#marian apparitions and feast days

[foreverpraying]

On March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation

Ivanka Demchuk: Annunciation

George Lawrence Bulleid: The Annunciation

Unknown Artist: A post renaissance era Catholic religious art image of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[thisblogisnotflammable]

Today is the day we remember the dancing Marian apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe!! Her hands are actually clapping in this image and you can tell she is dancing by her knees in the image as well! Dance is a very traditional part of today’s devotions with our Queen of Heaven most holy mother of God.

[portraitsofsaints]

 Our Lady of Lourdes

Feast Day: February 11

Patron saint of bodily ills

On February 11th, 1858 Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette in the cave of Massabielle, Lourdes, France.  This began a series of apparitions. During the vision on the 25th of March she told Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Lourdes is one of the most frequented Marian Shrines in the world. It is known as a place of healing, with over 60 miraculous cures that have been recognized by church authorities. 

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The first Marian apparition in history appeared to Saint James the Apostle, the brother of Saint John the Evangelist, on the bank of the river Ebro in Saragossa (now Zaragoza), Spain.

Unlike every other recorded apparition, this one took place during the earthly life of the Mother of God.

According to tradition, she had promised Saint James that when he needed it most in his difficult mission to the pagans in today's Spain, she would appear to him to encourage him.

In the year 40 A.D., while praying one night by the banks, the Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus standing on a pillar.

She asked Saint James and his eight disciples to build a church on the site, promising that “it will stand from that moment until the end of time in order that God may work miracles and wonders through my intercession for all those who place themselves under my patronage.”

The church of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza is the first church dedicated to Mary in history.

It remains standing to this day, having survived invasions and wars – in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, three bombs were dropped on the church and none of them exploded.

Our Lady is also said to have given the small wooden statue of the apparition to Saint James, which now stands on a pillar in the church.

Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the patron of Spain and all Hispanic peoples.

12 October 1492, the feast of the Virgin of the Pillar, was the day Christopher Colombus first sighted American land and when the first Mass in the Americas was celebrated.

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF OUR LADY OF LIGHT Feast Day: December 1 (primary) Thursday after Pentecost

She is the light that shines through the darkness.

In the historic town of Cainta, Rizal, there is this Marian shrine where pilgrims from all over the country flock to venerate this unique Marian image in the country - the miraculous of the image of Nuestra Señora de la Lumen (Our Lady of Light). This image of Our Lady was one of a kind venerated image in the country for this image was painted by a renowned National Artist, Fernando Amorsolo, and it is considered his only masterpiece that is venerated and miraculous by the people of Cainta.

The image of Our Lady of Light of Cainta was based on the original image venerated in Palermo, Sicily and Guanajuato, Mexico. The image was that of a canvas painting where the Virgin was depicted holding her Son Jesus. The Virgin is preventing a soul from the flaming mouth of Satan while an angel was holding a basketful of hearts and offering it to the Child Jesus while the Child Jesus accepts these offerings of flaming hearts, the hearts of the faithful. Two cherubs hover above the Virgin and they are about to crown the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This depiction was based on an apparition of a pious woman in Palermo, Sicily in 1722 and upon the advice of Fr. Giovanni Genovesi, a Jesuit priest, the original painting was commissioned based on the woman's vision for the purpose of his missionary work in the Island.

The devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Lumen originated in the island of Sicily, South of Italy sometime in 1722 when a pious woman, with a good reputation of holiness and piety, was reported to receive visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and reported these visions to Rev. Fr. Giovanni Antonio Genovesi, a Jesuit priest. Fr. Genovesi at that time, wanted an image of the Virgin that would help him in his mission in Sicily. When the pious lady relayed these to Fr. Genovesi, he requested the lady to ask the Blessed Mother for her guidance in this pious desire of having a beautiful image of her. The Virgin granted this request when she appeared once again to the lady on November 21, 1722. The Virgin also requested that she wanted to be known as 'Madre Santissima del Lume (Mother of Light)'.

