In 1948, the Blessed Virgin appeared to visionary Sister Teresing Castillo, a novice of the Carmelite Sisters of Lipa City in Batangas. The Virgin told her she was to be called "Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace."
In 1951, the Vatican, under the auspices of the Dicastery, or the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy See, now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reported that Pope Pius XII issued a decree "with finality" that the Mediatrix apparitions were of "no supernatural character or origin."
It was later discovered that Pope Pius XII's Decree was NON-EXISTENT. It was not found in the official Vatican publication, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, a requirement in Canon Law for the decree to be binding. The Dicastery issued the same decree independently, but only the Papal Decree was compulsory.
The Dicastery reported in its Protocol 226/1949 that "This decision was confirmed by His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, on 29 March 1951." Either the Pope confirmed it verbally but never acted on it, or the Dicastery lied because the decree was never entered into the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Manipulated Mediatrix investigation
In 1951, the Dicastery formed a committee of eight Filipino Bishops, led by Bishop Rufino Santos, to investigate the Mediatrix apparitions.
All the eight Bishops reported that the apparitions were authentic. But, on presumed orders of the Dicastery, they were reportedly coerced by the Papal Nuncio Egidio Vagnozzi, into changing their decisions to non-authentic under threats of excommunication.
This was discovered years later when one of the bishops, in his death bed, admitted that they were coerced and that he was changing his decision back to 'authentic', witnessed and reported by relatives. The Dicastery must interview surviving Bishops soonest before they all die, to verify the truth.
70-year Vatican suppression of Mediatrix devotion
The non-existent Papal decree and the manipulated investigation results became the basis of an intense 70-year Vatican campaign to suppress the Mediatrix from 1951 to the present. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, or CBCP, and the Diocese of Lipa had no choice but to follow the Vatican or face a schism against the Papacy.
The suppression involved the destruction of statues (the original is now in the cloistered apparition site of the Carmelites Sisters), the burning of miraculous rose petals that healed many (devotees keep remnants in a secret place), the burning of the diary of Sr. Teresing (she wrote a second diary, available on the Internet), and the burning of religious materials such as novena pamphlets.
Sr. Teresing was secretly grilled and forced to deny the apparitions in the University of Santo Tomas compound, but she never gave in. The Vatican suppressed pro-Mediatrix prelates, especially of the Lipa diocese – Bishop Alfredo Versoza (1877-1954), Bishop Alfredo Obviar (1889-1978), and Archbishop Emeritus Ramon Arguelles (1944-present), who were either forced to resign or exiled to remote dioceses. The Vatican frequently changed the prioress of the Carmelite Sisters, and momentarily banned new novices. The entire Philippine Church – cardinals, bishops, priests, and nuns – were forced into silence.
This suppression was perpetrated for seven decades by succeeding members of the Dicastery, who had lived and died. It was as if Dicastery officials were agents of Satan, who was intent on suppressing Marian devotion.
But the Virgin launched a series of miracles everywhere and never lost her followers. Mediatrix devotion flourished. Read about the miracles. Browse through the mini library below.
Triumph of the Virgin over the Vatican
With the suppression by the Vatican of Filipino prelates, the Laity took over, whom the Vatican could not coerce. The birth of the Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace led to the rapid spread nationwide of Mediatrix devotion, out of reach of the Vatican. The resilient Filipino Marian devotees became the ally of the Virgin.
About 120 life-size Mediatrix statues were distributed to dioceses nationwide. The Confraternity established dozens of chapters nationwide. The most active included Cebu, Iloilo, Guimaras, Kidapawan, Davao City, General Trias, and Jaro, to name a few.
Mediatrix devotion consists of two tiers. The first is the Confraternity, a highly organized group of educated and articulate professionals, catalysts to reach the masses. Second are the masses, the millions of workers, clerks, farmers, fishermen, simple humble churchgoers, not so organized, not so educated but plentiful and devoted. They number about four million nationwide today, according to an over-active Confraternity leader based on her records.
In their campaigns from diocese to diocese, Confraternity chapters estimate that about 98 percent of bishops, priests, and nuns believe in the Mediatrix apparitions but in silence.
The Confraternity chapters have a strategy to deal with Vatican suppression. They will suffer and ignore the suppressions in silence, discern the will of the Lord and Our Lady, focus on their Marian devotion, and pray, pray, pray, especially for the Pope, the Vatican, the CBCP, and the Filipino Marian devotees to be steadfast.
The irony was that the more they suppressed Marian devotion, the faster it spread like wildfire. The Virgin has triumphed over Satan with the help of bull-headed Filipino devotees.
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