OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS :Prophetic revelations made to Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres

[Dawn Marie]

Prophetic revelations made to Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres

 

This article is based on excerpts taken from the 18th Century manuscript entitled The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana of Jesus Torres, written by Prior Manuel de Souza Pereira, Franciscan Provincial in Quito, Ecuador and director of the Convent Mother Mariana founded. This manuscript was written a century after her death. Mother Mariana is linked mysteriously to our times by the visions Our Lady showed her of the 20th Century over 350 years ago. This apparition has been approved by the Church and Mother Mariana has been declared Venerable in the first step towards her canonization.

On January 16, 1635, surrounded by her community and her Franciscan confessors, Mother Mariana made a solemn profession of Faith, and then asked, as a last favor, to die on the ground, in imitation of her Seraphic Father, St. Francis. After receiving Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, she foretold the exact hour of her death: 3 p.m. Just before she died, she read her last will and testament, a moving testimony that gave her daughters inestimable advice about the religious life along with many prophecies concerning the order. At its end, she turned to the priests: "My fathers and sisters, the time has come for me to depart; recommend my soul to God with the appropriate prayers. I thank you for everything. Always, I beseech you, have this convent and your sisters in your care. I die, as I was born, joyously and peacefully in the arms of my mother, the Seraphic Order." Two tears rolled down her cheek, she sighed, and with an angelic smile, that blessed soul left her body.

After death, her body remained flexible, her complexion rosy, and the charming smile on her face gave her every appearance of being alive. During the wake, the sight of a blind girl was restoredwhen a flower from the crown that encircled Mother Mariana's head was touched to the her eyes.

In 1906, during the remodeling of the Convent, her three-century old tomb was opened. They discovered the body of Mother Mariana de Jesus whole and incorrupt, complete with her habit and the articles of penance that had been placed in the tomb with her. An exquisite aroma of lilies emanated from her whole body. Thus God preserves some of his saints who practice heroic virtue and maintain holy chastity in their earthly lives.

Mother Mariana possessed the gift of discernment of spirits, which Our Dear Lord so often gives to founders of religious orders. Since she could read the hearts of her daughters, she would comfort them, telling them how to progress in the spiritual life and explain how it was necessary to die to oneself in order to practice real virtue. She repeatedly warned them to guard the common life of the Convent and obey the Rule. When prayer and community life are wanting, she said, everything falls short, for the religious without prayer is like a soldier without arms in combat. She told them to be patient in their sicknesses, since illnesses are the best and most meritorious penances, which free souls from illusions, vanity and pride. She especially warned her daughters to guard against that "cursed human respect, which makes one ask: 'What will others say about this?'" Instead, she counseled that they should guide their lives in the cloisters according to the norms of the Gospel and ground themselves firmly on the strong foundation of humility.

Let us consider some of the revelations that Mother Mariana was blessed to receive from Our Lord and Our Lady.

Instructions and Advice

Our Lady: "Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of honors and human greatness while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which in religious houses destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of religious virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like simplicity which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me, their Mother.

"Remember the words of the Royal Prophet: 'How marvelous are the works of the Lord!' Be convinced of this truth; teach and impress your daughters both living and those to come that they should love their divine vocations. Reveal to them the glorious place that God and I are saving for those who belong to Us, our heirs.

"Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents! Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the earth is aware whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents.

"O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!"

Our Ladyemphasized the importance of the Sacrament of Penance and the important role of priests: "See and contemplate the grandeur of this restoring and life-giving Sacrament of Penance, so forgotten and even scorned by ungrateful men, who in their foolish madness, do not realize that it is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence. What is most grievous is that even the ministers of My Most Holy Son do not give to it the value that they should, viewing with cold indifference this valuable and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing. O, alas! If priests were given to see directly that which you are now contemplating and were enlightened with the Light that now illuminates you, they would then recognize this gift!..."

Our Lord: "For in all times I have need of valiant souls to save My Church and the prevaricating world." Our Lord also made Mother Mariana understand more clearly than ever before that devotion to the Passion, to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady constitutes the support and mainstay of religious communities.

"Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the earth, the masters of truth, and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the rigor of the punishments..."(During the 41 years of St. John Vianney's ministry at Ars, France, no damage was ever done by storms.)

He also assured Mother Mariana that He was greatly pleased by those souls who take upon themselves the sublime task of suffering for the sanctification of the Clergy by means of their prayers, sacrifices and penances, and promised such souls a special glory in Heaven.

The ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His Heart, would compel Him "to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters – and even over cities – when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful." Imprudent admissions and internal abuses permitted by superiors are the ruin of communities. "Such communities can only be preserved – while they exist – at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of the religious who are good. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of calamity! Weep for them, beloved spouse, and implore that the time of so much suffering will be shortened." He warned her that the Chastisement would be severe for those religious who squandered the many graces with their pride and vainglory to secure positions of power and rank and He especially condemned the lukewarm religious.

Mother Mariana saw that the greatest interior torments of the Sacred Heart were the ingratitude and indifferenceof those souls who, chosen among millions to be His spouses and ministers, left Him in the most absolute solitude. And this despite the fact that in the Holy Sacrament, He would live under the same roof with His spouses and come into the hand of His priests at the simple call of their voices at the most solemn moment of the Consecration.

Prophecies

Our Lady prophesied that at the end of the 19th Century and especially in the 20th Century that Satan would reign almost completely by the means of the Masonic sect. The Queen of Heaven told Mother Mariana that this battle would reach its most acute stage because of various unfaithful religious, who, "under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, would turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast." "During this time," she continued, "insomuch as this poor country will lack the Christian spirit, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction will be little esteemed. Many people will die without receiving it – either because of the negligence of their families or their false sentimentality that tries to protect the sick from seeing the gravity of their situations, or because they will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength they need to make that great leap from time to eternity..." "As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin, encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until if reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. The effects of secular education will increase, which will be one reason for the lack of priestly and religious vocations..."

"The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. ...The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church...."

"Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent."

"But know, beloved daughter, that when your name is made known in the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe, claiming that this devotion is not pleasing to God...A simple humble faith in the truth of My apparitions to you, My predilect child, will be reserved for humble and fervent souls docile to the inspirations of grace, for Our Heavenly Father communicates His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied with empty knowledge."

During this time, Our Lady foretold, "the secular Clergy will leave much to be desired because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer during this dark night! Lacking a Prelate and Father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of My hour."

"Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an end those Ominous times, sending to this Church the Prelate who will restore the spirit of its priests."

On December 8, 1634, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, three archangels and their Queen appeared to Mother Mariana. St. Gabriel was carrying a Ciborium filled with Hosts which Our Lady explained: "This signifies the Most August Sacrament of the Eucharist, which will be distributed by my Catholic priests to faithful Christians belonging to the Holy Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose visible head is the Pope, the King of Christianity. His pontifical infallibility will be declared a dogma of the Faith by the same Pope chosen to proclaim the dogma of the Mystery of My Immaculate Conception. He will be persecuted and imprisoned in the Vatican by the unjust usurpation of the Pontifical States through the iniquity, envy and avarice of an earthly monarch." This holy Pope was Blessed Pius IX, who fulfilled every prediction made by Our Lady. His body, being exhumed for beatification in 2000, was found miraculously preserved in the tomb where it had lain for more than a century. His face still showed a striking serenity in death.

Another most interesting prophecy of Our Lady: "In the 19th Century there will be a truly Catholic president, a man of character whom God Our Lord will give the palm of martyrdom on the square adjoining this Convent. He will consecrate the Republic to the Sacred Heart of My Most Holy Son, and this consecration will sustain the Catholic Religion in the years that will follow, which will be ill-fated ones for the Church. These years, during which the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government – will see a cruel persecution of all religious communities, and they will also strike out violently against this one of mine."

The "truly Catholic" president of Ecuador, Gabriel Garcia Moreno (1821-1875), consecrated the republic to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1873. Pope Pius IX paid him tribute as a man who had died "the death of a martyr...a victim to his Faith and Christian charity." Gabriel Moreno's incorrupt heart and the famous painting of Our Lady of Quito can be seen in the Cathedral of Quito. 

Conclusion

We are living in a time of the great crisis of Faith and morals as prophesied by Our Lady. The confusion is of such magnitude that it is not only subverting the temporal sphere, but also penetrates the walls of the Church itself. Indeed, as Our Lady prophesied, the corruption of customs has become general and the precious light of Faith almost extinct. Yet the message of Our Lady of Good Success ends with a note of great hope: When everything will seem lost and paralyzed, that will be "the happy beginning of the complete restoration. This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss." It is the promise echoed by Our Lady again at Fatima in 1917: "In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph."

Thus it seems opportune to turn to Our Lady of Good Success and invoke Her, begging for every good success – both temporal and spiritual. It is the moment to ask for her orientation and certainty amid this storm, and the courage and strength to keep aloft the standard of the Faith.