Despite the hardships that the lady and Fr. Genovesi to complete the painting of the Virgin, the painting was complete in. It is also interesting to note that while the painter is painting the image, the Blessed Virgin was present at the painter's studio, however, only the pious woman can only see her, yet the Blessed Mother and the visionary guided the painter on completing the image and the result was a beautiful image of Our Lady of Light, it was very beautiful that it is said that the painter could not replicate this heavenly masterpiece.

The image accompanied Fr. Genovesi during his missionary work until his death. Each time the people of a certain place would know that he and the picture were coming, they would wholeheartedly prepare their chapel or church, and the altar on which the holy picture was always met by many people holding flowers or lighted candles. The original image was unfortunately destroyed in 1943 when the Church in Casa Profesa was bombed. The image of the Confraternity was Canonically Crowned in the Cathedral of Palermo in 1986.

Through the help of the Jesuit Missionaries, the devotion to Our Lady of Light spread throughout Europe and Latin America. A confraternity, called Confraternita Della Madonna del Lume al Noviziato, was founded to further propagate the devotion that was formed in 1736 and Pope Clement XXII authorized the veneration of the Blessed Virgin under this title. The devotion became very popular in Italy with numerous copies of the image that can be found in that country and venerated by the faithful through the centuries.

The devotion later reached Mexico and Latin America through the efforts of the Jesuit order. The devotion in Mexico began in 1732 when Rev. Fr. Giuseppe Maria Genovese, believed to be a relative of Fr. Giovanni Antonio Genovesi, began to preach the Gospel in the Spanish colony while propagating the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady of Light. He later established shrines dedicated to the Virgin of Light which became pilgrimage sites over the years. A faithful copy of the image was enshrined by Fr. Genovese at the Church in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, and became the center of devotion in Mexico and this image was canonically crowned in 1902.

The popularity of the Virgin of Light was so widespread that the other religious orders, like the Franciscans, also began to promote the devotion in Mexico and later carried it over to the Philippines, most specifically in Joroan. While the devotion becomes more popular, controversy arises when some members of the clergy questioned the depiction of the Virgen de la Lumen, most specifically when the Virgin pulled a soul from the mouth of the devil, which they believed that it contradicts the teaching that Christ is our only Savior. For some time, the devotion was halted and its effects were felt when later images of the Virgin is depicted without the mouth of the beast, the Angel with a basket of hearts and the soul and was later replaced with a scepter and a rosary in place of the soul. The dispute ended in 1771 when a Franciscan friar points out that the Virgin was actually helping the soul from falling away to the fires of hell and the devotion resumed with much enthusiasm.

The devotion of Nuestra Señora de la Lumen arrived in the Philippines in two ways, first through the Jesuits in Cainta, Rizal in 1727 and in Loon, Bohol in 1754 under the title Nuestra Senora de la Luz and second through the Franciscan Friars in Albay under a different title, Nuestra Señora de Salvacion in 1776.

The Jesuit missionaries arrived in Cainta in 1591 and introduced the devotion to Nuestra Senora de la Lumen in 1727, a few years after the beginning of the devotion in Sicily through the efforts of Rev. Fr. Bartolommeo Cavanti, SJ who came from Ferrara, Italy by which the devotion became widespread in Italy at that time.

The original image that was brought by the Jesuits was first enshrined in one of the side altars of the Parish until its transfer to the main altar in 1853. Unfortunately, the original image was destroyed during the Philippine Revolution in 1899, nevertheless, there were two existing copies of the original image that was venerated in the meantime, an illustrated estampa that was printed in 1801 which was usually given to families who give donations to Our Lady and some of the copies exists to some residences in Cainta. Another copy of the image was a charcoal painting by Mariano Javier of Cainta which was done in 1857 with some similarities with the Verdadero Retrato estampa and at present, it is kept by the heirs of the late Mrs. Flora Javier Buenviaje.

