Lipa, Philippines (1948)

July 4, 1927

Teresita Castillo was born.

Sept 12, 1948

While Teresita was praying in the convent garden, suddenly a vine began to shake. Our Lady spoke (but not appeared) to the her and requested that she kiss the earth and return to the same spot for fifteen consecutive days. When Our Lady reportedly appeared, She was on a cloud, dressed in white, hands clasped, and a golden Rosary hanging from Her right hand. Her dress was very white, very simple, and had a narrow belt tied around Her.

Sept. 16, 1948

Our Lady was said to request that the vine to be blessed, and also requested that a statue was to be placed at the site of the apparition. Our Lady reportedly requested that a Mass be held on the 12th day of every month.

Nov 12, 1948

Before She departed for the last time, the Blessed Virgin identified Herself as: " I am the Mediatrix of All Grace"

ca. 1950

Teresita leaves the convent.

April 11, 1951

Although veneration of Our Lady Mediatrix of all Grace was permitted by Bishop Alfredo Verzosa y Florentin, the Philippine church hierarchy declared ruled negatively on teh apparition stating that “there was no supernatural intervention in the reported extraordinary happenings including the shower of rose petals in Lipa.” The decision was signed by six bishops: Ganriel M.Reyes, then Archbishop of Manila; Cesar M. Guerrero, Bishop of San Fernando; Mariano Madriaga, Bishop of Lingayen; Juan C. Sison, Auxiliary Bishop of Nueva Segovia; Vicente P. Reyes, Auxiliary Bishop of Manila; and Rufino Santos, Apostolic Administrator of Lipa. The statement also contained the contentious phrase 'until final decision on the matter will come from the Holy See'.

Allegedly several of them confessed before they died that they too had been coerced, signing the negative "findings" only under threat of excommunication. (Source: LIPA June Keithley-Castro 1992)

 April 12, 1951

Apostolic Administrator of Lipa, Rufino J. Santos, D.D.,, who became apostolic administrator after Bishop Verzosa, issued a decree that 1) no petals be given to anyone by the Lipa Carmelite community; and 2) the statue of Our Lady of Mediatrix be withdrawn from public view.

Feb 1990

A new phenomenon was reported in the Granja District of Lipa City. A white luminous outline of a female in prayer began to supposedly appear at night on one of the leaves of a tall coconut tree.

Fen 11, 1990

Lorenzo Ma. Guererro, SJ, the nephew of Bishop Cesar M. Guerrero, one of the signers of the 1951 negative judgment, swore in an affadavit that his uncle signed the document under duress and was a believer in the authenticity of the apparitions. (Source: LIPA June Keithley-Castro 1992 See Appendix C )

May 21, 1990

Sr. Aphonse pleaded on her deathbed that the Mediatrix statue be again exposed (for the first time in 40 years) in the chapel at the Carmelite convent. Her request was granted the next day.

Jan 24, 1991

Rose petals began to fall straight from the sky again at the Carmelite convent in Lipa City. A few days later, six children playing in the garden at the convent said that the statue come to life.

1992

Msgr. Mariano Gaviola, archbishop of Lipa, lifted the ban enforced fifty years earlier by the then Lipa Apostolic Administrator Bishop Rufino Santos and granted permission to display again the image of the Mediatrix of all Grace. Read the declaration of 1992

1993

Msgr. Mariano Gaviola declared his personal conviction that the Lipa apparitions were worthy of belief.

Sept 12, 2005

Most Reverend Ramon C. Arguelles, D.D., Archbishop of Lipa, resurrected the devotion with an official kick-off with "increased activity and devotion" and plans to place statues representing the Virgin of Lipa, as Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace, in every diocese.

Sept 12, 2006

A National Day of Pilgrimage and Prayer in honor of Our Lady, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace in Carmel, Lipa every year on September 12 to mark the Anniversary of the First Apparition of Our Lady to Sister Teresita Castillo in 1948.

