Mother Mariana of Jesus Torres y Berriochoa / OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS (1563-1635)
Mariana Francisca was
born to Don Diego Torres and Dona Maria Berriochoa, both noble
Spaniards and fervent Catholics. From an early age she developed an
ardent devotion for the Blessed Sacrament. Because of her spiritual
maturity, her confessor allowed her to receive Communion at nine
years which at the time was considered very early for first
communicants.
So intense was Mariana’s
joy at receiving the Blessed Sacrament she fell
into a deep faint. During this ecstatic “faint” she saw Our Lord Jesus as
a young boy of her own age placing a ring on her finger, claiming
her for Himself. Mariana readily accepted this proposal. The Blessed
Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph witnessed the event and stood as
sponsors to this spiritual engagement.
In this same vision the
Blessed Virgin showed her that she was destined to belong to her
Order of the Immaculate Conception. This order had recently been
founded by another privileged soul, St. Beatrix da Silva, a
Portuguese woman of noble lineage. The great love of S.t Beatrix was
the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. After many sufferings
and difficulties, she founded this new order to honor this exalted
privilege of Mary Most Holy, centuries before it was declared a dogma
of the Faith. The new order adopted the Franciscan rule and took
Saint Francis of Assisi as their mentor and father
Some influential and
pious ladies in the then Spanish colony of Ecuador learned of this
recently established order and wished to have it established in
Quito, their country’s capital.
They submitted their
request for this to King Philip II of Spain. Granting their
petition he named a nun of great virtue, Mother Maria of Jesus
Taboada, to head the foundation of the new convent. This virtuous and
holy nun was an aunt of Mariana and she was to be accompanied by six
other nuns, all women of great merit and solid virtue. They were
Mothers Francisca of the Angels, Anne of the Conception, Lucy of the
Cross, Magdalen of Saint John, Catherine of the Conception, and Maria
of the Incarnation.
Mariana was at the time
only nine years old, but one day as she received Holy Communion the
Lord again appeared to her and told her that He wished her to leave
her father’s house and to embrace His cross in a far-off land.
Mariana understood that she was to go with her aunt as part of the
expedition to found the order of the Immaculate Conception in the
Americas. Her parents gave their permission and she travelled with
her aunt to Quito, Ecuador.
The voyage proved
eventual in a frightening manner. No sooner had the ship
left port than a terrible tempest overtook them. The frightened
sailors did not know what to do and thought all was lost, Mariana screamed anf fainted, but Mother
Maria prayed to God with all her soul, asking that if He truly willed
that the foundation be accomplished, He quell the storm. As soon as Mother Maria
said this prayer, Mariana opened her eyes and the light of day
overcame the darkness of the storm. But a terrible voice was heard: “I will not
allow this foundation to come about; I will not allow it’s
progress; I will not allow it to endure to the end of time; I will
persecute it.”
Mother Maria knew that
Mariana had seen something during her faint and, retiring with her to
a secluded place, asked her to relate all she had been shown.
“I don’t know where I
have been, my Mother, but I saw a serpent bigger than the sea,
twisting and contorting itself. Then I saw a lady of incomparable
beauty, garbed with the sun and crowned with stars and with a babe in
her arms. On the lady’s breast I saw a monstrance with the Blessed
Sacrament. In one of her hands she held a golden cross having a lance
point. Anchoring the lance over the Blessed Sacrament and in the
infant’s hand, she struck at the serpent’s head with such force
that it was completely split. At that moment the serpent cried out
all his horrible threats about not allowing the founding of the Order
of the Immaculate Conception.”
Mother Maria understood
all that this vision signified and was later to have a large medal
cast depicting the scene. To this day, the nuns of the Immaculate
Conception of Quito wear this medal over their habits.
Arriving in Quito on
December 30, 1576, the foundresses were received with great joy and
housed in a few of the inhabitable buildings of the convent, which
was still under construction. When the construction was concluded,
the official founding took place on January 13, 1577. Soon, several
young girls of Quito began to request admission to the convent of the
Immaculate Conception and the conventual life was in full bloom.
At fifteen, Mariana
entered the novitiate and, a few years later, professed. As she
pronounced her vows before Mother Maria Taboada on the day of her
nuptials, she was taken up into an ecstasy. While on earth her lips
formed the words for the formula of her vows and her body remained
supple for the clothing, her soul was in the presence of God Our
Lord.
Our Lord Jesus presented
His own cross to His spouse and showed her all the enormous
sufferings, persecutions, sicknesses, and temptations she would
undergo for His sake and ours. He preserved her only from temptations
against purity. She was never to have a single thought or inclination
against this angelic virtue.
