Mary in Private Revelation

Official Church approval does not technically oblige the faithful to accept a Marian revelation, as authentic private revelation is traditionally categorized as receiving an assent of "human faith," rather than the "divine faith" appropriate for public revelation.

As Pope Benedict XIV stated:

Even though many of these revelations have been approved, we cannot and ought not give them the assent of divine faith, but only that of human faith, according to the dictates of prudence whenever these dictates enable us to decide that they are probable and worthy of pious credence (13).

On the other hand, the fact that the Church has given her approval after careful and oftentimes scrutinous examination offers strong moral evidence for the appropriateness of human acceptance of a particular revelation. This is specifically the case regarding private revelations that the Church has "made her own" through papal statements, canonizations or beatifications of the visionary, pilgrimages, and even liturgical feast days, such as with the revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Alacoque, the Marian apparitions of Lourdes and Fatima, and the feast of Divine Mercy which originated from the revelations received by St. Faustina Kowalska.

Moreover, it would be reprehensible if any Catholic, after the Church had granted her official approval of a private revelation, were to contradict or ridicule a Church-approved private revelation or its corresponding devotion. Although the general faithful are called to give an assent of human faith to a true Marian apparition, it is also theologically held that the visionary and any others intimately connected with, or affected by, the revelation may and should accept the revelation with full assent to its divine origin (14).

The present era of the Church rightfully deserves the designation, Age of Mary, with its historically unparalleled events of Church approved Marian apparitions. This extraordinary number of Marian visits should evoke from the faithful a gratitude to God for this time of extraordinary graces. At the same time, it should also evoke a serious realism, a balanced reading of the signs of the times, about the needy state of the world that would necessitate such an exceptional number of heavenly visits from humanity’s Spiritual Mother.

What constitutes the overall Marian message to the modern world? Let us summarize the heart of the Marian message to the modern world by briefly examining the revealed messages from a few of the most universal Marian apparitions that have occurred in the last two centuries. We will see that Our Lady’s messages constitute one unified message of prayer, penance, conversion, and reparation which, over time, is gradually revealed with an ever greater specificity and concretization, in a beauty of diversity of cultures and geographies.

Miraculous Medal Revelation

The historical beginning of the modern Marian Era can be associated with the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Grace, commonly known as the apparitions of the "Miraculous Medal" in 1830. A series of Marian visions was granted to St. Catherine Labouré, a religious sister of the Daughters of Charity, at their Paris motherhouse. On November 27, 1830, the Blessed Virgin appeared standing upon a globe and crushing a serpent beneath her feet. Rays of light, symbolizing graces from the Mediatrix, streamed from her outstretched hands. Around the image of Mary the following prayer was written: "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

The vision was then turned around, revealing a cross linked to an "M" by a horizontal bar through the top of the "M." Beneath the letter "M" were the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the Sacred Heart crowned with thorns and the Immaculate Heart pierced with a sword. The entire image was also encircled with twelve stars. Contained within these two visions are symbolic representations of Our Lady’s dogmas and doctrines, inclusive of her roles as a) Co-redemptrix (Mary crushes the serpent’s head (cf. Gen 3:15), the "M" attached to the cross, and her Heart pierced with a sword (cf. Lk 2:35)); b) Mediatrix of all graces (rays flowing from her outstretched arms); c) Advocate (the prayer, pray for us who have recourse to thee); d) Queen (a circle of twelve stars (cf. Rev 12:1)); and e) her Immaculate Conception (the prayer, O Mary, conceived without sin).

During the vision, Mary instructed St. Catherine with the following words: "Have a medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces. They should wear it around the neck" (15).

The Archbishop of Paris granted permission for the first medals, originally designated as the "Medal of the Immaculate Conception" (16), to be struck in 1832. So many spiritual and physical benefits were received upon the promulgation of the medal that the faithful spontaneously referred to the medal as "miraculous," and hence its present name. A Church investigation in 1836 approved its supernatural authenticity, and specific papal approval of its devotion was granted in 1842. Since the time of its origin, the devout wearing of the Miraculous Medal has spread throughout the Catholic world. Wearers of the medal have received additional blessings and indulgences granted by several popes, including Bl. Pius IX, Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Pius XI, Pius XII, Bl. John XXIII, and Paul VI (17).

The Miraculous Medal apparitions also served as encouragement to Bl. Pope Pius IX from the domain of private revelation for the eventual dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, as the Medal of the Immaculate Conception underscored Heaven’s appreciation of the doctrine, at this timely historical moment of the doctrine’s development, with the words, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee" (18).

The Miraculous Medal devotion continues to flourish today, with an endless list of spiritual benefits for those who wear the medal faithfully as a concrete sign of their devotion and love for the Immaculate Mother of God, Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, Advocate, and Queen.

