The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith sends a letter, approved by the Pope, to the cardinal bishop of Como granting the ‘nulla osta’ regarding spiritual experiences at the Sanctuary of Maccio.
Vatican News
The entry into force of the new Norms for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena has allowed a new “green light” from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, this time with regard to spiritual experiences at the Shrine of Maccio in Villa Guardia, near Como in northern Italy.
In 2000, Gioacchino Genovese, a music teacher and choir director, married and the father of two daughters, began to perceive through “intellectual visions,” a “living presence of the mystery of the Holy Trinity.” A serious, discreet person who never sought the limelight, five years later he invited more people to be involved with adoration, supplications, and novenas.
DEAR friend, you will certainly know, even if you have not visited them yet, about the shrines of Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje… Perhaps, however, you may never have heard of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, India, which is visited annually by more than 20 million pilgrims, many of whom are not even Christian.
A well-founded oral tradition speaks of two apparitions of Our Lady in Velankanni. The first dates back to 1570, and it concerns a local shepherd boy who was on his way to deliver milk to a customer in a nearby village. On the way, near a pond, he met a beautiful woman with a baby in her arms who asked him for some milk for the little one. The boy readily agreed, and then set off again. Arriving at the customer’s house, the boy apologized for the missing milk and told of his encounter with the beautiful lady. The man, certain that the boy was lying, flew into a rage but, at the moment he was about to hit the boy, the milk, to his astonishment, overflowed from the bucket. The man then, intrigued by the boy’s tale, went with him to the pond, and there Our Lady appeared to him too. The fact spread quickly among the neighboring Catholic community, which called that pond Matha Kalum, i.e., Our Lady’s Pond.
The second apparition is said to have happened in 1597, not far from Matha Kalum. A beautiful woman with a baby in her arms appeared to a poor lame boy selling buttermilk. Our Lady asked him for some butter for her baby, and when the boy gave it to her, she told him that it was important to always do good to others. Eventually, she told him to visit a rich Catholic gentleman in a nearby town. He was to inform the man what had happened and invite him to dedicate a chapel to her at the site of the apparition.
The crippled boy immediately got up and ran to the man without realizing that he had been healed. Listening to the boy’s story, the man had no doubts about whether he should believe him or not, because the day before he had dreamt of Our Lady asking him to build a chapel in her honor. Together they went to the place where Our Lady had appeared, and there the man had the grace of being cured of a disease from which he had been suffering for some time. On that very spot, a small chapel was built, which soon became a place of devotion to Our Lady, called Arokia Matha, meaning ‘Mother of Good Health’.
The shrine, which began as a thatched chapel in the 16th century, was transformed into a large church in the 17th century following a new miracle. A Portuguese ship was caught in a terrible storm. The crew invoked the Virgin’s help and the tempest subsided. As a sign of gratitude, the sailors rebuilt the shrine and continued to enhance it whenever their voyages took them to the area. In 1962 the church was elevated to the special rank of Minor Basilica by Pope John XXIII.
Velankanni is affectionately known as the Lourdes of the East because, just like Lourdes in France, the many pilgrims who visit the shrine pray to Our Lady for their various needs and then come back to thank her for the graces granted through her intercession with Jesus, the Divine Healer.
Dear friend, in this month of May, which is particularly dedicated to Mary, let’s turn our prayers to her so that she may sustain our faith and our hope, and help us to care for one another with sincere love.
Communication of the Postulator Msgr. Paolo Rizzi about the Cause of Beatification
Rome, August 10, 2024
Communication of the Postulator Msgr. Paolo Rizzi about the Cause of Beatification
Rome, August 10, 2024 The nihil obstat for the resumption of the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta has been issued. This was announced by the Postulator of the Cause, Msgr. Paolo Rizzi, in a note dated August 10, 2024, the text of which is published here.
Cause of Beatification of Luisa Piccarreta
The Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta has never been closed, but has always been pending at the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, which had temporarily suspended its canonical process. In fact, the spirituality, thought, and writings of the Servant of God had been submitted to the study of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in 2019 pointed out that the writings presented some ambiguities of a theological, Christological, and anthropological nature; ambiguities that, while not doctrinal errors in themselves, required further evaluation. Through the support of a theologian expert in mysticism, https://en.luisapiccarretaofficial.org/news/communication-of-the-postulator-msgr-paolo-rizzi-about-the-cause-of-beatification/1944
There has been a Eucharistic miracle in a Catholic Church in Kerala, India.
On three consecutive Sundays during the Children’s Mass the Holy Host turned into real Flesh and Blood in a fourteen year old girl’s mouth.
First on July 21 as usual the girl received Communion in her hands (one palm placed over the other). The Host suddenly began to bleed in her hands and a drop even rolled into her other palm of her hand.
Shocked she showed this to her companions sitting nearby and her Catechism teacher as well.
The presiding priest was notified. He removed the Host and the wiped up all the Blood and preserved it.
After Mass the Archbishop was notified. The instruction was to preserve It in the Tabernacle.
The following Sunday during Children’s Mass the same girl received the Host on her tongue (the whole congregation was asked to receive on the tongue because of what happened the previous Sunday) the Host again turned into real flesh (the girl felt blood flowing in her mouth and she tasted actual Blood). The priest removed the Species from her mouth (more so to have It examined to see if it is real flesh and Blood). He preserved it in the Tabernacle and the Archbishop was notified. The Vicar General of the Archdiocese came and examined both contents.
The next Sunday, August 4 rolls around and the same happen. This time the Host is in the shape of a tiny heart. The Priest removes the Fleshy Host from the girl’s mouth and preserve It. This time the Archbisop mmkes a visit and talks to the girl and her parents. This is all in the video below. All the miraculous hosts are in the custody of the Archbishop to be examined.
Yesterday (August 9) the miracle happened in the presence of many during a School Mass. This time the girl was asked to consume It. Later she said it was hard to swallow because it was a piece of Flesh.
