The story of Sister Teresita Castillo and the supposed Marian
apparitions of Lipa City, Philippines reads something like a mystery
novel.
A negative judgement given in a document signed by local bishops and
subsequent suppression of the devotion most likely drove the visionary
nun out of the convent.
Years later, some bishops involved in the disapproval of the case
allegedly came forward with deathbed confessions, saying they only ruled
against the apparitions on threat of excommunication.
A document from the 1950s that would further clarify the case is still being kept secret in the archives of the Vatican.
Then in May of this year, the local Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles
announced that the Holy See had reiterated its negative judgement on the
supernatural nature of the apparitions. The reiteration was a rebuttal
to the archbishop, who had a few months prior announced (without Vatican
approval) that the apparition had been reapproved as supernatural.
The exchange was just the latest in a decades-long ping-pong match
between the Vatican and the local clergy over whether or not the popular
local devotion should be officially approved.
As it currently stands, the apparitions of Mary in Lipa – known as
Mary, Mediatrix of all Grace – are officially considered “not
supernatural in nature” by the Holy See.
The highest recognition that the Catholic Church gives to an alleged
miracle is that it is “worthy of belief.” If investigations determine an
event to be fraudulent or lacking in supernatural character, a
rejection may be issued.
Alternatively, the Church may declare that there is nothing contrary
to the faith in a supposed miraculous phenomenon – but without making a
determination on whether a supernatural character is present.
However, in an unprecedented move in this case, the Lipa apparitions
are not considered supernatural, but local devotion is still allowed.
“I believe it to be the singular case in history where you have a
negative judgement, but the devotion is allowed,” Michael O’Neill, a
Catholic miracle researcher and author who runs the website
miraclehunter.com, told CNA.
Visions in gardens and rose petals from heaven
This unique, mysterious and still-contentious case all began with a young nun in a quiet convent garden in 1948.
Sr. Teresita, also known as Sr. Teresing, was just 21 years old when
allegedly, Mary began appearing to her in the garden of her Carmelite
convent in Lipa City.
On September 12, 1948, the young nun was outside
praying when one of the garden vines began to shake. She then heard the
voice of the Virgin Mary, who asked Teresita to kiss the ground and
return to the same spot for fifteen days.
Sr. Teresita returned, and Mary reportedly appeared to her on a
cloud, dressed in simple white robes with a small belt, hands clasped,
and a golden Rosary hanging from her right hand.
According to the visionary nun, throughout her 19 appearances that
year, Mary stressed humility, penance, prayers for the clergy and the
Pope, and to pray the Rosary. Teresita reported that there was one
secret for herself, one for the Carmel convent in Lipa City, one for
China, one for the entire world from the Blessed Mother.
At her final appearance on November 12, 1948, Mary reportedly called
herself by the title “Mediatrix of All Grace.” Also associated with the
apparition are rose petals that seemed to fall from heaven, and appear
to be emblazoned with images of Jesus, Mary and the Saints.
The mysterious negative ruling
Fast forward three years later, to 1951. Sr. Teresita left the
convent sometime in 1950, likely because of all the controversy
surrounding the apparitions.
The local bishop, Alfredo Verzosa y Florentin, had approved the
veneration of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace, and the devotion easily
grew in popularity in the already-Marian spirituality of the Filipino
faithful.
Despite the approval from the local bishop, a committee of Church
hierarchy in the Philippines declared on April 11, 1951, that “there was
no supernatural intervention in the reported extraordinary happenings
including the shower of rose petals in Lipa.”
The statement also contained the contentious phrase “until final decision on the matter will come from the Holy See”.
Bishop Rufino Santos, who became apostolic administrator after the
decision, ordered that no petals be given to anyone by the Lipa
Carmelite community; and that the statue of Our Lady, Mediatrix be
withdrawn from public view.
Veneration of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace remained officially
disallowed for decades after the judgement of the committee, until
February of 1990.
On February 11, 1990, the nephew of Bishop Cesar M. Guerrero, one of
the signers of the 1951 negative judgment, swore in an affidavit that
his uncle signed the document under duress and was a believer in the
authenticity of the apparitions, according to a book about the Lipa
apparitions by June Keithley.
The Catholic Bishops Conference in the
Philippines did not respond by press time to requests for comment on the
matter.
Local devotion grows
Later that year, a sister at the Lipa Carmel convent requested on her
deathbed that the statue of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace be brought
back for veneration. The community obliged, and the statue was displayed
in the convent chapel the next day.
