translated from Portuguese. You can read the original text here.
Almost 600 years after Our Lady appeared in Caravaggio, Italy, the message she left to Joaneta remains almost entirely ignored and consigned to oblivion. It is time for you to learn this story.
God, rich in mercy and omnipotent, who gently governs all things by His providence, out of a compassion that never abandons any faithful without His heavenly help, deigned one day to look upon, assist, and even honor the people of Caravaggio, Italy, with the apparition of the Virgin Mother of God.
In the year of our Lord 1432, on May 26th, at five in the afternoon, a 32-year-old woman named Joaneta, from the village of Caravaggio—daughter of Pietro Vacchie and wife of Francesco Varoli, known to all for her virtuous habits, Christian piety, and sincerely honest life—was outside the town, on the road to Misano, deeply concerned with carrying home bundles of fodder she had gone to cut for her animals.
Then Joaneta saw a most beautiful and admirable Lady descend and stand beside her—majestic in stature, with a graceful face, venerable appearance, and indescribable, unimaginable beauty, wearing a blue dress and a white veil over her head. Struck by the noble Lady’s venerable appearance, Joaneta exclaimed, “Virgin Mary!” Immediately the Lady said to her: “Do not be afraid, daughter, for it is I myself. Stop and kneel in prayer.”
Joaneta replied, “Lady, I have no time now. My horses are waiting for this fodder.” The Most Holy Virgin then said again: “Do now what I want from you…” Saying this, she placed her hand on Joaneta’s shoulder and made her kneel. She continued: “Listen carefully and remember this well, for I want you to always repeat it whenever you can, either by mouth or by having others say it…”
With tears in her eyes—which, according to Joaneta’s testimony, seemed to shine—she added: “My most high and almighty Son intended to destroy this land because of the iniquity of men, for day by day they do more evil, falling from sin to sin. But for seven years, I have implored my Son to have mercy on the sins of humanity. Therefore, I want you to tell everyone, each and every one, to fast on bread and water every Friday in honor of my Son, and that after Vespers, out of devotion to me, they should celebrate every Saturday. They must dedicate that half of the day to me in thanksgiving for the many and great favors obtained from my Son by my intercession.”
The Virgin spoke all these words with open hands, as if distressed. Joaneta then said, “People will not believe me.”
The most merciful Virgin replied, “Rise, do not fear. Tell what I have commanded you; and I will confirm your words with signs so great that no one will doubt you have spoken the truth.”
Having said this and making the sign of the cross on Joaneta, she vanished from her sight. Immediately returning to Caravaggio, Joaneta recounted all she had seen and heard. Then many—believing her—began to visit that place and found there a spring never before seen by anyone.
Sick people began to come to this spring, and later more and more, trusting in God’s power. News spread that the sick were healed of their ailments by the intercession of the glorious Virgin Mother of God and the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him, to the Father, and to the Holy Spirit be praise and glory forever for the salvation of the faithful. Amen.
When and by whom was this account written that conveys so suggestively—and with the sobriety of a Gospel—the story of the dialogue between Our Lady and the visionary Joaneta, echoing that explosion of graces that—like the spring found by the first pilgrims where the Virgin Mary appeared—has since illuminated this sacred place?
We do not know. We do know that for centuries the parchment was kept in the main sacristy of the church, and that the Bishop of Cremona, Dom Cesare Speciano, during a visit to the sanctuary on April 27, 1599, had it transcribed as the “official document” of the apparition and all that followed, including extraordinary healings. From 1932, the parchment was kept in the bishop’s chamber near the sanctuary but was later removed, and it is unclear by whom, when, or why.
Unfortunately, today it is not possible to submit this article to a paleographic analysis to deduce a more certain dating, although an internal examination of its content and style can be made.
Although classified as “ancient” by historians, the writing cannot be considered contemporary with the apparition. Then, to when does the text date? The only thing we can say for sure is that it was written before April 27, 1599, the date of Bishop Speciano’s pastoral visit.
Nonetheless, no one can fail to recognize the substantial value of this “memory”: the narrative style, the text’s maximum focus on the dialogue between Mary and the visionary, and on the “signs” characterizing the 1432 apparition; the Madonna’s tears and sorrow; the spring that burst forth at the apparition site, without unnecessary additions or devotional expansions.
The Sign of Water and the Gospel - In its own way, the spring of miracles makes the Gospel present here and now. The early witnesses understood this so well that they “recorded” the healings with evangelical phraseology:
August 10, 1432. Stefano, son of Gabriello di Zenalij, from Trevì (Treviglio), four years old, had never walked alone, as his mother attested; but as soon as he was washed in the spring, he walked confidently on his feet without any support.
The sign of water accompanies the history of the people of the Old and New Covenants and characterizes many sanctuaries built where the Mother of Jesus appeared. It is no coincidence that its presence was “decisive” when Christ performed His first sign, turning water into wine. Through water, in fact, He healed both body and soul. The world’s sin is washed away by the water and blood that flowed from His pierced Heart, and by the gift of the Spirit, those reborn in the water of Baptism are born to a new life.
When the sick are brought to the sanctuary’s square and pass by the sacred spring, pleading for healing; when crowds come on pilgrimage to this place seeking not only material graces; when devotion leads the faithful to ask Jesus for “anything,” interposing the Mother’s intercession (“They have no wine!”) with the confidence she will act—are they then succumbing to a sentimental and irrational faith, seeking mere relief in prayer?
Here Jesus passes again among humanity, working “by the power of the Spirit” at the spring of living water, ever alive, though mysteriously present in the sacrament of the Eucharist.
