Une Minute avec Marie
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Caterina Bartolotta was born in Calabria, Italy, on October 21, 1963, in a small town with a population of 3,200. Her parents, in modest circumstances and well-liked by their neighbors, were average, not overly-fervent, practicing Catholics. Her father, Giuseppe, was a janitor at a secondary school, and her mother, Vittoria Virgillo, was a housewife. As time went by, new children were born at home: Francesco in 1966, Anna Maria in 1972, and Maria Luisa in 1979.
Caterina saw the Virgin Mary for the first time on July 12, 1973, when she was nine years old. Mary delivered a simple message: conversion and spiritual health by following Jesus. Caterina's description of the apparition is as follows: aged sixteen or seventeen, Mary had expressive blue eyes, golden-brown hair and long, tapering fingers. She wore a luminous crown of twelve stars, a blue mantle with yellow stars, a white dress and, under her feet, a crown of flowers made up of thirty-one “flaming” red roses; four angels surrounded her (two on each side). The apparition was of incomparable beauty. The following year, Italian painter Giuseppe Grembiale (1919 - 1992) painted a picture of the Madonna of the Purification.
By this time, Caterina had been suffering for several years from severe convulsions, which doctors attributed to epilepsy. But no treatment could improve her condition. The drugs prescribed to her were useless. Hospitalized twice, first in Calabria, then in Rome, her condition baffled the doctors.
The Virgin Mary appeared to her and said: "I am Our Lady of Purification, and on the second day of next month, you will see me and be healed." Mary added that the town's midwife, Maria Ranieri, would be present at this apparition. The following month, on the appointed day (August 2,1973), Our Lady appeared and healed Caterina. Inexplicably, Maria Ranieri was present at the family home at the exact time of Mary's apparition. That day, in front of her family, Caterina, seated on a chair, threw herself to the ground when Mary appeared. She fell violently to her knees, without getting any bruises, which is normally impossible.
In the following days, Caterina was re-examined by several specialists. All agreed that the child had recovered in an inexplicable way, even though all their treatments had failed.