As she prayed the Angelus, she saw a strange light and a figure dressed in white on the maple tree near the presbytery; the figure was seated on a gold, pearl-studded throne.


A moment later the girl saw the glowing figure of an angel; with golden wings, clad in white, the angel descended from heaven. 

When the young Justyna prayed the Hail Mary, the figure rose from the throne and ascended into heaven together with the angel.

The apparitions would continue for almost three months, concluding on September 16.


Justyna recounted everything to the parish priest, who told her to revisit the place on the following day. Again, as the Angelus bells were heard, the maple tree was brightly illuminated. A golden circle appeared around it with a throne of gold; two angels escorted the Blessed Mother to the throne.


When Our Lady was seated, two other angels brought Baby Jesus in a heavenly glow and placed Him on the left knee of Our Lady; the Child was holding the orb in his left hand. 

Still other angels were raising a crown above Mary’s head. 

Yet another angel brought a gold spectre and held it in the right hand above the crown. One more angel hovered above the entire scene, pointing to a cross.


On June 30, Our Lady appeared on Her own, unaccompanied by angels. Justyna, though, had with her 12-year-old Barbara Samulowska.


During the apparition Justyna asked: “What do you want, Holy Mary?” The reply she received was, “I want you to pray the Rosary daily.” Our Lady spoke in the local dialect similar to the Polish language.


On July 1, Justyna asked: “Who are You?” and heard in reply: “I am the Blessed Virgin Mary of Immaculate Conception.”


Bear in mind that the apparitions in Gietrzwałd took place a mere 20 years after those of Lourdes, where the Mother of God told Bernadette Soubirous “I am the Immaculate Conception,” and barely 23 years after Pope Pius IX announced the dogma of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception.


During July, Szafryńska and Samulowska were daily visited by Our Lady during the evening Rosary service. The girls asked the Lady about the health and salvation of various people, and also if the Church in Poland would be liberated. 

They also wanted to know if new priests would soon be assigned to the parishes in south Warmia.


In reply, the girls heard: “Yes, provided people pray fervently. Then the Church will not be persecuted and the orphaned parishes will receive priests!”


Word of the apparitions attracted numerous pilgrims to Gietrzwałd. 

The first news about the apparitions was published by a Polish Periodical, issued in Pelplin in 1877. 

The three-day celebrations of the September 8 feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary attracted as many as 50,000 faithful to Gietrzwałd.


That day, Our Lady blessed a spring. Pilgrims have for years drawn water from it and healings have been reported.


Due to the increasingly difficult position of the Polish population in the Prussian state, the apparitions were seen as a powerful sign, a symbol of the defense of both Catholics and the Polish community.  

While the apparitions contributed to the revival of a Polish national spirit, in the religious sense they had a universal appeal.


Each year Gietrzwałd attracted a great number of pilgrims and successive local parish priests extended the shrine.


Following the apparitions, both the visionaries entered the religious congregation of the Daughters of Charity (of St. Vincent de Paul), first in Chełmno and then in Paris.


Sr. Barbara Samulowska took the religious name Stanisława. She left Paris for the missions in Guatemala. She died there on December 6, 1950. 

On February 2, 2005, Archbishop Edmund Piszcz of Warmia inaugurated the beatification process of Sister Stanisława.


Justyna Szafryńska, in turn, left the congregation in 1897 and returned to lay life. In 1899, in Paris she married Raymond Etienne Bigot. But after 1904, history loses track of her, and it is not known where she is buried.


While the apparitions were going on, the Bishop of Warmia, Filip Krementz, convened a special commission of theologians to thoroughly examine the case. 

A 47-page report gave a favorable verdict, and the girls themselves were defined as “unassuming, simple, natural, and alien to any deceitfulness.”


In early September 1877, the bishop moreover asked three physicians to examine the visionaries during the apparitions. When the girls were seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary, their pulse slowed down, their upper and lower extremities got cooler and their gaze was fixated.


On September 1, 1977, centennial celebrations took place, presided over by the future John Paul II, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, then Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow. 

On that day Bishop Józef Drzazga of Warmia solemnly recognized the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Gietrzwałd. 