And when from the encounter between Christ and the crowd come graces of conversion of hearts and healing of physical ailments, it is always through the signs and instruments of the Incarnation of Christ that the possibility is offered—once again and in continuity with the “year of the Lord’s favor”—to receive, in Jesus the Lord, the unique gift of God’s grace.
The sign of water, besides confirming the credibility of Joaneta’s testimony, expresses the saving power of God’s grace, which acts by Mary’s intercession after her apparition.
Joaneta then said, “People will not believe me.” The most merciful Virgin replied, “Rise, do not fear. Tell what I have commanded you; and I will confirm your words with signs so great that no one will doubt you have spoken the truth.” Having said this and making the sign of the cross on Joaneta, she disappeared from her sight.
So says the text of the ancient account. The “signs so great” that confirmed the message were, therefore, the spring never before seen by anyone and the sick healed of their ailments.
An Evangelical Appeal to Conversion - Though over the centuries the history and traditions, devotions, and arts that made the sanctuary of Caravaggio famous have been illustrated in many ways, surprisingly, the apparition’s message is almost entirely ignored and remains without commentary.
It is true that it was transmitted in a form and literary genre no longer familiar to our culture, even the theological one. But the strange thing is that even in past centuries, the attention and devotion awakened by the event of May 26, 1432, seem to have focused more on the “spring of miracles” than on Our Lady’s words to Joaneta.
Which words? Let us listen again to them in a translation as close as possible to the text of the ancient “authorized” history, transmitted to us by the records of Dom Speciano’s pastoral visit:
Listen carefully and keep this in mind, for I want you to always repeat it whenever you can, either by mouth or by having others say it [...]: My most high and almighty Son intended to destroy this land because of the iniquity of men, for day by day they do more evil, falling from sin to sin. But for seven years I have implored my Son to have mercy on the sins of humanity. Therefore, I want you to tell everyone, each and every one, to fast on bread and water every Friday in honor of my Son.
Beyond the verbal style and expressions used, the message’s essence is the same—it could not be otherwise—that echoes from the Old to the New Testament, from one prophetic testimony to another, centered on Jesus’ call: “Repent and believe in the Gospel… The time is fulfilled… The Kingdom of God is near.”
Therefore, beyond the cultural and literary envelope, an objective analysis of the words of the Caravaggio apparition, in their substance and sobriety, leads us to one message: “Repent and believe in the Gospel,” almost as if the Mother of the Redeemer wanted to appear here to repeat, in that time and all times, her last words recorded by the evangelist John: “Do whatever He tells you.”
Even accompanied by premonitions and threats of punishment—the same Son of God when He came among men did not cease to speak prophetically of the “hardness of heart” and imminent judgment for those who do not convert—this remains a call to conversion adorned with the promise of mercy already granted to the repentant sinner.
Nor should the call to fasting and devotional practices be considered outdated. Christian life, as well as ongoing conversion, is also mortifying penance; and faith, without prejudice to its essential purity, does not hesitate to express itself in religiosity that takes variable forms according to the diversification of cultures and times.
Some fear that the importance given either to the messages of Our Lady’s apparition, to the Virgin Mary herself as messenger, or to her favored visionaries, risks distorting and obscuring the central role of Jesus Christ and the Church, as well as diminishing the need to believe in the Gospel in its radical entirety, leading souls instead to truths and revelations unnecessary for salvation. But this is precisely what distinguishes true from false apparitions: authentic apparitions revive the Gospel; the Virgin Mary and the saints lead us to God and His envoy Jesus Christ, the only savior of mankind.
Not only in Jesus’ time but also in the time of the Church—which for us is the present time—the mission of preparing men for the Lord’s coming continues to be entrusted to Christ’s mother. Mary, a typical figure of the Christian community itself, a “prophet of the new times,” is mother with the Church, also in the Church, also of the second coming of Jesus in glory. With the Church and in the Church “pilgrim on earth,” Mary is part of God’s people, leading all humanity to meet Christ.
The Saturday of Thanksgiving - “I want you to tell [everyone and each one],” the old account continues, “[...] that after Vespers, out of devotion to me, they celebrate every Saturday. They must dedicate that half of the day to me in thanksgiving for the many and great favors obtained from my Son by my intercession.”
Even when the Virgin appears to ask for prayers—which continues to happen—what differs from what occurred with the first generation of disciples? “All were continually devoting themselves to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” A place to pray and celebrate Saturday in thanksgiving to the one who interceded “for seven years” was not explicitly requested in the apparition to Joaneta. But it seemed to the community of Caravaggio that building a house of prayer, and a place of welcome for the sick and pilgrims, would be the most concrete testimony of thanksgiving for the grace received. Its representatives therefore asked the bishop to build a church and a hospital: the event of the apparition blossomed in prayer and active charity.
Therefore, for those who embrace the apparition’s message in its entirety and with its consequences, the call to conversion is an invitation to faith in the saving God, and a faith that transforms life. It is not a timid retreat into a fearful and pessimistic spirituality; it is not merely a return to religious practices, but a passion for building up the Church in the world, restoring centrality to the suffering, the sick, and the poor in God’s house and the human community.
The fruit of turning back to God and loving one’s neighbor is joy, a feast. The “grace received” through Mary’s intercession demands precisely this: thanksgiving; which is not a mere duty, but a joy. At the sanctuary of Caravaggio it is impossible not to sing the Magnificat for “His mercy [that] extends from generation to generation on those who fear Him”; it is impossible not to “celebrate” the discovery of those “who were lost” and returned to the Father’s house.
If Mary, the mother, together with Jesus and the disciples, participate in the wedding feast, there will be “the good wine, which was kept until now.”
Notes:We have omitted in this translation two subtitles and their content, which focused more on the political and geographic aspects of the place than on the Marian apparition itself.
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