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ON HILLSIDE IN SLOVAKIA, OBSCURE APPARITION OF THE BLESSED MOTHER

Years ago, we read about the incredible apparitions of Our Blessed Mother in a town called Litmanová, which is in Slovakia, a mountainside hamlet with just a few hundred residents, the vast majority of them Byzantine Catholics (also referred to as Greek Catholics).

The apparitions occurred from the first week of August 1990 until August 6, 1995 and were allegedly witnessed by two young girls, Katka Ceselkova and Ivetka Korcakova.

From what we understand, one of the seers now resides in the U.S. (Staten Island, New York).

Here at Litmanová, the Virgin Mary urged the young girls to attend Mass and make reparation for the sins of the area and the world. She arrived under the title of "Untainted Purity." A message for our youth. And message for us all.

Once again, like LaSalette, like Fatima, like Guadalupe, like Lourdes, like Medjugorje, it involved a hillside (one could also describe it as a small mountain). The Church officially declared it a place of prayer and pilgrimage.

Recalled the girls in a statement about the first apparition, which started with loud, startling sounds: "We went up to the hillside -- Katka, Ivetka, and Mikulas Ceselka. It was morning about seven o'clock. On the hill we played games all day long, we made a fire and we roasted some bacon and sang. The Liturgy was celebrated in the church at 5:00 p.m., but we did not want to go home to attend so we stayed up on the hill a little longer."

Afraid of the sounds, they sought refuge in a hut.

"We were sorry for our sins and at this moment there was a glow but we did not pay attention to this because we thought that it was from the sun. We did not say anything -- because we thought it was something from our imagination, or out of fear. We made ourselves a pledge that during this week we would go to church every day! At this moment our fear left. We were sitting on the bed and suddenly a glow appeared in the middle of the room and we saw the Blessed Mother. We tried to see whether this was really her! She sat on the bench and she was listening to us. We were staring at the bench and Katka said 'I see the Blessed Mother.' 'I see her too,' said Ivetka. At this moment, we all ran out of the room. We left the place in a hurry, we did not even lock the door, we only ran home. The Blessed Mother followed us on the way, she stayed about two steps behind us. When we turned around, we saw her behind us. She accompanied us to the roadside Cross. There, she knelt down and prayed. Then, she went behind us and then she started to gradually disappear.

"On the way home we were still afraid. I turned to look and I saw the Blessed Mother in front of my house for the last time. Ivetka saw the Blessed Mother in front of her uncle's house. She did not speak to us at the time. She was dressed in white dress, she had on a blue cloak, a blue transparent veil, and on her head she wore a crown and in her hand she held a rosary. We returned home frightened. I went to my room and was quiet. Ivetka went home and told her mother about everything. Her mother did not believe her and so they went to Katka's house to ask her whether it was true.

"We both started to cry because they did not believe us. Ivetka's mother believed a little bit. When Katka's mother went to work the next day, she prayed, 'Blessed Mother, give me some visible sign that the girls are not lying.' That very evening she had a dream. 'I saw the Blessed Mother with a green garland. I asked her why she had a green garland. She replied, "Because I am a Virgin and I have a pure heart."' Next I asked her whether it was true what the girls had said. The Blessed Mother relied, "Yes, do not doubt anything, but believe it all.'"

At the end of August, Ivetka, Katka, Mitko, Ivetka's mother, and father went up to the hill again. When they got to the hut, only Ivetka, Katka, and Mitko went into the room. "We asked our parents to leave us alone. We prayed Our Father and Hail Mary three times, Golden Our Father three times, and after that, 'O Mary, our Mother, protect us under your mantle' for three times.' We sat on the bed and in a moment we saw a mist and in this we began to distinguish the outline of the Blessed Mother, but she was hardly visible. She did not speak to us and did not leave any message. She disappeared into the fog and we ran out to tell our parents what we had seen, that it was really the Blessed Mother! Mitko did not see the Blessed Mother, the two of us only saw her -- Katka and Ivetka."

Soon the crowds gathered. That November Mary appeared barefoot with Jesus, Who was wrapped in a white cloth. "Jesus was weeping," the seers testified. "She gave us a message. She said that there are very few people that sacrifice, that Jesus made Himself a sacrifice for all nations. She gave us a proposal: "Why don't men make sacrifices as Jesus did so many years ago?" She told us that people have many material things, they have everything they want and they would even kill each other for it. They only want to get more possessions. Jesus Himself taught us that we should love one another, that we should forgive one another."

On November 25, 1990, a ceremony of consecration of a newly built cross took its place. There was phenomena -- as at Fatima, as at Betania, as at Medjugorje. "During the consecration, after the prayer of the Rosary, all present saw on the sun peculiar supernatural phenomena which brings to mind the sun miracle from Fatima," reported a website. "The sun, which was possible to look into, was rotating, emitting concentrated circles in various colors of the rainbow, it was getting black and light again, it was shivering and changing its position. A ring of small 'satellite' suns was created around the main sun. These phenomena were observed by 2,000 to 3,000 people, including the mayor Vislocky and the local priest, today`s vicar-general Jan Zavacky. Phenomena are recorded also by the cameras. They occurred on this place even later."

And so it went. You can read more here. Or here. In 2006 construction was planned for new liturgical accommodations in service to the large numbers of pilgrims. In August 2008 the first building was finished and in September of 2008 the Archbishop of Presov, Jan Babjak (a Jesuit), declared the Holy Mountain Zvir a place of pilgrimage under the administration of the Greek Catholic Archepharchy. There is also a small, holy spring. 

"During 1991 another revelation was offered, at that time approximately five thousand people were making the pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain Zvir," reports another resource, TCC Web. "On January 13th the children reported the Blessed Mother stated 'I bless the entire mountain.' Then the revelations came only every first Sunday of the month (after the first Friday). Mary explained they should go to Confession on the first Friday, and so will be able to realize her words more, take heart, and to contemplate them. Many revelations were given to the children with one being a secret on Sunday, April 7. On August 4, the first anniversary of the apparitions, the total number of pilgrims at the Holy Mountain Zvir was approximately one million people. On August 8 a Commission of Church hierarchy was established to investigate the events in Litmanová.  

"They decided to continue to publish the messages of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Blessed Virgin told the children many things to tell the people, some were: on September 8, “God's visit is already close and therefore, search for love"; on October 6, “I Want to live in you and you in me,” on November 3, "Learn to thank," on December 8, “I did all my life what God wanted.”  Many other messages were given to the children to impart on the pilgrims.  On January 8, 1995 the Blessed Virgin Mary instructed the children to have the pilgrims say this prayer: "God, They have given my whole past to Thee I put my whole future. I thank You for today which I give. And so, I thank Thee, for Thou are with me and I rejoice for I know that You will never leave me.'"

"On August 6th 1995, the last apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Limanová on Holy Mountain Zvir took place. The Blessed Virgin Mary stated, 'For this time you need to repent!  Please, please! You need to be more vigilant and simple; there is a time coming which is already here. You must have faith as a child and to accept God's Will for you.'  Ivetka said: 'This apparition was very special because the Virgin asked, “Touch the feet” and Ivetka kissed the foot of the Blessed Virgin Mary.'"

[resources: Spirit Daily's New Bookstore and New: What You Take To Heaven]

[See also: retreat Kansas City]

[see also: Limanová website]

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