The Catholic Herald

Since unveiling a new set of norms for evaluating the validity of alleged Marian apparitions and other spiritual phenomena, the Vatican has ruled on several cases. Recently it approved the devotion to two popular Marian appearances in Italy. In mid-May, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/vatican-publishes-new-norms-for-vetting-private-revelations/?swcfpc=1">published a new expedited procedure for vetting spiritual phenomena</a> in which phenomena such as alleged Marian apparitions will no longer be judged “supernatural”, but based on whether anything stands in the way of promoting devotion to such apparitions. According to the new norms, six different “prudential conclusions” will be given, depending on the case, ranging from a Declaratio de non supernaturalitate, meaning it is false, to a Nihil obstat, meaning devotion can be promoted. Less than a month later, the Vatican issued a ruling on one of Italy’s most famed and contested alleged Marian apparitions, known as the “bleeding Madonna” in the central Italian town of Trevignano Romano. Since 2016, a woman there named Gisella Cardia has claimed that a statue of Mary she bought in Medjugorje has been bleeding from the eyes, and that the Virgin Mary has been giving her private revelations. On 27 June, after a local diocesan investigation, the Vatican – in its first implementation of the new norms on judging spiritual phenomena – ruled that the Trevignano Madonna was “not supernatural”, and forbid spreading devotion. RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/podcast/the-problems-posed-by-private-revelations-with-simon-caldwell/?swcfpc=1">Private revelations and the problems they pose, with Simon Caldwell</a> Around two weeks later, the DDF on 5 July issued rulings of approval on two other alleged Marian apparitions: “Mary Mystical Rose” in Brescia, and “Our Lady of the rock” in Santa Domenica, Placanica. In <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20240705_lettera-devozione-mariarosamistica_en.html">a letter</a> addressed to Bishop Pierantonio Tremolada of Brescia, the DDF prefect, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, gave a green light to the two devotions, saying in the dicastery’s inquiry, “no elements in the messages spread by Pierina Gilli that directly contradict the teaching of the Catholic Church on faith and morals” were found. “Nor can one find any negative moral aspects or other critical aspects in matters relating to this spiritual experience. Rather, one can find several positive aspects that stand out in the messages as a whole and others that deserve clarification to avoid any misunderstanding,” he said. The devotion to Mary Mystical Rose in Bresica began when Italian laywoman and alleged visionary Pierina Gilli, born into a poor family and who later worked as a nurse in a hospital, living a simple life, apparently had visions of Mary in 1947, visions she said happened again in 1966. In 1947, Gilli said Mary appeared to her with the titles “Mystical Rose” and “Mother of the Church”, wearing a white dress with three roses on it – one white, one red and one yellow – which she said symbolised prayer, penance and suffering. Gilli said a second cycle of apparitions occurred in 1966 in Fontanelle, located south of Montichiari, in the province of Brescia, when on 13 May of that year – the day on which the famed Marian apparitions of Fatima began – Mary allegedly appeared to Gilli again, directing her to a specific spring which she said was a place of purification and a source of grace. After that, construction began for a shrine in that location, with the structure set to be an open amphitheatre, rather than a church, with a chapel on one side to celebrate Mass, and a second, smaller chapel on the other side to protect the spring indicated by Mary in the alleged apparition. Local bishops at first were hesitant to make any rulings on the phenomenon; however, in 2001, the 10th anniversary of Gilli’s death in 1991 at the age of 80, then-Bishop Giulio Sanguineti tapped a priest to investigate, and in 2019 the shrine was officially adopted at a diocesan level. The DDF’s ruling officialises the Brescia devotion as positive and good for the spiritual life of faithful. On 5 July, the DDF also gave a Nihil obstat to the Our Lady of the Rock spiritual occurrence in Santa Domenica di Placanica, in the southern region of Calabria, which dates to 1968, when alleged visionary Brother Cosimo Gragomeni, then an 18-year-old shepherd, allegedly had visions