Sept 2008

Before an International Mariological Congress in Lourdes, France, Bishop Arguelles stated: “Yes, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, did appear in Lipa.” (Source)

Nov 12, 2009

Archbishop Arguelles lifted the 1951 ban on the public veneration of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace.

Nov 12, 2009

Archbishop Arguelles formed a new commission to revisit the series of apparitions.

Nov 2009

In the November 2009 issue of “Ulat Batangan,” official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Lipa, Bishop Arguelles wrote in his column:

"Increasingly many concur with me that most likely the most significant event in the local Church of Lipa all these hundred years is the supposed visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1948. Undeniably the Blessed Virgin Mary is extremely active during the last decades. If she had indeed shown her presence and delivered her message in various places throughout the world even in some nations in Asia, how can this “pueblo amante de Maria” be different and excluded from her powerful intervention?" (Source)

September 28, 2010

The Holy See declared the apparitions to not be supernatural with the following final declaration:

'The text of the declaration of the Bishops of the Philippines, published on 11 April 1951, is as follows: "We, the undersigned Archbishops and bishops, constituting for the purpose a special Commission, having attentively examined and reviewed the evidence and testimonies collected in the course of repeated, long and careful investigations, have reached the unanimous conclusion and hereby officially declare that the above mentioned evidence and testimonies exclude any supernatural intervention in the reported extraordinary happenings- including the shower of petals - at the Carmel of Lipa." This declaration is the official communication of the final decision on the matter, as approved by the Holy See.'

December 2010

Archbishop Arguelles released a statement containing the Vatican's final declaration and his commentary.

January 2013

Acceptance of the Mediatrix of All Grace by the CBCP at the CBCP Plenary Session. (Source)

June 4, 2015

In a homily Homily at San Sebastian Cathedral, Archbishop Raymond C Arguelles: "I declare today what I always have at heart: Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace of Lipa is worthy of belief."

Sept 12, 2015

As part of the feast day celebrations in Lipa, Archbishop Raymond C Arguelles released an official statement of approval declaring "that the events and apparition of 1948 also known as the Marian phenomenon in Lipa and its aftermath even in recent times do exhibit supernatural character and is worthy of belief."

Dec 11, 2015

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith creates a statement "ROT. N. 226/1949 PRESUMED APPARITIONS OF THE BVM AT THE CARMELITE CONVENT IN LIPA, PHILIPPINES" nullifying the statement of approval from Archbishop Ramon C Arguelles.

May 31, 2016

Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles issues a communique annoucing the nullification by the CDF of the September 12, 2015 approval. Read the CDF document PROT. N. 226/1949 Presumed Aparitions of the BVM at the Carmelite Convent in Lipa, Philippines

July 9, 2016

CBCP issues Pastoral Guidelines for Bishops on Private Devotions to Our Blessed Mother Mary, Mediatrix of Grace (All Graces)

Nov 16, 2017

Sr. Teresita Castillo died after a lengthy illness at the age of 89. She was buried on November 18, 2016 outside the enclosure grounds of the Carmelite monastery.

There are acconts of a blue bird appearing at the vine where Our Lady appeared. There are also accounts of the spinning sun, heavy fragrance of roses, and showers of rose petals that had miraculous images of Christ, Mary, and other Holy Scenes on them. The rose petals (one is pictured on the top of this page, and another is pictured on the bottom) are reported to have remarkable curing powers.

It is also reported that Teresita received a Host for Holy Communion on her tongue from an angel on an occasion when she was unable to attend Mass because she was sick in bed. Teresita had other mystical experiences including visions of the Sacred Heart, a multitude of angels, St. Cecilia, St. Theresa of Lisieux, and many other saints. The seer was also seen to go into a state of unconsciousness, and then, while lying on the floor, enact the agony of Christ on the Cross. This phenomenon was witnessed by the prioress, Bishop Obviar, and members of the Carmel community at Lipa.