Apparition of Our Lady of
Siluva, Lithuania 1608
Come Home to the
One True Church
In
1251, Lithuania was the last European nation to accept Christianity, becoming
the youngest daughter of the Church.
There was a time when Lithuania came very close to leaving the Catholic
faith. Something happened in 1608 in the little village of Siluva which turned
back, once and for all, the tide of the Reformation heresy which was sweeping
over Europe and threatening to engulf this little country.
Two
hundred fifty years before Lourdes and Fatima the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared
in the village of Siluva, Lithuania.
The
story of Our Lady of Siluva actually began in 1457, when Peter Giedgaudas, a
diplomat for Vytautas the Great, built the first church in the area and gave
the land to the Catholic Church. On one of his many travels he went to Rome and
there obtained a magnificent painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the
child Jesus. He brought the painting back to Lithuania and put it in the
sanctuary of the new church in Siluva.
For
several generations the faithful worshiped God and honored the Blessed Mother
in their little shrine church.
When
the Protestant Reformation swept over Europe, not even this little village
escaped its impact. In 1532, the local governor became a zealous Calvinist as
did many nobility and intellectuals . . . they in turn forced their will
upon the people. The Catholics of Siluva were helpless to resist the
repression of their Faith by the powerful gentry. Property owned by the Church
was to be confiscated and the land turned over to the Calvinists.
When
Fr. John Holubka, the parish priest of the Siluva Church, heard what was to
happen, he built an ironclad box. He carefully wrapped the treasured painting
of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child, liturgical vestments, and documents which
proved that Vytautas the Great had given the land to the Catholic Church and
placed them in the box. Then he sealed the box and buried it deep in the ground
near a large rock. His action was truly inspired because a short time later the
authorities seized the church. It seemed as if the Catholic faith had come to
an end in the once fervent village of Siluva.
Eighty
years passed and the Catholic flock, with no shepherd to guide and nourish it,
gradually died out. Only a few of the very oldest villagers dimly remembered
that there had been a Catholic Church in their village. Children were reared in
the Calvinist creed. Suddenly, through an apparition of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, God miraculously intervened. This apparition has been proven an actual
event, authenticated by a Papal Decree issued by Pope Pius VI on August 17,
1775. The most remarkable feature is the fact that the miracle took place in
a completely un-Catholic atmosphere.
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.
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 Calvinist 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.
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 One True Church founded by her
Divine Son, Jesus Christ. So complete was this return that 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.
Such
was the miracle that the Mother of God wrought in the village of Siluva where
there had been no church, no priest, no Mass, for almost eighty years. The Bishop
appointed Fr. John Kazakevicius to investigate the phenomenon and question all
witnesses to the events.
In
many apparitions of the Blessed Mother there is usually a picture or statue
associated with the event. Our Lady of Siluva is not an exception. 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, then 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.
The
ironclad chest was dug out of the ground and when it was opened, there –
perfectly preserved – was the large painting of the Madonna and Child, several
gold chalices, vestments, church deeds, and other documents. The painting was
enshrined permanently in the Basilica of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and is venerated to this day as the Miraculous Image of Siluva.
Over
the years, many miracles have been recorded and the shrine has experienced
numerous changes and larger churches had to be built to accommodate the
pilgrims. Devotion to Our Lady of Siluva was growing until World War II brought
about the destruction of freedom in Lithuania.
Since
then, this world has seen many changes. We find ourselves surrounded by moral
decay and many have lost their way. Today, Our Lady of Siluva is our most
powerful intercessor before Almighty God.
She
once brought Lithuania back to the Church, so let us pray that . . .
“ moved by your tears,
may we as our forefathers did, revive the spirit of adoration of your Son in
our hearts, strengthen the tottering structure of the shrine that is the
family, bring back your wandering children and forgive the sins of our nation.
“ Our Lady of
Siluva, intercede for your wandering children . . . bring them home to Jesus.”
Our Lady of Siluva | Visiting Lithuania | Knights of Lithuania