The Marian shrine of Santa Domenica built around a rock, the site of Mary’s supposed apparitions to 18-year-old Cosimo Fragomeni from May 11 to 14, 1968.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has accepted an episcopal decree approving the religious activities of a shrine at the site of the alleged Marian apparition “Our Lady of the Rock” in southern Italy.
This is the fourth public publication by the DDF related to alleged apparitions since the criteria for discerning “alleged supernatural phenomena” were published in May. The new regulation states that the local bishop will have to consult and obtain final approval from the Vatican after investigating and judging the alleged apparitions and related devotions.
In a July 5 letter published on Tuesday, the DDF said it had taken note of Archbishop Francesco Oliva’s “positive report on the religious situation that is occurring” at the sanctuary of the Madonna dello Scoglio (“Our Lady of the Rock”). ) in Rome. Diocese of Locri-Gerace, in southern Italy, and demonstrated to the bishop that nothing prevents Catholics from visiting and participating in their devotions and liturgies.
The dicastery insisted that, while affirming the bishop’s popularity for the religious festival at the sanctuary, this should in no way be interpreted as a judgment on the supernatural nature of the alleged apparitions of “Our Lady of the Rock. “
The letter is signed through the Cardinal Prefect of the DDF Víctor Manuel Fernández and approved through Pope Francis in audience on July 5.
The Marian shrine of Santa Domenica, a small village in Italy’s Calabria region, built around a rock, the site of Mary’s alleged apparitions to 18-year-old Cosimo Fragomeni from May 11 to 14, 1968, as she was returning home. in the fields.
Officially built in 2016, the sanctuary is known as “the little Lourdes of Calabria” and has welcomed an increasing number of pilgrims and visitors, many of whom come in search of physical healing.
Fragomeni is still alive and has recounted his supposed mystical reports in around thirty letters. He hosts brief non-public meetings twice a week.
The DDF asked the local bishop, who has jurisdiction over the shrine, to clarify in his decree that the approval of the religious activity of the shrine “does not mean any judgment, positive or negative, on the lives of the people involved in that activity. case ” and any other messages from the psychic will only be made public with your approval.
The Vatican Doctrinal Office expressed the “nihil obstat” judgment of the diocesan bishop given that, according to what it informed him, “no critical or risky elements have appeared, except for apparently serious disorders” in the supposed place of the Marian apparition, but there are symptoms of grace and religious conversion.
According to the norms of May 17, a “nihil obstat” judgment means: “Without expressing any certainty about the supernatural authenticity of the phenomenon itself, many symptoms of the action of the Holy Spirit are identified ‘in the midst’ of a certain spiritual experience. and no critical or dangerous aspects have been detected, at least so far.
In its letter, the DDF cites Oliva’s letter to the dicastery, which explains that “the culminations of the Christian life in those who share the Rock [i. e. the sanctuary] are evident, as are the lifestyles of the spirit of prayer , conversions, some vocations to the priesthood and a devout life, testimonies of charity, as well as healthy devotion and other religious culminations.
“In the secularized world in which we live, in which so many people spend their lives without any reference to transcendence, pilgrims visiting the Shrine of the Rock are a strong sign of faith,” the DDF letter said.
“Their presence before the Blessed Virgin, who becomes for them a transparent expression of the Lord’s mercy, is a recognition of their own inability to carry out the works of life and of their ardent longing and preference for God,” he continues.
“In such a valuable context of faith, a renewed proclamation of the kerygma can continue to remove darkness and enrich this delight of the Spirit. »
“This painting highlights the Eucharistic detail of Our Lady of the Champion by combining the three apparitions to Adèle Brise into a single image,” explains artist Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs.
“We try to be in combination like Notre Dame. “
The apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Pierina Gilli took place in Brescia, Italy, in 1947 and 1966.
Since 1900, more than 120 alleged Marian apparitions have been officially rejected by Church authorities; and the Vatican’s new rules may lead to more particular rejections.
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The one with the Catholic blogs.
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Check out the latest reporting and conversations with Catherine Hadro of “EWTN News In Depth. ”
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