#apparition of the holy virgin

[valentiae-edetani]

738x576 'Junto a la fuente sagrada' cuadro de Domenico Trojetti ha 1872

[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

[proud-spaniard]

738x576 By the sacred fountain, painting by Domenico Trojetti from 1872

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (May 13)

May 13 is the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal in 1917. 

She appeared six times to Lucia dos Santos (9) and her cousins Francisco Marto (8) and his sister Jacinta Marto (6) between 13 May 1917 and 13 October 1917.

The story of Fatima begins in 1916 when, against the backdrop of the First World War that had introduced Europe to the most horrific and powerful forms of warfare yet seen, and a year before the Communist revolution would plunge Russia and later Eastern Europe into six decades of oppression under militant atheistic governments, a resplendent figure appeared to the three children who were in the field tending the family sheep.

“I am the Angel of Peace,” said the figure, who appeared to them two more times that year, exhorting them to accept the sufferings that the Lord allowed them to undergo as an act of reparation for the sins that offend Him and to pray constantly for the conversion of sinners.

Then, on the 13th day of the month of Our Lady, May 1917, an apparition of ‘a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun’ presented itself to the three children saying, “Please don’t be afraid of me. I’m not going to harm you.”

Lucia asked her where she came from and she responded,  “I come from Heaven.” 

The woman wore a white mantle edged with gold and held a rosary in her hand.

The woman asked them to pray and devote themselves to the Holy Trinity, and to “say the Rosary every day to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.”

She also revealed that the children would suffer, especially from the unbelief of their friends and families, and that the two younger children, Francisco and Jacinta, would be taken to Heaven very soon.

However, Lucia would live longer in order to spread her message and devotion to the Immaculate Heart.

In the last apparition, the woman revealed her name in response to Lucia’s question:   “I am the Lady of the Rosary.”

That same day, 70,000 people had turned out to witness the apparition, following a promise by the woman that she would show the people that the apparitions were true.

They saw the sun make three circles and move around the sky in an incredible zigzag movement in a manner, which left no doubt in their minds about the veracity of the apparitions. 

José Alves Correia da Silva, Bishop of Leiria, declared the events worthy of belief on 13 October 1930. They have been approved by the Church as authentic.

The messages Our Lady imparted during the apparitions to the children concerned the violent trials that would afflict the world by means of war, starvation, and the persecution of the Church and the Holy Father in the twentieth century, if the world did not make reparation for sins.

She exhorted the Church to pray and offer sacrifices to God in order that peace may come upon the world and that the trials may be averted.

Our Lady of Fatima revealed three "prophetic secrets.”

The first two of which were revealed earlier and refer to the vision of hell and the souls languishing there, the request for an ardent devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the prediction of the Second World War, and finally, the prediction of the immense damage that Russia would do to humanity by abandoning the Christian faith and embracing Communist totalitarianism. 

The third “secret” was not revealed until the year 2000.

It referred to the persecutions that humanity would undergo in the last century:

“The good will be martyred; the Holy Father will have much to suffer; various nations will be annihilated'”. 

The suffering of the popes of the 20th century has been interpreted to include the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981, which took place on May 13, the 64th anniversary of the apparitions.

The Holy Father attributed his escape from certain death to the intervention of Our Lady:

“... it was a mother's hand that guided the bullet's path and in his throes the Pope halted at the threshold of death.”

What is the central meaning of the message of Fatima? Nothing different from what the Church has always taught:

It is, as Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict the XVI,  has put it, “the exhortation to prayer as the path of “salvation for souls” and, likewise, the summons to penance and conversion.”

Perhaps the most well known utterance of the apparition of Our Lady at Fatima was her confident decalaration that “My Immaculate Heart will triumph.”

Cardinal Ratzinger has interpreted this utterance as follows:

“The Heart open to God, purified by contemplation of God, is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind.

The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world, because it brought the Saviour into the world—because, thanks to her Yes, God could become man in our world and remains so for all time.

The Evil One has power in this world, as we see and experience continually; he has power because our freedom continually lets itself be led away from God.

But since God himself took a human heart and has thus steered human freedom towards what is good, the freedom to choose evil no longer has the last word.

From that time forth, the word that prevails is this: “In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).

The message of Fatima invites us to trust in this promise.

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Our Lady of Champion

Feast Day: October 9

In 1859, the Blessed Virgin Mary visited a simple Belgium girl, Adele Brise, in N.E. Wisconsin. Her message was to teach the children their faith. A long history of miraculous events have occurred; conversions, physical healings and preserving the holy shrine grounds from the infamous Peshtigo fire of 1871. The shrine of Our Lady of Good Help is the only Marian shrine in the U.S. on the site of an approved Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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

[travelingare]

📍Holly Monastery of Panagia Sumela, Turkey!!