After her profession, Our
Lord again appeared to Mother Mariana and gave her the schedule to be
observed in the free hours of the community and the penances she
should perform during the week.
These penances were so
severe that Mother Maria Taboada feared for her health. But, in
another vision, Our Lord placed a drop of crystalline water from His
wounded side on Mariana’s lips and fortified her
for all He asked of her.
The extreme penances
practised by her can only be understood when we consider that she was
called to be a victim for the twentieth century. One of her
mortifications included wrapping nearly her whole body in wires with
iron points, even her ears, leaving only her face and hands free.
Thus she lived a penitential, prayerful life, ever increasing in
virtue.
In the year 1582, as she
prayed before the Blessed Sacrament in the choir of the convent she
heard a terrifying rumble and saw the church enveloped in a thick,
smoke-filled darkness. The main altar alone remained illuminated, as
if in broad daylight. There, the tabernacle door swung open and our
crucified Lord came forth, nailed to a life-size cross. The Blessed
Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist, and Saint Mary Magdalen stood
by, as on Calvary. Our Lord was in agony.
The young nun heard a
voice: “This punishment is for the twentieth century.” Then she
saw three swords hanging over Our Lord’s head, each with an
inscription. On the first was written, “I shall punish heresy”;
on the second, “I shall punish blasphemy”; and on the third, “I
shall punish impurity.”
Then the Blessed Virgin
addressed the young nun: “My daughter, do you wish to sacrifice
yourself for these people?”
“I am ready.” At
that, the three swords plunged into the nun’s heart.
Her whole life became one
act of suffering for the sins of the world, and she received many
visions that include the request for the now famous statue of Our
Lady of Good Success, as well as revelations about the future state
of mankind and what would happen, the accounts of which are too many
to include here, but included below are some of the most important
visions that foretell the degredation of the world, and that the 19th
and 20th centuries would bring in the greatest evils. Her visions
are are also related to the promised 'Angelic Pontiff' prophecies as
Our Lady requested the faithful to pray for the 'prelate' who would
restore all. As this has not happened yet, we can assume it will
happen sometime in the 21st century.
Mother Mariana died died
on 16 January 1635, shortly after the last apparition. When her tomb
was reopened in 1906 her body was found to be incorrupt. The
Archdiocese of Quito opened her cause for canonization in 1986. Her
visions had already been approved as early as 1611 during her
lifetime by the local bishop.
For a more detailed
account of her life and visions, click here.
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WARNINGS FOR THE 20th
CENTURY
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St. Michael to Sr.
Mariana de Torres:
“Through this devotion
(to Our Lady of Good Success), Our Lord will grant great miracles, spiritual as well as
temporal, first to your (Sr Marianne’s) community, so that in it He
will always find a safeguard (victim
souls) and secondly, to the devout faithful, above all to those at
the end of the 19th and 20th
Centuries, for those times will see the chosen ones of His heart,
times during which hell would be
unleashed and many souls would be lost.”
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Our Lady of Good Success
appeared again to Mother Mary Anne of Jesus Torres, in Quito,Ecuador, on February 2,
1634, with the child Jesus on her left arm and the sceptre in her
right hand. At her appearance the
sanctuary light went out, which Our Lady stated had five meanings.
“First meaning: at the
end of the 19th century and for a large part of the 20th, various
heresies will flourish on this earth which will have become a free
republic. The precious light of the Faith will go out in souls
because of the almost total moral corruption: in those times there
will be great physical and moral calamities, in private and in
public. The little number of souls keeping the Faith and practising
the virtues will undergo cruel and unspeakable sufferings…
Second meaning: My
communities will be abandoned; they will be swamped in a fathomless sea of bitterness and
will seem drowned in tribulations. How many true vocations will be
lost for lack of skilful and
prudent direction to form them! Each mistress of novices will need to
be a soulof prayer, knowing how to
discern spirits…
The third meaning of the
lamp's going out is that in those times, the air will be filled with
the spirit of impurity which
like a deluge of filth will flood the streets, squares and public
places. Thelicentiousness will be
such that there will be no more virgin souls in the world…
A fourth meaning is that
by having gained control of all the social classes, the secret sects
will tend to penetrate with great
skill into the heart of families and destroy even the children. The
devil will take glory in feeding
perfidiously on the hearts of children. The innocence of childhood
will almostdisappear. Thus priestly
vocations will be lost, it will be a real disaster. Priests will
abandon their sacred duties and will
depart from the path marked out for them by God. Then the Church will
go through a dark night for
lack of a Prelate and Father to watch over it with love, gentleness,
strengthand prudence, and numbers
of priests will lose the spirit of God, thus placing their souls in
great
danger…
The fifth reason that the
lamp was extinguished is due to the laxity and the negligence of those who possess great
wealth who will indifferently stand by and witness the Church beingoppressed, virtue being
persecuted, and the triumph of the demon, without piously employing
theirriches for the
destruction of this evil and the restoration of the Faith."
