Apparitions
Apparitions of Holy Figures
In the twelfth century, St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226) was credited with seeing an apparition of Jesus Christ (c. 6 B.C.E.–c. 30 C.E.). St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380) reported seeing Jesus in the fourteenth century. The Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart as a symbol of love was begun in the seventeenth century after an apparition of Jesus Christ had been seen by the French nun St. Margaret Mary (1647–1690).
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Catholic Online: The Why of Marian Apparitions
Interview With Father Jesús Castellano Cervera
ROME, MAY 21, 2004 - At key moments, an apparition of the Blessed Virgin can be a means to reinforce the faith, says a specialist in Marian studies.
In this interview, Discalced Carmelite Father Jesús Castellano Cervera, a consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and professor at the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum, reflects on the reasons for Marian apparitions and the mechanisms of the Church to confirm their veracity.
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The Investigation: Apparition of Mary at Lourdes
"We judge that Mary Immaculate, Mother of God, really appeared to Bernadette on the 11th February, 1858 ..."
— Mgr. Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes, Jan. 18, 1862
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The Zeitoun Apparitions
Beginning on the evening of Tuesday, April 2, 1968, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Holy Virgin Saint Mary, Mother of Light, Tumanbay Street, in Zeitoun quarter, on the way to El-Matarya, Cairo, Egypt, was visited by its namesake. Unlike most apparitions that are viewed by one or a few individuals, the Virgin Mary appeared to thousands of witnesses at once, including those from many different religions and nationalities. She was repeatedly photographed by the media and investigated by Egyptian police. An apparition of this caliber has never been seen before, and yet it remains obscure in paranormal literature, perhaps because of the overtly religious nature of the events.
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Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception . . . "
IT IS MORE THAN 150 years since the birth of Bernadette Soubirous, the peasant girl whose visions led to the founding of the shrine at Lourdes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. Nowadays four illuminated basilicas dominate the landscape, there are torchlight processions every day, and the shops are full of statuettes and relics. Five million pilgrims or religious tourists visit every year.
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The Apparitions Of Virgin Mary At Zeitoun Church, Egypt
As we have received from different parts of the world different enquiries regarding the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in our Coptic Orthodox Church at Zeitoun, Cairo, we have found it necessary to issue these pages which are based on documental evidence.
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Marian Apparitions, the Bible, and the Modern World
This book investigates the major Marian apparitions that have occurred during the last five centuries or so, and which the Catholic Church has decided to accept as authentic. It relates them to secular happenings, exploring the idea that they parallel important revolutionary events in modern Western history, such as the Reformation, the French and Russian Revolutions, and the rise of Nazism.
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Marian Apparitions: For a virgin, the Virgin Mary really gets around
No, we don't mean she's bedhopping, you sicko. It's just that the Virgin Mary's World Tour has registered a lot of stops, especially over the last couple hundred years.
The Virgin Mary is primarily a Roman Catholic fixation, due to mainly theological reasons. According to Catholic lore, Mary never died but was instead taken bodily into heaven in an alien abduction event called the Assumption.
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Why has Mary appeared in the last 50 years more frequently than in the last 2000 years?
While the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared to individuals and groups since 40 A.D., now we are seeing an unprecedented increase in the number, frequency and scope of these events.
Mary as the archetypal Mother of God, Mother of All, seems anxious to deliver a plea for prayer that contains a message for all mankind, not just for Christians and Catholics.
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The Apparitions at Fatima
During World War I Pope Benedict XV made repeated but forlorn pleas for peace, and finally, in May 1917, made a direct appeal to Mary to intercede for peace in the world. The response was Mary's first appearance at Fatima just over a week later. At this time Fatima was just a small village about seventy miles north of Lisbon; the three children to whom she appeared were Lucia dos Santos, aged ten, and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto, brother and sister, aged eight and seven respectively.
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Fatima: A Grace for Mankind
It is almost certain that we would not be celebrating the beatifications of Jacinta and Francisco Marto were it not for the apparitions which they experienced. Yes, every Catholic has the possibility to attain to the measure of sanctity which this honor represents. However, in practical terms it was the tutelage of an angel and the Blessed Mother that led these two young children to holiness in just a few short years. That tutoring began in the spring of 1916 with three visitations of the Guardian Angel of Portugal, apparitions which served as preparation for the visits the following year of the Mother of God.
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Visions and Apparitions
This article will deal not with natural but with supernatural visions, that is, visions due to the direct intervention of a power superior to man. Cardinal Bona (De discret. spir., xv, n. 2) distinguishes between visions and apparitions. There is an apparition when we do not know that the figure which we see relates to a real being, a vision when we connect it with a real being. With most mystics we shall consider these terms as synonymous.
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DEFENCE OF FAITH: DANGERS OF FALSE APPARITIONS AND PRIVATE REVELATIONS
Dedicated to all the faithfull who ignore the risks of visiting places where false apparitions take place, following groups guided by "charismatic" leaders or reading messages continually comunicated by visionaries. According to the opinion of many bishops, priests, theologians and also mine, these phenomena are generated by rebel angels. Those who believe in these revelations, think wrongly that they are supernatural events, but in most cases they do not realize it is the work of the Evil One who can deceive in different ways. Indeed he can create visions, extasis, dictate phrases, and act on the memory, fantasy, internal and external sensations, passions, but not on the will and intelligence. Moreover, as an intelligent spirit, he can prophetise earthquakes, storms, hurracanes, political and economical events, and with the divine permission, he can perform any miracle.
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Broadside report entitled 'Strange and Wonderfull Apparitions'
Commentary
This intriguing report begins: 'STRANGE AND WONDERFULL APPARITIONS That was seen in the Air, over the most Parts of Europe, on March Last, 1719, but more Particularly, in SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, FRANCE and SPAIN, with same Remarks thereon. No publication details are given.
During March and April 1719, it appears there were 'Great Lightnings' in the skies over Europe. This report gives the dates, times and locations of such 'apparitions', and vivid descriptions. The ocurrence in Glasgow seems to have been particularly spectacular, there was 'a Light of several Coulers, and immediately thereafter, there appeared as it were a large Flaming Sword'. The author concludes that the people should not ignore these 'signs from God', lest they suffer the fate of the 'misbelieving Jews, before the Destruction of Jerusalem'.
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