The Holy Monastery of Panagia Sumela is a Christian monument in the Sea of ​​Asia Minor, in present-day Turkey. It functioned as an Orthodox monastery until the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922. It is built inside a cave on a steep slope of Mount Mela, in the hinterland of Trebizond, from where it takes its name, (Pontian: sou Mela, cleaning: eis tou Mela).

indicative list of World Heritage Sites (since 2000)

According to tradition, in 386 the Athenian monks Barnabas and Sophronios were led to the inaccessible mountain peaks of Pontus after an apparition of the Virgin Mary, in order to establish her solitary abode.

The monks Varnavas and Sophronios, with the support of the neighboring Vazelona monastery, built a cell and then a church inside the cave, to which the icon had been miraculously transported. The serious problem of the monastery's water supply was solved, also according to tradition, in a miraculous way.

@ucan.mimar

#travel #travelingare #holymonastery #panagiasoumela #christianmonument #trebizond #turkey

[misspjsuperior]

Tonantzin Guadalupe 🌵🌹

The original \/u| \//\ goddess I created in 2013 is Maria Rosa. Her design was inspired in major part between the miracle of La Virgen de Guadalupe and the concept of Mary Queen of Heaven.

I was recently commissioned to create a new (\/) Goddess inspired similarly between Guadalupe and Tonantzin by my chingona hermana Janet Bella Rosa who also knew Mi padrino Antonio 🙏 I felt his spirit guiding me to connect our visions! 💞

Tonantzin is an enduring Nahuatl title for the maternal aspect of any Aztec goddess, much like “Our Lady”, rather than the name of a particular goddess. I chose a blue background to parallel Her starry mantle of heaven and also represent Lake Texcoco since the eagle, snake, and cactus from its story of the founding of ancient Mexico there are present. 💙🌵 

Tonantzin in various forms is frequently depicted with eagle feet so I thought it appropriate to have the legendary golden eagle clutch the silvery moon below Her in place of Guadalupe’s cherub 🦅 🌙 Tonantzin is often known, by many names, to wear a skirt of snakes- the celestial Aztec earth mother Coatlicue’s particular name translates to “She of Snake Skirts”. So I couldn’t help but see the snake emerge from the opening in Her folds here. Frequently in Aztec art snakes emerging from or replacing body parts represents blood so I feel a menstrual element from how the snake manifested in this vision 🐍 🩸

Many believe that the apparition of La Virgen de Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill unto St. Juan Diego, an Indigenous peasant originally named Cuauhtlatoatzin meaning “Talking Eagle”, was a vision of a new form of Tonantzin. Her local temple had formerly been on that very site, destroyed by conquistadors. When Cuauhtlatoatzin received these holy visions, the Goddess spoke to him not in Spanish but in his native Nahuatl language even though She identified Herself as The Virgin Mother of God. Even the Church documents testify that The Holy Mother assured him in his moment of doubt, in his Indigenous tongue, “Am I not here who am your Mother?” Indeed Tonantzin Coatlicue herself is said to have had her own divine conception via a feather 🪶 

The miraculous vision of Guadalupe that appeared upon Juan Diego/Talking Eagle’s tilma is often seen as a self portrait by Her and there are many analyses of the visual element’s encoding of Aztec symbolism. I took these theories and insights into consideration while creating this vision.

Even within the suppression of Spanish colonization ancient indigenous Mexican Curanderismo healing practices were able to persevere and often in the name of La Virgen de Guadalupe, under the protection of Her image.

Choose-your-goddess prints now include Tonantzin Guadalupe!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

“At home, on the evening of December 12th we may light a candle and place offerings of flowers, copal and chocolate in front of her statue or painting. In the public square, those who follow the Mexica spiritual tradition will join brothers and sisters for an all-night vigil of prayer, Danza, offerings, and songs to her, who is Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue, who was always honored at the hill of Tepeyac. As we salute the Four Winds and dance in the ceremonial circle, we honor those who have gone before us, the courageous people who kept traditions alive through the centuries despite the threat to their life if discovered. The feathers in the copilli, the ceremonial headdress worn by the dancers, will draw down the energy of the cosmos into Mother Earth, our beautiful Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue to help her heal from the many ways she is dishonored.

