Apparitions (1000 - 1099 A.D.)

1000

Auxerre (France)

Visionary: Br. Wulferius

1000

Clermont-Ferrand (France)

Visionary: Br. Robert

May
1000

Montefortino, Marche, Diocese of Ascoli Piceno (Italy)

Visionary: Santina, a shepherdess dumb from birth
Title: Our Lady of the Free (Madonna dell'Ambro)
Feast Day: Second Sunday in May

In May of 1000, the Blessed Virgin, surrounded by extraordinary splendor, appeared humble shepherdess Santina, mute since birth. At the sight of the heavenly Mother, the shepherdess cried, "Mother! Mamma mia! ", Thus obtaining the gift of speech, as a reward of prayers and of wild flowers that every day was an image of the Virgin Mary, located in the hollow of a beech tree.

The monumental shrine, built as a result of this event between 1603 and 1640, is in the territory of the Province of Ascoli Piceno Montefortino between green mountains and rocks of the majestic Sibillini, on a hill 683 meters above sea level The adjoining convent of the PP. Capuchins in which it has custody, the portico and the bell tower are buildings of the twentieth century. In the chapel of the apparition is venerated statue of the Virgin and Child placed there in 1562. The Virgin is honored under the title of "Our Lady dell'Ambro" after the nearby stream which flows into the river Tenna. In 1922, the Vatican Chapter had solemnly crowned the venerated image and in 1933, Pope Pius XI, enriched the sanctuary of a precious crucifix.

Source: Gamba 1999, 270

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ca. 1000

Monte Carpegna (Italy)

Visionaries: shepherds
Title: Blessed Virgin of the Beech Tree

The summit of Mount Carpegna has always been dedicated to the cult of the Madonna due to the presence of an ancient sanctuary. The legend tells of a miraculous intervention of the Virgin appeared to the shepherds, and after this apparition an image of the Madonna was found, hanging by a beech tree (hence the name of the Blessed Virgin of Beech Tree). The image was carried down to the village in order to venerate it, but the next day it was back to hanging on the mountain beech. For the population was a clear desire to dedicate a shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carpegna.

Source: www.parcosimone.org

April 26,
1001

Borgo Incoronata (Italy)

Visionary: Count Irpino of Ariano and a shepherd
Title: Madre di Dio Incoronata (Mother of God Crowned)
Feast Day: last Saturday of April

The 26th of April of 1001, the last saturday of the month, the Virgin appeared on an oak tree in the forest of Cervaro to two people: the Count of Ariano Irpino, who was hunting and a shepherd named Strazzacappa. The Virgin appeared as the Mother of God and asked them to build a church on the place of the promised joys and blessings. The Virgin was accompanied by two angels who held onto her head a triple crown. The count was hunting on the site in the evening when a great glow rose from a tree.

Mary said: "Do not fear, my son, because I am the Mother of God will find a statue of this tree will become a pledge of blessing to many. You'll place it in the church that you care to build here in my honor."

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1002

Cologne (Germany)

Visionary: St. Eriberto of Cologne

St. Eriberto of Cologne (970-1021) was a director and chancellor of King Otto III. In 999 he received the task of founding a convent in Deutz, near Cologne from the archbishop and the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had appeared. Eriberto left the office and built there a Benedictine monastery, whose church was consecrated May 3, 1019. The monastery was destroyed several times and always rebuilt. Archbishop Herbert rest in this place (church of St. Eriberto).

Source: Hierzenberger, Gottfried. Tutte le apparizione della Madonna in 2000 anni di storia. p. 63

1008

Valenciennes (France)

Visionary: hermit, townspeople
Title: Our Lady of the Cord

Mary appeared to a hermit near Valenciennes, entrusting the task of calling people to fasting and prayer, because the plague was raging in the city. The inhabitants of Valenciennes answered the call with great fervor. The following evening, the Blessed Virgin appeared to the public with many Angels who stretched a cord around the city to stop the plague and prove its security. Mary also implored the residents to hold a procession for the next day. In fact, to execute the will of the Holy Virgin, September 8, feast of the birth of the Mother of God, a procession formed by a multitude of people leads to a whole day to the streets. Now the plague stopped suddenly. There is a procession to commemorate this event every year on the same day of the anniversary in Valenciennes. The founding of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Cord refers to this event.

Source: Hierzenberger, Gottfried. Tutte le apparizione della Madonna in 2000 anni di storia. p. 63

1016

Ivrea, Piemonte, Diocese of Turin (Italy)

Visionary: Arduinus, a monk

The Virgin had asked Arduino, Benedictine monk who became king, to build three churches in Belmonte, Turin, and Monferrato, and she would reveal the existence of an icon of the fifth century.

