Une Minute avec Marie
Faire connaître et aimer Marie
Caterina Bartolotta was born on October 21, 1963, in Settingiano, Calabria (Italy). She had been suffering for years from severe convulsions, which no treatment had succeeded in curing, when on August 2, 1973, as precisely announced by the Virgin Mary, she recovered in an incomprehensible way, even though all treatments had failed!
The following day, August 3, the Virgin appeared again and prophesied the death of Caterina's paternal grandfather, then aged ninety-one but in good health. The announced date of his death was the following day. The prophecy came true: Francesco Bartolotta gave up his soul to God on August 4, 1973.
At the same time, Caterina looked after her seven-month-old sister Anna Maria with remarkable devotion. The baby was suffering from an unknown pathology that was causing her great suffering. Caterina had the inexplicable intuition that her hip may be the cause of her little sister's misery. After examining her, Dr. Carnovale from Catanzaro hospital drew up a formal report stating that Anna Maria was indeed suffering from a “congenital dislocation of the hip”! What's more, during the apparition of February 2, 1974, Our Lady of the Purification completely and definitively cured the child. Professor Carbone, who had the latest X-rays in front of him, explained: “She no longer needs the hip retractor, she just needs to walk.”
On Friday, November 8, 1974, something exceptional happened: Caterina saw Jesus and Mary, then received the stigmata of the Passion, becoming one of the youngest stigmatized people in history (she was eleven years old). Jesus told her that from then on she would experience his passion "every day of her life".
In subsequent years, the wounds appeared at fixed times in the Christian calendar: during Lent and especially during Holy Week. Figurative stigmata also appeared on Caterina's skin: religious symbols and objects such as hearts, crosses and monstrances, together with perfectly legible phrases, usually prayers, in Italian, Latin and Greek. While this type of stigmatization is certainly surprising, it in no way contradicts the history of mysticism. A host of witnesses have seen her epidermal wounds.
Caterina grew normally in wisdom and fulfilled her daily duties. Her psychological and moral development was normal, and she was happily married. Today she is the mother of four children, all happy and perfectly adapted to Italian society. She founded a prayer group that has grown steadily. Its members meditate on biblical texts and messages from the apparitions; they pray for the world and the Church, for families, sinners and the deceased. Caterina's mission, as Jesus showed her, is to give love to all, in the image of Christ in the Gospel.