Finally, let us pray that Our Lady will intervene quickly to restore the Church and society, so that she may reassume her throne and reign again in glory as Queen of all the earth.

 

www.olrl.org/prophecy/

Our Lady of Good Success

(Prophecies for Our Times)

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Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of Fatima: Prophecies for Our Times

Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D. ORIGINAL SOURCE An excellent book, highly recommended---link to book if you wish to purchase it  HERE 

At the end of the 16th century, Our Lady appeared to a Conceptionist sister from Quito, Equador, then colony of the Spanish Crown, under the title of Our Lady of Good Success and commanded that a statue be made. She desired this to do a great good not only for the convent and the Ecuadorian nation, but for the entire West, and even the whole world. She desired this because the convent would stand in special need of her protection in those early days of the Colony, but also because She desired to intervene during a great crisis in the Church and society that would occur in the 20th century.

Our Lady of Good Success: clearly the Queen of the Reign of Mary

The queenly image of Our Lady of Good Success, with its stately majesty and supernatural air, is no ordinary statue. It was miraculously completed by the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael in the year 1611. Readers who have been following the story in the Catholic Family News know the beautiful story, and others can find it in my book entitled Our Lady of Good Success, Prophecies for Our Times.

It also tells the amazing story of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (1563-1635) who offered her sufferings and life for the crisis in the Church she was given to see that would occur in the 20th century. Mother Mariana was a Conceptionist sister who traveled from Spain to the New World at age 13 to help to found the Royal Convent of the Immaculate Conception (a Franciscan branch) in Quito. Favored with many singular gifts from heaven, this chosen soul was given to know many future events, especially the situation of the Church in our days.

This is not the place to tell about her extraordinary life and the many trials and sufferings she underwent. Rather, what I would like to do here is tell some of the prophecies revealed to her that concern our own times and show how they harmonize perfectly with the better-known prophecies that Our Lady made at Fatima in 1917.

Our Lady told Mother Mariana that in our lamentable times, heresies would abound, the corruption of manners and customs would be almost complete and the light of the Faith would be nearly extinguished. To atone for the many blasphemies and abuses and to hasten the day of the triumphant restoration, this 17th-century religious was asked to become an expiatory victim for our times. Thus, in a special way, the vocation of Mother Mariana links her to the crisis in the Church and society that few would deny that we are witnessing today.

Ten years ago I made a pilgrimage to see the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success, and came upon a 500-page biography of Mother Mariana written 100 years after her death by the Franciscan Provincial Fr. Manuel Souza Pereira, who himself died in the odor of sanctity. He based his work on the documents of the convent archives, the autobiography written by Mother Mariana herself that received the approbation of the 10th bishop of Quito, Most Rev. Pedro de Oviedo, and the biography of Franciscan provincial Fr. Louis Catena, who wrote her life shortly after her death.

After Vatican II, the Rules and religious habits changed, and vocations dwindled

I translated the work of Fr. Pereira to English [now available in two volumes]. As I progressed with the work, I was amazed to find that Our Lady, in a three-centuries-old approved apparition, was addressing the problems of our own days. There is absolutely no way that a Spanish religious in the 1600s could have had any idea of what would be occurring in our century. But there it all was: Our Lady warned Mother Mariana that the Sacraments would be abused and set aside, that vocations would perish because of poor formation and education in Catholic schools and monasteries, that impurity would inundate the streets like filthy ocean waters so that “there would be almost no virgin souls.”

But there is an even more profound link to the Fatima message. Our Lady told Mother Mariana that her name would only become known at the end of the 20th century. The 3rd secret of Fatima was supposed to be revealed to the world in 1960. Mysteriously, it was not. In 1960 Pope John XXIII gave the incomprehensible message in direct contradiction to the command of Mother of God: "Questo non è per i nostri tempi." ["This matter is not for our times."] For "the good of the Church and the welfare of mankind," until now the three popes who have followed him have followed his example, rather than the command from the Heavenly Queen.

However, the message of Our Lady of Quito warns repeatedly of a crisis in the Church and the clergy – both secular and regular. Could this be the third part of the message of 1917, still not revealed today: the apostasy in the clergy, the general extinguishing of the light of Faith, a conspiracy against the Church, the dominion of Satan? In my view, Fatima and Quito form, as Atila Sinke Guimarães notes in his foreword to my book, "two sides of the same gothic arch. It is the message of the Queen of the Universe for Catholics in our present day conjuncture."

Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success & Our Lady of Fatima

A prophet is a person with a message for the future, an intercessor with Heaven who begs man's cooperation with grace. When God sent Prophets in the Old Testament it was to remind men to come back to the truth. In the 20th century Our Lord has sent His Mother, the Queen of Prophets: "Go to earth and destroy heresies." The Fathers of the Church have written Our Lady is the hammer of heresies.

I believe that if you study message of Our Lady of Fatima, you will find the call for conversion and prayer - especially the Rosary - but also many warnings against the heresies and errors of our times. Our Lady at Quito confirms these warnings of Fatima almost 300 years before in a very descriptive and open way to the humble Conceptionist sister in Quito, Ecuador.

In this first part I plan to highlight certain similarities that struck me in the stories of Quito and Fatima that will end with a few of the prophecies relating to the crisis in the Church.

1. Need for expiatory victims

We are approaching the end of the 20th century, the century of man, who has embraced every pleasure and adopted the maxim of the Revolution of the 60s: It is only forbidden to forbid. It is appropriate that the messages of Fatima and Quito speak to man of the need for expiatory victims and the love of the Cross.

Our Lady of Fatima: her message confirms Our Lady of Good Success

It is very interesting for me to see that at the very first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, Our Lady asks the children, "Do you want to offer yourselves to God to endure all the sufferings He may choose to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended and as a supplication for the conversion of sinners?" She asks for man's cooperation in the divine plan, and the children agreed. Lucia said, "Yes, we do." "Then you are going to suffer a great deal, but the grace of God will be your comfort."

Likewise, at Quito, Our Lady asked the cooperation of Mother Mariana in her great mission that connects us to our days.

In 1582, when Mother Mariana was praying before the Blessed Sacrament, for the first time she was given to see the heresy, blasphemy and impurity that would inundate the world as punishment in the 20th century. Our Lady asked her: “My daughter, will you sacrifice yourself for the people of this time?” Mother Mariana replied, “I am willing.” From the violence of the shock of previewing the horrors of our day, Mother Mariana fell dead. Historic and documented evidence record that this holy religious truly died in 1582 and resurrected. Before the divine tribunal, she was given the choice to remain in heaven or return to suffer in the world. Following the example of Our Lady, who left the glories of heaven to protect her children during those difficult first years of the fledgling Church, Mother Mariana chose to return to life to expiate for the great sins of our times.

It seems there is also a special message for us in the way the children of Fatima and Mother Mariana accepted and embraced the cross. The mystery of cross is such a very special grace that Eternal Wisdom only bestows it on His best friends. "It is a greater happiness for St. Peter" writes St. John Chrysostom, "to be imprisoned for Jesus Christ than to be with Him in His glory on Mt. Thabor; it is a greater glory for him to wear his prisoner's chains than to bear in his hands the keys to Paradise."

Eternal Wisdom tells us that the number of fools is infinite. That is, St. Louis de Montfort says, because the number of those who do not know the value of the Cross is infinite, and they carry it despite themselves. You should thrill with joy, he says, because the cross you carry is a gift so precious, it would arouse the envy for the Blessed if they were capable of envy (Love of Eternal Wisdom, p. 97).

2. The existence of Hell

The First Secret of Fatima breaks the myth, the lie of 20th century, that hell does not exist. On July 13, 1917, Our Lady told three children, ages 10, 8,7, to "pray, pray very much because many souls go to Hell.

Jacinta after she had seen Hell

Then she opened Her hands and showed the three children a hole in the ground, a place. That hole, said Lucy, was like a sea of fire in which we saw the souls of human forms, men and women, burning, shouting, and crying in despair." Mary said to the children: "You have seen Hell where sinners go when they do not repent." A Roman Catholic dogma: The existence of Hell.

During her life, Mother Mariana begged Our Lord to save the soul of an insubordinate sister in the convent. He agreed that this rebellious sister would be saved, although she would be required to remain in purgatory until the end of the world. In recompense, Mother Mariana had to suffer five years on earth the pains of hell. For five years, she suffered all the tortures of the senses reserved for souls in that terrible place and the most intense suffering of the sense of the loss of God.

It seems very clear that Our Lady wanted 20th century man to realize, in face of the "theories" of universal salvation of von Balthasar - who has had enormous influence on the post conciliar Popes and our present John Paul II - that hell exists: it is a place, and it is not empty.

