Our Lady Mary Mediatrix of all Grace

1948 Our Blessed Mother appeared 19 times to a novice in the Carmelite order in Lipa City, Philippines. Our Lady first appeared to the novice, Teresita Castillo, in August, when she was in her cell.

While Teresita was praying in the convent garden on September 12, suddenly a vine began to shake. Our Lady appeared to the seer and requested that she kiss the earth and return to the same spot for fifteen consecutive days. When Our Lady appeared, She was on a cloud, dressed in white, hands clasped, and a golden Rosary hanging from Her right hand. Her dress was very white, very simple, and had a narrow belt tied around Her. She was radiant with beauty.

Our Lady requested the vine to be blessed, and also requested that a statue was to be placed at the site of the apparition. These were all accomplished.

During the apparitions in 1948, Our Lady stressed humility, penance, prayers for the clergy and the Pope, and to pray the Rosary. Teresita reported that there was one secret for herself, one for the Carmel convent in Lipa City, one for China, and also one for the entire world.

Our Lady requested that a Mass be held on the 12th day of every month. Before She departed for the last time, the Blessed Virgin identified Herself as:

" I am the Mediatrix of All Grace"

There are acconts of a blue bird appearing at the vine where Our Lady appeared. There are also accounts of the spinning sun, heavy fragrance of roses, and showers of rose petals that had miraculous images of Christ, Mary, and other Holy Scenes on them. The rose petals (one is pictured on the top of this page, and another is pictured on the bottom) are reported to have remarkable curing powers.

It is also reported that Teresita received a Host for Holy Communion on her tongue from an angel on an occasion when she was unable to attend Mass because she was sick in bed. Teresita had other mystical experiences including visions of the Sacred Heart, a multitude of angels, St. Cecilia, St. Theresa of Lisieux, and many other saints. The seer was also seen to go into a state of unconsciousness, and then, while lying on the floor, enact the agony of Christ on the Cross. This phenomenon was witnessed by the prioress, Bishop Obviar, and members of the Carmel community at Lipa.

There was much commotion, and the Bishop and Mother Prioress were released of their jobs. The nuns were ordered to destroy all materials connected with the apparitions. They burned Teresita's diary, as well as the Mother Prioress'. The statue was also ordered to be destroyed, but the nuns kept it away, and saved it from destruction.

Our Lady warned that there would be persecutions; the convent was sealed, and the nuns could talk to no one outside of the convent.

In February 1990, a strange new phenomenon was reported in the Granja District of Lipa City. A white luminous outline of a female in prayer began to appear on one of the leaves of a tall coconut tree. It was visible only in the evenings. On May 21, 1990, Sr. Aphonse pleaded on her deathbed that the Mediatrix statue be again exposed in the chapel at the Carmelite convent. Her request was granted the very next day. It would be the first time the statue would be displayed for 40 years!

On January 24, 1991, rose petals began to fall straight from the sky again at the Carmelite convent in Lipa City. A few days later, six children playing in the garden at the convent saw the statue come to life.

Very negative media articles together with sham " Holy Rose Petals " dealers, caused Teresita to leave the convent in the 1950's. This, together with the Church's negative report, kept these apparitions hidden for some 40 years.

As a consequence, the Church has now set up a new commitee to investigate the apparitions.

For more information, please contact:

Sr. Celine Gutierrez, ocd Shrine of Our Lady, Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace Torres St., Antipolo Lipa City, Batangas, Philippines