Mary, the Mediatrix of All Grace
The original image based on the 1948 Marian apparition, enshrined today in Lipa, Batangas.
LocationCarmelite Monastery, Lipa City, Batangas
DateNovember 12, 1948
WitnessMs. Teresita Castillo
TypeMarian apparition
ApprovalDismissed — 11 December 2015[1]
Approved (Local) — 12 September 2015
Re-investigated — 1991
Suppressed — 11 April 1951
ShrineOur Lady, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace Parish

Mary, the Mediatrix of All Grace (Spanish: María, Mediadora de Toda-Gracia; Tagalog: María, Tagapamagitan ng Lahat ng Biyaya), also known as the Our Lady of Lipa,[2] is an alleged Marian apparition that occurred within the Carmelite Monastery of Lipa, Batangas, Philippines. The event occurred to a former Carmelite postulant, Teresita Castillo.[3] The original statue associated with the apparition is currently enshrined at the monastery.

The apparitions were declared as Non—supernatural after an investigation by six Filipino bishops headed by the former Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Rufino Santos on 11 April 1951. The case was re—opened again in 1991 by the local bishop. On 12 September 2015, the Archbishop of Lipa, Ramon Arguelles, against explicit direction from the Holy See and the Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, formally declared approval of the apparitions, citing them as supernatural and worthy of belief.

Pope Pius XII declared the apparitions as fraudulent in 1951. On 11 December 2015, the Vatican re—declared the apparition as Non—Supernatural.[1][4] A finalized copy of the verdict was received on May 31. Ultimately, Archbishop Arguelles retracted his declaration of supernaturality on 1 June 2016, citing to the original decision by the Holy Office as Non—Supernatural.

Name

The Blessed Virgin Mary is honored under the title Mediatrix of all graces. It has its mystical origins in Belgium where devotion under this title began.[5]

Claims of Marian apparitions

The garden in Carmel, Lipa with the vine on which the Virgin appeared in 1948.

Prior to the Marian apparitions, Teresita Castillo claimed to have encountered the Devil on several occasions under demonic torture. On 18 August 1948, Teresita Castillo— who then a postulant at the monastery—noticed a heavenly odour, and upon entering her room saw a beautiful lady in white who spoke to her:

"Do not fear my daughter, He who loves above all things has sent me. I come with a message…"

The lady asked Castillo to wash and kiss the feet of her prioress, and drink the used water afterwards. The lady said that the washing was a "sign of humility and obedience".

According to the account, on 12 September 1948, Castillo was in the convent garden and noticed a vine shaking without any wind blowing. She then heard a woman's voice that instructed her to visit the garden for 15 consecutive days.[5] The next day, September 13, Castillo came to the spot at 5:00 P.M., knelt down and intended to say the Hail Mary. In the middle of the prayer, wind came, the garden vine moved, and a beautiful lady appeared. Castillo described the lady as having her hands clasped in prayer and holding a golden rosary in her right hand. The lady asked her to pray for priests and nuns.

On September 14, rose petals began to shower within the monastery, and some of the nuns noticed rose petals outside their hallways. Again at 5:00 P.M, the lady appeared once more at the vine and said "I wish this place to be blessed tomorrow." "At what time, Mother," asked Castillo. "Anytime your Mother Prioress wants, my child. I forbid you to forget the incidents of these fifteen days." Then the lady vanished.

The prioress, Mary Cecilia of Jesus, decided to consult with Alfredo Obviar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lipa and spiritual director of the nuns. The bishop instructed the prioress to demand proof from the lady that she is from heaven.

Days after the first shower of rose petals, total blindness affected Castillo. Mary Cecilia of Jesus then heard a woman's voice telling her to kiss the postulant's eyes so that the latter will recover her sight. In the presence of Obviar, the prioress lifted Castillo's veil and kissed the postulant's eyes. Immediately, the girl recovered her sight, and Obviar no longer doubted the apparitions.

Description of the apparition

According to Teresita Castillo, the Virgin Mary was slightly stooped and dressed in white, with a narrow cloth belt about her waist. Her face was radiant, and her statues often show her dark hair flowing down her back beneath a white veil. Her hands are clasped on her breast, and a golden rosary hangs from her right hand. She is shown barefoot on clouds about two feet above the ground.[5]

Later events

According to a later interview with the prioress, Mother Mary of the Sacred Heart and Sister Mary Balthazar were ordered to burn several boxes containing leaflets, novena booklets, rose petals, and other paraphernalia pertaining to the apparition, including Castillo's personal diary. The sisters were also ordered by the bishop to throw the image of the Virgin into a bonfire, but they instead hid it out of piety.