He issued a decree validating the credibility of the apparitions and proclaiming them as in compliance with Christian faith and morality.

Credits : Aleteia

Who Is Our Lady of Chiquinquirá

During the 16th Century, Spanish Painter Alonso de Narvaez created a portrait of the Virgin of the Rosary.

To create the image he used pigments from the soil, herbs and flowers of the region. On either side of the Virgin Mary are Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Andrew the Apostle, the personal patrons of the colonist, Don Antonio de Santana, and Monk, Andrés Jadraque, who commissioned the painting.

In 1562, the Image was displayed in a chapel. Over time, and with water damage from the chapel’s leaky roof, the painting’s natural pigments faded, until it became almost unrecognizable.

By 1577, the image was discarded in an abandoned oratory in the town of Chiquinquira.

A few years later, in 1585, the image was discovered by a laywoman, Maria Ramos, who had taken it upon herself to clean and restore the oratory. According to tradition, on December 26, 1586, the image was miraculously renewed. It suddenly received back all its colors and was restored to its original glory.

The image soon became a frequent pilgrimage destination, and in the centuries that followed it remained in its renewed state, even though it was exposed to the temperature changes, candle smoke, and the enthusiastic veneration of the pilgrims.

In 1829, Pope Pius VII declared the Virgin of Chiquinquirá Patroness of Colombia.

Credits : Aleteia 

Merrry Christmas And A Happy And Holy New Year

Dear Friends in Jesus and Mary,

Greetings.

I would like to wish all the Readers of This Blog dedicated exclusively to Mother Mary a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Holy New Year.

 

Celebrating Christmas With Mother Mary

Mother Mary In My Humble Opinion is The "Yes Woman Of God". 

If It was not for Her Yes, We would never have a Benevolent Savior Namely Jesus Christ. 

“To celebrate Advent means: to become Marian, to enter into that communion with Mary’s ‘Yes,’ which, ever anew, is room for God’s birth, for the ‘fullness of time,’” said Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. 

Advent is a Marian time in many ways, from preparing for Jesus’ birth to celebrating Feasts such as the Immaculate Conception.


In his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (The Most Holy Rosary), St. John Paul II wrote, “Among creatures, no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother.”


It’s inconceivable to celebrate Advent without the woman who makes it possible — the Mother.


“Our Lady in Advent goes to the whole root of what Advent is celebrating — the coming of Jesus,” 

“To quote St. Teresa of Calcutta: ‘No Mary, no Jesus.’”


Even though we’re so familiar with Mary being Jesus’ mother, It's “a wonderment of nature that a creature gave birth to her Creator. 

There still should be awe in the fact.” 

Quoting St. John Paul II, explaining, “It was God himself, the Eternal Father, who entrusted himself to the Virgin of Nazareth, giving her his own Son in the mystery of the Incarnation.”

“So who better to grace us with the ability to say once again the ‘Yes’ in our hearts for the coming of this Savior in the season of Advent.  

Credits : National Catholic Register 

The Lourdes of Germany

Altotting, called "the Heart of Bavaria," is one of the oldest and most popular of Marian Shrines in which Central and Eastern Europe abound.

Had records been kept of the number of pilgrims who came to it during the early ages it might even be proved that it has been one of the most frequented shrines in the whole world. For the origin of Altotting goes back to the eighth century, and for over twelve hundred years people of many races and nations have come to it in a steady, unceasing flow.

Other holy places have suffered destruction and temporary oblivion, but at the Shrine of Altotting little has changed save the dress of the generations who come and go.

Around the town the once thick German forests are thinner but they are there; the villages are more numerous, but they remain the humble, unimposing dwellings of the laborious peasants. Altotting and its devotion to the Madonna are the expression of the organic Christian life and living faith of the European peasantry, that massive force which maintained the unity of Europe despite feudal and national wars.

It was as if Our Lady wanted to preserve one place for the humble people of Europe harassed by armies. Once the pilgrim's eyes fall upon the Black Madonna of Altotting smiling at the Child she holds in her arms, he feels that the peace and simplicity of the shrine is due to her.

