WHY OUR LADY
17TH CENTURY - 1608 - OUR LADY OF SILUVA
SILUVA, LITHUANIA
VISIONARY(S): Four children
NUMBER OF APPARITIONS: Many over 4 years
FIRST APPARITION: 1608
LAST APPARITION: 1612
APPROVED: August 17, 1775
FEAST DAY: September 8th
"There was a time when my beloved Son was worshiped by my people on this very spot.
But now they have given this sacred soil over to the plowman and the tiller
and to the animals for grazing."
SUMMARY
Siluva had lost its Catholic identity to the Calvinists over the course of eighty years.
One summer day, in 1608, a number of children were playing while tending their sheep in a field on the outskirts of the village of Siluva. The children beheld a beautiful young woman standing on the rock holding a baby in her arms and weeping bitterly. She did not speak, but looked at them sadly as she stood there, weeping as though her heart was breaking. So profuse were her tears that they ran down her cheeks and some of them splashed on the rock. The woman was dressed in flowing blue and white robes, unlike any costume with which the children were familiar. Her long, light-brown hair fell softly over her shoulders. A strange light surrounded both the woman and child.
The belief that the Mother of God had appeared in person to chide them for their neglect of the Catholic Faith quickly grew among the people. Most of them heeded her message and began to return to the Catholic Church. A decade later, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, more than 11,000 people received Holy Communion during a mass offered at the scene of the apparitions.
A blind man, more than 100 years old, lived in a nearby village. The stories of the apparitions reached him and he recalled a night, some eighty years before, when he helped Father Holubka bury an ironclad chest filled with church treasures beside a large rock. The villagers led him to the field of the apparitions to see if he could help locate the place where the treasures were buried. No sooner had he reached the spot, his sight was miraculously restored. Falling to his knees with joy and gratitude, he pointed to the exact spot where the chest had been buried.
BEFORE THE APPARITIONS
Siluva as an Early Lithuanian Pilgrimage
What we now know to be Lithuania first came into being under the rule of Mindaugas, the first Grand Duke of Lithuania. Mindaugas first governed Eastern Lithuania, which was then known as the Duchy of Lithuania, through political and military alliance with the Livonian Order and victories against other nobles. The Livonian Order was a semi-autonomous sub-order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital, a German Roman Catholic Order that also served as a Crusading Order. In AD 1250 or 1251 Mindaugas was the first powerful nobleman to unite the Balts and become Grand Duke.
In AD 1251 Mindaugas accepted baptism into the Catholic Church, and all of Lithuania accepted Catholicism for the first time. But all was not peace and tranquility from that point on; internecine conflicts went on, and, the nature of man being what it is, political intrigues and changing alliances at different times had Mindaugas actually warring against the Teutonic Knights. He is rumored to have reverted back to pagan ways for some period of time. War was the order of the day until 1410, when the Teutonic Knights were decisively defeated by Vytautas the Great. From that date onward, Catholicism again began to spread and take hold in the hearts of all Lithuanians.
There was a very pious Lithuanian nobleman named Petras Giedgaudas who had a special devotion for Our Lady. Giedgaudas was an advisor and a diplomat in the service of Vytautas the Great. It was he who built the first church in Siluva in AD 1457 and dedicated it to the Nativity – meaning the birth – of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Rome, Giedgaudas obtained a beautiful icon of our Lady holding the Christ child, which he brought to the Chapel at Siluva, and he installed it in the Sanctuary there. Pilgrims walked to the Chapel at Siluva from all corners of Lithuania, Prussia and other neighboring countries for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin’s birthday. It became a major Catholic pilgrimage site. In those days, a pilgrimage was a major act of penance and piety, and as Catholicism increased, pilgrimage increased in popularity.
In the 16th century the wars of the Reformation reached Lithuania, and Calvinism seized control of the area surrounding Siluva. But Catholic pilgrims continued to come to the Chapel at Siluva, even under increasing threat from the Calvinists. Seeing what was coming, the parish priest, Fr. Honas Holubka, gathered the important church documents, including the icon of Our Lady and the Child Jesus, sealed them into a metal box and buried them nearby.
