Our Lady of America The Immaculate Virgin Part I

In case you had not read this next item on the Our Lady of America website, these next four days will be devoted to presenting what we feel is one of the most thorough explanations of the Our Lady of America apparitions and messages that has been presented so far.

It is the homily given by Father Peter Damian Mary Fehlner, F.I. on August 5, 2006 at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady of The Angels Monastery in Hanceville, AL. You can download the complete document at www.ourladyofamerica.com.

Text of Homily
Presented by Father Peter Damian Mary Fehlner, F.I.
Feast of The Dedication of The Basilica of Saint Mary Major
August 5th, 2006
Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament,
Our Lady of The Angels Monastery
Hanceville, AL – USA

OUR LADY OF AMERICA
This is the title by which the Virgin Mother, in a series of private revelations and apparitions to Sr. Mary Ephrem Neuzil (1916-2000) of the Congregation of Sisters the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, indicated how she wished to be known and honored in the United States, first of all in the Basilica-sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., national Shrine of Mary for the United States, and then in the entire American nation, as it were the connatural extension of this Marian sanctuary under this title.

These revelations, locutions and apparitions began about 1938 and ended in 1984. The central ones, however, which concern the title Our Lady of America and the request that the Virgin Coredemptrix made of the Catholic bishops and of the entire nation, occurred over a six year period about a half-century ago, from 1954 through 1959. From their inception these messages, in particular the central ones, were given a certain approval, not only by the seer’s religious superiors, but also by Sr. Mary Ephrem’s spiritual director of many years prior to his death in 1972, the then Vicar General and later Archbishop of Cincinnati, Paul F. Leibold, regarded by many as a very holy prelate. The last of these revelations took place in the early 80’s of the last century, just after the suppression (1979) of contemplative branch of the Sisters of the Precious Blood. With the permission of Archbishop Leibold (Auxiliary and Vicar General of Cincinnati, 1958; Bishop of Evansville, 1966-1969, Archbishop of Cincinnati 1969-1972) these revelations were published in a small brochure, first in 1960, subsequently in 1971 (both editions with the approval of Archbishop Leibold), with a final edition of 48 pages in 1989 (with approximately 10 pages of material not in the earlier editions), copyrighted by Sr. Mary Mildred Neuzil as she was known after the demise of her contemplative monastery. Place of publication was Fostoria, Ohio, in the Diocese of Toledo, where the contemplative sisters had retired after their suppression and where the last living member of the community still resides. [All quotations are from this booklet.]

The prayers composed by the visionary either under the direction or dictation of the Blessed Mother received the Imprimatur of Bishop Leibold in 1963 (the signature for the Nihil Obstat of the Censor librorum being that of the Rev. Daniel Pilarczyk, STD, present Archbishop of Cincinnati). In late 1965 Auxiliary Bishop Leibold of Cincinnati carried out the first of Our Lady’s requests, viz., to strike the medal of Our Lady of America with her picture on one side and the coat of arms of the Christian family on the other. This medal is a kind of synthesis of the message of Our Lady to America and of the place assigned that nation in her maternal mediation for all mankind.

At no time can it be said that these messages were greeted with much enthusiasm by those to whom they were primarily directed by Our Lady, the Bishops and priests of the Catholic Church in the USA. With the exception of groups of Marian devotees, mostly pious laity and religious, educated Catholics as a class were either indifferent or strongly opposed to their authenticity, despite their approbation by Archbishop Leibold and his implementation of the first of Our Lady’s requests. And in fact by 1980 the message request, as well as Sr. Mary Ephrem, had been mostly forgotten, until in the last few years interest in them and her has revived. Why such a renewal should have occurred will become clear when the content of the messages is set forth in the context of contemporary events.

Evidently not all private revelations and apparitions are authentic. Many are plainly not what they claim to be, supernatural in origin. But many are genuine. Unfortunately the contemporary secular mentality in the western world often concludes that no such revelations are genuine, that they are a kind of epi-phenomenon in the life of the Church supplying for the religious needs of the less intelligent believers what more mature persons attain by more rational or scientific methods.

Usum non tollit abusus (abuse of a good thing does not invalidate its use). The old Latin axiom underscores the logical mistake of the modern skeptic: an illation from a particular instance of fraudulent claims to a generalization that all such claims are false. The fact is, the value and importance of private revelations in the life of the Church is directly proportionate, not to the religious-emotional needs of this or that group, but to the reality, value and importance of the maternal mediation or ministry of Our Lady in the Church for the good of all souls since Pentecost.

How seriously must we take the mystery of Mary as Mater et Magistra Apostolorum (Mother and teacher of the Apostles and of all the faithful), that is, her maternal mediation of all graces distributed by way of hierarchical and charismatic ministries? According to Pope John Paul II and now according to Pope Benedict XVI the ministry of maternal mediation confided to the Mother of Jesus in the Church, the “Marian principle of the Church”, is more central that even that of St. Peter and of his successors. Mary’s presence in the Church is precisely that of her continuous maternal mediation, above all in the hearts of those who are members of the Body of Christ, when they receive the Sacraments worthily.

Because this presence of Mary is so crucial and vital, those extraordinary manifestations of her dynamic presence take on exceptional importance, particularly in directing the attention of all believers and potential believers to questions and issues of fundamental importance for the salvation and well-being of all mankind. Nor are these extraordinary interventions of the Mother of the Church unrelated to one another. We shall see that the messages confided by Mary to Sr. Mary Ephrem are linked very much to those given at Fatima and also to some of those given between 1945-1959 to Ida Peerdeman of Amsterdam (died 1996).

Over the centuries the seers involved in such extraordinary interventions of Mary have been with a few exceptions persons not noted for scholarly attainments, but neither have they been persons lacking in common sense and basic virtue. Sr. Mary Ephrem was no exception to this norm. This norm in its own way clarifies how the supernatural origin of the messages and their reliability rests on something other than the natural gifts of the seer.

Sr. Mary Ephrem was professed a religious at the age of 17 in 1933. From then until 1951 her assignments were those concerned with domestic work. From 1951-1954 she taught kindergarten classes in a parochial school, and later in 1958 was permitted to enter the newly established and semi-autonomous contemplative wing of her community. In no way during the many years in which she enjoyed special extraordinary graces did she appear exteriorly as any different from a religious striving to grow in perfection and remain faithful to all she had promised at profession. That such a person should be able to write accurately and profoundly of the highest mysteries of faith, such as the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, and that these writings were never found by the official censors to contain anything contrary to faith or morals, or indicating mental debility, is surely a sign of supernatural origin and the workings of the Holy Spirit through the mediation of Mary Immaculate.

To be continued….