For the last 150 years the Virgin Mary has been making documented appearances in her spiritual form all over the earth. The first documented case was in 1858, when she appeared to a fourteen year old peasant girl in Lourdes, France. The girl’s name was Bernadette Soubirous, and the Virgin Mary appeared 18 times. The Virgin Mary instructed her to dig in the dirt in a certain spot from which out poured holy water. A grotto was eventually built which eventually became one of the world’s most famous healing shrines. To this day thousands of people make spiritual pilgrimages to Lourdes, and many are still having miraculous healings.
Lady Fatima
One of the most famous appearances of the Virgin Mary was in Fatima, Portugal in 1916. It was here that the Virgin Mary appeared to three small children whose names were Jacinta, her brother Francisco, and Lucia Does Santos. The children were tending sheep when an angel appeared and said, "Do not fear, I am the angel of peace. Pray with me."
The angel requested that the children recite the following prayer. "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love you. I implore your pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love you."
Two of the children heard the inner words where one was able to just see, clairvoyantly what was happening. The angel appeared again a couple of months later and said, "Pray very much. The most holy hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the most high." The angel turned out to be the angel guardian of all of Portugal.
On May 13th, 1917, the children were tending sheep again when there appeared on top of an oak tree a woman of luminous transcendent beauty. She was wearing a dress of all white and her hands were pressed together in prayer while holding a rosary. She asked the children not to be afraid and told them she came from heaven.
She requested that the children come to this same physical spot at the same hour on the 13th day of each month until October. She told the children upon request, that they would all go to heaven, however, they would need to do many rosaries. The Virgin Mary was true to her word and did appear as she said she would. She told the children many things. She told them that the war (World War I) was the karma of mankind’s selfishness and materialism.
One of the requests that she made through the children was to have Russia be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart. Through this process she said, it was possible that Russia would be converted to the ways of God. If this was not done, Russia was in danger of spreading the scourge of Communism and lack of belief in God around the planet.
On one particular appearance on September 13th, thirty thousand people came and witnessed the darkening of the sun’s light. The sun was darkened to such an extent that the stars in the sky became observable. Thousands of people were able to see the Virgin Mary appear, not just the children.
She appeared to one priest first as a white globe of light moving from East to West in the sky heading for the oak tree. To many her appearance was invisible to their normal vision. Many did witness, however, a shower of white flowers falling from heaven. Most of the people saw the globe of light, however, not the Virgin Mary herself. The Virgin Mary requested the people who came, to say the rosary to obtain the end of the war.
Most Famous Appearance
It was on October 13th, that the appearance of Mary occurred. This has been commonly called the Miracle of the Sun. It was witnessed by over 100,000 people. It began with a white cloud of light moving through the sky that everyone could see. The Virgin Mary appeared to the children at the oak tree and requested that a chapel be built in this place in her honor.
She prophesied that the war was coming to an end. She told the children that men must amend their ways and stop offending the Lord. At around one o’clock the rain stopped. The sun began to change into a shining silver disk that was growing and expanding until it broke through the clouds. The sun began to whirl rapidly like a gigantic firewheel. There appeared on the sun’s rim a border of crimson blood red light that began to be flung across the sky. Then flashed many brilliant colors through the sky, of the total color spectrum.
All 100,000 people were able to see this. Thousands of people fell to their knees. People by the thousands began to weep and pray. The sun began to dance in the sky. Then it seemed to plunge downward toward the earth. People began to scream, thinking that the end of the earth had come.
As people prayed, the sun began to climb back into the sky and then returned to normal. The Virgin Mary had prophesied in advance that a miracle would occur and that is why so many people had come this day. She, again, was true to her word. People began to shout, cry, laugh, and weep with joy at what they had just experienced. Then they became aware that their clothes were completely dry and the mud from the rain had become completely dry. All who came had the deep and profound experience that they had witnessed a miracle. The Catholic church for many years disavowed the experience, however, I don’t think it was possible that the 100,000 people were all hallucinating.
During the series of apparitions, Lucia was given "three secrets" by the Virgin Mary. The first was the vision of hell. The second was a vision of a strange light in the sky that was a prophecy that the second World War was coming. The third was a sealed envelope that was given to the Pope, that was to be opened in 1960 and shared with the world.
The Virgin Mary also told Lucia that five scourges upon the earth were to transpire.
1. The first was the beginning of the second World War.
2. The second was the militant rise of Communism.
3 & 4. The third and fourth scourges were karmas involving the Catholic church itself.
5. The fifth scourge was the potential for several entire nations to be completely annihilated. She did not say exactly how this was to happen, however they saw the rise of Communism dividing the world into two heavily armed, angry camps. This prophecy turned out to be accurate, given the cold war which went on for much of this century.
In my opinion, one of the most interesting of the secrets of the Virgin Mary was this secret letter that was given to the Pope, and that was opened in 1960. The Vatican apparently sent parts of this letter to President Kennedy, Mr. Khrushchev of Russia, and Mr. McMillan of England in 1963.
According to Earlyne Chaney, in her book, "Revelations of Things to Come", a newspaper man was able to obtain part of this letter, and it was published in a European newspaper in October 1963. The following is a direct quote from this newspaper article as to the contents of the Virgin Mary’s letter.
"Don’t worry, dear child. I am the mother of Jesus speaking to you and begging you to proclaim in my name the following message to the entire world. In doing this, you will meet with great hostility but be steadfast in the Faith and you will overcome this hostility. Listen and remember what I say to you. Men must become better. They must implore the remission of the sins which they have committed and will continue to commit. You all may understand the words which, through you, I address to mankind. You have just seen the prodigy of a short while ago, the great miracle of the sun. Everyone has seen it, believers, non-believers, country and city dwellers, scholars and journalists, laymen and priests. And now proclaim in my name:
"A punishment will befall the entire human race. It will not come today nor even tomorrow but in the second half of the twentieth century (after 1950). What I revealed at La Salette through the children Melanie and Maxamin, I repeat today before you.
"Mankind has not developed as God expected. The human race has been sacrilegious and has trampled underfoot the gifts which were bestowed on it. Nowhere does order reign. Satan has reached the very highest positions. It is Satan who governs and decides the march of events. He will succeed in introducing himself into and reaching the highest summit of the Church. He will succeed in sowing confusion in the minds of great scholars who invent arms with which it will be possible to destroy half of mankind in a matter of a few minutes. He will have powerful nations under his empire and he will lead them to the mass production of these weapons. If mankind does not take steps to restrain him, I shall be obliged to let my Son’s arm fall. If those at the top in the world and in the Church do not oppose these acts, it is I who shall do so.
"And I shall pray God my Father to visit His justice on men. Then it is that God will punish men more harshly and severely than He punished them by the Flood. The great and powerful will perish thereby as well as the weak and small.
"But a time of severe trials will also come for the Church. Cardinal will oppose Cardinal and Bishop oppose Bishop. Satan will put himself in their midst. In Rome also there will be big changes. What is rotten will fall and what falls must not be maintained. The Church will he darkened and the world plunged into confusion. "If mankind does not change, the big, big war will happen in the second half of the twentieth century. Then fire and smoke will fall from the heavens and the waters of the oceans will be turned to steam, hurling their foam toward the sky. And everything that is standing will be overthrown. Millions will lose their lives by the hour and those that are left alive will envy those who have died. There will be tribulation wherever the eye can see, and misery over all the earth and desolation in all countries.
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