The present image of Nuestra Senora de la Lumen was commissioned in 1950 by Fr. Joseph Flameygh, CICM, then parish priest of Cainta, to National Artist Fernando Amorsolo based on a prayer card that it is believed to have come from Guanajauto, Mexico. The image was painted in a very unique way for the faces of the Virgin, the Child, the Angels, and the soul to have Filipino features. The image was initially enshrined in a semi-concrete provisional chapel then later to her permanent altar in the reconstructed church of Cainta in 1968. The image later undergo an 'artistic conservation' in 2007 and was later enthroned to her renovated altar that same year.

The devotion to the Virgin of Light became very popular in Cainta that as the devotion was so widespread, she became the Secondary Patroness of Cainta, with St. Andrew as its Titular Patron. Years later, with the publication of the first Tagalog novena to Our Lady of Light in 1884, Our Lady was considered as the Titular Patron of the Parish and the Town of Cainta.

In the line of the 285th anniversary of the arrival of the devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Lumen by the Jesuits, the miraculous image was granted the honor of Episcopal Coronation on November 7, 2012 by Bishop Emeritus Gabriel Reyes, DD and the Coronation rites were performed on December 1, 2012, the Feast of Our Lady of Light of Cainta. Five years later, the Congregation of the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments granted the Pontifical Coronation of the image on December 6, 2017, and the Coronation rites were performed on December 1, 2018. The coronation rites coincided with the declaration of the parish as a Diocesan Shrine.

The devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Lumen of Cainta was engrained in the popular consciousness of the people of Cainta, Rizal for centuries due to the many miracles that she wrought for the town. The feast of Nuestra Señora de la Lumen of Cainta was celebrated on December 1, a day after the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, the second patron of Cainta, since 1853. The Virgin also celebrates her Secondary Feast which is celebrated every Thursday after Pentecost Sunday. The devotees of Nuestra Señora de la Lumen also observe the Seven Saturday (Siete Sabados) novena preceding her feast day in December. She is well known as the patroness of reconciliation and those seeking conversion.

The devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Lumen is one of the most popular and unique devotions to Our Lady in the Philippines for through her image, she communicated to us that she is there, helping us along the way, to lead us to her Son, the Savior of Mankind and Light of the World.

[allaboutjoseph]

Our Lady of the Pillar, pray for us!

Today, October 12, we commemorate the Our Lady of the Pillar, the first Marian apparition in history. Nuestra Señora del Pilar appeared to Saint James the Apostle, the brother of Saint John the Evangelist, on the bank of the river Ebro in Saragossa, Spain. Unlike every other recorded apparition, this one took place during the earthly life of the Mother of God. According to tradition, she had promised Saint James that when he needed it most in his difficult mission to the pagans in today's Spain, she would appear to him to encourage him. In the year 40 A.D., while praying one night on the tobrt bank, the Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus standing on a pillar and asked Saint James and his eight disciples to build a church on the site, promising that “it will stand from that moment until the end of time in order that God may work miracles and wonders through my intercession for all those who place themselves under my patronage.” The church of Our Lady of the Pilar in Zaragoza, is the first church dedicated to Mary in history and it remains standing to this day, having survived invasions and wars – in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 three bombs were dropped on the church and none of them exploded. Our Lady is also said to have given the small wooden statue of the apparition to Saint James which now stands on a pillar in the church. Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the patron of Spain and all Hispanic peoples. October 12, 1492, the feast of the Virgin of the Pillar, is the day Christopher Colombus first sighted American land, and when the first Mass in the Americas was celebrated. Our Lady of the Pilar, pray for us! ---------- Source of photo: Manila Bulletin News Source of caption: Catholic News Agency | Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar)

Photo and text from Hugot Seminarista. 

[thecatholiccrusade]

The Miraculous Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe

On December 9th, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin and the legacy of the Marian apparition he witnessed in 1531. This miraculous encounter between the Virgin Mary and an indigenous Mexican convert to Catholicism gave rise to one of the most important religious and cultural icons in Mexico – Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to tradition, Mary appeared several times to…

[wikiuntamed]

On this day in Wikipedia: Tuesday, 28th November

Welcome, bienvenido, merħba, witamy 🤗 What does @Wikipedia say about 28th November through the years 🏛️📜🗓️?