The face of the statue was not originally black but has been darkened by the ages and the millions of candles burned around it. When one's eyes become used to the half-light in the chapel, one sees the image's original medieval coloring and that parts of the walls are covered with solid silver, and the altar is of silver, too.

Altotting, oddly enough, is one of the richest shrines in the world in endowments and in treasure--but these riches, donated by rulers, princes and humble people as well, are hidden in a special treasury not often seen by the visitor.

Though many miracles have taken place in Altotting and the chapel is filled with emblems of gratitude for graces, healings, and help received, the greatest miracle perhaps is the continuous existence of the shrine itself.

Credits : The Shrine That Has Never Been Destroyed
                By Zsolt Aradi
                Catholic Culture 

Our Lady of the Pillar

Perhaps the oldest devotion to Our Lady in Europe is the Devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar.

In the year AD 36, while She was yet on earth, Our Lady appeared to Saint James on the banks of the river Ebro, near the city of Caesar-Augusta (now Zaragoza or Saragossa).

She appeared, accompanied by celestial music, on a six-foot Pillar of Jasper. Her purpose was to comfort and encourage St. James and his Disciples. Our Lady commanded that a chapel be built on the spot in Her honor and She promised Her assistance to those who invoke Her. The Apostle was quick to carry out the wishes of the Queen of Apostles.

The present church, built by Charles II in the late 1600s, is the last of several replacements and enlargements of the original edifice.

King Ferdinand VI, in 1753, commissioned an architect to build the special side chapel which houses Our Lady’s Pillar. On the Pillar, whose jasper cannot be matched anywhere in the world, is erected a fifteen-inch statue of Our Lady with the Child Jesus, Who holds a dove.

One tradition says that Our Lady Herself gave the statue to Saint James, while another states that Saint James commissioned it. Regardless of its origin, many miracles attest to Heaven’s predilection for the relic. Among its many prodigies is the fact that, in almost 2,000 years, the statue has never needed dusting.

No one is allowed to touch the statue, except for the four priests assigned to its care and clothing, and newly baptized infants who are lifted up so that the new children of God might touch the image of their Heavenly Mother.

The Pillar itself has been covered with silver and bronze, except for an opening where pilgrims may venerate it, and the spot is quite worn away from the millions of kisses it has received. The choirboys and acolytes who serve the chapel form a special group of boys, known as "Infantes". It is considered a great privilege for a family to have a son in the special uniform of the "Infantes".

In 1936, the Spanish Communists dropped bombs on the shrine, but the two that hit the church failed to detonate. This incident showed the Pure Evil at work of the Spanish Communists and the power of Our Lady’s protection.

Credits : Catholicism.Org 

Our Lady of the Golden Heart -- A Must See Shrine

Our Lady of Beauraing, also known as the Virgin of the Golden Heart, appeared to Fernande Voisin (15), Andree Degeimbre (14), Gilberte Voisin (13) Albert Voisin (11) and Gilberte Degeimbre (9) between November 29, 1932 and January 3, 1933.

 Beauraing is a quiet little village in the country of Belgium on the border with France.

It was there that on the evening of November 29, 1932 the Blessed Mother appeared to 3 Brothers -- Albert, Gilbert, and Ferdinanda Voisin and to two sisters Andreina and Gilberta.

It is difficult to attribute a particular message to the apparitions of Beauraing.

It could be said that the messages at Beauraing are a continuation of the messages given at Lourdes and Fatima.

The Blessed Mother, when she appeared in Beauraing showed her golden heart from which radiated rays of light.

She called upon people to come there in pilgrimage so that sinners could be converted.

In 1943, the Bishop of Namur permitted the cult of Our Lady of Beauraing. In 1945, He Blessed a Statue of the Madonna and in 1949 he recognized the supernatural character of the Apparitions.

In 1947, the construction of a Chapel commenced which led to the garden of the apparitions with specific Marian Motifs.

In 1968, a Huge Church was constructed which accommodates 5,000 people preserving the ambience of the place of the apparitions.

Beauraing, in recent years like nearby Banneux was established as one of the most important shrines in  Belgium, a place of pilgrimage for people from all over the world.

It has prayerful and sober celebrations allowing pilgrims to reflect deeply and pray fervently.

