HOY MKahoy!

MANILA, Philippines --Teresita Castillo, to whom the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared in 1948 when Castillo was a young Carmelite novice, has been declining interview requests following the lifting of the Church ban against the public veneration of the image of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace, a devotion that stemmed from the apparitions.

Teresing Castillo, who is now 82 years old, cannot recall the dates when the Virgin Mary appeared to her but she can clearly state the message that the Blessed Mother wanted her to give the world.

In 1948, the Virgin Mary reportedly appeared 19 times to Castillo, who was a postulant at the Carmelite convent in Lipa, Batangas. Rose petals with holy images reportedly fell from the sky. In the last of her appearances to Castillo, the Blessed Virgin is said to have identified herself, saying “I am the Mediatrix of All Grace.”

The bishop of Lipa at the time, Alfred Verzosa, believed in the apparitions and allowed the veneration of the image of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace.

No miracle

In 1951, however, the Church hierarchy declared that “there was no supernatural intervention in the reported extraordinary happenings, including the shower of rose petals in Lipa.” Verzosa’s successor, Rufino Santos, ordered that “no petals be given to anyone by the Lipa Carmelite community and the statue of Our Lady of Mediatrix be withdrawn from public view.”

The ban was lifted 40 years later by Archbishop Mariano Gaviola in 1991.
On Nov. 12, Gaviola’s successor, Archbishop Ramon Arguelles issued a formal decree lifting the 1951 ban. Arguelles also created the commission, headed by Hernandez, to conduct a new investigation into the apparitions. He noted that despite the ban, the faithful have continued to go on pilgrimages to the Carmel monastery in Lipa to pray and ask for favors from the Blessed Mother. He said the commission will evaluate the documents still available on the events of 1948 to advise the Church leadership on “the proper pastoral approach” to the continuing pilgrimage of people to the site of the apparitions.

International interest

The news that Arguelles had ordered a new investigation and lifted the ban on the public veneration of the Mediatrix has created interest not just in the local community of devotees but internationally as well. The Spiritdaily.com website carried links to two articles published in Inquirer.net as well as its own well-researched articles from its archives.

Little wonder as the events of 1948 were headlined in national newspapers and reported internationally. Lipa was referred to as “the Lourdes of Asia” and Philippine Airlines flew special flights to fly pilgrims to Lipa. A special pilgrim image of the miraculous Mediatrix was made and brought to New York and Madrid. More than 3,000 took part in the procession that was later held on New York’s Second Avenue.

Even former President Elpidio Quirino attended a Mass in Lipa in 1949 and joined the vast crowds in hopes of witnessing a petal shower. Thousands would line up for the water in which the petals had been immersed and miraculous healings and conversions were reported and documented.

The original statue of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace, was commissioned from the sculptor Cristobal, in accordance with the instructions that Castillo had received from the Virgin Mary: “I want a statue of myself to be made so that my little ones can see me. Describe me to your chaplain because I want my statue to look as you see me, and to be as large as that of Our Lady of Lourdes which stands inside the cloister.”

“I ask this from Carmel, I wish that my image be placed here. This place must be cleaned so that it may become a shrine for prayer.”

When the image was finished and revealed for public veneration, many unusual occurrences and miraculous events were attributed to it. The fragrance of the amazing shower of petals that occurred from time to time on the grounds outside the convent would fill the air for blocks and draw thousands of devotees and curiosity seekers.

Harrowing events
A message that the Virgin Mary had given in 1948 seems to foretell the harrowing events that were to come: “Do not block or debase my sacred place nor despise my words. ”

Along with the ban it issued in 1951, the Church hierarchy instructed the Carmelites to destroy everything. The nuns obeyed and burned the diaries, petals and prayer cards, but could not bear to smash the image of the Mediatrix, so they bundled it up in rags and jute and hid it among the debris in a bodega.

It would be hidden for the next 40 years until Gaviola gave permission for the statue to be temporarily displayed in 1991. The archbishop soon issued the decree that the image be restored to public veneration and installed in the side chapel of the convent church where it remains to this day.

Blighted lives
Apart from the many miraculous healings and conversions that were ignored and the cruel rumors that the apparitions were a hoax foisted on the public by the nuns to raise money to build a church, there are the heroic actions and blighted lives of the main protagonists that are intrinsic to the apparitions.
Auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Obviar, the spiritual director of Carmel Lipa, was unceremoniously removed and remained in limbo until he was demoted and re-appointed to the diocese of Lucena. Obviar founded the congregation of the Missionary Catechists of St. Therese and in acknowledgment of his great virtue, he has been lifted up to the Causes of the Saints and has officially passed the first step in the process toward sainthood. His tomb and museum in Lucena is the site of many pilgrimages and a number of miracles have been attributed to his intercession.

Verzosa, who allowed the apparitions to be publicized and for the Mediatrix to be venerated, was stripped of all his administrative duties, remaining a bishop in name only. Though he had used his family’s wealth to rebuild the churches and schools of war-torn Lipa, he was falsely accused of mishandling the war reparations and finances of the diocese. He lived in exile at his Vigan home, reduced to rolling tobacco leaves to augment the family income.

The prioress of Carmel, Mother Cecilia Zialcita, was transferred to another convent and treated like a scullery maid. She is said to have prophesied that at her death, the events of the Lipa apparitions would again be reopened and devotion to the Mediatrix restored.

Castillo has survived all the denunciations and humiliations to which she was subjected. The stress from the investigation resulted in her long illness, requiring her to live at the University of Santo Tomas hospital for long periods of time. She eventually had to voluntarily leave the convent as she failed to complete the required length of stay for a novice.

Discreet silence
She worked at the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran and assisted Fr. Leo English with the publication of the now widely used Tagalog/English dictionaries. The now grown baby girl she adopted often accompanies her mother on healing missions. She has since received a few other messages and experienced showers of petals in her home and at the side chapel of Carmel Lipa, but has maintained a discreet silence about it.

Gaviola and Arguelles have allowed Castillo to speak publicly about the apparitions and there are also a number of accounts detailing the healing of some people that she has prayed over. However, now that the new commission has convened, she has thought it prudent to refrain from speaking or being too publicly visible.

In her 80s, Castillo has been given the grace of living to see the malicious tongues silenced and a resurgence of devotion to her “beautiful lady.”