Hey Listeners!
Welcome back and happy New Week to you! What's your favorite Marian Apparition? Is it Lourdes or Guadalupe or Fatima? (both ours are one of those so don't feel bad for being 'predictable')
This week we are exploring some lesser know apparitions. Ones you didn't hear about in Catholic School. Ones Nancy and I found out about through an amazing lecture by Fr. Don Calloway (see link below) and then read more about in his amazing book Champions of the Rosary.
In a way, Marian Apparitions and Miracles of the Rosary are a bit like our Saints, aren't they? There is always more to learn which is pretty awesome. One way to get your kids (or students) excited about learning is for them to see you excited about it for yourself.
The first of the two lesser known apparitions we discuss today is Our Lady of Las Lajas (or Our Lady of the Rocks). This apparition happened in the 1700s in Columbia. The visionaries were a mother and daughter and as a final gift, Our Lady left her image in the rocks of the cave where they had visited each other. Not ON the rocks. IN the rocks. Geologists have found the image is actually several feet into the wall of the cave with no evidence of paint dye of pigment. Oh. And this image appeared after the daughter had been brought back to life through the intercession of Mary. (WHAT???)
More recently, there were multiple appearances of Our Blessed Mother in Kibeho, Rwanda in the 1980s to a group of school children. Because this was such a recent event, you can hop on Youtube and see actual footage of people going into ecstasy when Our Lady appears and speaks to them. She requested a renewed devotion to the rosary of her seven sorrows (we spoke about this particular rosary in this episode) and warned of a 'river of blood' in Rwanda unless there was prayer and repentance. Unfortunately, some say because Our Lady's warnings weren't heeded, these apparitions were followed by the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.
If there is some lesser know Marian Apparition that you LOVE that you suspect we haven't heard of, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out and share with us!
Your sisters in the small things,
Nancy and Katie
In this episode:
Fr. Calloway's lecture at Steubenville
Fr. Calloway's book Champions of the Rosary: The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon
An article on Our Lady of Las Lajas
An EWTN special on Our Lady of Kibeho
