Marian apparition

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Stained glass window depicting the apparition of the Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette in the Grotto of Massabielle

In Apparitions is vision in which witnesses report that they Maria , the mother of Jesus had appeared. Alleged Marian apparitions are attested for the entire Christian era. Already James the Elder , one of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth , Jesus' mother said to have appeared on 2 January of the year 40 AD in Zaragoza, Spain. Of the hundreds of reports of apparitions that are said to have occurred over the centuries, only very few are ecclesiastically recognized. Churches, monasteries and places of pilgrimage can often develop in places with Marian apparitions .

phenomenon

Up until the end of the late Middle Ages , it was mostly men and among them mostly clerics to whom Mary is said to have appeared. As early as the 11th century, however, there was already the motif of the simple woman in literature , who was given a special experience in the form of a vision . In the 18th century, which was shaped by the Enlightenment, the number of reports of Marian apparitions decreased. In the 19th century, however, the number increased again against the background of a renewal of the Catholic Church and a stronger emphasis on emotional piety. The cult of the Virgin Mary was at the center of the new piety. The historian David Blackbourn , who examined the Marpinger apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the second half of the 19th century, among other things , has shown on the basis of a series of ecclesiastically approved and unapproved apparitions that the seers of the 19th century have characteristics such as a life of dependence, rough treatment, early separation from the family or loss of a parent, an outsider and, in the majority of cases, depressing poverty are common. For many of the seers the appearance therefore meant emotional support and consolation. Even the pious descriptions of the Marian apparitions of the 19th century have always emphasized that the seers of the great, ecclesiastically recognized Marian apparitions were members of the poorest classes. This applies to Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, the seers from La Salette , and Bernadette Soubirous from Lourdes . The nun Cathérine Labouré , who came from a petty-bourgeois and therefore materially better off situation, is one of the few exceptions.

The visionary events that the seers allegedly or actually experienced affected the lives of their fellow human beings, in some cases considerably. Accordingly, the seers often initially met with rejection and distrust. In many cases this also applied to the pastors, to whose congregation the seers belonged. On the part of their bishops, clergymen were urged to await the church examination and a decision on the apparition. Seers found a high degree of local acceptance where the pilgrimages to be expected promised the prospect of material gain. However, the presence of many pilgrims often had undesirable side effects. In particular, the intervention of the authorities could lead to an impairment of local life. French authorities threatened the residents of Lourdes with a planned railway line around Lourdes if the city did not regain its senses.

The phenomenon of the apparition of Mary occurs mostly among Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians; in isolated cases, even in supposedly unbelievers who then mostly due to this phenomenon converted . The individual reports of Marian apparitions are varied. Sometimes individual phenomena are reported that do not repeat themselves or are not known any further. More well-known are repeated apparitions of the Virgin Mary, which, if announced accordingly, can attract a large audience ( Fátima ).

The sensual perception of individual appearances is also different: in most cases, at least the people who had the first apparition of Mary can both see and hear them. Other sensory perceptions , such as a common rose smell, are also known. The messages conveyed can also be of various kinds and contain prophecies as well as encouragement in individual life crises.

There are also cases in which the apparitions of Mary were allegedly predicted and their subsequent appearance was testified by several people. It is claimed that the lack of such predictions or repeated appearances may be caused by the seers' doubts or by doubts or pronounced prohibitions by church authorities.

Scoring and assessment

Marian apparitions are viewed as miracles by many believers . Others in turn generally reject these phenomena, either as unimportant for the personal experience of faith, as charlatanism or as occultism . Of scientists , these phenomena are often called hallucination evaluated. In the meantime, however, primarily political and social scientists repeatedly refer to the specific social functions of Marian apparitions in the context of a globalized modernity . These are mostly the origin of social movements that are based on political and social resistance. In this sense, appearances have stabilizing effects on emotional bonding forces within societies.

Like all phenomena potentially wonderful origin are also apparitions of the Roman Catholic Church to its authenticity verified. For this purpose, three assessment formulas have been established:

  • constat de supernaturalitate - It is certain that it is something supernatural .
  • non constat de supernaturalitate - It is not clear whether it is supernatural or
  • constat de non supernaturalitate - It is certain that the appearances are not supernatural.

These assessments are usually issued after a thorough examination by the diocesan bishop , but can also be transferred to other authorities. Reports of Marian apparitions, including those recognized by the Church as supernatural, are not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Every Catholic is therefore free to believe in the authenticity of a Marian apparition or not.

Places of Marian apparitions

Apparitions of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church

On February 24, 1978, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith established norms for the ecclesiastical assessment of Marian and other apparitions as well as private revelations .

Awarded supernatural

Supernatural is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church: Constat de supernaturalitate ("it is certain that the apparitions are supernatural").

