Curious it is that, among apparitions and locutions recently ruled upon by the Vatican, several occurred during the mid-to-late 1940s, the period at the end of or just after the Second World War, a pivotal period in global history characterized by seismic shifts in political, social, and economic landscapes: Not just the aftermath of World War II but great cultural evolutions and the onset of the Cold War, which collectively shaped the modern world.
One apparition that occurred at that time but has not yet been publicly discerned by the Vatican (under its new norms for mysticism) was in a town called Heroldsbach in war-ravaged Germany itself–not so far from Nuremberg, where Nazis were tried.
Once more, it featured children. Once more, there were conflicting views on it from the Church. And once more–like approved and unapproved cases alike–there were solar phenomena.
It was on October 8, 1949 (day after the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary) that the alleged apparitions of Heroldsbach began. As described in fascinating detail by Marian expert Joseph Michael Rizzi, in a recent book called Queen of Roses: four young girls were picking up sticks and leaves for an art class (this just after Mass) when they suddenly saw large green letters—”JHS”—hovering above the treeline. The letters disappeared and in their place was a woman of supernal beauty bedecked in radiant white with “a slight wisp of hair peeking out from the gossamer veil.”
As per usual, parents and others didn’t believe the seers.
That was significant because the next day, October 9, the Virgin told the girls, in no uncertain terms—and in words equally directed at current times—”If people do not comply with my wishes, much blood will flow.”
The four girls (their number soon grew) then “saw” visions to do with the effects of Communism and Russia on the whole world, as the Blessed Mother had warned about, at Fàtima, more than thirty years before.
Mary was also to appear with the Child Jesus (as at many apparition sites) and the children–often falling into ecstatic states–were joined by several young boys who testified to seeing the same thing.
While the first apparitions occurred in front of a small clearing of birch trees, on October 13 (anniversary of the great Fàtima sun miracle), Mary began materializing on a small proximate hill, soon drawing crowds of up to ten thousand.
On December 8, another parallel to Fàtima: an appearance of Mary in the midst of inclement weather that (as on October 13, 1917), left the faithful drenched and sullied with mud. In a manner highly reminiscent of the earlier and more famous Portuguese apparitions, the throngs saw clouds move in unnatural patterns with the sun suddenly blazing through, shedding a golden luminescence on those present (as was also recorded at places of apparition such as Ghiaie di Bonate in Italy) and a dancing sun that plunged toward the earth as Mary appeared with the Child Jesus alongside a Cross and a monstrance.
This time the Blessed Mother was in royal attire with a crown on her head and such effulgence that the children were left to gape in awe.
Again, as at Fàtima, the clothes of those in attendance dried inexplicably.
“Yes,” Mary told the children in March, “I was assumed into Heaven bodily but I am still the Handmaid [of the Lord].“
On February 2 there was this message: “Dear children, do not allow yourselves to be caught by the devil. If he tells you to stop praying, do not believe him! He only wants to lead you astray. When you are in danger, call on me! I will protect you, as long as you live. You will have to suffer much until you will be with me in Heaven.” (“Dear children” is also the way the Virgin Mary greets seers at Medjugorje in Hercegovina.)
There were explosions of light. There was the appearance of a dove. The children saw Jesus holding a globe. During subsequent years, hundreds of other apparitions and associated miracles (including visions of saints like Cecilia and Anthony of Padua), of biblical figures, angels, and—as at the recently approved apparitions called Rosa Mystica in Italy—the deceased seers Jacinta and Francisco Marto of Fàtima.
As at the controversial site of Garabandal in Spain, the seers would pick up religious articles and lift them up to the Virgin to bless.
On the following April 13, the girls received a secret message that has never been revealed. This of course–secrets–is also a commonality.
Controversy?
When, later, the girls refused to sign a declaration demanded by the local hierarchy stating that they had made it all up, they were “excommunicated” even though, technically, a person of their age—under fifteen—could not be excommunicated). They were also refused entry into a convent they wanted to join.
They were suffering trials Mary had warned them about.
And though the official, negative status of the apparitions remains, “the local hierarchy has gently changed its stance toward the apparitions,” writes Rizzi. “The apparition site continues to draw thousands of people every year.”
Will the Vatican clarify this apparition, as it has been doing–so swiftly–elsewhere?
Stay tuned.
[Footnote: During the famous exorcisms of a woman named Annaliese Michel, about which a major movie was made, the demon allegedly remarked that hell was “particularly pleased that Heroldsbach has not been recognized by the Church.”]
[Footnote: The Virgin of Heroldsbach allegedly said apparitions of her claimed in Marienfried, Germany, were true. More on this soon.]
[resources: Queen of the Roses]