The Amazing Secrets of the Souls in Purgatory  Sister Emmanuel, a nun from Medjugorje, interviews Maria Simma, an alleged mystic who has the charism of being able to see and talk to the souls in Purgatory. Answers questions like: Who decides if a soul goes to Purgatory? How do we get a soul released from Purgatory? How can we avoid Purgatory? What are the sins that most lead to purgatory? and much more! CLICK HERE

STATUE WHERE VISION OCCURRED HAS HIDDEN LINKS TO MAJOR APPARITIONS

It was on the 20th anniversary of Medjugorje, at the jubilee Mass in St. James Church, that it occurred. The Mass had just begun when a nun originally from Medjugorje (now assigned to a parish in New York) witnessed an extraordinary silhouette of the Virgin in a kind of whiteness behind a statue situated at the right of the church [see previous report]. Others noted phenomena on at least five occasions.

Through the years we've heard similar reports. This statue is one of the hidden treasures of Medjugorje, the apparition site in Bosnia-Hercegovina that lately has generated remarkable news. The statue is not to be confused with the more famous one of Mary in Tihaljina. The one in the church is not as well-known but in some ways is more fascinating -- and may hold clues as to the nature of the apparitions. The reason: it incorporates the aspects of several major Church-approved apparitions. Overall the statue looks like the Immaculate Conception pose from Lourdes, with the blue sash confirming that general similarity.

Lourdes is the closest association but the statue also bears resemblances to images from Fatima, where three peasant children saw Mary on a similarly stony hillside in 1917. This is especially true with the face. Its shape and chiseled features are very similar to a statue from Fatima that is molded according to the specifications of seer Sister Lucia dos Santos. Simply put, the face of the Medjugorje Madonna looks like the face of the Fatima Madonna.

In addition to Lourdes and Fatima, the statue brings to mind the famous Mexican site of Guadalupe. How does it remind us of Guadalupe? In the serious mouth, in the way Mary looks nearly down and to her right, in the prayerful hands, and especially in the starlike pattern on the blue sash, stars that are virtually identical to the stars on her robe at Guadalupe (with Guadalupe in turn bearing further similarities to yet older images like Our Lady of Czestowchowa!).

The fleur-de-lis at Guadalupe is a flower-like pattern that is also to be found on the famous Black Madonna of Our Lady of Czestowchowa in Poland.

Then there's the matter of her crown. At Medjugorje her crown is portrayed on the statue as 12 stars hovering over her head. This is interesting because it directly connects with the Miraculous Medal apparitions in 1830 to St. Catherine Laboure in Paris. St. Catherine had 12 stars put on the back of the Miraculous Medal.

Thus we see that the statue inside St. James takes us from the beginning of the Age of Mary, which many consider to have begun in 1830, right through the major apparitions of Fatima and Lourdes and to our own time, in which matters seem to be coming full circle.

As the statue portrays Mary praying, so must we pray. As Mary implores God's mercy, so must we beseech mercy. Prayer--it's the message of Fatima; it's the message of Medjugorje; and it's the message of this remarkable statue.