3. The almost complete breakdown of customs

During Jacinta's stay at the orphanage of Our Lady of Miracles in Lisbon in 1920, Our Lady told her, "The sins that lead more souls to hell are the sins of the flesh." There were other prophecies She revealed to the little girl: "Styles will come that will offend Our Lord very much. Persons who serve God should not follow the styles. The Church does not have styles. Our Lord is always the same." She said that the sins of impurity would be so great there would be almost no virgin souls. She said that many marriages are not good, that they do not please Our Lord and are not of God. Finally, Jacinta repeated continually to Lucia and Mother Godinho: "Pray much for priests and religious. Priests should be pure, very pure!"

Over the altar in the Conceptionist Covent in Quito

Three centuries before, in Quito, Ecuador, on Jan. 20, 1610, Our Lady appeared carrying a crozier in Her right hand and her Divine Son in her left arm so that "all will know that I am merciful and understanding. Let them come to me, for I will lead them to Him." She told Mother Mariana that in the twentieth century "the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times." Obviously she is speaking of the secular humanist revolution about which so much has been written that has completely invaded the secular as well as religious institutions of our times.

(It is surprising to see Our Lady referring to the Masonic sect already at the beginning of the 17th century. It was only in the 17th century that Freemasonry generally looks for the first emergence of the structure that has filtered down to us today. However Freemasonry was closely connected to the Rosicrusianism and can be traced even to sects that existed in the Middle Ages.)

Our Lady continued, describing the abuses that would attack each of the Sacraments: "Woe to the children of these times because it will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism and also that of Confirmation." She warned that the devil would assiduously try to destroy the sacrament of Confession and Holy Communion. She lamented the many sacrileges and abuses of the Blessed Sacrament that would occur. The Sacrament of Extreme Unction would be little esteemed and many people would die without receiving it, thus denied assistance they would need for that "great leap from time to Eternity."

The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders would be ridiculed, oppressed and despised. The demon would labor unceasingly to corrupt the clergy and would succeed with many of them. And these "depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous sufferings upon the good pastors of the Church."

The hippie revolution ushered in free love and a breakdown of morals

About the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, she said this: "Masonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin. … The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs.

In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury that would conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent.”

This forewarning resounds loudly in the ears of those who have followed the Fatima apparitions: “In this supreme moment of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent.” It is impossible not to ask: Why was the third secret of Fatima not revealed in 1960 according to the mandate of the Queen of Heaven? Why have the conciliar and post-conciliar popes remained silent in face of the command of Heaven? Further, in face of so many blasphemies and blatant abuses - which you can see in a very vivid way on the firm the video recently released by the Spirit of Chartres Pilgrimage Committee titled "What We Have Lost" - why have so many persons in places of authority remained silent?

Where is the healthy reaction to so many violations against tradition, the Magisterium and even basic common good sense?

The crisis in the Church

Finally we arrived at one of the most important apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success to Mother Mariana in 1634, a year before her death. As Mother Marian prayed before the Blessed Sacrament on Feb. 2 (the Feast of the Purification - Presentation), she saw the sanctuary light extinguish itself, leaving the altar place completely dark. This is significant in itself for those of us today who have reason to believe that, in fact, in many churches across the world the Tabernacle light has, quite literally, been extinguished.

Our Lady then explained the five meanings of the Tabernacle light that had been extinguished before her eyes. The first meaning: "At the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, various heresies will be propagated in this land. … As these heresies spread and dominate, the precious light of Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of customs. During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private."

However, there would be souls, She promised, who would remain faithful and would preserve the treasure of the Faith and virtues. But these would suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. “In order to free men from bondage to these heresies, those chosen by Most Holy Son to effect the restoration will need great strength of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions where all will seem to be lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”

These chosen souls, who will restore the health of the Church, seem to be very similar to the apostles of the latter times predicted by St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort.

Youth in blue jeans dance during a Mass at Lourdes, 2006

The second meaning: The crisis in the clergy, both secular and regular. Many vocations would be lost, and injustice and iniquity would enter the convents and monasteries under the guise of "false charity, wreaking havoc in souls." "The secular clergy," She said, "will leave much to be desired because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain.

“How the Church will suffer during this dark night! …[ Lacking a prelate and father to guide them with paternal love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their spirit, placing their souls in great danger.”]

The third meaning: Impurity will permeate the atmosphere and there will almost no virgin souls in the world. I have already mentioned this prophecy, so will continue on to the next.