28th November 2021 🗓️ : Death - Virgil Abloh Virgil Abloh, American fashion designer and entrepreneur (b. 1980) "Virgil Abloh (; September 30, 1980 – November 28, 2021) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. He began his own line of luxury streetwear clothing, Pyrex Vision, in 2012, and became the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2013. Abloh..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0? by Myles Kalus Anak Jihem

28th November 2018 🗓️ : Death - Harry Leslie Smith Harry Leslie Smith, British writer and political commentator (b. 1923) "Harry Leslie Smith (25 February 1923 – 28 November 2018) was an English writer and political commentator. He grew up in poverty in Yorkshire, served in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and emigrated to Canada in 1953. After retiring, Smith wrote his memoirs and about the social history..."

28th November 2013 🗓️ : Death - Jean-Louis Roux Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1923) "Jean-Louis Roux (May 18, 1923 – November 28, 2013) was a Canadian politician, entertainer and playwright who was briefly the 26th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec...."

28th November 1973 🗓️ : Birth - Jade Puget Jade Puget, American guitarist and producer "Jade Errol Puget (born November 28, 1973) is an American musician and producer, best known as the guitarist for the rock band AFI (joined in 1998), the guitarist/writer for the straight edge hardcore band XTRMST, and the keyboardist/synthesizer operator for the electronic duo Blaqk Audio. Puget is..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0? by Afirebenside

28th November 1923 🗓️ : Birth - Helen Delich Bentley Helen Delich Bentley, American politician (d. 2016) "Helen Bentley (née Delich; November 28, 1923 – August 6, 2016) was an American politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland from 1985 to 1995. Before entering politics, she had been a leading maritime reporter and journalist...."

Image

28th November 1821 🗓️ : Event - Public holidays in Panama Panama Independence Day: Panama separates from Spain and joins Gran Colombia. "Public holidays in Panama include:..."

28th November 🗓️ : Holiday - Christian feast day: Our Lady of Kibeho "Our Lady of Kibeho (French: Notre-Dame de Kibeho), also known as Our Lady of Sorrows of Kibeho, is a Catholic title of the Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in the 1980s by several adolescents in Kibeho, south-western Rwanda. The young visionaries were Alphonsine..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0? by Haeferl

[chicoinematt7]

How to Reconcile Mary as Mediator with 1 Timothy 2:5

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 13,  2019. May 13th, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. I participated in a 33-day Marian consecration that culminated on the Feast of Fatima.  Because of the honor Catholics bestow towards Mary, it is important to dispel common misunderstandings non-Catholics may have about the Blessed Mother…

[johnwynegalzote]

Hello everyone! This photo is from September 2022. It was captured during the Visitation of the Pilgrim Image of Our Lady of Caysasay and the Synodal Mission Cross. A little trivia about the Our Lady of Caysasay.

Our Lady of Caysasay (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Caysasay) is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Caysasay in Taal, Batangas in the Philippines. The image, which depicts the Immaculate Conception, is believed to be one of the oldest in the country, having been found in 1603 by a man fishing in the Pansipit River. The subsequent Marian apparitions documented by Spanish colonial church leaders were the first in the country; devotees today continue to attribute miracles to the Virgin.

The image was canonically crowned on December 8, 1954, and was later given the title the "Queen of the Archdiocese of Lipa". The feast day of Our Lady of Caysasay is celebrated every December 8 and 9.

