Marian Apparitions of the Past (I)

Marian apparitions cover three prominent phases of Church History: the Patristic age, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. The time periods denote not the occurrences of apparitions, but the dates as they were recorded by historians and Church officials. The Patristic Age: There is no recorded literature about apparitions for the early centuries of the Church. The first attestations of Marian apparitions are from the fourth century. For example, Gregory of Nyssa, who lived in the fourth century, recorded that Gregory the Wonder worker (213-270 A.D.) was the first beneficiary of a Marian apparition. The Middle Ages: Fr. Laurentin notes that "we do not know much" about cases of Marian apparitions recorded from the Middle Ages. The two most interesting cases from the Middle Ages are the seers at the Cistercian Monastery of Helfta (13th century) and the visions of St Bridget of Sweden (d. 1373). The Renaissance: During the sixteenth century, a new kind of apparitions began. These apparitions had a public character and Fr. Laurentin notes that these were intended to "renew the faith and to surmount the world's crises." The most significant case is Guadalupe (1531) which gave birth to a New Church in the Americas.