Nearby, children will play and laugh, faces smeared with the traces of candy and the cinnamon of churros, the delicious deep fried pastry covered with sugar and cinnamon while the sound of mariachi music adds to the feeling of a fusion of cultures and beliefs. If you wander the crowded street you will see a handful of Catholic pilgrims on their knees on the hard pavement slowly make their way to the entrance of the church in gratitude for answered prayers.

And, in spite of quiet official church disapproval, the local parish priest will invite Indigenous ceremonial dancers to participate during the special December 11-12 mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe. Inside the church, for a few moments, Mayan copal will blend with European frankincense, quetzal feathers will dance on the air, and elders with bundles of aromatic rosemary plants will cleanse the People’s spirit. The two cultures, reconciled at this moment, acknowledge their bond of love for the Woman Who is Cloaked with the Sun; a bridge of Light between peoples.”

- Maestra Grace via Curanderismo.org

[secret-smut-sideblog]

where does your light not shine?

Brynne Rebele-Henry - Prelude To Becoming Holy, Joakim Skovgaard - Christ in the Realm of the Dead, Lingua Ignota - The ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS, Mary Szybist - Holy, James Tissot - The Apparition, Margaret Atwood - The Journals of Sussana Moodie, Deborah Sengl - Of Sheep and Wolves, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

[orthodoxydaily]

ICON, SAINTS&READING: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

september 8_september 21

THE NATIVITY OF OUR MOST HOLY LADY THE THEOTOKOS AND EVER VIRGIN MARY

By Fr. Alexander Schmemann

The Church’s veneration of Mary has always been rooted in her obedience to God and her willing choice to accept a humanly impossible calling. The Orthodox Church has always emphasized Mary’s connection to humanity and delighted in her as the best, purest, most sublime fruition of human history and of man’s quest for God for ultimate meaning, for the ultimate content of human life. If in Western Christianity, veneration of Mary was centered upon her perpetual virginity, the heart of Orthodox Christian East’s devotion, contemplation, and joyful delight have always been her Motherhood, her flesh and blood connection to Jesus Christ. The East rejoices that the human role in the divine plan is pivotal. The Son of God comes to earth, appears to redeem the world, He becomes human to incorporate man into His divine vocation, but humanity takes part in this. If it is understood that Christ’s “co‐nature” with us is as a human be‐ ing and not some phantom or bodiless apparition, that He is one of us and forever united to us through His and forever humanity, then devotion to Mary also becomes understandable, for she is the one who gave Him His human nature, His flesh and blood. She is the one through whom Christ can always call Himself “The Son of Man.” Son of God, Son of Man…God descending and becoming man so that man could become divine, could become partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), or as the teachers of the Church expressed it, “deified.” Precisely here, in this extraordinary revelation of man’s authentic nature and calling, is the source of that gratitude and tenderness that cherishes Mary as our link to Christ and, in Him, to God. And nowhere is this reflected more clearly than in the Nativity of the Mother of God.

ICON: SOPHIA THE WISDOM OF GOD OF KIEV

The Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God (Kiev), occupies an unique place in the Russian Orthodox Church. On the icon is depicted the Theotokos, and the Hypostatic Wisdom, the Son of God incarnate of Her.

In Wisdom or Sophia, ponders the Son of God, about Whom in the Proverbs of Solomon it says: “Wisdom has built a house for herself, and has set up seven pillars” (9:1). These words refer to Christ, the Son of God, Who in the Epistles of Saint Paul is called “Wisdom of God” (1 Cor.1:30), and the word “house” refers to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, of Whom the Son of God is incarnate.

The arrangement of the icon bears witness to the fulfillment of this prophecy. On the Kiev icon of Sophia is a church, and standing there is the Mother of God in a robe with a veil on her head, under an archway of seven pillars. The palms of Her hands are outstretched, and her feet are set upon a crescent moon. The Theotokos holds the Pre-eternal Christ Child, blessing with Her right hand, and holding the Infant with Her left.

On the cornice of the entrance are inscribed the words from the Book of Proverbs: “Wisdom has built a house for herself, and has set up seven pillars.” Over the entrance are depicted God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. From the mouth of God the Father issues the words: “I am affirmation of Her footsteps.”

Along both sides the seven Archangels are depicted with outstretched wings, holding in their hands symbols of their duties. On the right side: Michael with flaming sword; Uriel with a lightning flash hurling downwards; Raphael with alabaster vessel of myrrh. On the left side: Gabriel with a lily blossom; Selaphiel with a scale; Jerudiel with royal crown; and Barachiel with flowers on a white shawl.

Under a cloud with the crescent moon, serving as a footrest for the Mother of God, is a staircase with seven steps (depicting the Church of God on earth). Those standing on the seven steps are the Old Testament witnesses of the manifestation of Wisdom, the Forefathers and the Prophets.

