Our Lady of Betania

Sims, Margaret Catherine, Sister. Apparitions in Betania, Venezuela. Medugorje, 1993. 

Country

Venezuela

Description

Maria Esperanza Bianchini was born in San Rafael, Barrancas in 1928.  She was both sickly and prone to spiritual visions throughout her life.  She wanted to be a religious, but the Blessed Mother told her she was to be married, and even told her when it would happen.  Before this, however, she had had a dream of a place where she would witness miracles taking place.  So she had been married quite a few years when she came upon a place called Betania, a place she had seen in her dream, where she experienced her first Marian apparition on January 25, 1985.

 

Our Lady appeared and told her she was Mary, Virgin and Mother Reconciler of All Peoples and Nations.  As the cult grew and more people came to witness the apparitions, she became known simply as Our Lady of Betania.  The Virgin appeared 12 times between the years 1985 and 1986, with her last message to the gathered faithful was one of mercy and healing.  Bianchini, who had been sickly her who life, was now dealing with the effects that usually accompany appearances: stigmata, the power to heal, levitation, bilocation and the ability to know the future.  However, she was healed after a fashion, and lived to the age of 77, passing away in 2004.

 

References:

Researched by Mariah N. Allen

Popular Devotions

People of Faith gather at the grotto site where 108 people witnessed apparitions of The Virgin Mary. At the grotto there is a statue of Mary surrounded by flowers. Mass is held here and it is also a very common site for people to pray and worship.

Hail Mary

Dios te salve, María. Llena eres de gracia: El Señor es contigo. 

Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres. 

Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre: Jesús. 

Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros pecadores, 

ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.

Amen.

All content is used with permission 

of the Marian Library at the 

University of Dayton.