Castillo herself in an interview said she had met the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Cardinal Egidio Vagnozzi in 1951, and told him that she had already left the monastery to seek medical treatment. Vagnozzi strongly disapproved, called Castillo the Devil, and asked her to leave his presence, even trying to shove her out the door. Castillo burst into tears and begged for his blessing, which he withheld.[6]

The current archbishop of Lipa, Ramón Argüelles, noted that auxiliary bishop Obviar and Bishop of Lipa Verzosa, who were on the commission, were forced to leave the investigation due to their lack of jurisdiction over Lipa. In a televised interview with ABS-CBN, Argüelles said no documents were compiled or even reached the Holy See in 1951, causing its immediate rejection.[7][8] In 1991, a petition to approve the apparition began once again.

Rejection by the Holy Office

An initial investigation report in 1951 was signed by six Roman Catholic bishops and declared the Lipa apparitions a fraudulent and Non-supernatural. One bishop later recanted on his deathbed, and a secondary investigation was opened in 1991.[9]

On 21 May 1990, then-Lipa Archbishop Mariano G. Gaviola, allowed the veneration of the namesake Marian image after forty years of being banned from the public.

On 17 April 2005, Archbishop Argüelles publicly declared that he found no objection to the devotion under this Marian title.[10] The Archdiocese of Lipa currently endorses Marian devotion to this title, which is not expressly prohibited as long as it does not counter church doctrine. In Batangas province, local bishops often tolerate the devotion in public.

On 12 September 2015, Argüelles formally released the canonical results of the investigation launched by the archdiocese, declaring the Marian apparitions to be Supernatural in character and worthy of pious belief.

In 11 December 2015, the Holy Office decreed through Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller overruled the Archbishop and rejected his 2012 decree declaring that the alleged Marian apparitions in Batangas in 1948 were supernatural. Arguelles himself disclosed the ruling through an archdiocesan communiqué on May 31. In its decree, the Congregation stated that Pope Pius XII had made a definitive confirmation in 1951 against the supposed apparitions declaring that they "were not of supernatural origin," which the local authority had no authority to overrule.[11]

Marian cult and veneration

The side chapel in the monastery church where the image of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace is currently enshrined.

Former Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See, Mercedes Arrastia Tuason, is a devotee of the apparitions, and displayed a large statue of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace in her consular office in Rome.[12]

Emma de Guzman, purported visionary, stigmatist and foundress of the church-sanctioned "La Pietà" International Prayer Group,[13] said that Mary had declared herself to be "the Mediatrix standing in front of the Mediator".[14]

In 17 January 2015, Pope Francis venerated a replica of the image at the residence of the Archbishop of Palo.

The pious veneration of Mary under this title is tolerated within the Archdiocese, but further studies or speculations on the authenticity of the apparitions is suppressed by Catholic authorities.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Zulueta, Lito (June 1, 2016). "Vatican overrules Batangas bishop; declares 1948 Marian apparitions not genuine". The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Why an exorcist priest was arrested for 'offending religious feelings'". Rappler. May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  3. ↑ Eugenio, Damiana L. (1996). Philippine folk literature: the legends. University of the Philippines. p. 109. ISBN 978-971-8729-05-2.
  4. ↑ "Vatican reverses ruling on Lipa Marian apparition". GMA News. June 3, 2016. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Farrow, Mary. "The curious case of the Lipa Marian apparitions", Catholic News Agency, December 28, 2016
  6. ↑ Our Lady of Mediatrix Lipa Documentary - Interviews with Teresita Castillo and the Carmelite Nuns. Videotape 1990.
  7. ↑ Prior to 1991, there was no record of the apparitions in the archdiocesan chanceries of Manila and Batangas, and no papers were present in the Apostolic Nunciature nor were any sent to the Vatican. The only document discovered in the records was a typewritten account of the events by the late Sister Mary Alphonse.
  8. ↑ ABS-CBN News (November 18, 2009). "Archbishop lifts devotion ban on miraculous Virgin Mary image". Archived from the original on December 15, 2021 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Heintz, Peter (1995). A Guide to Apparitions of Our Blessed Virgin Mary. Gabriel Press. ISBN 0-9645506-0-1.
  10. ↑ "Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace Parish".
  11. ↑ editor), Lito B. Zulueta (Arts & Books (June 2016). "Vatican overrules Batangas bishop; declares 1948 Marian apparitions not genuine". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  12. ↑ Office of the Ambassador of the Philippines to the Vatican, Pope Paul VI residence - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4uNvPfw2lk
  13. ↑ "CBCP Endorsement of the Pilgrimage". August 1, 2007.
  14. ↑ June Keithley Castro, "Messages from Mama Mary" in Philippine Daily Inquirer, 16 September 2012
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