In an effort to crush Catholic piety, the Calvinists demolished the Chapel and leveled the ground. Years later local Catholics sought to regain legal ownership of lands seized, including the land the church was on, and were unable to do so because they had no documentation showing ownership.
THE APPARITIONS
First Apparition
One summer day, in 1608, a number of children were tending their sheep in a field on the outskirts of the village of Siluva. They were playing near a large rock, close to a wooded section of the field, shouting merrily to one another in carefree fun. Suddenly one after another stood transfixed, staring in the direction of the rock. In the silence, there could be heard the sound of loud sobbing. Then the children beheld a beautiful young woman standing on the rock holding a baby in her arms and weeping bitterly. Her overwhelming grief was only too evident. She did not speak, but looked at them sadly as she stood there, weeping as though her heart was breaking. So profuse were her tears that they ran down her cheeks and some of them splashed on the rock. The woman was dressed in flowing blue and white robes, unlike any costume with which the children were familiar. Her long, light-brown hair fell softly over her shoulders. A strange light surrounded both the woman and child. So startled were the children, they could not speak, but merely stood and stared. Amazement soon turned to fright when the woman with her baby disappeared as mysteriously as she had appeared. Then all began to talk excitedly about what they had seen. One of the boys ran to the village to tell the Calvinist pastor. He was told to stop making up such a fantastic tale and to go back to the fields.
When the children returned home in the evening, they told their parents and neighbors about the weeping woman. The news spread quickly through the little village, and the next morning most of the townspeople had gathered around the rock. Some were scoffing loudly, but others were impressed by the children's tearful insistence that they were telling the truth. This was proven because, whether the children were questioned separately or together, each told the same identical story, even to the smallest detail.
Second Apparition
The Calvinist pastor, aware of the crowd that had gathered, became alarmed at the gullibility of his people in believing this “Roman superstition,” as he labeled the story. He warned them that this was the work of Satan, who wanted to lead them away. As the Calvinist pastor paused to catch his breath, a heart-rending sound of sobbing was heard. All eyes turned to the rock, and there, standing in their midst, was the weeping lady with the baby in her arms, just as the children had described her.
The people stood in amazement. The pastor, too, could do nothing but stare. The woman’s face was clouded in deep sorrow and her cheeks were bathed in bitter tears. Finally the pastor regained his composure and asked, “Why are you weeping?” In a voice filled with sorrowful emotion, she replied,
“There was a time when my beloved Son was worshipped by my people on this very spot. But now they have given this sacred soil over to the plowman and the tiller and to the animals for grazing.”
Without another word, she vanished.
AFTER THE APPARITIONS
Miracles
News of the apparition reached the ears of a 100 year-old blind man, who fondly remembered Fr. Holubka, and who had participated in the burying of the iron-clad chest beside the large rock. The people led him to the site, and when he arrived there, his sight was miraculously restored. Giving thanks to God, he pointed out the spot where the chest was buried. The chest was dug up and opened, and it contained the large painting of the Madonna and Child, Chalices, vestments and many documents, including the original church deed.
The Lithuanian people began an immediate return to the Catholic faith, including many Calvinists in positions of authority. With the original deed to the land now in hand, the land was eventually legally returned to the Catholics in a court action finalized in AD 1622. A wooden church was erected on the site and pilgrimages commenced, particularly on the indulgenced Feast of the Nativity of Mary. More miracles began to be attributed to the icon in the Chapel.
More Religious Suppression
Pre-Communist Tsarist Russia occupied Lithuania during the 19th century and tried to force the Russian Orthodox faith on the citizens. Not only Catholicism, but even speaking the Lithuanian language was forbidden. But the Lithuanian people maintained their religion and their language and their culture underground. Pilgrimages continued, although low keyed. Pilgrimages hit a high point between the two Great Wars. Of course, the second Great War devastated Lithuania, and left her under brutal Communist domination.