Supernatural not granted or doubtful

Supernatural is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church: "Constat de non supernaturalitate" ("it is certain that the apparitions are not supernatural"). Or: "Non constat de supernaturalitate" ("it is not certain whether the appearances are supernatural"):

Apparitions of Mary in the Orthodox and Coptic Churches

Apparitions of Mary are also reported in the Orthodox Churches and the Coptic Church .

Constantinople:

  • According to Russian tradition, the Slavic ascetic Andreij, also known as "Fool in God", had a vision of the Blessed Mother emerging from the doors of the chancel on October 1st in the 10th century during midnight mass in the famous Blachernen Church in Constantinople came out and prayed for a long time through tears. The servant Epiphanius also claims to have seen how she finally spread her shawl over the people present. The Russian prince Andrej Bogoljubskij († 1174) took over the legend, built the Protective Mantle Madonna (Pokrov) his own church and made October 1st her feast day throughout Russia.

Russia:

  • Kazan: On July 8, 1579, the “Theotokos” (“Theotokos”, as Mary is called in Orthodoxy) is said to have appeared to the nine-year-old girl Matrona in Kazan on the Volga. According to the report, she revealed the hiding place of a miraculous icon hidden from the Muslim Tatars. The miraculous image known as " Kazanskaya " became a symbol of Russia, and cathedrals were built in her honor in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Ukraine :

  • Pochayiv : On April 17, 1198, the "Theotokos" appeared, according to the founding legend of the Basilian monastery of Pochayiv, a group of monks who fled from the famous cave monastery of Kiev (Pecherskaya Lavra) to the caves near Ternopyl before the invasion of the Mongols , "In a pillar of fire". She is said to have left her footprint in the rock. Since then, healing effects have been attributed to water from a nearby spring, and a monastery at the apparition site has become a popular place of pilgrimage.
  • Hruschiw: On April 25, 1987, Mary is said to have appeared to the 11-year-old Marina Kisyn above the bell tower of the village church, which has been closed for 40 years. This was a place of pilgrimage more than 100 years ago because of a miraculous icon of Mary and a fountain with supposedly healing water. When the apparitions were repeated on the following days, up to 40,000 pilgrims came despite all the sabotages of the communist regime at the time. Almost all of them also want to have seen the apparition in orange-red and blue light.

Authenticity confirmed by the Coptic and Roman Catholic Patriarchs

Egypt:

  • Zeitoun : On April 2, 1968 and weeks after that, every evening there were apparitions of a "woman in white light", which hundreds of thousands of Coptic Christians and Muslims watched over the dome of the Coptic Church of St. Mary in Zeitoun. According to legend, Zeitoun is the place where the Virgin Mary rested under a sycamore on her flight to Egypt . Many miraculous healings and conversions have been reported. On May 4, 1968, the Coptic Patriarch Kyrillos VI declared. the apparitions are credible, the Catholic Patriarch Stephen I agreed with him.

Authenticity confirmed by the Coptic Patriarch

  • Assiut : On August 17, 2000, a series of Marian apparitions began over St. Numerous witnesses claim to have seen mysterious lights, doves made of light or the glowing figure of Our Lady, photos and videos are also available. The Coptic Patriarch Shenouda III. recognized the authenticity of the apparitions and referred to them as "signs of consolation" for the Christian minority in Egypt. Bishop Mina Hanna, chairman of the Assiut Council of Churches, said: “This is a blessing for both Muslims and Christians. It is a blessing for Egypt. "

literature

Web links

General

Commons : Marian apparitions  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Blackbourn, p. 32.
  2. ^ Blackbourn, pp. 62 and 63.
  3. ↑ Blackbourne, pp. 36 to 46.
  4. ↑ Blackbourne, p. 43.
  5. ↑ Blackbourne, p. 47.
  6. ↑ Elvira Maria Slade: Maria - The unknown pages of the "Mother of God" . Verlag für Reformatorische Erneuerung, Wuppertal 2003, ISBN 3-87857-318-9 .
  7. ↑ Angelika Ebrecht, 2009, Truth, Wahn and Miracle - On the psychoanalytical social psychology of religious belief in miracles using the example of Franz Werfel's novel Das Lied der Bernadette , in: gender politik online ( Memento from May 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) queried on August 28, 2009 .
  8. ↑ Norms for the Procedure for Judging Suspected Apparitions and Revelations on the Holy See's website .
  9. ↑ Recognition on May 4, 2008 , French Website .
  10. ↑ www.marienerscheinung.at
  11. ↑ Genesis ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Apparitions in Zeitoun (Eng.)
  13. ↑ comprehensive information (Engl.)
  14. ^ Published in Assiut Share International, November 2000