On each of the seven steps are inscribed faith, hope, love, purity, humility, blessedness, and glory. The staircase's seven steps are set upon the seven pillars, on which images are inscribed, and their explanations are taken from the Apocalypse.

Philippians 2:5-11

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28

38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. 27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!" 28 But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"

[eerieluzt]

The Hill of Crosses

Many believe the crosses cropped up at the end of the 19th century, after an apparition of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus asked the believers to cover the holy place with these icons. The Hill of Crosses represents Lithuania's unique national and religious identity.

[calabria-mediterranea]

The Story Of Natuzza Evolo: Calabrian Mystic

Natuzza was a Calabrian mystic who acted as a medium and healer, showed evidence of stigmata, and could “bi-locate” — be in two different places at once. She is also connected with “hemography,” which is when blood stains miraculously transform into symbols, shapes, and even words, particularly Christian ones like crosses.

Natuzza was born in 1924 in Paravati, a tiny hamlet near Mileto in Calabria. Her given name is Fortunata, from which the diminutive “Natuzza” comes. Natuzza’s father had left for Argentina a few months before she was born, and he never returned, leaving Natuzza’s mother alone to care for her newborn as well as her other children.

Natuzza never learned to read or write and helped support her mother and siblings by working for local families. She allegedly began having her first visions as a small child — Jesus, it is said, appeared to her as a boy who played with her and one of her brothers — but her brushes with the dead didn’t become popular knowledge around town until she began experiencing them as a young teen at work.

And it wasn’t just apparitions with Natuzza, even as a child. At her First Holy Communion, her mouth reportedly filled with blood when the wafer symbolizing the body of Christ was placed inside. At her Confirmation, a large stain of blood in the form of a cross formed on the back of her shirt.

Because of Natuzza’s experiences with the paranormal, as a young woman she was closed in an asylum with a diagnosis of "hysterical syndrome" for a few months by the local priest and was not permitted to enter a convent to become a nun.

Natuzza became known for the appearance on her body of blood-coloured images and words around the time of Easter and these caused her great psychological and physical pain. Some of the words were found to be Hebrew and Aramaic which was strange because she could not read or write, even in her native Italian. For decades devout Catholics from Calabria, then the rest of Italy and other parts of the world, began coming to her to ask for advice and prayers and to ask her for information about the souls of their relatives.

In addition to seeing Jesus, Natuzza also claimed to have also seen and communicated with the Virgin Mary, angels, and the dead, particularly souls in purgatory, throughout her life.

Natuzza was also considered a healer, credited with being able to look at a person and tell them what was ailing them, physically — using formal, medical terminology — as well as suggest treatments. She could also see the future and sometimes spoke in languages she didn’t know (remember, again, she was illiterate). In fact, some of her blood stains even transformed into phrases in foreign languages.

However, Natuzza never accepted money for what she did or was accused of participating in anything fraudulent based on her abilities, which, in the eyes and hearts of many, lend credence to her and her followers’ claims.

"It's a question of removing the suggestive religious context from the event. It doesn't allow rational reading since it cloaks it in mythology and unprovable hypotheses," says the Italian Committee for the Checking of Pseudoscientific Claims, or CICAP.

The group believes the so-called stigmata cases are really examples of Gardner-Diamond syndrome, "a skin condition that, although rare, is well documented in medical literature." The syndrome gives rise to a series of periodic, painful and bleeding bruises of unclear origin, combined with psychiatric disorders such as self-harm.

Although she’s relatively unknown internationally, Italians have been fascinated by Natuzza for generations as she has been a popular subject of books and various Italian television programs.

After Natuzza passed away on All Saints’ Day in 2009, about 30,000 people traveled from all over Italy and beyond for her funeral in rural Calabria. One-hundred priests and six Italian bishops were also in attendance.

Follow us on Instagram, @calabria_mediterranea

[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

[mariacallous]

The Vatican formally approved pilgrimages to the Marian shrine of Medjugorje in the southwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday. 

The Note by the Church’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith maintains a reserved stance towards the “alleged” apparitions of the Virgin Mary but recognises the “abundant spiritual fruits” coming from pilgrimages to Medjugorje, which now have “Nulla Osta” [No impediment] status granted by Pope Francis. 

“The positive fruits are most evident in the promotion of a healthy practice of a life of faith, in accordance with the tradition of the Church,” reads the Note.

[But] “evaluating the abundant and widespread fruits, which are so beautiful and positive, does not imply that the alleged supernatural events are declared authentic,” it added. 