[foreverpraying]

February 11 is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes

Virgilio Tojetti: Our Lady of Lourdes

Source of picture: https://stjohncapistrano67.tumblr.com

Source of picture: https://theraccolta.tumblr.com

Pilgrimage chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes in Modlivý důl valley, village of Svojkov, Czech Republic. Photo by Jan Řehák

[allsoulspriory]

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Saint of the Day

St. Juan Diego, a humble Aztec peasant, saw the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Hill of Tepeyac near present-day Mexico City on December 9, 1531, the feast of the Immaculate Conception at the time. After a request by the bishop to prove her identity, Our Lady asked Juan Diego to gather the roses which he found growing on the hill, which were neither native to the area nor in season, and take them to the bishop. Juan Diego did so and placed the roses in his tilma (or cloak). Upon opening the tilma to reveal the miraculous roses to the bishop, there was something even more miraculous present—an image of the Virgin Mary dressed as a pregnant Aztec princess. The various design elements on the tilma read like a codex to the Aztecs, revealing to them the truth of the Catholic faith preached by the missionary priests. Millions quickly converted to the Catholic Church as a result. This apparition and image is venerated under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the first Marian apparition in the New World, and the only one where Our Lady produced an image of herself. The perfectly preserved tilma is venerated at her basilica and shrine in Mexico City. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, the New Evangelization, and unborn children. Her feast day is December 12th.

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Bernadette Soubirous

1844-1879

Feast Day: February 18 (new), April 16 (trad.)

Patronage: Bodily illness

Marie-Bernarde Soubirous was a miller's daughter born in Lourdes, France. She is best known as the seer of the Marian apparition know as Our Lady of Lourdes, where Mary Identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. She joined the Sisters at Nevers at the age of 22 and spent the rest of her brief life there. She contracted tuberculosis and died of the illness at the age of 35. Her body has remained incorrupt.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

On October 7, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the yearly feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Known for several centuries by the alternate title of “Our Lady of Victory,” the feast day takes place in honor of a 16th-century naval victory, which secured Europe against Turkish invasion.

Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was invoked on the day of the battle through a campaign to pray the Rosary throughout Europe.

The feast always occurs one week after the similar Byzantine celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God, which most Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics celebrate on October 1 in memory of a 10th-century military victory, which protected Constantinople against invasion after a reported Marian apparition.

Pope Leo XIII was particularly devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary, producing 11 encyclicals on the subject of this feast and its importance in the course of his long pontificate.

In the first of them, 1883's “Supremi Apostolatus Officio,” he echoed the words of the oldest known Marian prayer (known in the Latin tradition as the “Sub Tuum Praesidium”), when he wrote:

“It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary."

“This devotion, so great and so confident, to the august Queen of Heaven,” Pope Leo continued, “has never shone forth with such brilliancy as when the militant Church of God has seemed to be endangered by the violence of heresy … or by an intolerable moral corruption, or by the attacks of powerful enemies.”

Foremost among such “attacks” was the Battle of Lepanto, a perilous and decisive moment in European and world history.

Troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire had invaded and occupied the Byzantine empire by 1453, bringing a large portion of the increasingly divided Christian world under a version of Islamic law.

For the next hundred years, the Turks expanded their empire westward on land and asserted their naval power in the Mediterranean.

In 1565, they attacked Malta, envisioning an eventual invasion of Rome. Though repelled at Malta, the Turks captured Cyprus in the fall of 1570.

The next year, three Catholic powers on the continent – Genoa, Spain, and the Papal States - formed an alliance called the Holy League, to defend their Christian civilization against Turkish invasion.

Its fleets sailed to confront the Turks near the west coast of Greece on 7 October 1571.

Crew members on more than 200 ships prayed the Rosary in preparation for the battle — as did Christians throughout Europe, encouraged by the Pope to gather in their churches to invoke the Virgin Mary against the daunting Turkish forces.

Some accounts say that Pope Pius V was granted a miraculous vision of the Holy League's stunning victory.

Without a doubt, the Pope understood the significance of the day's events, when he was eventually informed that all but 13 of the nearly 300 Turkish ships had been captured or sunk.

He was moved to institute the feast now celebrated universally as Our Lady of the Rosary.

“Turkish victory at Lepanto would have been a catastrophe of the first magnitude for Christendom,” wrote military historian John F. Guilmartin, Jr., “and Europe would have followed a historical trajectory strikingly different from that which obtained.”

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS The Visionary of Our Lady of Lourdes Feast Day: April 16

Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844, the first child of an extremely poor miller in the town of Lourdes in southern France.

