Salta, Argentina (1990)

Summary

Maria Livia had been married twenty years when she began to receive visions and apparitions in 1990. At first she only told her confessor, but later confided in her husband and immediate family. She did not speak publicly about this until the year 2000 when, she claims, Our Lady instructed her to build the shrine on the Cerro.

Between 1990 and 2000, she became friends with the enclosed Carmelite nuns in St Bernard’s monastery in Salta. She described to them the Virgin she sees in the apparitions: she has the face of a 14 year old girl, the age at which Our Lady conceived Jesus, is kneeling, and wears a white mantle and veil. The nuns made a statue based on her description, but were unable to paint the exact colour of the eyes. But soon after they completed their work, Maria Livia discovered that the eyes of the Virgin had been mysteriously painted the right colour – aquamarine. She and the nuns interpreted this as something ‘miraculous’.

1990

Maria Livia Galiano de Obeid, a married housewife with three children, claimed being visited by the Virgin.
At first she only told her confessor, but later confided in her husband and immediate family.

The Virgin asked in the first apparitions that a shrine be built for her at Shoenstatt, a village located at the foot of the mountain. She later added that the messages be made known through a Carmelite abbey in the Salta area.

People congregate to pray the Rosary and to meditate on the messages received by the Maria Livia. The central moment of the apparition is when Maria Livia prays a brief 'Prayer of Intercession' for the intentions of the faithful, walking in front of them and placing her hands on her shoulders for a few moments. Many people collapse to the ground.

1995

Our Lady told her that her image represents a new title--the Immaculate Mother of the Divine Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

Monsignor Moises Blanchoud allowed the distribution of messages received by Maria Livia.

2000

She did not speak publicly about this until the year 2000 when, she claims, Our Lady instructed her to build the shrine on the Cerroand that this site should become an evangelical center. She added that a house for elderly priests, a seminary and a house for monks should also be constructed. At the center of her messages was a call for conversion and the adoration of the Eucharistic Heart.

April 7, 2003

In an official statement, Monsignor Mario Cargnello decided "to forbid the most recent messages from becoming known while they are being studied" by the Church. He also forbade also virtually forbade the 'Prayer of Intercession'. Cargnello made it clear that, in his diocese, 'no layman is authorized to perform the laying on of hands.'" Cargnello also questioned the messages, which he considered 'revelations lacking content' and maintained that 'the seeress' desire to be in the limelight is evident. He further stated that he was never informed of the results of the psychological exam requested for Maria Livia. 'The woman and the Carmelite nuns did not comply with what the Church asked them to do,' was the statement from the Archdiocese of Salta.

July 2005

Maria Livia's collaborators sent him a letter in which they denied that the results of the psychological tests had been concealed and asked him to be more understanding toward the phenomenon.

July 3, 2006

In a later statement, Archbishop Cargnello declared that there was “no proof or objective witnesses to support a supernatural explanation of the alleged Marian apparitions” and said that the archdiocese, “cannot endorse the extraordinary events as objectively true,” and he invited the faithful to seek their spiritual growth through the ministries offered by the Church in Salta. Obeid’s invitation to come to the hill, and the messages that are given there, are, “outside the [Church’s] pastoral direction,” he went on, “and consequently, the Church cannot endorse nor promote participation in them.”

2011

Archbishop Cargnello gave permission for the celebration of the mass at the closing ceremony of the pilgrim year, and expert Mariologist Fr. Rene Laurentin said he considered this “as progress towards the official recognition by the Church of this event”.