The fourth meaning: "Masonic sects, having infiltrated all the social classes, would subtly introduce its teaching into domestic ambiences in order to corrupt the children," She warned. It is the invasion of the secular humanism of Freemasonry and the errors of Communism. But Our Lady promised that there would be "religious communities and individuals who would labor with valor and disinterested zeal for the salvation of souls. Against them, the impious would rage cruel wars."

The fifth meaning is quite interesting: Our Lady said, "The fifth reason that the lamp was extinguished is due to the laxity and the negligence of those who possess great wealth who will indifferently stand by and witness the Church being oppressed, virtue being persecuted, and the triumph of the demon, without piously employing their riches for the destruction of this evil and the restoration of the Faith."

The Queen of Heaven also noted that this quenching of the Tabernacle light was also due to the indifference of the people in allowing the Name of God to be gradually extinguished and in adhering to the spirit of evil, freely delivering themselves to the vices and passions.

Fatima and Quito: Messages that confirm each other

It seems to me an opportune moment for this story of Our Lady of Good Success and Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres to become better known to the English-speaking public. For there, just as She did at Fatima, she asked for prayer and sacrifice to make amends for the many outrages and abuses of this unhappy century. But also, at Quito, just as She did at Fatima, she assures us of her fortunate intervention and triumph.

A profound sadness in the gaze of Our Lady of Fatima: Our Lady of the Chastisement

For the message of Our Lady of Good Success is, like that of Our Lady at Fatima, a message of great hope. She promised a band of stalwart souls filled with confidence who would help to effect the happy Restoration. She promised Her intercession at the very moment when the evil will appear triumphant and when the authority abuses her power. This would mark, as She said, “the arrival of my hour, when, in a marvelous way, I will dethrone the proud and accursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss.” These words harmonize perfectly with the message of hope Our Lady delivered to the three children at Fatima in 1917: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”

This is the secret for success of the Counter-revolution: to be convinced of the victory Our Lady promised. It is not sufficient to merely maintain a firm resolution to suffer… it is necessary to have something that is both more onerous while more suave. It is to maintain the conviction that in the end the things will end up succeeding.

To become worthy of the success, the victory that Our Lady predicted, we need a supernatural confidence. We need to be entirely convinced of that victory - the promise of Our Lady at Fatima in 1917: "In the End My immaculate Heart will Triumph." We need to be completely convinced of the happy restoration: the words of Our Lady at Quito in 1634: “To test this faith and confidence of the just, there will be occasions where all will seem to be lost and paralyzed. This, then, will be the happy beginning of the complete restoration.”

A final consideration

It seems to me that gazing on the countenance of Our Lady of Fatima, we see Our Lady of the Chastisement. Her maternal gaze looks down with a great mercy, but also a profound sadness, on a suffering humanity, an agonizing mankind. Lucia recounts that by the 3rd apparition, Our Lady had begun to reveal the sadness in her soul. In the last apparition, Lucia recounted, with an even sadder expression, She said, "Let them offend Our Lord no more, for He is already much offended." In this face, we see the prophet of the chastisement.

Our Lady promised her triumph

Our Lady of Good Success appears maternal but triumphant. The mother - and the queen. Her gaze assures us of the final victory and triumph of the Immaculate heart of Jesus and Mary, the "happy restoration" when they will rule again as King and Queen in the spiritual and temporal spheres.

She is clearly the Queen of the Reign of Mary. She assures us in the moment of the great trial, the chastisement, of Her victory. She enheartens us that although it be difficult, our way is the correct way. She enlivens us to pray and to fight for that confidence, that peace, that victory still to come in our days. She invites us to fulfill the prophetic role, however small it might be, that She has for us in the achievement of this victory.

It seems an opportune moment for this story of Our Lady of Good Success and Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres to become better known to the English-speaking public. The reader will also be interested to know that Our Lady of Good Success promised “consolation and preservation to those faithful souls” who foster this devotion to her during the 20th century, for it is Her desire and that of Her Divine Son that She be known now under this invocation so filled with promise: Our Lady of Good Success.

May all who have recourse to her under this title feel her maternal goodness and receive “good success” in all their good endeavors and needs. May knowledge of this devotion hasten the day when she will be known and honored everywhere as Queen of Heaven and Earth as She has prophesied - In Quito and in Fatima.

Source

[William N Conti]

Thank You for sharing this wonderful story. What a true blessing this is for me.

[Dawn Marie]

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.  Praying God be with you on your journey and the angels guide and protect you+

[Yolanda Gurries]

I will be making a Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Good Success towards the end of January. I will keep the Crusaders in my prayers.
In JMJ,
Yolanda

[Cathleen]

Thanks, DM