Feast of the Purification and Our Lady of Good Success

Today is the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is also known as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, and as Candlemas.

Today is also the Feast of Our Lady of Good Success, whose first of many apparitions to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres occurred on the Feast of the Purification in 1594. The messages received by Mother Mariana are described in this way at the “Miracle Hunter” website (which seems to have a good reputation for fidelity to the Church):

The messages of Our Lady of Good Success spoke of the worldwide crisis in the Church and society that would begin in the 19th century and extend throughout the 20th century. During that time, she warned, there would be an almost total corruption of customs and Satan would rule almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. In the Catholic Church the Sacraments would be profaned and abused, and the light of Faith would be almost completely extinguished in souls. Truly religious souls would be reduced to a small number and many vocations would perish. Great impurity would reign and people would be without any care for spiritual matters.

The prophetic visions are rather striking from our current standpoint of living in the times spoken of by Our Lady to Mother Mariana in 1634. Here’s one summary of the apparition that occurred on the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1634:

Incorrupt body of Marian de Jesus Torres and
two others from her convent

One of the most striking of the prophetic visions occurred on the Feast of the Purification, February 2, 1634, the 40^th anniversary of the first appearance of Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana. Mother Mariana was praying in the upper choir loft before the Blessed Sacrament, the Sanctuary lamp went out.  Mother Mariana was left in complete darkness. The extinguishing of the Sanctuary Light signified the dire straits the Church would be in during this future epoch.

Our Lady of Good Success was quite clear on what would be the demise of the Catholic Church—the general theme – a lax and perverse clergy. Certain members of the Catholic clergy would become as thieves stealing that Tabernacle light…thieves that would steal what is rightfully ours by virtue of our baptism in the Catholic Church—our Faith. They would rob us of Doctrine, Dogma and Tradition— ransacking the Church as it were leaving us in total darkness without even as much as the light of the Sanctuary Lamp (which signifies the presence of the Holy Eucharist – Jesus Christ, Himself). Our Lady of Good Success went into great detail to explain what the five reasons were for the extinguishing of the light.

The first reason why the lamp was snuffed out was because in the end of the 19th Century and during the 20^th Century, heresies would prevail not only in Ecuador but universally. “As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs.” [Read more here; emphases in original]  

The miraculous statue

In one apparition, Our Lady commanded that a statue of her be created, but She said that She Herself would see to its completion. The statue was commissioned and begun, but in fact was completed by the Archangels – read an account of that here.

As far as I can tell, these apparitions have at least partial Church approval. Miracle Hunter notes:

Bishop Salvador de Ribera of Quito attested in official documents to the miraculous completion of the Statue by St. Francis of Assisi and the three Archangels – St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael – and presided over the anointing of the solemn consecration of the Statue in the Church of the Royal Convent of the Immaculate Conception on February 2, 1611. The devotion and apparitions were also authorized and promoted by the next Bishop of Quito, Pedro de Oviedo, who governed the Diocese from 1630 to 1646.

A prayer to the Our Lady of Good Success has the imprimatur of a bishop, Carlos Maria, archbishop of Quito, who provided it in 1941 as a partial approval.

Of course, Church approval of apparitions does not require our belief in them; by granting approval, the Church only says that there is no reason not to believe them. But whether you believe or not, it is certain that the world looks very similar to the description presented to Mother Mariana by Our Lady of Good Success. And if you can look at the world today and not see a need for increased prayer and penance, then I suggest you are not paying attention!

I don’t know which prayer is the one approved by the Archbishop of Quito in 1941, but there is a novena to Our Lady of Good Counsel here, which contains many prayers.

The collect for the Feast of the Purification is:

Almighty and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that as thy Only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts.

As I said in yesterday’s post, it seems like a good idea to pray for purification of both our own hearts, and for the purification of the Church and society. It’s time to up the ante and increase our prayers and penances, even if it isn’t quite Lent yet!

As far as increasing our prayers, here are some suggestions:

If you don’t already attend daily Mass, consider attending at least one Mass during the week specifically in reparation for the sins of the Church.

If you don’t already pray some form of the Liturgy of the Hours…start. There are on-line helps, and you can add a little at a time – such as praying only Morning and/or Evening prayer.

If you don’t already pray the Rosary daily…start.

I think those are the basics, because they are the most powerful and efficacious prayers in the Church – the Mass, the Divine Office, and the Rosary.

Pray. Fast. Give alms.