First the Calvinists; then the Tsarists; then the Communist-atheists sought to crush the Roman Catholic faith in Lithuania. They all failed. The pilgrimages continued. The KGB did everything they could to discourage pilgrims. They once even declared an outbreak of plague as an excuse to close all roads to Siluva. Then, the Soviet Union collapsed upon itself.
Apparition Chapel and the Basilica
The original church soon proved much too small for the numbers of pilgrims. In one feast day in AD 1629, some 11,000 faithful received Holy Communion. A much larger church was built in AD 1641, and it served until the current renaissance style church was built in 1786. The first chapel was built over the rock in 1663, and served until 1818 when a larger one was built by Bishop Giedraitis. The current chapel was begun in 1912; interrupted by war, it was completed in 1924. The altar was built over the rock. Pilgrims were accustomed to go up to the altar on their knees and kiss the rock, which remains visible.
The current Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was dedicated in 1786.
Miraculous Image and Statue
The miraculous image of the Madonna and Child is the original – first installed by Giedgaudas, hidden and buried in the chest by Fr. Holubka, and reclaimed by the blind man who had his sight restored. It is installed in the Basilica. Many gold and silver votives were attached to it over the years. In 1671 they were melted; the gold and silver were then carefully used to artfully decorate the icon. Gold leaf and precious stones were used to enrich the icon and add to its beauty.
On September 8, 1786, the miraculous icon was solemnly crowned with a pure gold crown in the presence of four bishops, the senate, many nobles and approximately 30,000 witnesses, under the direction of Bishop Steponas Giedraitis, Bishop of Zemaitija. A marble statue was commissioned by bishop Jonas Lapascinskas in London between 1770 and 1775. It was placed in the chapel, and publicly crowned September 3, 1886 by Bishop Mecislovas
Paliulionis, under the title “Health of the Sick.” At an unknown year, a new statue replaced the old one.
Approval
The apparition was authenticated by a Papal Decree issued by Pope Pius VI on August 17, 1775.
Consecration of Lithuania to the Blessed Virgin Mary
In 1991 Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevicius and Vytautas Landsbergis, the Speaker of the Parliament, at Siluva, signed an act consecrating Lithuania to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II visited Siluva on September 7, 1993. The Holy Father knelt in prayer in the Apparition Chapel, and he took part in a celebration of the Liturgy of the Word in the Basilica on the theme of the Christian family. He also crowned a statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary which had been brought from America; it had travelled through many Lithuanian parishes, entrusting the Lithuanian nation to Mary’s protection.
The Holy Father left a golden rosary made by Vatican craftsmen as a memento of his visit to Siluva. He asked Our Lady of Siluva to strengthen Lithuania’s resolve to hear Jesus’s word, the Word of Life, which was sown here centuries ago. He urged people to follow Mary’s example as a “pilgrim of faith”, to direct their entire life toward Christ, to listen to God’s word and to live by it.
To commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul the Great to Siluva, a cross was erected in 1994 on a small hill on the edge of town. In 2003, for the 10th anniversary of the Pope’s visit, the John Paul II House was blessed, while in 2008, a sculpture of this Pope was erected in the square between the Basilica and the Apparition Chapel. A street adjacent to the square and monument was named in his honor.
SOURCE
https://www.marypages.com/our-lady-of-siluva-en.html
https://www.ourladyofsiluva.org/our_lady/
http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/siluva/index.htmlyofsilu
Prayer to Our Lady of Siluva
Most Holy Virgin Mary, you appeared in the fields of Siluva to young shepherds, shedding tears on the rock that lies beneath this altar and saying reproachfully: “My Son used to be worshipped in this place, but now people only plough and sow.” Grant that, moved by your tears, we might like our forefathers glorify your Son, rebuild the neglected shrines of our hearts and win the Lord’s pardon for the negligence and sins of our people.
O Mother of God, we long to revive the forgotten glory of your apparition, to honor you even more as our Protectress, and with your aid to win from God a spirit of living faith for all this land. Amen.