Page 24 - Michael Journal March 2020

Rosa Mystica

Set For Status As Shrine
Michael Brown

It is, one must admit, a somewhat astonishing turn of
events.
n Saturday, December 7, 2019, on the eve of
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the
OBishop of Brescia, Italy, Monsignor Pierantonio
Tremolada, will have presided at a Mass during the ca-
nonical institution of the Rosa Mystica (Mystical Rose)
Mother of the Church Diocesan Shrine in Fontanelle,
Italy.
It is extraordinary because this is an apparition site
— one with prophetic messages — that is the basis
for thousands of Rosa Mystica statues which allegedly
have spawned miracles around the world (and have
been blessed by at least one Pope).
It is especially mind-boggling because many years
ago, when I visited the main Basilica in nearby Mon-
tichiari, where many of the apparitions occurred (as
well as in Fontanelle), I was surprised to learn that the
apparitions which started there in 1947 had been con-
demned by the local bishop of the time, Bruno Foresti, Rosa Mystica-Mother of the Church
who in a formal declaration said that the phenomena
failed to “give good reasons for credibility” and that pital where she worked and at the Montichiari Basilica.
whoever promoted it “disturbs the faith of believers, At her first manifestation, Mary arrived in a dress in a
inducing them to act contrary to the teachings of the mournful shade of purple and a white veil. She was
Church”. inexplicably exuding tears and appeared visibly mel-
Though the decree, and a more recent one in 2013, ancholic, her tears falling to the floor and her breast
still stand, in some ways they pierced by several swords. She
have been reversed or at least said only three words, “prayer,
profoundly lightened — some- penitence, expiation”.
thing we have seen at other plac- Many do not realize that af-
es. As at Medjugorje, which now ter Confession, sacrifice or suf-
accepts official Church pilgrim- fering is needed to purge or ex-
ages, the actual apparitions and piate the residue of sin (here on
messages remain under study. earth, rather than in purgatory).
I had been surprised dur- On her second visit, the Vir-
ing that visit, in 1991, because gin was dressed more cheerful-
the Rosa Mystica apparition ly, in a white dress and instead
seemed beautiful and statues of swords were red, white, and
fashioned after it were inexplica- gold roses. “Please tell me who
bly exuding tears. Pierina Gilli, a you are,” pleaded Pierina.
nurse, was the visionary; her “I am the Mother of Jesus
messages connected in a very and the Mother of all of you,
direct way to Fatima, beginning the Rosa Mystica.” She said
with the fact that the second ap- the swords that had pierced
parition was on the same day of her heart represented a crisis in
the year, June 13th, as the sec- faith, including the deadly sins
ond Fatima appearance. committed by religious and the
Pierina claimed that appari- The statue of Rosa Mystica loss of candidates for the priest-
tions occurred both in the hos- inexplicably exuding tears. hood.

26 MICHAEL January/February 2020 www.michaeljournal.org