Visions and Apparitions

The whole issue of visions and apparitions is a very complex one, and it is related to the fact, very frustrating for us all at times, that Christian Divine Revelation gives us what we need to know, and what we need to do, to merit eternal life for ourselves and our neighbour. It does not, unless incidentally, simply gratify our idle curiosity (if that's not too strong a phrase). It is also Catholic belief that Revelation ceased with the death of the last apostle. After that, we can deepen our knowledge and understanding, of Revelation, but we cannot add to it. [Note of caution to our Protestant friends: this Revelation is not, and never was, confined to the written word of the Bible. The Bible is itself a part of Catholic Tradition. Our Faith is corroborated by the Bible, but it is not 'based' on the Bible. The 'Bible-Only' position is unhistorical, illogical and unworkable – but that should be the subject of a separate Thread.]

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There are several classes of vision. There are said to be three powers of the soul: Memory (or imagination), Understanding or Intellect, and Will. An Imaginative Vision (not to be confused with 'imaginary') I directed to the Senses. Perhaps (I've never had any vision) it is like a 3-D video, perhaps with added smell, taste or touch. An Intellectual Vision is given to the recipient via the intellect. He 'sees' Our Lady, or a saint or angel, in the same way that we 'see' that two and two are four. And the Mystics describe further states in which there is a profound Union with God in a way that cannot be described.

There can be overlap. Recipients have often described how they 'see' a saint, or a scene, and simultaneously 'see' the name of the person or location – the knowledge comes with the sight – without any possibility of doubt, even if the person etc was completely unknown to them.

Visions as such are nearly always given as a one-off, individualised experience, although sometimes the purpose has been to pass on a message to other people, maybe the whole world. There are definite instances in which an individual has been given, as a special favour, additional information to the content of Revelation, but is forbidden to tell anybody else. The first of these was S. Paul, who was taken up to Heaven and 'heard there secret words, which it is not lawful to utter.' In general, however, the purpose of the vision appears to have been, to impress a Truth in a particularly vivid way. It is also given as a free gift.

Because of all the above, it is not possible to scour the 'incidentals' of a vision to glean additional information. Several mystics have been taken through the Passion of Our Lord, but it is not necessarily a simple-minded DVD. In some cases, the visionary is able to converse with the people at the scene, even Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross. And the details of these visions do not always match up with each other, even of those which the church has adjudged 'free from error in Faith and Morals.'

Yet another point for consideration is that we do not know, not having been told, what the glorified body of a saint in heaven actually looks like. What age are they? Jesus Himself has appeared, not only as a grown man, but as a boy or even as a baby. Is a deformed person given an un-deformed version of his body in the Next Life?

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Our Lady definitely seems to have shown herself to different people in different ethnic categories. It is as if the ethnicity would have been an unwanted distraction.

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False Visions.

The Church has always (or up until 1965, anyway) been extremely prudent or circumspect concerning visions. In her millennial experience, visions can arise from hallucinations, over-excited imagination, and even from the direct action of the devil. The type most to be treated with caution are the Imaginative Visions. S. Paul warns us that the devil can appear as a 'Being of Light'. Intellectual Visions are far harder for the devil to feign. Most false visions are of the 'imaginative' type.

Until the 1960s it was strictly forbidden to publish an account of an alleged vision without explicit permission from one's lawful spiritual superior - normally the Superior of the Religious community, or the Diocesan bishop. Disobedience to this law has been taken as a sure sign that the vision was false. After Vatican II this rule was abolished (Why?) and now any crackpot with a word processor can dash off the narrative of an alleged vision. A strange and very significant exception to this was that Sr Lucy, for the rest of her life, was forbidden to publish anything further about Fatima.

Does the church approve any particular vision? No private vision or revelation is ever specifically endorsed by the church – a point often missed. All she does is to announce, either that the vision is definitely not divinely inspired, or else that 'it contains no error of Faith and Morals, and may be piously believed by the Faithful' – yet even then, with only 'human confidence', not with the Faith with which we must approach the defined dogmas of the Faith. To have declared otherwise would have been to attempt to Add to the Deposit of Revelation, which the church never does.

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Fatima stands in a unique category, and cannot be classed as a Private Revelation. Normally, only the visionary herself sees the vision. But at Fatima, not only was the Miracle of the sun predicted months in advance – to the very hour – but it was seen by 70,000 people who had gathered there precisely to see the promised miracle. More than one Pope has affirmed, 'The time for doubting Fatima is past.'