The family was living in the basement of a dilapidated building when on February 11, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette in a cave above the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes.

Bernadette, 14 years old, was known as a virtuous girl though a dull student who had not even made her first Holy Communion. In poor health, she had suffered from asthma from an early age.

There were 18 appearances in all, the final one occurring on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, July 16. Although Bernadette's initial reports provoked skepticism, her daily visions of 'the Lady' brought great crowds of the curious.

The Lady, Bernadette explained, had instructed her to have a chapel built on the spot of the visions. There, the people were to come to wash in and drink of the water of the spring that had welled up from the very spot where Bernadette had been instructed to dig.

According to Bernadette, the Lady of her visions was a girl of 16 or 17 who wore a white robe with a blue sash. Yellow roses covered her feet, a large rosary was on her right arm. In the vision on March 25 she told Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception."

It was only when the words were explained to her that Bernadette came to realize who the Lady was.

Few visions have ever undergone the scrutiny that these appearances of the Immaculate Virgin were subject to.

Lourdes became one of the most popular Marian shrines in the world, attracting millions of visitors. Miracles were reported at the shrine and in the waters of the spring. After thorough investigation, Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862.

During her life, Bernadette suffered much. She was hounded by the public as well as by civic officials until at last she was protected in a convent of nuns. Five years later, she petitioned to enter the Sisters of Notre Dame of Nevers. After a period of illness she was able to make the journey from Lourdes and enter the novitiate. But within four months of her arrival she was given the last rites of the Church and allowed to profess her vows.

She recovered enough to become infirmarian and then sacristan, but chronic health problems persisted. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35. Bernadette Soubirous was canonized in 1933.

Source: Franciscan Media

[church-history]

Our Lady of Good Help - Oct 9th

October 9th marks the Feast of Our Lady of Good Help, the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the national shrine in Champion, Wisconsin after her miraculous protection of that land during great fires surrounding the area in the 19th century.

In October of 1859, a Belgian woman by the name of Adele Brise witnessed an apparition by Our Lady in Champion (then known as Robinsonville). Our Lady instructed Adele to begin doing mission work in the surrounding area by instructing the wildland children in the Faith. She was to teach them the Sign of the Cross, the Sacraments, and the Catechism.

Mary said, “That is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing, I will help you.” Adele started at the location of the present-day shrine and traveled outward in a 50-mile radius to families and children, teaching them the Catholic Faith. Adele also taught at the location of the present-day chapel that’s located at the shrine.

Then, in October of 1871, a rain drought caused a massive fire in the nearby town of Peshtigo. The drought eventually caused another fire to begin raging in the rural area surrounding Robinsonville. Fearing for their lives and their livelihoods, the families that Adele had been educating flocked to the shrine grounds with their children and their farm animals. They began to process around the shrine grounds, praying the Rosary to Our Lady of Good Help. They prayed through the night and miraculously, the rains returned and doused the fires. The fiery inferno had reduced everything around the shrine to ash, but Our Lady had preserved the chapel and shrine grounds.

Our Lady of Good Help is celebrated on October 9th because historians believe that is the day she appeared to Adele Brise. In December of 2010, after prayerful discernment, Bishop Ricken of Green Bay was able to determine that the apparitions of Our Lady of Good Help were “worthy of belief.” And in August of 2016, the USCCB declared the shrine at Champion a ‘National Shrine’ by formal decree. To this day, The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is the only Catholic shrine in America with a Church-approved Marian Apparition Site.

We can learn a lot from Adele Brise’s example. Firstly, we should be open to the will of God and listen to what He is asking of us. Secondly, we should be proactive in the apostolate of the world, even if it might require that we go above and beyond. And thirdly, our mother will always come to our aid if we ask her. When it feels like there are ‘fires’ raging all around us and we are close to ‘getting burned,’ go to Our Lady of Good Help to bail you out of those tough situations. We all know mothers are great at getting us out of impossible trouble.

“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided.”

Our Lady of Good Help, pray for us

source: https://relevantradio.com/2021/10/our-lady-of-good-help/