On the verge of his visit to Lourdes, Pope Benedict called for a new, hardline approach to the assessment of reported visions. He wants the strictest “scientific, psychological and theological criteria" to be applied to their evaluation and the avoidance, at all cost of “abuses” and “excesses”.
Since the year 39 AD, apparitions of Mary have been reported by the faithful, in places as diverse as Spain, Japan and Eygpt.
Allegations of miraculous sightings of the Madonna persisted into the 20th century, and continue to this day at the controversial if popular Bosnian shrine at Medjugorje.
While some Marian visions, such as those at Lourdes in 1858, have long been accepted as being of “divine and supernatural origin” by the Roman Catholic Church, others have been condemned as false. Below is a list of 10 of the most popular apparitions of the Madonna.
1. Lourdes, South-West France, 1858:
On a freezing day in Februrary 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, an illiterate pauper, claimed she had seen a “lady dressed in white” holding a rosary. Seventeen more apparitions followed, during which the vision urged Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners, and, on one occasion, to scratch the ground in front of her. A well bubbled up, said to have miraculous properties, and with it a tradition that the Lourdes waters could heal the sick. Though six million Catholics now visit Lourdes annually, Bernadette was initially declared fit for the lunatic asylum by the local press, but later entered a convent.
2. Fatima, Portugal, 1917:
Three child shepherds claimed that a “lady, brighter than the sun” had appeared to them, with a message of prayer for peace and the conversion of sinners. She also confided “three secrets” to them. When news of the visions spread, a provincial governor had the children arrested, imprisoned and threatened to throw each in a boiling vat of oil unless they retracted their story. They refused. Thousands turned up for the final vision in October 1917. Many reported they saw the sun turn red, and rotate, zig-zagging towards the earth. Two of the seers died young, the third, who became a nun, died in 2005. The Vatican revealed the Third Secret in 2000, but the contents, involving the shooting of a bishop and interpreted as the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1982, disappointed some believers. They maintain the Vatican is still concealing the secret’s final, and supposedly terrifying, conclusion.
3. Guadalupe, Tepayac, Mexico, 1531:
Mexicans believe in only two things, the Mexican writer Octavio Paz once declared: the lottery, and the Virgin of Guadelupe. In 1531, a Mexican Indian, Juan Diego told his bishop he had seen a vision of a lady dressed as an Indian princess on a hill near Mexico City. The bishop told Diego to ask for a sign and the vision instructed him to fill his cloak with roses plucked from the hill nearby. When Diego opened the cloak before the bishop, the roses had vanished. In their place was an imprint of the lady in the vision. A handy tale which eased the Spanish conquest of Mexico, though it is claimed the original cloth has been subjected to numerous tests which prove the image was not painted onto the cloak. Portrayed standing on a half-crescent moon, the Virgin of Guadalupe is associated by Catholics with the woman “Clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet” described in the Book of Revelation (12:1)
4. Walsingham, England.1061:
A wealthy Norfolk widow claimed the Virgin Mary appeared to her in a dream, taking her to Nazareth to see the house where Jesus had grown up. On the Virgin’s orders, a replica, known as “the Holy House” was built in Walsingham. It remained England's principal Marian shrine until the Reformation. Still a Marian hotspot for RCs and smells-and-bells Anglicans.
5. Medjugorje, Bosnia. 1981 - present day, allegedly.
Probably the most controversial of all Marian apparitions, for the simple reason that the apparitions are said to be ongoing. Only two of the original group of six Bosnian teenagers who first claimed they had seen the Virgin Mary in 1981, now purportedly receive visions and messages from the Madonna daily. With a focus on the need for daily prayer, Bible reading, regular Mass and Confession and – toughest of all – fasting – Medjugorje attracts two million visitors yearly. Some report dramatic spiritual conversions or a return to faith. However, the Vatican remains strangely silent, and local bishops are less than supportive.
6. El Zeitoun, Cairo, 1968:
Millions, including President Nasser of Eygpt, claimed they saw the Madonna and an occasional luminous dove floating above the Orthodox church of Saint Mary. The Coptic Pope, Kyrillos VI, pronounced these apparitions genuine following Church-led investigations.
7. Akita, Japan. 1973.
A deaf Japanese nun not only saw Mary, but also purportedly received the stigmata (the wounds of the crucified Christ) and owned a weeping statue of Mary. How’s that for luck? She said she was cured of deafness by drinking Lourdes water, allegedly. All kosher, according to the Vatican.
8. Garabandal, Spain: 1961-65.
Four pre-pubescent girls said they saw the Archangel Gabriel and Mary, but the Catholic Church declined to believe them.
9. Knock, Ireland, 1879:
A multi-cast vision, starring Mary, Joseph, St John the Evangelist and Jesus (as the lamb of God). A local crowd, ranging in age from five to 75 saw this one, and Catholic nationalists dubbed Our Lady of Knock “Queen of Ireland” in a bid to dispute that title being assumed by Queen Victoria. John Paul II visited in 1979, but the Church has not formally stated an approval.
10. Surbiton, England,1984 – 2007:
Crushingly, the Vatican dismissed as “exaggerated” and “hysterical” the claims of Patricia de Menezes, a freelance jewellery designer, that the Virgin Mary was appearing in a pine tree in the back garden.
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(Source: TO)