Source: Chiron, 1995, 62. Gamba, 1999, 270-271

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1025

Montserrat (Spain)

Visionary: A mother

1026

Champagne (France)

Visionaries: Saint Ermengarde

The Blessed Mother appeared in a dream to Saint Ermengarde, who at that time was expecting a child, and laid in her hand a gold ring where the following words were engraved: "O Ermengarde! You bring the baby in the womb to become my husband. " in fact, the son of Ermengarde, St. Robert (1027-1111), Monaco became a Benedictine. He founded the convent of Molesme (1075) and, together with Saint Alberico in 1098, the monastery of Citeaux - Cistercium - (where rose the Order of Cistercians). The cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary has assumed a particular significance for this order.

1026

Chartres (France)

Visionary: St. Fulbert

St. Fulbert (960-1028), who is known as an ardent devotee to the cult of Mary, was healed from a serious illness after an appearance (1026) of the Holy Virgin. In gratitude, he founded the famous cathedral of Chartres (which also had to be rebuilt after a fire in 1020). Fulbert, in his youth, was a pupil of Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester Il) and became one of the most important theologians of his time.

1038

Valverde, Sicily, diocese of Catania (Italy)

Title: Holy Mary of Valverde
Visionary: Dionysius, a thief

Alleged apparition of the Virgin to a pious hermit, Dionysius, after he converted from being an outlaw. With his own hands, he built a chapel, later destroyed in 1593, then replaced by a new building at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Source: Gamba: 1999, 271

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1041

Nocera Superiore (Italy)

Visionary: Caramari, a peasant woman
Title: Santa Maria di Materdomini

In 1041 the Virgin appeared to be a poor peasant who was lying under an oak tree. Mary told the woman to invite people to dig beneath the oak, where she would find an image. But the woman was afraid to face public opinion and did not speak.

The peasant then decided to try to convince the locals to dig under the oak, but only where they found the remains of an ancient cistern. The neighbors of the woman were disappointed and mocked her. Some years later, Caramari saw the Virgin and ordered that the inhabitants of the area dig under the tank as she believed a precious stone had detached from her ring. When Mary was gone, she found herself blind. The villagers were moved by pity to resume the excavation: they found the precious stone and they repaired by two slabs of marble, an old Byzantine icon depicting the Virgin and Child, while Caramari recovered her sight.

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1050

Sopetrau, Spain

Visionary: Ali (son of the Muslim king of Toledo)

Ali, the son of the Muslim king of Toledo, one day, looking on a fig tree, saw a heavenly light, the Holy Mother (1050). Touched by the supernatural occurrence, he embraced the Christian faith, went on pilgrimage to Rome and on his return he built a chapel on the site of the apparition. Ali also did a portrait of the Blessed Virgin. The chapel became a destination for pilgrimage.

1060

Cluny (France)

Visionary: Hugh, holy Abbot of Cluny

The holy Abbot Hugh of Cluny (1024-1109) was the great reformer of the Benedictine Order (Reform Cluniac). He was the builder of the huge five-nave church whose altar was consecrated by Pope Urban Il. One day the abbot told his monks the story of a man who had received an apparition of the Virgin Mary during Christmas Eve (1060): Mary had appeared with a face beaming with love and show the infant Jesus in her arms, the child had revealed the mysteries and the deep symbolism of the feast of Christmas and had driven Satan from him. At the end of the story, the monks realized that the abbot himself was the hero of this event unknown mystic.

1060

Espain (France)

Visionary: St. Albert (+1095) Cistercian

St. Albert, as given by tradition, had the grace to receive an apparition of Jesus with his Mother (1060), the Queen of Heaven. Prompted by this apparition, and in gratitude for the Mother of God, he devoted himself to religious life and founded the abbey Pontida, near Bergamo.

1061

Walsingham (England)

Visionary: Lady of Richeldis of Faverches
Title: Our Lady of Walsingham

The shrine of Walsingham has its origin in the following tradition: the Lady of Richeldis of Faverches had a vision in a dream in which she was transported to Nazareth, and saw the house of Mary (1061). Entering the Holy House, she was greeted by the Archangel Gabriel who gave her the task of building a chapel at Walsingham one in imitation of that house. Shortly after, the Lady had a statue of the Virgin similar to that of Loreto where the chapel was laid, and remained for a long time. During the Reformation, Walsingham was a center of resistance of Catholicism. In 1934 the so-called Oxford Movement erected a new sanctuary with a chapel inside the Holy House and promoted pilgrimages that have continually grown. Even now many conversions and healings occur in that place.

