Nuestra Señora del / Our Lady of Quito, Ecuador (1534) and Memorials of the Saints – 28 April

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter +2021

Nuestra Señora del / Our Lady of Quito, Ecuador (1534) – 28 April:

This miraculous image of Our Lady of Quito currently in the Capital City of Ecuador ,is said to date from the first Spanish settlement there in the year 1534. At the very least, it has certainly been venerated there for a long time and is popularly called ,by the people of Quito, Our Lady of the Earthquake. The painting represents the Sorrowful Mother and in the early years of the twentieth century, devotion to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Quito was introduced into England ,by the Servite Friars in London. Saint Pius X accorded them an indulgence for those who should pray before her picture, and the devotion was greatly promoted in England by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, Mother Cornelia Connelly’s congregation. The original image at Quito was solemnly crowned in 1918.
On 20 April 1906, thirty-six boys attending the boarding school of the Jesuit Fathers at Quito, Ecuador, together with Father Andrew Roesch, witnessed a miracle of this famous picture of Our Lady. While in the refectory they all saw the Blessed Mother slowly open and shut her eyes. The same miracle occurred no less than seven times after that, in favour of the boys at the school but this time, in the Chapel to which the picture had been taken.

Ecclesiastical authorities soon investigated these incidents and finally concluded by ordering the picture to be transferred, in procession from the college to the Church of the Jesuit Fathers. Once at the Church, the miracle was repeated several times before large crowds and many, many conversions took place because of these miracles. At one time, the wonder continued for three consecutive days. At Riobamba, before a faithful reproduction of Our Lady of Quito, the same wonder was seen by more than 20 persons, including the president of the City. In Quito this picture is known as the Dolorosa del Colegio.

A Conceptionist Sister, named Mother Mariana de Jesús Torres received Marian apparitions under this title from 2 February 1594 to 2 February 1634. In 1611, the local Bishop gave his approval to the apparitions.

Our Lady appeared to Mother Mariana and predicted many things about our own times. This following, is part of what she told her. We can see for ourselves how it relates directly to our own time.
“…. I make it known to you, that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century…. the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs (morals)….
“They will focus principally on the children, in order to sustain this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism and also, that of Confirmation…
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony… it will be attacked and deeply profaned… The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of the Faith will gradually be extinguished… Added to this, will be the effects of secular education, which will be one reason for the dearth of priestly and religious vocations.
“The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised… The Devil will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will labour with cruel and subtle astuteness, to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them. These depraved priests, who will scandalise the Christian people, will make the hatred of bad Catholics and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church ,fall upon all priests…
“Further, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury, which will ensnare the rest ,into sin and 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, the one who should speak will fall silent.” In a subsequent apparition, Our Lady told Mother Mariana that these apparitions were not to become generally known until the twentieth century.

On 8 December 1634, the apparition predicted that Papal 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.” In 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX defined the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception and in 1870, he declared the Dogma of Papal Infallibility as defined by the First Vatican Council.

Mother Mariana died on 16 January 1635, shortly after the last apparition. When her tomb was reopened in 1906, her body was found to be perfectly incorrupt, after nearly 300 years in an ordinary, unprotected, wooden coffin. The Archdiocese of Quito opened her cause for Canonisation in 1986 and finished the Diocesan stage of the process ,in 1997.

St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) (Optional Memorial)
The Wondrous St Louis!:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/saint-of-the-day-28-april-st-louis-marie-grignion-de-montfort-1673-1716/

St Peter Chanel SM (1803-1841) Priest of the Society of Mary (Marists), Missionary, Martyred aged 37 Protomartyr of Oceania (Optional Memorial)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/saint-of-the-day-28-april-st-peter-chanel/

St Adalbero of Augsburg
St Agapio of Cirtha
St Artemius of Sens

Blessed Itala Mela ObSB (1904–1957)
Her life:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/28/saint-of-the-day-28-april-blessed-itala-mela-obsb-1904-1957/

St Benedict of the Bridge
St Cronan of Roscrea
St Cyril of Turov
Bl Gerard of Bourgogne
St Gianna Beretta Molla (1922-1962)

Bl Hanna Helena Chrzanowska OSB (1902-1973)
Bl Józef Cebula
Bl Luchesius

Blessed María Felicia of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament / Guggiari Echeverría OCD (1925-1959)
Her Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/28/saint-of-the-day-28-april-blessed-maria-felicia-of-jesus-in-the-blessed-sacrament-ocd-1925-1959-the-lily-of-paraguay/

St Mark of Galilee
St Pamphilus of Sulmona
St Prudentius of Tarazona
St Vitalis of Ravenna (Died c 171) Martyr, Layman

—
Martyrs of Alexandia:
Didymus
Theodora

Martyrs of Durostorum:
Dada
Maximus
Quintilian

Martyrs of Languedoc:
Agapius
Aphrodisius
Caralippus
Eusebius

Martyrs of Laon:
Germaine
Probe

Martyrs of Larino:
Alexander
Firmianus
Primianus
Tellurius

Martyrs of Nicomedia:
Caralampo
Eusebius

Martyrs of Prusa:
Acacius
Menander
Patritius
Polyenus

Martyrs of Ravenna:
St Ursicinus
St Valeria
St Vitalis (see above)

Martyrs of Vietnam:
Gioan Baotixta Ðinh Van Thành
Phaolô Pham Khac Khoan
Phêrô Nguyen Van Hien

Pilgrims of Gallinaro:
Arduin
Bernhard
Gerard
Hugh