Our Lady of Good Success: Her Importance for Our Time History, Miracles, Fr
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14 Our Lady of Good Success: Her Importance for Our Time HISTORY, MIRACLES, Fr. Andreas Mählmann, FSSPX and Elini Felinska PROPHECIES On February 2, 2011, a Introduction example, by reciting the Litany special jubilee occurred: This jubilee has more than of Loreto after the prayer that is regional significance, because the reprinted at the end of this article. the 400th anniversary of Mother of God combined her the blessing and solemn appearances there with prophecies Life of the Venerable enthronement of the concerning the 20th and 21st cen- Mother Mariana de Jesus turies—our times! The recipient of Torres miraculous statue of Our these prophecies was a simple nun Little is known about the life Lady of Good Success in from the convent just mentioned, of Mother Mariana. The follow- the convent of the Third Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. ing information is taken from the Mary spoke to her, warning about a notes which a Franciscan priest from Order Franciscan Sisters of worldwide crisis of faith and morals Quito, Fr. Manuel Sousa Pereira, the Immaculate Conception that would come over the Church in published in 1790 and which are in Quito, Ecuador. the 20th century, but also explain- being used for the beatification pro- ing how this crisis would finally end. cess that was begun in 1986. These Here we offer a partial survey notes are available in English under of the events of that time, while the title The Admirable Life of Moth- encouraging the reader to partici- er Mariana, translated by Marian pate in the novena in preparation for the Therese Horvat. anniversary...from January 25 through Mariana Francisca was born February 2. This can be done, for in 1563 in Spain, the first child of THE ANGELUS • July 2011 www.angeluspress.org OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS 15 Diego Torres y Cadiz and his wife made their profession and Mariana The Miraculous Statue of Maria Berriochoa y Alvaro. She was entered the novitiate. After she had Our Lady of Good Success her parents’ pride and joy and at a followed the religious rule for two The center of Marian devotion very early age already showed signs years and her obedience and con- in Quito is the life-size statue of Our of a special vocation. God revealed formity to religious life had been Lady of Good Success, which is dis- to her that she was called to reli- tested, she was allowed to make her played to the faithful three times a gious life when she was only nine profession, in which she received year over the altar of the convent years old. the name Mariana de Jesus. Church of the Immaculate Con- In the 16th and 17th centuries Over the course of her life Moth- ception. It radiates an extraordi- Spain was ruled by the Habsburgs, er Mariana experienced more than nary, supernatural charm that is who wanted to extend their rule 40 apparitions. These concerned her indescribable. not only in Europe but also on own life, her convent, and especially The story of this miraculous stat- other continents. A half centu- the Church in the 20th century. Our ue began in the late 16th century. ry after Columbus’ voyage to the Lady appeared to Mother Mariana Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres New World, the Spanish Empire for the first time in 1599. When (1563-1635) was the Superior of the took possession of large parts of Mother Mariana asked her who she convent when she received from [North and South] America. After was, the Mother of God answered Our Lady the assignment to have the discovery of Ecuador in 1534, that she was the Mother of Good Suc- a statue made in which she would the city of San Francisco de Quito cess. In this apparition she prophe- be honored under the title of “Our was founded. Twenty years after its sied to her, among other things, that Lady of Good Success.” This appari- founding, several influential and the colony would soon become a tion took place on January 16, 1599. pious Spanish ladies from Quito free republic with the name Ecuador The Mother of God gave detailed submitted a request to the Span- and that an authentically Christian instructions: The statue should rep- ish king in which they asked him President in the 19th century would resent her as Mother Mariana saw to establish in their colony the first consecrate it to the Sacred Heart of her in the apparition, i.e. with the convent of Third Order Franciscans Jesus. Through this consecration the Child Jesus on her left arm. of the Immaculate Conception in Catholic religion would be upheld On account of the political the New World. This congregation during the unfortunate years that unrest at that time, Mother Mariana had been founded in the 15th cen- were to come. hesitated to carry out this assign- tury by Beatriz da Silva. Before Our Lady left Mother ment. The real obstacle, however, The King of Spain, Philip II, Mariana, she ordered her to have a was that she did not know how she granted the request and assembled a statue made, promising that she would could have someone produce a stat- group of founding sisters. He chose send heavenly aid to complete it. She ue that was so indescribably beauti- as the Superior Mother Maria de also promised that she would help ful. Our Lady of Good Success then Jesus Taboada. Among the found- all those who invoked her under the promised that she herself would ing sisters, Mother Maria de Jesus title of “Our Lady of Good Success.” make sure that the statue would be also recruited her niece Mariana, who In the years before her death, produced according to her specifi- at that time was only 13 years old, Mother Mariana devoted herself to cations. because at that point it was already the restoration of convent life and According to the tradition, she evident that she had a genuine the formation of the novices. Her told Mother Mariana her height by vocation “to follow the voice of her counsel was sought by her sisters in asking the sister to take off her cinc- Beloved” and to enter the convent religion and her charity was prized ture [belt], to hold one end on the in the New World. The decision to by the inhabitants of Quito. Dur- ground with her foot and to give leave her parents’ house was not ing her long, penitential life she her the other end. Mary gave that an easy one for Mariana, but she received from God many aston- end to the Child Jesus, whom she completely surrendered herself as ishing gifts of grace: prophecies, was carrying on her arm, who then a burnt offering, since she knew in ecstasies and visions. On January held it up to the top of her head. her heart that God wanted this sac- 16, 1635, she received her eternal The statue is 1.80 meters [5 feet 11 rifice from her. reward. In 1885 her completely inches] tall, and this height alone On December 30, 1576, the incorrupt body was exhumed and makes it quite impressive, especially founding sisters arrived in Quito. transferred, along with the likewise for the people of Ecuador who, at Two months later the monastic incorrupt bodies of seven founding that time and still today, are rather foundation took place and the nuns sisters, in the restored crypt of the small in stature. were able to take possession of Convent of the Immaculate Concep- their convent. The founding sisters tion in Quito. www.angeluspress.org THE ANGELUS • July 2011 16 OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS When Mother Mariana, in keep- When the sculptor and paint- territorial losses in a war with Peru. ing with the will of Mary, finally er returned, he fell on his knees During that period of great tur- asked permission from the Bishop of before the statue and testified that moil Cardinal Carlos Maria Torres Quito, Bishop Salvador de Ribera, no human power, but only a divine ordered that the miraculous statue he scolded Mother Mariana for not power could have finished that stat- of Our Lady of Good Success be brought to the church and that a coming to him sooner, for the Moth- ue. He immediately set down in novena for peace be prayed in its er of God had revealed her wish to writing his testimony that this work presence. On the fifth night of the him too in a dream. was not his but that of the angels. novena, while Holy Mass was being Our Lady of Good Success her- The document is found today in the said, a miracle occurred at 10:30 self named the sculptor who was archive of the convent. Afterward p.m.: At the moment of the Consecra- to produce her statue. She gave he went immediately to the Bishop tion the statute opened and closed her the reason for her choice: the man of Quito, who from the beginning eyes, looked first at the choir, where her whom she had chosen was a prac- had followed the production of the daughters were gathered, and then up ticing Catholic, and that was why statue with great interest. He too fell to heaven. Many people were pres- he was worthy to make her statue. to his knees before the statue and ent at that Mass and witnessed the Shortly before the statue was likewise wrote a letter testifying that miracle, which lasted until 3:00 the following morning. The country’s completed, the sculptor traveled this statue had been transformed newspapers reported it.