MANILA (UCAN): On July 10, the Dominican-run University of Santo Thomas in the Philippines, warned people about the alleged promotion of an apparition of the Virgin Mary that the Vatican had dismissed as “not of supernatural origin.”
At the same time, the university reprimanded Dominican Father Roland Mactal for printing novena booklets promoting “inauthentic” miracles attributed to the so-called Marian apparitions, which occurred at Lipa city, in Batangas province, in 1948.
The university’s Faculty of Theology said Father Mactal’s novena violated the “Pastoral Guidelines for Bishops on Private Devotions to Our Blessed Mother Mary, Mediatrix of Grace [All Graces]” issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The bishops’ guidelines say no clergyman should make any attempt to connect or revive a Marian devotion such as the recitation of a novena or the rosary to a series of purported apparitions in Batangas for being inauthentic.
…the university reprimanded Dominican Father Roland Mactal for printing novena booklets promoting ‘inauthentic’ miracles attributed to the so-called Marian apparitions, which occurred at Lipa city, in Batangas province, in 1948
Father Mactal violated the directive when he printed the texts of the novena and used the image of the Our Lady of Lipa on the cover, univeristy said.
“A deliberate attempt to connect the devotion to our Lady of Mediatrix Grace [All Graces] to the alleged Lipa apparitions is evidenced by the following: 1). The use of the image of ‘Our Lady of Lipa’ on the cover and inside pages of the booklet; 2). The mention of the publisher as the ‘Carmel of Our Lady, Mary Mediatrix of All Grace Monastery,’ Lipa City 4217, Batangas, Philippines, as well as by the back cover of the booklet with picture of the monastery,” the university said in its message.
In 1948, a Filipino woman named Teresita Castillo joined a Carmelite monastery in Lipa City. Soon afterward, she claimed she heard a voice instructing her to go back to the same location around 15 days thereafter.
Castillo obeyed and on 15 September 1948, she once again heard the voice who she described as “mother” and later, believed was the voice of the Virgin Mary.
In 2015, the Vatican ruled that the series of apparitions including the visions of Castillo were inauthentic and were not of divine or supernatural origin.
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Rome has spoken. The case is closed. We all obey the Holy See
Archbishop Villegas
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, then president of the bishops’ conference, said the case was closed and must not be revisited by any clergyman or churchgoer.
“Rome has spoken. The case is closed. We all obey the Holy See,” Archbishop Villegas told reporters in 2015.
The archbishop also said that Filipino Catholics did not need the Lipa apparitions to honour Mary.
“We do not need apparitions to honour her,” Archbishop Villegas added.
The Dominican university also clarified that although Father Mactal mentioned some Church authorities in the printed novena, it did not mean that they had endorsed the devotion to the fake apparition.
“The faculty wishes to clarify that it has not endorsed the publication of the booklet. While Father Mactal appears to buttress his personal efforts by including personalities as well as messages of Church authorities in the booklet, the faculty considers it necessary to make the following clarifications…”
The Faculty of Sacred Theology said that it had reprimanded Father Mactal for using its letterhead in the publication of his message and sternly admonished him to cease using the letterhead unless with the explicit permission of the Dean of the Faculty of Sacred Theology.
