1457

Peter Gedgaudas founded a parish and later built a church of "Silai" later called “Sidlava” (from a Polish “szydlo”) then “Siluva.”

1532

Fr. John Holubka, the parish priest of the Siluva Church, built an ironclad box and carefully wrapped the treasured painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child, liturgical vestments, and documents which proved that Vytautas the Great had given the land to the Catholic Church. Then he sealed the box and buried it deep in the ground near a large rock. His action was truly inspired because a short time later the Calvinist authorities seized the church.

1532

The local governor became a Calvinist and property owned by the Church was confiscated and the land turned over to the Calvinists.

Eighty years passed and the Catholic flock, with no shepherd to guide and nourish it, gradually died out. Only a few of the very oldest villagers dimly remembered that there had been a Catholic Church in their village. Children were reared in the Calvinist creed.

1608-1612

Our Blessed Mother appeared to the shepherd children of Siluva.

1612

The Bishop appointed Fr. John Kazakevicius to investigate the phenomenon and question all witnesses to the events.

1612?

A blind man, more than 100 years old, lived in a nearby village. The stories of the apparitions reached him and he recalled a night, some eighty years before, when he helped Father Holubka bury an ironclad chest filled with church treasures beside a large rock. The villagers led him to the field of the apparitions to see if he could help locate the place where the treasures were buried. No sooner had he reached the spot, then his sight was miraculously restored. Falling to his knees with joy and gratitude, he pointed to the exact spot where the chest had been buried.

The ironclad chest was dug out of the ground and when it was opened, there – perfectly preserved – was the large painting of the Madonna and Child, several gold chalices, vestments, church deeds, and other documents. The painting was enshrined permanently in the Basilica of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is venerated to this day as the Miraculous Image of Siluva.

1622

Father Jonas Kazakevicius legally demanded that the Calvinists return all the property and treasures of the Catholic church in 1612. The judges were for the most part Protestant and the legal battle for the church land lasted over ten years. In 1622, the Tribunal at Vilnius decided in favor of the Catholics.

1627

Fr. Jonas Kazakevicius appointed dean in Siluva. A small wooden church was built by his own means. Famous for its miracles, many visitors came.

1641

A larger church was built and he opened a "free of charge" school for village children.

1643

Bishop Alexander Sapieha built the brick chapel of the Apparition. (Source: siluva.lt)

1651

Bishop Petras Parcevskis consecrated the new church.

1651

Siluva's oldest written history was prepared by Canon. Mr Sviekauskas in 1651:

"Close to the village, shepherds, with their herd grazing the lands of the church, saw on a large rock a girl with garnetted hair, holding a baby in her arms and weeping bitterly. When they witnessed this scene, one of them ran to the Calvinist catechist of Šiluva and reported what he had seen. The catechist, an unmarreid man called named Solomon, came to the stone, and also saw the Virgin crying, as shepherds had seen. Gathering his courage, he turned to her: "Girl, why are you weeping?" The girl replied: "I weep because at this site my Son was once adored, and now here are only fields plowed and sown. Having said these things she disappeared. The catechist despised the vision beleiving it to be an evil spirit.

Shepherds, returning the herd to the house, began to spread the news of this occurrence. One old farmer, more than one hundred years of age, almost blinded by old age, said to his neighbors: "Dear neighbors, Tell me what you want, but I will say that on the stone was not some kind of evil spirit but the Virgin appeared with her Son, which once stood in that place of honor an ancient Catholic Church. As far as I can remember, eighty years ago it was destroyed and disregarded." (Source: siluva.lt )

1663

Bishop Aleksandras Sapiega set an altar over the "stone" on which our Blessed Mother stood. By the altar was placed a small wooden statue of Christ and it is standing there to this day.

1760-1775

Deans of Siluva – Jonas Lopacinskis and Tadas Bukota built a new Siluva church.

Oct 31, 1774

Bishop John Lopacinskis says that the Siluva church recovered a "special grace of God and the amazing Mother of God ... making manifest and mediating miracles ( Mediante evidenti miraculo)." (Source: siluva.lt )

1770

Tadas Bukota brought a marble statue of the Blessed Mother and Child from London, which still stands in the chapel of the church.

Aug 17, 1775

The apparition was authenticated by a Papal Decree issued by Pope Pius VI. (Source: Zenit.org)

1775

The Holy See granted permission to solemnly crown Mary and Jesus in the miraculous image of Siluva. But before doing so, the newly installed bishop Steponas Giedriatis wanted to thoroughly investigate alleged miracles. He convened a commission that interviewed under oath large number of people, examined the ex votos and registration of miracles. (Source: Foros de la Virgen )

Finally, the bishop set the date for the coronation: September 8, the titular feast of the sanctuary. He announced the decision with a circular reading like a letter: 

"We have made a thorough investigation, as directed and norms of the Church, with objectivity, attesting not imagination but eyewitness testimony and serious people: theologians, doctors and all who had jurisdiction in this matter. In the end, based on the opinion of worship and wise counselors, gradually we arrived at the conviction that since 1622 the eternal and omnipotent God, through clearly granted thanks, really wanted to be miraculous in that painting of the noble Virgin Mary of Siluva. " (Source: Foros de la Virgen)

Sept 8, 1786

The image was adorned with two gold crowns Massif during a three-day celebration. Some 30,000 faithful attended the ceremony. Along with many simple people, he had also been officers senior Lithuania and Poland, leading nobles and a dozen bishops.

1795

At the time of the Great Partition, Lithuania was taken over by Russia.

1818

Bishop Simonas Giedraitis built a larger chapel in the style of the Vilnius Cathedral.

1886

40,000 people attended the centenary of the coronation despite the efforts of the Russian Empire to prevent access to the sanctuary.

1904

Lithuanians rose in revolt against their Russian rulers. Russia quelled the revolution, but a number of restrictions were removed and Lithuania was given more freedom.

1905

Pilgrimages to Siluva were resumed an organized basis in 1905. In the first year after the revolution of 1904, over 30,000 people visited the shrine of Our Lady of Siluva in organized pilgrimages.

1912-1924

For the 300th anniversary of Siluva Apparitions, a new chapel was built - Antanas Vivulskis, Architect Jonas Maciulis-Maironis. Marcijonas Jurgaitis. Dean of Siluva, consecrated the foundation.

1967

New Organ installed.

1979

The Chapel was re-decorated and gilded.

1980

Four Frescoes were added to the chapel ceiling.

Sept 8, 1991

Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevicius and the Chairman of the Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis entrusted Lithuania to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sept 7, 1993

Pope John Paul II visited the shrine of Our Lady of Siluva and called her "Queen of Peace". (Source: siluva.lt )

2002

Basilica of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sept 13, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI named the archbishop of Cologne, Germany, Joachim Meisner, to be his special envoy at the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Lithuania.