Investigated and Approved - Local Bishop (without Vatican recognition)*
* Please note: As established in the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the local bishop is the first and main authority in the judgement of the authenticity of apparition claims. Vatican approval is not required for an apparition to be considered authentic. After an episcopal approval, the Vatican may officially release a statement or give less explicit forms of approval such as a papal visit or crowning of the associated icon, a papal gift such as a golden rose, the approval of the construction of a basilica, the establishment of a feast day, or the canonization of the associated visionary.
See the list of apparitions that have been approved by the local bishop and recognized by the Vatican >
Positive judgments by the local bishop (but not yet recognition by the Vatican) theoretically are able to be reversed by a subsequent bishop - but this has never happened in the history of the Church. Negative judgements (Non constat de supernaturalitate) and rulings of no evidence of supernaturality (Constat de non supernaturalitate) have later been changed to positive judgments on a few rare occasions with the ruling of a subsequent bishop.
If a Marian apparition is approved by the bishop, it means that the message is not contrary to faith and morals and that Mary can be venerated in a special way at the site. But, because belief in a private revelation is not required by the church, Catholics are at liberty to decide how much personal spiritual emphasis to place on apparitions and the messages they deliver.
Click here for more on the discernment of apparition claims.
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Title: Our Lady
of Good Success |
Feast Day: February 2nd |
Investigated: |
First Apparition:
Feb 2, 1594 |
Approved: Feb 2, 1611 - Bishop Salvador de Riber |
Last Apparition:
Dec 8, 1634 |
Visionaries: Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (31) |
Number of Apparitions: 4 |
Miracles & Signs: Blind
girl cured at Mariana's wake; incorruptible body
of Mariana |
Summary: Our Lady
of Good Success appeared to Spanish-born Mother
Mariana de Jesus Torres at her Conceptionist Royal
Convent in Quito, Ecuador. She requested that
a statue be made in her likeness and warned of
diminishing faith and vocations in the 20th century. |
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Title: Our Lady of Eternal Aid |
Investigated: 1652 |
First Apparition:
Aug 15, 1652 |
Approved: Archbishop Denis de La Barde, bishop of Saint-Brieuc, authenticated the appearance in Sept 1652. The chapel was immediately built on site of the apparitions. |
Last Apparition:
Aug 20, 1652 |
Visionaries: Jeanne Courtel (12), shepherdess
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Number of Apparitions: 15 |
Summary: The twelve year-old Jeanne Courtel was born deaf and dumb. As she fed the sheep at her native village of La Prénessaye, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her and healed from his sickness. After the apparition, she could speak and hear normally. The next day the miracle that Mary appeared again, this time the Virgin urged to build a chapel for the veneration of Mary. As evidence of her appearance, in addition to the miracle of healing, Mary showed her where a statue was buried of the image of "Our Lady of Eternal Aid." The statue was found and this place manifested fifteen apparitions of the Virgin which were considered and recognized as authentically supernatural by the Bishop of Saint-Brieuc. The chapel was immediately built on site of the apparitions and the statue was unearthed on the inside. |
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Title: Madonna of Montagnaga |
Feast Day: May 26 |
Investigated: 1730 |
First Apparition:
May 14, 1729 |
Approved: Church of Sant'Anna expanded in 1740; new church was consecrated by Leopold Ernst Cardinal von Firmian, bishop of Trento; Sanctuary enlarged in 1881; Image crowned on Aug 11, 1894; Feast day established as May 26.
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Last Apparition:
May 26, 1730 |
Visionary:
Domenica Targa, shepherdess |
Number of Apparitions: 5 |
Summary: The Virgin, dressed in white with a rosary in her hand, appeared to a shepherdess |
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Title: Our Lady of Good Help |
Investigated: 2009 |
First Apparition:
October 1859 |
Approved: Dec 8, 2010 by Bishop David L. Ricken , bishop of Green Bay, WI |
Last Apparition:
October 9, 1859 |
Visionaries:
Adele Brise (28) |
Number of Apparitions: 3 |
Miracles & Signs: On October 8th, 1871 (12 years from the first apparition), the greatest fire disaster in the history of the US destroyed 1.5 million acres of land in Wisconsin. The only place left untouched was the Chapel and Shrine property of Our Lady of Good Help. Many cures have been recorded at the Shrine. |
Summary: Our Lady appeared 3 times to a 28 year old Belgium farm woman and asked to pray for the conversion of sinners and encouraged her to envangelize and catechize the local people. |
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Title: Our Lady of Sorrows |
Feast Day: March 22 |
Investigated: 1889 |
First Apparition:
March 22, 1888 |
Approved: 1889 (Mgr. Macarone-Palmieri, Bishop of the diocese of Bojano) |
Last Apparition:
June 1890 |
Visionaries: 2 sheperdesses -
Fabiana Cecchino (35) and Serafina Giovanna Valentino (33) |
Number of Apparitions: Many |
Miracles & Signs: A healing spring appeared at the apparition site. |
Summary:Two women, Fabiana Cecchino (35) and Serafina Giovanna Valentino (33), had a vision of Mary first as the Pieta and later as Our Lady of Sorrows in a cave at Castelpetroso, Italy. |
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Title: Reconciler of People and Nations |
| Investigated: 1984 |
First Apparition:
March 25, 1976 |
| Approved: Nov 21, 1987 by Pío Bello Ricardo, S.J., Bishop of Los Teques; Declared a sanctuary on May 26, 2009 by Bishop Freddy J. Fuenmayor. |
Last Apparition:
Jan 5, 1990 |
| Visionaries:
Maria
Esperanza |
Number of Apparitions: 31 |
| Miracles & Signs: Many
cures, bleeding Host, stigmata of Maria Esperanza |
Summary: Maria Esperanza of Betania, Venezuela witnessed 31 apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary over the course of 15 years. The Virgin called herself the "Reconciler of People and Nations" and warned of impending war and suffering. Many visitors have come to the site, reporting numerous miracles and signs. On one occasion in 1984, over 100 people claimed to have witnessed a public apparition of the Virgin. |
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Title: Our Lady of Cuapa |
Investigated: 1981 |
First Apparition:
April 15, 1980 |
Approved: Nov 13, 1982 by Pablo Antonio Vega Mantilla, Bishop of Juigalpa |
Last Apparition:
Oct 13, 1980 |
Visionaries:
Bernardo Martinez |
Number of Apparitions: 4+ |
Notes: After the initial 4 apparitions, the Virgin reportedly subsequently appeared in later years with messages of the destruction of atheistic communism and the whole world. She also requested the propagation of the devotion to the shoulder wounds of Christ. |
Summary: Church sacristan Bernardo Martinez entered an old chapel and observed a supernatural light illuminating from a statue of the Blessed Virgin. The Virgin later appeared clothed in white and asked for the daily Rosary with Biblical citations and have the First Saturday Devotions renewed. She also warned of future sufferings for Nicaragua if the people didn't change. |
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More Information
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Title: Our Lady of the Rosary |
Investigated: April 1985 |
First Apparition:
Sept 25, 1983 |
Approved: MAY 22, 2016 - MSGR HÉCTOR SABATINO CARDELLI |
Last Apparition:
Ongoing |
Visionaries:
Gladys Quiroga de Motta |
Number of Apparitions: Thousands |
Notes: She reportedly additionally received 78 messages from Jesus Christ. Numerous healings, including the cure of a boy with a brain tumor, have been documented. |
Summary: An ordinary housewife, a mother and grandmother who had no formal education and no knowledge off the Bible or theology claimed that she was visited by the Blessed Mother daily for a period of over 6 years. |
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