Basto, What I find captivating about the above artwork is that Alfonso is engrossed with the vision, while everyone else is oblivious, preparing for battle! Lord, provide us with spiritual leaders who can clearly point out the holy path for us to follow!
You're welcome ) One of the testimonies in that book is also from Dominic Reis, then a young man who later immigrated to the USA. I think this 2 and a half minute video with his testimony was recorded just for that occasion of writing the book in the late 50's. When he speaks, you can clearly see the sincerity, honesty and drama of the situation, and how he would testify with his hands and feet what he saw, and that in a time when people had integrity and stood firmly behind their words. As he himself said, it was a real miracle. I have nothing more to add. Here is a video clip of 2:32 min.
And what about this one? A few years ago, an old document existing in the National Archives of Torre do Tombo was recovered and made public under the original title “The parishes of the Porto district in the parish memories of 1758”. Among the more than a thousand pages of parish memoirs of that document, there is an account of an alleged apparition of Our Lady in Aboboeira mountain, in the North of Portugal, on May 13, 1757, to three children who were herding sheep. The Lady spoke to them, calling them by their names, explained to them the importance of the rosary and told them to fast and do penance on the first Fridays and Saturdays of each month. Source: Memórias Paroquiais” Folhada, Gouveia de Riba Tâmega – Memórias paroquiais, vol. 15, nº 98, pp. 601-612; Torre do Tombo.
The text is written in old Portuguese with a very difficult syntax, making it difficult for me to understand in its entirety, so I will not attempt to translate it completely. In short, they were three shepherd girls under the age of 12 who saw a prostrate lady with a resplendent and luminous halo. When the girls asked her who she was, she replied that she wanted them to come there 9 days in a row to praise Our Lady. They did this and quickly gained such popularity that pilgrimages kept coming from near and far asking for miracles, which forced them to ask for the intervention of the episcopal authority. The Lady also admonished one of the girls who had taken the rosary off her neck and thrown it into the air for fun and told one of them not to talk about the devil since she did so regularly. The document also mentions that, according to several credible people, many years ago a strong light used to be seen in that place, around midnight, on the eve of Our Lady's Ascension in August. [it says "ascension" and not "assumption", and I find this interesting, considering that the dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady was only defined in 1950]
The location of the place is very precise, it wasn't difficult to find, despite it being a very isolated place. There is currently a chapel there where Our Lady of Aparecida is venerated ("aparecida" means she appeared) and there is an annual pilgrimage on August 15th.
It is incredible that heaven gave us so many signs over the centuries that Portugal was a nation predestined by God. Just the fact that the nation escaped immune from the horrors of communism and World War II seems to indicate that its people received a special stream of blessings, at least until the first half of the twentieth century.
It's nothing very relevant, it's just another detail that shows the religiosity of the Portuguese people, which unfortunately is getting lost.
Hello, @Basto. Can you tell me if there are prophecies about the role of a restored Portuguese monarchy in the conversion of the country?
This small chapel brought to mind the chapel of the Holy Cross which was built to house a miraculous cross which 'appeared' in the ground in the village of Balasar, Portugal many years before Blessed Alexandrina da Costa was born in the same place. The following is the prologue to Alexandrina The Agony and the Glory by Francis Johnston, which recounts the story of the appearance of the cross. "In the main square of the small Portuguese village of Balasar, some forty miles north of Oporto, stands a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross. Erected in 1832, it commemorates the mysterious appearance that year of a cross in the village. The parish priest of Balasar at that time, Don A. G. de Azevedo, recorded the event in a report addressed to Rev. Dr A. P. de Azevedo Loureiro of the Archdiocese of Braga. I write to advise you of an inexplicable occurrence in this parish of St Eulalia of Balasar. Last Corpus Christi, while the people coming to the morning Mass were passing the road which crosses the little hill of Calvary, they noticed a cross laid out on the ground. The earth which formed this cross was of a lighter colour than the surrounding soil. Dew had fallen all around, except on the cross. I myself went to brush away the dust and loose earth that formed the cross, but the design reappeared in the same place. I then ordered a considerable quantity of water to be poured over it and on the surrounding ground. But after this had drained away, the cross reappeared once more and has remained there since. The staff of the cross measures 15 hands and the transverse measures 8 hands . . . Many people flocked to see this strange phenomenon and venerated it with flowers and offerings of money. The latter went towards the building of the small chapel mentioned above. The cross remains to this day and still defies attempts to obliterate it. In the writings of the Servant of God, Alexandrina da Costa, there are three references to this cross, the last of which was dated 14 January 1955. While in ecstasy, she reputedly heard Our Lord say, A century ago, I showed the cross to this beloved village, the cross which comes to await the victim. O Balasar, if you do not respond! . . . Cross of earth for the victim who was taken from nothing. . . . Victim who is welcomed by God and who has always existed in his eternal designs. Victim of the world, but much favoured by heavenly blessings, who has given all to Heaven and for the love of souls accepts all. Trust, believe, my daughter, I am here! All your life is written and sealed with a key of gold . . . Blessed Alexandrina, who endured many years of suffering as a victim soul, is sometimes referred to as the fourth seer of Fatima. She also lived on the Eucharist alone for the last thirteen years of her life. Blessed Alexandrina, pray for us.
