OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS

Day 249: January 16

Our Lady of Good Success, Quito, Ecuador

At one o'clock in the morning of February 2, 1594, the young abbess of the convent of the Immaculate Conception in the city of Quito (Ecuador), Mother Mariana Torres Berriochoa, went down to pray in the choir of the chapel, as she had been accustomed to do for some time with great fervor, recommending to God the fate of her small monastic community. At a certain moment she had the distinct impression that someone was present, and in fact she heard herself called by name. Suddenly she saw a beautiful Lady surrounded by glory and splendor, dressed as a nun, who in her left hand supported a Child of celestial beauty, while in her right hand she clutched an abbey crozier of burnished gold studded with precious stones. In contemplating her in amazement, the abbess was overwhelmed with an inexpressible joy and felt such an intense love for God that, if she had not had special protection, she would have died instantly. As soon as she was able to speak, Mother Mariana asked the Lady who she was, and she answered: "I am Mary of Good Success, Queen of Heaven and Earth."

With this simple and admirable scene began the prodigious series of apparitions of Our Lady that took place in Quito, between the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century, to her privileged daughter Mother Mariana, born of a noble family of Spanish origin, one of the first flowers of holiness to bloom on American soil. In a recent biography of this unknown figure ("Madera para esculpir l'imagen de una santa", Quito-Bedford, 1987), the current chaplain of the monastery of the Immaculate Conception and director of the Diocesan Archives of Quito, Mons. Luis Cadena y Almeida, highlighted her virtues by noting the extraordinary importance of the message left to her by Our Lady for humanity. In fact, although this message was communicated four centuries ago, it reaches our time directly because it describes the situation of the world and of the Church today, expressing admonitions and raising hopes that shed light on the era of grave crisis in which we are living.

In her apparitions to Mother Mariana, Our Lady of Good Success not only encouraged the abbess about the fate of the community of nuns she led and guaranteed her protection over the monastery, but also prophesied the fate of the Ecuadorian nation, Western Christianity and the universal Church itself.

As for Ecuador, the Blessed Virgin foretold, two and a half centuries in advance, the public consecration of this nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: "In the nineteenth century there will come a truly Christian President, a man of character, to whom the Lord will grant the palm of martyrdom in the square in front of this convent of mine; he will consecrate the Republic to the Divine Heart of my most beloved Son and this consecration will sustain the Catholic Religion in the following years, which will be crucial for the Church. At that time a cursed sect, Freemasonry, will take possession of the civil government and there will be a cruel persecution of all religious communities that will also affect this community of mine: because of wretched men, the monastery will be suppressed. But God lives, and I live too, to raise up powerful defenders among themselves; we will put obstacles against them that are impossible to overcome, and the triumph will be ours." (Second apparition, January 16, 1599).

At the end of the nineteenth century, all this was literally realized. In 1873, in fact, the valiant President of Ecuador, Gabriel Garcia Moreno, had his nation solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, after having vigorously fought the influence of Freemasonry in the public life of his country by his holy example, government and laws. A few years later, the anti-Christian sect took revenge by having the President assassinated as he was leaving a church, right in front of the monastery of the Immaculate Conception, as Our Lady had prophesied. Later, the persecution of religious congregations was fiercely unleashed.

But the most impressive part, and the most interesting for us, of the prophetic message, is the one that concerns the situation of the world and of the Church. On the night of February 2, 1634, while Mother Mariana was praying in the choir of the chapel, she noticed that the lamp in the Tabernacle had gone out, leaving her in almost complete darkness.

She was about to go to turn it back on, when she felt as if she was blocked by an unknown force and therefore waited. Suddenly Our Lady appeared for the third time, overcoming the darkness with her splendor and illuminating the church as if it were full day. Confiding her secret to the visionary, the Blessed Virgin explained to her the meaning of this apparition.

"The extinguishing of the lamp that burns before imprisoned Love has many meanings. The first is this: at the end of the nineteenth century and for a large part of the twentieth century, various heresies will spread, and, under their power, the precious light of the Faith will be extinguished in souls by the almost total corruption of morals. At that time there will be great physical and moral calamities, public and private. The few souls who remained faithful to grace would suffer a martyrdom as cruel and unspeakable as it was prolonged; many of them would go down to the grave because of the violence of their sufferings and would be considered as martyrs sacrificed for the Church and for the homeland. (...)

