Anything under the Sun
Marian apparitions (2)
The Message
The main request of Our Lady in all these apparitions was that we repent and "go back to her Son Jesus, do penance and pray, pray, pray, pray", especially the rosary, which was a prominent feature of all these appearances.
Bernadette described the first time the Blessed Virgin appeared to her: "Without thinking of what I was doing, I took my rosary in my hands and went on my knees. The "Lady" made a sign of approval with her head and herself took into her hands the rosary which hung on her right arm. When I attempted to begin the rosary and tried to lift my hand to my forehead, my arm remained paralyzed -- it was only after the Lady had signed herself (with the cross) that I could do the same."
"The Lady let me pray alone -- she only passed the beads of the rosary between her fingers but said nothing. Only at the end of the decade did she say the "Gloria" with me."
In Medjugorje, people noted that when the visionaries were praying the rosary during the apparitions they only heard them start with "who are in heaven" and then continue to end the prayer.
When asked about this, the visionaries told them that it is Our Lady who says the two words "Our Father" and then they continue with the rest of the prayer. They said she also joined them at the "Gloria".
In Garabandal, Our Lady not only taught the four little girls how to pray the rosary making them pronounce the words clearly and slowly. She also taught them how to make the sign of the cross properly ending it with a kiss of her thumb as if it were acrucifix.
In Fatima, the Blessed Virgin told the three cousins to " continue praying the rosary everyday to obtain peace and the end of the World War I. And when the children asked her who she was, she answered: "I am the Lady of the Rosary".
In Beauraign, when the Blessed Virgin would appear, the five visionaries ranging in age from 9-year old Gilbert to 15-year old Fernandez, would crash down to their knees simultaneously and start reciting the rosary.
In La Sallete, Melanie and Maximin were brought to the site of the apparition to re-enact their experience with "The Lady". After they had all prayed the rosary, one man went down to the ravine where the Lady had sat weeping, and found an old spring hidden there, the water now flowing steadily.
In all these appearances, the Lady was described as very beautiful, wearing a long dazzling white dress with a diaphanous veil, a rosary over an arm, roses on her toes or on her slippers and a crown of twelve stars forming a halo around her head.