We have to confess a special affinity for the apparitions and messages from “Rosa Mystica” revelations in Montichiari, Italy.

In 2024, the Vatican approved the Marian apparitions, finding them to be genuine. 

But now the Church has gone a step further: on Monday (4/14/25), Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, blessed a statue of “Mary, Mystical Rose” at the Vatican.

Holy Week no less!

The statue, donated by Pope Francis, was placed in a shrine close to the Sacrament Fountain in the Vatican Gardens.

The background: In the spring of 1947, a nurse named Pierina Gilli had an unforgettable experience while praying in the chapel of the local hospital in Montichiari, which is about 320 miles north of Rome. Since the apparitions, statues of Rosa Mystica have wept around the world.

We visited it in 1991, startled to note, at the time, a large declaration hung in the church Pierina attended, stating that the apparitions had been condemned. It was the official determination, sadly, for several decades.

But that has now been fully reversed.

As far as the apparitions: Mary appeared in magnificent light, dressed in mauve and very sad, with tears that fell to the floor. Pierina noticed that Mary’s heart was pierced by three swords; the first sword meant: the unworthy celebration of Holy Mass and Communion unworthily received; the meaning of the second sword was unfaithfulness and giving up the vocation as a priest or a religious; and the third: betrayal of the Faith. Our Lady asked for “PRAYER, SACRIFICE, and PENANCE.” These were her only initial words.

But more would flow–in significant volume.

During the fourth apparition, the Virgin said, “Our Lord can no longer watch the many grievous sins against purity. He wants to send a flood of punishments. I have interceded that He may be merciful once more! Therefore, I ask for prayer and penance to atone for these sins.”

Pierina replied to Our Lady’s request with a willing “Yes” and the Blessed Mother added: “I lovingly ask the priests to express their great love and stop the people from committing those sins. Whoever will atone for those sins, will receive my blessing and graces.”

In reply to the seer’s question about forgiveness, Our Lady said: “Yes, as long as these sins are no longer committed.” It was that direct. And with these words Mary had taken leave.

A flood of punishments for what society was doing in 1947?

Compare 1947 to today.

Our Lady began appearing again to Pierina in 1966, this time in neighboring Fontanelle. These went on for years. Here, on May 13, a significant Marian date, Our Lady indicated a particular spring to Pierina as a place of purification and source of graces. As early as 1966, work began on building a sanctuary on the site, which took the form not of a church, but of an open amphitheater. On one side, there is a chapel for the celebration of the Holy Mass; on the other, a second, smaller chapel surrounding the spring indicated by the apparition.

During these apparitions, the deceased Fátima seers, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, appeared.

In 1975, her messages included these words: “As you can observe for yourself, human pride has resulted in confusing those in the highest offices of the Church. They wish to drive me, the Mother, out of the Holy Church and tear me from the children’s hearts.”

Were such words why, by the time we visited, a bishop had rejected it?

While that has been reversed, there remains an interesting matter.

In 1947, Our Lady said at one point to the seer: “I have already prepared a flood of graces for all the children who listen to my words and keep them in their hearts.” And she assured Pierina that she would return at a suitable time when a Secret entrusted to her would be “made public through the Ecclesiastical authority.”

We’ve never heard what the secret was/is.

[resources: all-time bestseller, The Final Hour]