1064

Palermo (Italy)

Title: Madonna della Rimedi (Our Lady of Remedies)
Visionary: Roger I of the Normans
Feast Day: Sept 18

Roger I of the Normans, conquered with his brother Robert Guiscard, Calabria by the middle of the 11th century. moves decisively to Sicily for two centuries in the possession of the Saracens. The victory goes with everywhere, and so step by step approach is firmly held by the Arabs in Palermo. During the long and difficult siege, a terrible disease spreads amongst the Norman camp, caused by poisonous insects (a species of spiders). When all human remedies were completely useless, the pious Roger turns to Madonna. She appears to him and suggested he start a fire in the camps. The disease disappears (1064). In 1072, Roger came into Palermo and erected a shrine to the Madonna, with the inscription: "To the Mother of God and of mercy" in the title of "St. Mary's Remedy," which later became "Our Lady of Remedies".

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1070

North Sea (England)

Visionary: Helsim the Abbot

Helsim The Abbot had gone to Denmark for a mission of peace for the English king. On the way back, he encountered a terrible storm and since it seemed that everything was already lost, Helsim turned in prayer to God. Suddenly appearing among the clouds of the storm, the Holy Virgin (1070) who promised to save the Abbot, asking him to commit to introduce the feast of the Immaculate Conception in England and Normandy. After the successful return, the abbot was able to introduce the festival in England and thus fulfill the desire of the Mother of God.

Feb 12, 1080

Conche (Italy)

Title: Maddona di Conche
Visionary: St. Constantius

Inspired by his great love of Mary, Mother of Mercy, Constantius decided to erect a church in her honor next to a small convent of nuns who live in humility and chastity, and care of the church. While, with some carpenters, praying the "Our Father", he was eyeing the logs for the beams and planks, Costanzo sees a white dove reappear, calmly, repeatedly takes in its beak a chip of wood in the air and transports it to the Mount . Curious of the occurrence,he follows it, and came into the town of Conche, where he realizes that the dove has ordered the chips and wood chips so as to trace the perimeter of a building. Looking up, Costanzo sees a Lady with the Child in her arms, lifted up on the perimeter marked by the dove, which, with motherly smile, points to the track. Therefore he builds in that place the church as proof of his conversion and his love for the Virgin. He erected the church and convent, and there has been a rush of pilgrims from all over to implore the protection and the graces of Our Lady of Mercy.

Source: Don Mario Morra SDB (1) Antonio Fappani: "Conche ed il suo Santo", Brescia, Tip. 1987.
Magazine "Maria Ausiliatrice", Feb 2006; www.donbosco-torino.it

1081/1085

Liege (Belgium)

Visionary: Abbot Rupert de Deutz

The famous Abbot Rupert de Deutz (+1129) St. Laurentius in the abbey was an Oblate of Liege. As he, despite the greatest efforts, could not get good grades in his studies, he decided to ask the Mother of God, begging her to help him. Our Lady appeared (1085) to the young religious and promised him the gift of knowledge to be dedicated in honor of God. In all humility, Rupert was fruitful in his work as a writer and was ordained priest in 1106. In all his activities, he showed a deep devotion to Mary and in particular a great knowledge of patristics, which makes him among the most famous and influential writers of his era.

May 25, 1124

Monte Vergine (Campania/Italy)

Title: Madonna di Montevergine
Visionary: St. William Abbot

In ancient times, in Monte Vergine, in the province of Avellino, had practiced the cult of the Great Mother (Cybele). On this mountain, after some long pilgrimages, William of Vercelli retired permanently in prayer , then St. William (1085-1142). He renounced his father's property to have the freedom of a spiritual life. With the passage of time, he joined other hermits and founded the Congregation of Benedictine hermits, also called the Guglielmini (white robes of the Order and the Benedictine rule). One day, during his long meditation, William was called by the Holy Virgin (1085) to erect a shrine where a pagan deity was first venerated. The shrine has since the seventeenth century has held an old painting of the Madonna "Comforter of the afflicted" (regal and contemplative expression, probably from Constantinople).

1087

Oudenburg (Belgium)

Visionary: Saint Arnulfo Arnold

Mary appeared (1087) to Saint Arnulfo Arnold (1040-1087), who was hermit, abbot, and finally, from 1081, bishop of Soissons. The Mother of God appeared to him announcing his death. Arnold asked her if he could leave the earthly world on the day of the Assumption. On the evening on the eve of this anniversary, he announced to the brethren gathered around his bed that Mary would have heard his last wish. Arnulfo died the following day. He was canonized in 1121 and is the patron saint of brewers and millers.