Credits and References :

The Virgin of the Golden Heart
By Don Mario Morra
Pages 28-29
Don Bosco's Madonna, Mumbai
November 2015
Vol- 17, N0-7 

Our Lady's Immaculate Heart

How do we know Mary best? As with anyone, her key is in her heart. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21). We know from the Magnificat that Mary’s treasure is her Son.

Mary referred to her heart several times at Fatima, including once when she told the oldest shepherd child to whom she appeared, Lucia, something integral to her messages: “I will never leave you; my Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the way that will lead you to God.” It’s clear we need to pay attention to what defines her heart.

Scripture references Mary’s heart twice, both in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel (verses 19 and 51). We learn that Mary “reflects” and “keeps” in her heart the mysterious events surrounding the Incarnation. Intertwined with her core identity is the identity of her Son and that of his mission as redeemer and savior. Mary’s fiat (“yes”) was the portal through which God chose to allow himself to begin his saving work. Mary’s fiat remedied Adam and Eve’s “no,” showing us the way to her Son, who is the remedy for all sin. The Virgin Mother is the channel through which God brings healing balm to humanity’s sinfulness, through whom we experience the fullness of grace. She who is “full of grace” presents to us and leads us to her Son.

 

The contents of her heart

It is the condition of Mary’s heart, then, that serves as a model for Christians in our quest to follow her Son. It is within her heart that God chose to come and find his initial dwelling among us. This is integral to the message of Fatima, the message that ultimately brings the peace for which humanity yearns. When we live like Mary, when we commit our whole selves to Christ and invite his word to dwell within our hearts, we prepare ourselves to be agents of peace.

With Mary as our guide, each of the baptized is to present and lead the world to her Son. As Pope Paul VI said in his 1974 Marian encyclical Marialis Cultus: “In the Virgin Mary everything is relative to Christ and dependent upon him” (No. 25).

This is what defines Mary’s holy, immaculate heart. The identity of her heart is what forms the themes of Fatima’s message: humble holiness, charity and undying obedience to and faith in God’s will. These qualities are what each of us must appropriate within our own hearts. This enables us to reflect upon and keep Christ in our hearts like Mary. These qualities are, indeed, the legend on the map directing us to God, as Mary identified her Immaculate Heart at Fatima. Each of us is called to make the defining characteristics of Mary’s heart the defining characteristics of our own hearts. The transformation to which each of us is called is made possible and accomplished in Mary.

 

‘Ad Jesum Per Mariam’

For this reason, devotion to Mary’s heart — her Immaculate Heart — has been proposed for emulation by saints and theologians for centuries. From the earliest Christian times, believers turned to Mary and sought “to imitate her in making their lives an act of worship of God and making their worship a commitment of their lives” (Marialis Cultus, No. 21).

From the fourth century, as Paul VI calls to our attention in his Marian encyclical, St. Ambrose hoped that his flock would adopt Mary’s heart. “May the heart of Mary be in each Christian to proclaim the greatness of the Lord; may her spirit be in everyone to exult in God,” St. Ambrose preached.


Roots of the devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart are particularly ingrained among the French. St. John Eudes was well-known for propagating the devotion through his 17th-century preaching and teaching. Several parishes in France took up a feast day to honor the Immaculate Heart at his behest, and he is credited with sparking universal interest in the devotion.

At Fatima the Blessed Mother reiterated the work of many preachers and saints. Mary’s words to Lucia indicate that she is indeed the clearest model for Christians who desire to follow her Son. As the prayer composed by French Sulpician Father Jean Jacques Olier said, we are to find “Jesus living in Mary.” There also is great wisdom in the motto of the French mariologist St. Louis de Montfort, who teaches: “Ad Jesum Per Mariam” (“To Jesus through Mary”). We should make the famous Monfortian prayer, from which John Paul II took his episcopal motto, our own: “Totus tuus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt. Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria” (“I belong entirely to you, and all that I have is yours. I take you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart”).