of Mary from May 11-14 of that year. In <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20240705_lettera-santuario-placanica_en.html">a letter</a> to Bishop Francesco Oliva of Locri-Gerace, Fernandez said that over the years, “no critical or risky elements have emerged, much less problems of obvious gravity. Instead, there are signs of grace and spiritual conversion.” “Therefore, in consideration of what you have written, and without making any judgment on whether the events relating to the spiritual experience in question were supernatural or not, this Dicastery confirms the Nihil Obstat determination that you have proposed,” he said. According to Gragomeni, the first apparent apparition happened in 1968 and was preceded by a beam of light coming from a sandstone rock near a young man’s home, a beam that appeared for the next four consecutive days. Gragomeni said Mary’s message to him included an invitation to prayer and conversion, as well as a desire to see the local town transformed into a centre of spirituality where people encounter God’s mercy. In response, Gragomeni cleared the area around the rock and created a niche in the sandstone where he placed a small marble statue of Mary that he had purchased in Carrara. The town soon became a popular pilgrimage destination throughout Italy. A larger shrine was later built at the site, and in 1987, Gragomeni became a Franciscan tertiary. In 2008, a diocesan investigation began into the phenomenon. In 2013, Gragomeni attended a general audience with Pope Francis and asked him to bless the first stone of the shine of Our Lady of the Rock that was being built. The shrine was adopted as a diocesan sanctuary in 2016, and the DDF’s ruling this month further encourages devotion. Fernandez said in his letter that “in the secularised world in which we live, in which so many spend their lives without any reference to transcendence, the pilgrims who approach the Shrine of the Rock are a powerful sign of faith". “Their presence before the Virgin, who for them becomes a clear expression of the Lord’s mercy, is a way of acknowledging their own inadequacy to carry out the labours of life and their ardent need and desire for God,” he said. “In such a truly precious context of faith, a renewed proclamation of the kerygma [a Greek word used in the New Testament for "proclamation"] can continue to enlighten and enrich this experience of the spirit.” On 11 July, the DDF also published the unanimous decision, approved by Pope Paul VI in 1974, which confirmed the “non-supernaturality” of devotion to the alleged Dutch Marian apparitions in Amsterdam, dubbed “Our Lady of All Nations”. The alleged apparitions date to 25 March 1945, when a woman named Ida Peerdeman claimed to have seen Mary, who introduced herself with the title, “Lady of All Nations”. Peerdeman later claimed to have had 55 more visions of Mary, lasting until 1959, with Mary revealing events such as the death of Pope Pius XII. Mary also apparently requested that the Church recognise the dogma of Mary as “<a href="https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=32818">co-redemptrix</a>”, a title that is a source of contention in Catholic doctrine and about which Pope Francis has voiced skepticism on several occasions. In <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20240711_comunicato-apparizioni-amsterdam_en.html">a press release</a>, the DDF said that it typically “did not reveal decisions regarding alleged supernatural phenomena”. However, it said that it had chosen to do so in this case due to “persistent doubts raised about the alleged apparitions and revelations from 1945-1959 in Amsterdam, related to the devotion of the ‘Lady of All Nations’.” Dated 27 March 1974, the original ruling found that the apparitions were not supernatural and blocked further investigation into the phenomena. While the decision had been privately communicated to the local bishop, the DDF said it was publishing the decree now to avoid any potential for confusion. RELATED: <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/problems-with-the-vaticans-new-norms-for-vetting-supernatural-phenomena/?swcfpc=1">Problems with the Vatican’s new norms for vetting supernatural phenomena</a> Photo: Shrine of Our Lady of the Rock in Calabria. (Credit: Our Lady of the Rock shrine/ Fondazione Madonna dello Scoglio, via Crux.)

Devotion to two Marian appearances approved by Vatican as ‘signs of grace and spiritual conversion’

Elise Allen

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