(A rose petal containing an image of Our Lady. Image taken from The Pinoy Catholic blogspot page.)
September 14, 2015, 11:29p.m. – THE APPARITIONS of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces to a Carmelite Novice in Lipa in 1948 have been declared “worthy of belief” by Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles.
Arguelles confirmed that the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a Carmelite postulant named Teresita Castillo were credible and “supernatural in character,” overturning a 1951 investigation that declared the events fraudulent and non-supernatural.
“The events and apparition of 1948, also known as the Marian phenomenon of Lipa, and its aftermath even in recent times [does] exhibit supernatural character and is worthy of belief. I encourage the devotion to the Most Holy Mother Mary under her revered and worthy title Mediatrix of Grace,” Arguelles said in a decree dated Sept. 12.
According to an account in 1948, Castillo was in the convent garden when she saw the Mediatrix. The apparition became known in the country for the rose petals with religious images that fell within the vicinity of the monastery.
The Thomasian archbishop said the country needed the Mediatrix to change the nation. “The Mediatrix of All Grace is needed very much to bring about a true and lasting transformation in this nation whose call to be the bearer of the good news must be accomplished in its totality,” Arguelles said.
The Mediatrix is also the key to combat all kinds of wrongdoings of men, he added.
“The Philippines, called to be the humble instruments and eager companions of the star of third millennium evangelization, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, need[s] her to combat all kinds of corruption, eradicate all kinds of addictions, erase all forms of self-centeredness and oppose the culture of greed,” Arguelles said.
After the approval of Arguelles, the local prelate, the apparition will be subjected to approval of the Holy See through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Lea Mat P. Vicencio