 

Mary gives to us her heart. But moreover, she exposed at Fatima a path for us to adopt her heart and place ourselves in her motherly embrace. Through the First Saturday devotion, the Blessed Mother shows us how to make holy, loving, obedient hearts from which peace emanates. In the July apparition at Fatima, Mary explained that, on five consecutive First Saturdays, participants of this devotion “shall confess, receive holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for 15 minutes while meditating on the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

This devotion springs from a glimpse of hell that Mary showed the three Fatima visionaries, after which she said, “You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.”

Devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart received universal support from Venerable Pope Pius XII 25 years after the apparitions at Fatima. It seemed providential since he was ordained a bishop on May 13, 1917 — the day Mary first appeared at Fatima.

Not only did Pope Pius XII establish the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1942, but he also composed a prayer of consecration to her Immaculate Heart. In compliance with the wishes made known by the Blessed Mother at Fatima, and in subsequent apparitions to Lucia, Pope Pius consecrated the world (in the midst of World War II, 1942) and Russia (toward the start of the Cold War, 1952) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Russia’s consecration was explicitly desired by the Blessed Mother because of communism’s growth and anti-Christian agenda.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor 

Mother Mary Leads Us To Her Son In The Holy Eucharist

Mother Mary devoted herself exclusively to the Eucharistic Glory of Jesus.  

She knew that it was the desire of the Eternal Father to make the Eucharist known, loved and served by all men; that need of Jesus’ Heart was to communicate to all men His gifts of grace and glory.  

She knew, too, that it was the mission of the Holy Spirit to extend and perfect in the hearts of men, the reign of Jesus Christ, and that the Church had been founded only to give Jesus to the world.
       
All Mary’s desire, then, was to make Him known in His Sacrament.  Her intense love for Jesus felt the need of expanding in this way, of consecrating itself — as a kind of relief, as it were — because of her own inability to glorify Him as much as she desired.
 
 Ever since Calvary, all men were her children.  She loved them with a Mother’s tenderness and longed for their supreme good as for her own; therefore, she was consumed with the desire to make Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament known to all, to inflame all hearts with His love, to see them enchained to His loving service.
   
To obtain this favor, Mary passed her time at the foot of the Most Adorable Sacrament, in prayer and penance.  There she treated the world’s salvation.  In her boundless zeal, she embraced the needs of the faithful everywhere, for all time to come, who would inherit the Holy Eucharist and be Its adorers... 
 
Her prayers converted countless souls, and as every conversion is the fruit of prayer, and since Mary’s prayer could meet no refusal, the Apostles had in this Mother of Mercy their most powerful helper.  “Blessed is he for whom Mary prays!”
 
Eucharistic adorers share Mary’s life and mission of prayer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament.  It is the most beautiful of all missions, and it holds no perils.  It is the most holy, for in it all the virtues are practiced.  
 
It is, moreover, the most necessary to the Church, which has even more need of prayerful souls than of powerful preachers; of men of penance rather than men of eloquence.  Today more than ever  we need men who, by their self—immolation, disarm the anger of God inflamed by the ever increasing crimes of nations.  
 
We must have souls who reopen the treasures of grace which the indifference of the multitude has closed.  We must have true adorers; that is to say, men of fervor and of sacrifice.  
 
When there are many such souls around their Divine Chief, God will be glorified, Jesus will be loved, and society will once more become Christian, conquered for Jesus Christ by the Apostolate of Eucharistic prayer.

---

Prayer to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament
O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the glory of Christians, the joy of the universal Church, and the hope of the world, pray for us.  Kindle in all the faithful a lively devotion to the most Holy Eucharist, so that they may all be made worthy to receive Holy Communion every day.

Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for us.

Let us with Mary Immaculate adore, thank, supplicate and console the most sacred and beloved Eucharistic Heart of Jesus!

Significance Of the Icon Of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

The Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is an example of the Western influence on Eastern art.

Still, for those who are accustomed to Western art, it isn’t always easy to appreciate the beauty of an icon without understanding more about this form of art.

In the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, the Child Jesus is not portrayed with the physical proportions of an infant, but appears almost as an adult in miniature form.

This has been interpreted to indicate that He is God, having infinite knowledge. Yet He is human as well, for He clings to His Mother’s hand in fear, while gazing up toward the angel over His shoulder. One of His sandals has come loose, indicating the haste with which He had run to her.