“The most Holy Trinity
confirmed the desire of my Queen, assuring that God will bless all those who, by their
support and help, contribute in the making of the Holy Statue, (of
Our Lady of Good Success) as well as
all those who help spread this devotion throughout the centuries,
making known its origin and
these apparitions in the 20th century. This will be a time of great
corruption of customs. The sacred sacrament of Holy Orders will
be ridiculed, oppressed and despised, for in doing this, one scorns
and defiles the Church of God, and even God Himself, represented by
His priests. The Demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the
Lord in every possible way and he will labour with cruel and subtle
astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation,
corrupting many of them. These corrupted priests who will thus
scandalize the church will incite the hatred of bad Christians and
the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic church to fall upon
all the priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will bring enormous
sufferings to the good pastors of the church to the great majority of
good priests and to the supreme pastor and vicar of Christ on earth
who will shed secret and bitter tears in the presence of his God and
Lord beseeching light, sanctity and perfection for all the clergy of
the world of which he is king and father. Moreover in these unhappy
times there will be unbridled luxury which acting thus to snare the
rest into sin will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will lose
themselves. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children nor
modesty and in this supreme moment of need the church, those whom it
behoves to speak will fall silent…”
Our Lady: “You will
see this from Heaven, my beloved daughter,where you can no long
suffer, but your daughters and successors will suffer, those beloved
souls already known to you who will placate the Divine Ire. They will
have recourse to Me under the invocation of Our Lady of Good Success,
whose Statue I ask and command that you have made for the
consolation and preservation of my Convent and of the faithful souls
of that time, an epoch when there will be a great devotion to Me, for
I am Queen of Heaven under many invocations. This devotion will be
the shield between Divine Justice and the prevaricating world to
prevent the release of God’s formidable punishment that this guilty
earth deserves.
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Our Lady of Good Success
promised, “The small number of souls, who hidden, will preserve the treasures of
the Faith and practise virtue will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and
prolonged martyrdom. Many will
succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings and those who sacrifice themselves for
the Church and their country will be counted as martyrs. In order to
free men from the bondage to
these heresies, those whom the merciful love of my most Holy Son has designated to effect the
restoration, will need great strength of will, constancy, valour and
confidence of the just. There will be occasions when all will seem
lost and paralysed. This then will be the happy beginning of the
complete restoration.”
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Another translation with
additional details offered by OnePeterFive
with dates for the apparitions:
January 21, 1610
Our Lady of Good Success: “Thus, I make it known
to you that from the end of the 19th century and from shortly after
the middle of the 20th century, in what is today the Colony and will
then be the Republic of Ecuador, the passions will erupt and there
will be a total corruption of customs, for Satan will reign almost
completely by means of the Masonic Sects. They will focus principally
on the children in order to sustain this general corruption. Woe to
the children of these times!
It will be difficult to
receive the Sacrament of Baptism and also the Sacrament of
Confirmation. They will receive the Sacrament of Confession only if
they remain in Catholic schools, for the Devil will make a great
effort to destroy it through persons in position of authority. The
same thing will happen with the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
Alas! How deeply I grieve
to manifest to you the many enormous sacrileges – both public as
well as secret – that will occur from profanation of the Holy
Eucharist. Often, during this epoch the enemies of Jesus Christ,
instigated by the Devil, will steal consecrated Hosts from the
churches so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species. My Most
Holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by
filthy feet. (…).
But in those times you
will already be known, as well as the favors that I am bestowing on
you. How I love the fortunate inhabitants of this sacred place! And
that knowledge will stimulate love and devotion to my Sacred Statue.
For this reason, today, I authoritatively order you to have this
Statue made: let it be sculptured just as you see Me and placed upon
the Abbess’s chair, so that from there I may govern and direct my
daughters and defend my Convent; for Satan, making use of both the
good and the evil, will engage in a fierce battle to destroy it. (…).
Since this poor Country
will lack the Catholic spirit, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction will
be little valued. Many people will die without receiving it –
either because of the negligence of their families or misconceived
affection for their sick ones. Others, incited by the cursed Devil,
will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church and will deprive
countless souls of innumerable graces, consolations, and the strength
they need to make the great leap from time to eternity. But some
persons will die without receiving it due to just and secret
chastisements of God.