Soon after, Msgr. Mariano Gaviola, Archbishop of Lipa at the time,
lifted the ban from Bishop Rufino Santos and allowed the statue to be
displayed.
In 2005, Most Reverend Ramon C. Arguelles, the new and still-current
Archbishop of Lima, kicked off a campaign to further spread devotion and
to place a statue of the Mediatrix of All Grace in parishes throughout
the country, and publicly professed his personal devotion and belief in
the apparition on numerous occasions.
The ping-pong match continues
Archbishop Arguelles felt so passionately about the devotion that on
Nov. 12, 2009, on the 61st anniversary of Mary’s alleged final
appearance to Sister Teresita, he officially lifted the 1951 ban on
public veneration of the image, and formed a new commission to
re-examine the apparition and related phenomena.
Once again, about a year later, the Vatican shut it down.
“We, the undersigned Archbishops and bishops, constituting for the
purpose a special Commission, having attentively examined and reviewed
the evidence and testimonies collected in the course of repeated, long
and careful investigations, have reached the unanimous conclusion and
hereby officially declare that the above mentioned evidence and
testimonies exclude any supernatural intervention in the reported
extraordinary happenings – including the shower of petals – at the
Carmel of Lipa. This declaration is the official communication of the
final decision on the matter, as approved by the Holy See," the bishops
said in a statement.
But Archbishop Arguelles’ personal faith in the devotion did not
budge. After declaring in another homily his personal devotion and
belief in the apparitions, he released an official statement of approval
of the apparitions on Sept. 12, 2015 declaring “that the events and
apparition of 1948 also known as the Marian phenomenon in Lipa and its
aftermath even in recent times do exhibit supernatural character and is
worthy of belief.”
Which brings the saga to this past Spring, when the archbishop once
again had to revoke his statement of official approval of the
supernatural nature of the apparitions.
It’s likely the first time ever that the Vatican and a local bishop
have had so much back and forth over a supposed apparition, O’Neill
said.
“This is completely historic that the archbishop flipped over a
Vatican confirmation of a previous judgement, and historic that the
Vatican has come back over and flipped back a statement of the local
bishops; those two things have never happened before,” he said.
What’s the problem?
What makes the alleged apparitions and related phenomena – the rose petals – so contentious?
O’Neill said that while it is not known for sure, there are a few
reasons that the Holy See may be hesitant to declare the apparitions as
supernatural.
One of these reasons, he said, may be because Sr. Teresita’s first mystical experience was actually an encounter with the devil.
“There has always been the question of whether the devil was disguised in further apparitions,” he said.
Another issue could be the complexity of the various related
phenomena surrounding the apparition, O’Neill said, including the shower
of rose petals and a claim from several children who said they saw the
statue come to life.
“So when you look at this - do you approve the whole thing? Or do you
approve just the apparitions? Or what’s true or what’s a hoax? It’s a
little bit of confusing territory when you have to deal with these many
different types of mystical phenomena,” O’Neill said.
So many mysteries remain with this supposed apparition.
Where are these affidavits of the supposed deathbed confessions of
bishops who claim they were coerced into the negative judgement? How
thoroughly did the original committee of bishops examine the case - and
what led them to the negative judgement? Archbishop Arguelles, as well
as the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, did not respond
to requests for comment by press time.
If the document surfaced that confirmed Pope Pius XII’s approval of
the negative judgement in 1951, there would be no way to reopen the
case. But such a document, if it does indeed exist in this case, would
be in the archives of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith,
which only releases documents to the public, with few exceptions, once
they are more than 80 years old.
On a recent visit to Lipa, O’Neill said he was able to visit the convent where Sr. Teresita supposedly had visions of Mary.
The sisters there, he said, remain privately devoted to Mary,
Mediatrix of all Grace. Though they remain obedient to the Holy See,
they, as well as many of the faithful, quietly hope the case could be
reconsidered in the future.
In a country with 33 canonically recognized icons of Mary, the country’s Marian devotion is “incredible,” O’Neill said.
“So there’s a great amount of disappointment among the people of the
Philippines who followed this devotion, but they remain obedient to the
Holy See.”
Update: A previous version of the story said a
negative Vatican judgement drove Sr. Teresita out of the convent. The
judgement instead was signed by local bishops, and subsequent
suppression of the devotion likely led to her leaving. Also, the line:
"This declaration is the official communication of the final decision on
the matter, as approved by the Holy See" has been included to the
bishops 2010 statement to show the Holy See's ruling.