The Message of Lourdes

In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the fourteen-year-old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in the small mountain town of Lourdes, France. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858 Bernadette received eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin. The fundamental message of the "Immaculate Conception" in this early stage of the Marian Era is one of prayer and penance in reparation to God, and for the conversion of sinners.

In the sixth apparition (February 21, 1858), the Lady dressed in white with a blue sash said to Bernadette: "Pray for the sinners." During the eighth apparition (February 24, 1858), Mary communicated to Bernadette: "You must pray to God for sinners." Bernadette further reported the words of the Lady: "Penitence, Penitence, Penitence" (19).

Throughout the apparitions at Lourdes, there is the call to pray the Rosary, through the example of the Lady herself. During all the apparitions, Mary was praying the Rosary silently, moving the beads through her fingers. Bernadette also felt the strong interior impulse to pray the Rosary. At the beginning and end of each apparition, the Rosary was prayed by Bernadette and the surrounding townspeople.

In the ninth apparition (February 25, 1858), the Lady directed Bernadette to uncover what was to become the physical sign of a miraculous spring. Here is Bernadette’s account of the event:

While I was in prayer, the Lady said to me in a friendly, but serious voice, "Go, drink and wash in the spring." As I did not know where this spring was, and as I did not think the matter important, I went towards the river. The Lady called me back and signed to me with her finger to go under the grotto to the left; I obeyed but I did not see any water. Not knowing where to get it from, I scratched the earth and the water came. I let it get a little clear of the mud, then I drank and washed (20).

This spring at Lourdes has resulted in 67 documented miracles of healing, which have endured a scrutinizing medical examination which rules out anything but the direct supernatural intervention of God as cause for the healing (21), and constitutes a Marian precedent for the typical presence of physical signs at authentic apparition sites. These physical signs are means of encouragement for humanity to believe and to live the message of Lourdes, which is a Gospel call for conversion and reparation to God for the sins of the modern era.

During the eleventh apparition (February 28, 1858), the Lady requested the construction of a chapel at the apparition site: "Go and tell the priests that a chapel must be built here" (22).

And at the sixteenth apparition (March 25, 1858), we have the profound self-revelation of Mary as the "Immaculate Conception," which served to confirm and promulgate the newly proclaimed dogma amidst the faithful, reinforcing the infallible statement of Bl. Pope Pius IX some four years earlier. Bernadette tells us:

"When I was on my knees before the Lady," she continued, "I asked her pardon for arriving late. Always good and gracious, she made a sign to me with her head that I need not excuse myself. Then I spoke to her of all my affection, all my respect and the happiness I had in seeing her again. After having poured out my heart to her I took up my Rosary. While I was praying, the thought of asking her name came before my mind with such persistence that I could think of nothing else. I feared to be presumptuous in repeating a question she had always refused to answer. And yet something compelled me to speak. At last, under an irresistible impulse, the words fell from my mouth, and I begged the Lady to tell me who she was. The Lady did as she had always done before; she bowed her head and smiled but she did not reply. I cannot say why, but I felt myself bolder and asked her again to graciously tell me her name; however she only bowed and smiled as before, still remaining silent. Then once more, for a third time, clasping my hands and confessing myself unworthy of the favor I was asking of her, I again made my request.... The Lady was standing above the rosebush, in a position very similar to that shown in the miraculous medal. At the third request her face became very serious and she seemed to bow down in an attitude of humility. Then she joined her hands and raised them to her breast.... She looked up to Heaven...then slowly opening her hands and leaning forward towards me, she said to me in a voice vibrating with emotion: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception!’" (23)

We see in this March 25 apparition not only the highlighting of the newly proclaimed dogma of the Immaculate Conception, but also a sublime revelation about the depths of Our Lady’s fullness of grace and sinless state. As St. Maximilian Kolbe would later comment, it is a statement about the Mother of God’s very being, that by her very essence she was Immaculate. She was created by the Heavenly Father as possessing a plenitude of grace and without the slightest stain of sin (24).

The heart of the message of Lourdes consists then in a general Marian call to penance and prayer, particularly the Rosary, for the conversion of sinners and in reparation to God through the intercession of the Immaculate Conception.

The Message of Fatima

The six monumental Marian apparitions at Fatima in 1917, continue the basic Marian message to the modern world, but with greater specificity and concretization. Along with the general call to prayer and penance, "Our Lady of the Rosary," summoned the specific calls for: the daily praying of the Rosary; the offering of all daily sacrifices to God in reparation for sin and for the conversion of sinners; greater Eucharistic Adoration and reparation; devotion and consecration to her Immaculate Heart; and the five First Saturdays of Reparation. Historically, the Fatima apparitions concurred with the climax of World War I.

The apparitions at Fatima to the three young visionaries, Lucia (age 10), Jacinta (age 7) and Francisco (age 8), were prefaced by three 1916-1917 angelic apparitions. The Guardian Angel of Portugal instructed the children to pray the following prayers of Eucharistic Reparation (as taken from the memoirs of the visionary, Sr. Lucia):