As for the Sacrament of
Matrimony, which symbolises the union of Christ with His Church, it
will be attacked and deeply profaned. Freemasonry, which will then
be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the aim of doing away
with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin and
encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the
blessing of the Church. The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the
precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until there
will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. Added to
this will be the effects of secular education, which will be one
reason for the death of priestly and religious vocations.
The Sacrament of Holy
Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed, and despised, for in this
Sacrament, the Church of God and even God Himself is scorned and
despised since He is represented in His priests. The Devil will try
to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will
labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the
spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them. These
depraved priests, who will scandalise the Christian people, will make
the hatred of bad Catholics and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and
Apostolic Church fall upon all priests.
This apparent triumph of
Satan will bring enormous suffering to the good Pastors of the
Church, the many good priests, and the Supreme Pastor and Vicar of
Christ on earth, who, a prisoner in the Vatican, will shed secret and
bitter tears in the presence of his God and Lord, beseeching light,
sanctity and perfection for all the clergy of the world, of whom he
is King and Father. Further, in these unhappy times, there will be
unbridled luxury which will ensnare the rest into sin and conquer
innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost
no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women.
In this supreme moment of
need of the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent!
You will see this from
Heaven, my beloved daughter, where you can no long suffer, but your
daughters and successors will suffer, those beloved souls already
known to you who will placate the Divine Ire. They will have recourse
to Me under the invocation of Our Lady of Good Success, whose Statue
I ask and command that you have made for the consolation and
preservation of my Convent and of the faithful souls of that time, an
epoch when there will be a great devotion to Me, for I am Queen of
Heaven under many invocations. This devotion will be the shield
between Divine Justice and the prevaricating world to prevent the
release of God’s formidable punishment that this guilty earth
deserves.
February 1610: (Our
Lady to Mother Mariana) As for your request that your name be hidden, this pleases me,
and I will do as you have asked. Tell the Bishop that it is my will
and the will of my Most Holy Son that your name be hidden at all
costs, both within as well as outside the cloister, for it is not
fitting for anyone at the present time to know the details or origin
of how this Statue came to be made. For this knowledge will only
become known to the general public in the 20th century.
During that epoch the
Church will find herself attacked by terrible hordes of the Masonic
sect, and this poor Ecuadorian land will be agonizing because of the
corruption of customs, unbridled luxury, the impious press, and
secular education. The vices of impurity, blasphemy, and sacrilege
will dominate in this time of depraved desolation, and that one who
should speak out will be silent.
[..]
A simple, humble faith in
the truth of my apparitions to you, my favoured child, will be
reserved for humble and fervent who are docile to the inspirations of
grace, for our Heavenly Father communicates His secrets to the simple
of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride,
pretending to know what they do not or infatuated with empty science.
February 1634, Our Lady:
In order to free men from
bondage to these heresies, those whom the merciful love of My Most
Holy Son will destine for that restoration will need great strength
of will, constancy, valor and confidence in God. To test this faith
and confidence of the just, there will be occasions in which
everything will seem to be lost and paralyzed. This will be, then,
the happy beginning of the complete restoration.
[…]
During this unfortunate
epoch, injustice will even enter here, my closed garden. (i.e. Even
Mother Mariana's order will be infultrated with the errors of the
times.) Disguised under the name of false charity, it will wreak
havoc in souls.The spiteful demon will try to sow discord, making use
of putrid members, who, masked by the appearance of virtue, will be
like decaying sepulchers emanating the pestilence of putrefaction,
causing moral deaths in some and lukewarmness in others.
[…]
[T]he spirit of impurity
that will saturate the atmosphere in those times. Like a filthy
ocean, it will inundate the streets, squares and public places with
an astonishing liberty. There will be almost no virgin souls in the
world.
[…]
How the Church will
suffer on that occasion the dark night of the lack of a Prelate and
Father to watch over them with paternal love, gentleness, strength,
and prudence. Many priests will lose their spirit, placing their
souls in great danger. Pray insistently without tiring and weep
with bitter tears in the secrecy of your heart, imploring
our Celestial Father that, for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my
Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood shed with such generosity and by
the profound bitterness and sufferings of His cruel Passion and
Death, He might take pity on His Ministers and quickly bring to an
end those ominous times, sending to this Church the Prelate that will
restore the spirit of its Priests. (i.e. This must be a
request that God send the Angelic Pontiff of prophecies past.)