Why is the Child Jesus so frightened? The angels in the picture are holding instruments of His Passion and Death, with the angel on the left bearing the gall, the lance and the reed, while the angel on the right holds the cross and nails. Their hands are covered with a cloth or veil, much like the veil that the priest holds when blessing with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance at Benediction.

The face of Our Lady is grave and sorrowful, with her large eyes directed not at Jesus, but at us. One feels that she is pleading with us to avoid sin, which has caused her Son to suffer so much for us. Her gaze makes us a part of the picture and the pain it portrays. “Will you not love my Son, Who has loved you so much?” she seems to say.

Our Lady is clothed in the colors of royalty; her tunic is of dark red and her mantle is dark blue with a green lining. (According to another interpretation, the dark red is said to be the color worn by virgins at the time of Christ, while blue was the color worn by mothers in Palestine.)

The Child Jesus also wears the colors of royalty. Both Jesus and Mary have golden halos, but Christ’s halo is decorated with a cross as a sign of His Divinity. Jeweled crowns were placed on the heads of both Mother and Child of the original icon by order of the Vatican in 1867. (The crowns were removed when the icon underwent restoration in the 1990’s.)

The Greek initials next to the head of Our Lady identify her as “Mother of God,” while those next to the Child are the abbreviation for “Jesus Christ.” The letters over the angels’ heads indicate the one on the left as St. Michael and the one on the right as St. Gabriel.

The 8-pointed star on Our Lady’s veil tells us that she is the Star of the Sea, the Star that leads us to Jesus. The small ornate cross to the left of the star reinforces this concept.

Mary’s mouth is small to indicate her spirit of silence and prayer. Her eyes are large, for they see all of our troubles and needs, and are always turned toward us.

Christ’s hands, turned palms down into His Mother’s, indicate that He has placed the graces of the Redemption in her keeping. Our Lady’s hand does not clasp those of her Son, but remains open, inviting us to put our hands in hers along with those of Jesus.

As in other icons, the background of the painting is gold to symbolize Heaven, where Jesus and Mary now reign in glory. This light of Heaven shines through their clothing, illuminating not only the picture itself, but those who behold it.

This radiance speaks to us of God’s light and grace, strengthening and consoling us as we journey through life to our heavenly goal.

Finally, it is of no small significance that Our Blessed Mother herself referred to the icon by the title of “Holy Mary of Perpetual Help.” Surely this, along with the symbolism we see in the picture, should assure us of the loving concern and tenderness our Blessed Mother has for us, and her ardent desire to be a source of perpetual help to all who call upon her.

Credits : CMRI 

The Sorrowful Mother of Lichen Central Poland

The History of this Beautiful Marian Sanctuary dates back to 1813, when 'the battle of nations' took place near Leipzig.

Polish Soldiers were fighting under Napoleon, among them Tomas Klossowski who was seriously wounded. Facing death, he began to invoke Our Lady, begging her not to let him die in a foreign land.

Our Lady appeared to him in his injured state. 

Our Lady was wearing a beautiful Golden Dress with a Golden Crown in attendance.

She promised the Polish Soldier that She would save his life but He in return should find an Image similar to her appearance to him and have it installed in a fitting place to her.

Saint Pope John Paul 2 consecrated a Huge Marian Basilica in Lichen, Central Poland  a few years before his death when he was well and able that would seat 7,000 People and that has been modeled on the Lines of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

This is the Seventh Largest Church -Basilica in the World. 

Read all about its history here :

https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/o/our-lady-of-lichen.php

Our Lady Of Laus The Perfect Refuge of Sinners Unknown By Many

In May 2008, Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri, the Bishop of Gap in the French Alps, celebrated a special Mass to announce the Vatican’s approval of Marian Apparitions in that diocese that occurred between 1664 and 1718.

Although the location of the apparitions to Venerable Benôite (Benedicta) Rencurel and the shrine founded there have been drawing pilgrims since the late 17th century, Our Lady of Laus is relatively unknown outside of France.


Our Lady of Laus is known as the Refuge of Sinners.