1091

Fontgombault Abbey (France)

Statue: Notre Dame du Bien Mourir (Our Lady of a Happy Death)

In 1791, hard times had come to France and to the Church. Countless were the Christians sacrificed on
the alter of Revolution, especially in Paris, where the tireless work of the guillotine filled the street gutters with rivers of human blood. Trouble had come to the countryside as well. Already at the beginning of the century, the greed of the secular landlord of Fontgombault had chased away all but five monks. By this time, at the end of the century, not a single monk was left to sing the Divine Praises. Theayor of the village of Fontgombault had begun to sell the very stones of the Abbey walls (July 2, 1791). But the work of destruction was not yet
complete.

It was about this time that an impious hand sought to destroy the statue of Mary above the northern door of the church. He positioned a ladder and climbed up in order to carry out the practice, quite common with the revolutionaries, of breaking off the head and members of a piece of art that offended him and the new ideas of those who had no more need of God and His Saints. As he swung his hammer, however, he suddenly lost his balance and fell off the ladder, hurting himself mortally when he hit the ground far below.

As he lay dying, the poor man regretted in an instant the evil deed he had done and begged God,
through the intercession of the Virgin Mother of God whom he had so gravely offended, to forgive him. Such was his change of heart, his conversion at the moment of death, that the witnesses recognized in the event a special grace from heaven. From that moment on the statue has been known as Our Lady of a Happy Death.

Source: Brother Philip Anderson, Prior of Our Lady of Clear Creek via International Marian Research Institute.

1091

Rome (Italy)

Visionary: Saint Bruno

1095

Arras (France)

Title: Our Lady of the Ardents
Feast Day: May 29
Visionaries: townspeople

Mary appeared on the clouds as "Queen of the Universe ", on January 16 and April 17, all the inhabitants of the town of Arras were filled with joy when they could see her .

The apparition added that the four women responsible for the public disorder must do penance.

She asked John to leave his spade near the fountain where she assured him that the water would be good.

When he came back to recuperate it, he would find a "sign" on the end of the handle.

John ran quickly home to the farm and asked his brother and sister to go back and retrieve his spade.

The youngsters found it "standing straight up with three cross-shaped oak leaves coming out of the top of the handle."

The four women made reparation for their wrongs and people went in procession to the place of the miracle.

In early July, the Virgin appeared a second time to John, in his bedroom. "You did what I asked you to do well, and the fountain will be good; the people have corrected themselves well," she told him.

A commission of inquiry has identified twenty-eight cures from the water of the fountain. In October 1686, a second inquiry mentioned seven new cases. The chapel of Pla-Rouzaud was built by the poor villagers and blessed on September 8, 1695 by Monsignor de Verthamon. The renown of the shrine Our Lady of Celles spread widely and attracted believers from the entire region and even from Spain. The pilgrimage, which takes place to this day at the restored shrine on the third Sunday of July, is marked by evangelical simplicity and Marian humility.

According to Dictionnaire des Apparitions Fr. Rene Laurentin, Fayard 2007

1097

Canterbury (England)

Visionary: St. Anselm

St. Anselm (1033-1109), Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093, took inspiration from the Holy Virgin Mary who appeared a few times to him and helped him in his dispute with Henry I, who wanted to assert the supremacy of the state over the Church. In 1103, Anselm was exiled in 1106 and joined the so-called Compromise of Bec, which was to be an imitation of the so-called Concordat of Worms. He was a great preacher and in 1720 was elevated to the title of Doctor of the Church.

1099

Los Llanos (Spain)

Visionary: a priest

A very devoted priest had a vision of the Virgin Mary who told him where a very old and rare painting where it had been dotted with spirited devotion. The priest, respecting the will of the Madonna and follow her directions and found a painting, buried in a cave. Soon the news spread and developed an active pilgrimage site. In 1220 a chapel was built and in 1421 and a sanctuary was constructed.

Turin (Italy)

Visionary: a blind man

The church of Maria Consolata was destroyed by the Saracens and a portrait of the Virgin Mary was lost. The portrait, however, was found near Turin by a blind man who regained his sight through the Blessed Mother. She had appeared and, after the miraculous recovery, he had instructed to bring to light the hidden portrait.

1099

Rome (Italy)

Visionary: Pope Pascual II