“It only highlights that the Holy Spirit is acting fruitfully for the good of the faithful ‘in the midst’ of this spiritual phenomenon of Medjugorje. For this reason, all are invited to appreciate and share the pastoral value of this spiritual proposal,” it continued. 

The Note cautioned that its assessment that most of the messages of Medjugorje are edifying does not imply they have a supernatural origin, and that “one should always bear in mind that they are alleged messages”.

The status of the shrine has vexed the Catholic Church ever since June 1981, when six youngsters from Medjugorje reported visions of the Virgin Mary, and claimed she spoke to them.

The story spread quickly and Medjugorje became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe, attracting millions of visitors each year. 

However, the local Catholic Bishop of Mostar denied the authenticity of the visions, denouncing the youngsters as liars.

Pope Francis in 2017 also doubted the seers’ claims to have daily visions of the Virgin as highly improbable and as “without value”.

“I prefer the Madonna as mother, our mother, and not a Madonna who is the head of a telegraph office, who every day sends a message at such-and-such an hour. This is not the Mother of Jesus,” the Pope said.

In the meantime, the remote, poor village became one of the best developed and richest small towns in the country.

The latest status given to Medjugorje ends a 15-year-long probe by the Vatican.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

In 1531, a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to Saint Juan Diego, a poor Indian from Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City.

She identified herself as the Mother of the True God and instructed him to have the bishop build a church on the site.

As a sign for the bishop, she left an image of herself imprinted miraculously on his tilma, a poor quality cactus-cloth.

The tilma should have deteriorated within 20 years but shows no sign of decay after over 470 years.

To this day, it defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

In the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the tilma, we can see reflected what was in front of her in 1531.

Her message of love and compassion, and her universal promise of help and protection to all mankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the "Nican Mopohua," a 16th-century document written in the native Nahuatl language.

There is reason to believe that at Tepeyac, Mary came in her glorified body and her actual physical hands rearranged the roses in Juan Diego’s tilma, which makes this apparition very special.

An incredible list of miracles, cures, and interventions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Each year, an estimated 10 million people visit her Basilica, making her Mexico City home the most popular Marian shrine in the world and the most visited Catholic church in the world after Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

There is no under sketch, no sizing and no protective over-varnish on the image.

Microscopic examination revealed that there were no brush strokes.

The image seems to increase in size and change colors due to an unknown property of the surface and substance of which it is made.

According to Kodak of Mexico, the image is smooth and feels like a modern day photograph.

(Produced 300 years before the invention of photography.)

The image has consistently defied exact reproduction, whether by brush or camera.

Several images can be seen reflected in the eyes of the Virgin.

It is believed to be the images of Juan Diego, Bishop Juan de Zummaraga, Juan Gonzales-the interpreter, and others.

The distortion and place of the images are identical to what is produced in the normal eye, which is impossible to obtain on a flat surface.

The stars on Our Lady's Mantle coincide with the constellation in the sky on 12 December 1531.

All who have scientifically examined the image of Our Lady over the centuries confess that its properties are absolutely unique and so inexplicable in human terms that the image can only be supernatural.

Altogether, 24 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe.

His Holiness Blessed John Paul II visited her Sanctuary four times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002.

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th.

In 1999, Blessed John Paul II, in his homily given during the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of December the 12th as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole continent.

During the same visit, Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.

—

Patronage: Americas, Central America, Diocese of Colorado Springs Colorado, Diocese of Corpus Christi Texas, Diocese of Dodge City, Kansas, Estremadura Spain, Diocese of Gallup New Mexico, Mexico, Diocese of Nashville Tennessee, New Mexico, New World, Diocese of Orange California, Diocese of Phoenix Arizona, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Diocese of Sacramento, California, Diocese of Sioux City Iowa, Spain.

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe, is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions to a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego and his uncle, Juan Bernardino, which are believed to have occurred in December 1531.

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

[bylagunabay]

Prayer for the End Time

SWORD OF SAINT MICHAEL

Rome (600 A.D.) - During a plague which greatly depopulated the city of Rome, Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) ordered a penitential procession in which he himself carried a statue of the Blessed Virgin. As the procession reached the bridge across the Tiber, the singing of angels was heard. Suddenly Gregory saw an apparition of a gigantic archangel, Michael, descending upon the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian. In his right hand, Michael held a sword, which he thrust into its scabard. Gregory took the vision as an omen that the plague would stop, which it did, and so he renamed the mausoleum the Castel Sant' Angelo (Castle of the Holy Angel) in Michael's honor.