As she appeared to Benôite Rencurel for more than half a century, she repeated a call for holiness and devotion among the laity and for faithfulness among priests and religious.

The Mother of God also promised miraculous healings for those anointed with holy oil if they had faith in her intercession.

Mary’s calls for repentance, warnings against unfaithfulness and scandal, and requests for a shrine to be built in Laus are all common attributes of the Marian apparitions recognized by the Church.

Read the whole article here :

https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/Story/TabId/2672/ArtMID/13567/ArticleID/14360/Who-Is-Our-Lady-of-Laus-.aspx

Also Read This : Our Lady of Laus Now on Par with Lourdes

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=8296

Church Approves French Marian Shrine

https://zenit.org/articles/church-approves-french-marian-shrine/

Our Lady of Hope -- The Apparitions at Pontmain France

The Feast Day of Our Lady of Pontmain is annually celebrated on the 17th of January every year.

 This is an excellent article on Our Lady of Pontmain also known as Our Lady of Hope.

In the 19th Century, The Province of Pontmain in France faced the risk of being completely ovrrun by a Huge Prussian Army that had already conquered some parts of Europe.

During this dark time for France Our Lady appeared to some simple peasant children inviting them to pray for Peace and for their Country.

Miraculously, Pontmain was not overun by the Prussian Army that outnumbered the numerically smaller French Army although they were at the gates of that province. They simply turned back and withdrew.

This is all due to the Miraculous Intercession and Prayers offered by the Virgin of Pontmain namely Mother Mary who cares for her Children in more ways than one as long as they have recourse to her.

Read the whole story here :

http://catholicexchange.com/mary-our-lady-of-hope

Honouring The Mother of God on the 1st of January

The Solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God, celebrated on January 1, is the celebration of the doctrine solemnly taught at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. that the Word “united flesh to himself from his mother’s womb and is said to have undergone begetting in the flesh in order to take to himself flesh of his own”.

Mary, therefore, is truly, the Mother of God, “not certainly because the nature of the Word or his divinity had the origin of its being from the holy Virgin, but because from her was generated his holy body, animated by a rational soul, a body spiritually united to the Word; and thus it is said that [the Word] was begotten according to the flesh”.

The Solemnity of Mary as Mother of God highlights her “close and indissoluble bond” with Jesus in the history of salvation.

After the solemn definition of Mary as Birth-Giver of God at Ephesus in 431, a solemn feast celebrating Mary as Mother of God began in the East.

By the fifth century, the West celebrated the Feast in Rome on the Sunday before Christmas, though it was celebrated in Spain on Dec. 18 and in France on Jan. 18. In the Middle Ages, Jan. 1 became the feast of Jesus’ circumcision.

In 1751, Pope Benedict XIV established the Feast of Mary’s Divine Maternity for the first Sunday of May for Portugal and other counties. In 1914, the feast was moved to Oct. 11. In 1931, to commemorate the 15th centenary of the Council of Ephesus of 431, the feast was extended to the entire Latin rite.

In the liturgical reform of 1970, Pope Paul VI moved the feast back to the Octave of Christmas as it was originally celebrated in Rome. Its date was fixed for Jan. 1, and it was elevated to the highest liturgical rank of a solemnity.

The decision of Pope Paul VI to move the celebration of Mary’s Divine Maternity to the Octave of Christmas was a way to emphasize “the essential, vital, providential bond” that unites Mary to Jesus.

In honoring Mary as the Mother of God, we give glory to God who humbled himself to share our humanity, becoming incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Credits : Our Sunday Visitor 

Our Lady of Guadalupe -- Patroness of the Unborn and Patroness of the Americas

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated all over the world on December 12. 

I wonder if anybody has ever thought about this.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Blessed Person.

She is not only a Staunch Protector of the Unborn but also Protector of the People of the Americas.

In this time of uncertainty particularly because of the violence perpetrated by Lawless Forces -- What Better Advocate do we have in Heaven than Mother Mary herself.

When we see a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe she appears to be standing in the midst of glorious rays coming from the sun. In Fact, these rays are not coming from the rays of the sun in the sky, but rather the divine rays of the Son in the Blessed Sacrament.