"The third meaning of the extinguishing of the lamp is due to the poisoned spirit of impurity that will dominate at that time, traveling through the streets, squares and public places like an unclean sea and enjoying such an amazing freedom that almost no virgin souls will remain in the world.

"The fourth meaning is the recognition of the power of sects, which will skillfully intrude into families, extinguishing innocence in the hearts of the little ones, thus also suffocating priestly vocations. (...) Unfortunately, the Church will then pass through a dark night in which there will be no prelate and a father who will watch over with love, gentleness and strength, perspicacity and prudence, and many souls will be lost, endangering their own eternal salvation.

"The fifth reason for the extinguishing of the lamp lies in the insensitivity and disinterestedness of those people who, although possessing abundant wealth, will remain indifferent to the oppression of the Church, the persecution of virtue and the triumph of the wicked, neglecting to use their riches in a holy way to obtain the destruction of evil and the restoration of the Faith."

This age of darkness will culminate in "a terrible and frightful war, in which the blood of every nation will flow. This will be the most horrible of nights because, according to human appearances, wickedness will be triumphant. Yet my hour will have come, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and accursed Satan, placing him under my foot and chaining him in the infernal abyss, finally freeing the Church and the homeland from his cruel tyranny".

There were many factors that cooperated in Mary's revenge and in the restoration of the Church and of Christianity, but only one, decisive, was enunciated by Our Lady: the role that a privileged man, a "great prelate" would have: "Pray insistently, cry tirelessly and weep with bitter tears in the secret of your heart, asking our heavenly Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my most holy Son, he will put an end to these fatal times as soon as possible by sending to the Church that prelate who will restore the spirit of her priests. This beloved son of mine will be endowed with a rare capacity, humility of heart, docility to divine inspirations, fortitude to defend the rights of the Church, and a tender and compassionate soul, so that, like another Christ, he may provide for the great and the small, without despising the most unfortunate. (…) The scales of the Sanctuary will be placed in his hand, so that everything will be done with weight and measure and so that God will be glorified. The rapid arrival of this father and prelate, however, will be hindered by the timidity of all souls consecrated to God, which is also the cause of Satan's dominion over these lands."

The biographer recounts that her mother Mariana, terribly impressed by the scenario of darkness and apostasy that Our Lady had painted for her, prostrated herself on the ground trembling and boldly asked her to grant her the miracle of keeping her alive until the twentieth century, so that she could fight on earth against that wave of impiety. The Blessed Virgin did not grant her this grace, but reassured her by repeating that she herself would take command of the decisive battle, confirming that she was "Queen of victories."

Wanting to leave the visionary and the nuns of the monastery a tangible sign of her visit and protection, Our Lady commanded Mother Mariana to have a statue sculpted that would represent her as faithfully as possible. The image was to have an apostolic staff and the keys of the cloister in its right hand, as a sign of the authority and ownership of the Virgin over the congregation, while holding the blessing Child Jesus in her left hand.

Everything was done as commanded, and, at the time of the enthronement of the statue in the chapel, on the morning of January 16, 1611, while the sisters were going to church to recite the Little Office of Our Lady, they heard harmonious melodies resound: as they entered the chapel, they saw the choir illuminated with supernatural light, while some Angels, singing the "Salve sancta Parens" to the sound of celestial music, they placed the statue, just completed, in its place. This image can still be venerated today in the chapel of the monastery itself, which has survived many persecutions and ruins.

With one of his striking phrases, St Augustine consoles us by affirming that, if we have the heart to hope in what we cannot yet see, we will perhaps obtain from God the grace to see with our own eyes what we have heroically hoped for.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Hail Mary, full of grace in the mystery of your Predestination to all future pinnacles. Above all others, to you it is truly said: "I have loved you with an eternal love and that is why I have chosen you.""

(Justin Russolillo, Spirit of Prayer, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, Newark, 1996, p. 154)