The higher meaning of the "Woman clothed with the Sun" is Mary's perfect union with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. This is what is meant by the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. These two hearts are perfectly united and now beat as one.

The meaning of Our Lady of Guadalupe is this. She is proclaiming the "Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament" giving witness to his healing rays, represented by the glorious rays surrounding her.

At the same time, she is announcing to the world the great "Eucharistic Miracle" to come when the divine rays of his mercy and love will shine out from the Blessed Sacrament in radiant splendour.

This "Eucharistic Miracle" will be brighter than the Sun and it will take place in every chapel of perpetual adoration where Jesus Christ is loved and adored day and night without pause.

The first thing that Saint Juan Diego saw was a brilliant light. Out of the light the Blessed Mother appeared.

It is the "considered opinion" of many associated with the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe that the light that Saint Juan Diego saw was a "Glorified Host" from which the Blessed Mother appeared.

Everything that this marvellous light touched was transformed. For Example, the rocks on the mountainside were transformed into precious stones. From the snow in the cold of winter, grew the loveliest roses Saint Juan Diego ever saw.

Conclusion :

When Saint Juan Diego took the roses to the Bishop as proof that he had a heavenly vision there was a great surprise. His clothing was transformed into the "Image" of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is known as "The Tilma".

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the "Patroness of the Americas".

Happy Feast to one and all.

FYI- Guadalupe is situated in Mexico City, Mexico. There is a magnificent Basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe there.

Credits and References :

"Our Lady of Guadalupe"
 Could you not watch one hour with me
 By Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament
Newsletter No-3
December 1997 

The Immaculate Conception Of Our Lady -- A Proud Moment for Catholics

Our Lady's Immaculate Conception reveals to us Mortals something deep and unfathomable.

Namely that the Queen of Heaven and Earth was born without Original Sin.

You may ask how could this have happened ??

This happened only because of "Supernatural Grace" that Our Lady was endowed with from the time of her birth. God wanted a Pure Tabernacle where His Son Could be born and this Pure Tabernacle was Our Lady. 

 In 2014, the Church celebrated the 160th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception which affirms that Mary was conceived without Original Sin.

For centuries, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was defended by Saints, Theologians and Laymen.

However, it took centuries of theological debate to establish a consensus in the Church. Only in 1854, did Pope Pius IX, after consulting with the bishops of the whole world, proclaimed this dogma, thus affirming as revealed truth that Our Lady was preserved from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception.

Many defended this position because they felt that the glory of the Most Holy Trinity would be tarnished if the Mother of the Word Incarnate were not the most perfect of all creatures. It would also be against God’s wisdom and mercy if the Savior’s Mother did not receive the highest gifts of nature and grace.

Credits : America Needs Fatima 

Mother Mary -- A Supernatural Mother

In May 2016, when I lost my Mother -- Mother Mary proved to be my "Consoler" to the nth degree. I realized I had a "Heavenly Mother" to whom I could go to 24-7-365 when my earthly mother was no more.

The Holy Rosary which is my favourite prayer has a "Secret Charm". It simplifies the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Joys, the Sorrows, and the Glories of his Mother Mary and not to forget the Public Ministry of Jesus Christ vis - a -vis his Mother Mary.

It is Mother Mary's View of Jesus Christ, Her Love of Him, and Worship of Him which the Holy Rosary brings before us.

All in All, it must be said that there is no intercessor like Mother Mary.

Introduction

This Catholic Blog is all about the most important person in my life namely, Mother Mary.

Mother Mary has been more than a Mother to me since the age of 5.

I distinctly remember reciting her Holy Rosary at the young age of 5 every night after Dinner with the Family.

Whenever I have been in trouble or have been in want of something good for my soul and body Mother Mary has been a "Benevolent Provider".

She has never refused me anything as long as it has been for my "Spiritual Good and Well Being".

While studying in School and after that in College as well as in Law College Mother Mary has been at my side like a outstanding advisor and guide all through my Academic Career.

Mother Mary has been that special someone in my life when I have looked back at my life and seen all the pitfalls that I have been through.

I will never forget Mother Mary as long as I live.