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BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary): Sightings & Apparitions

Beware of those who get revelations from the BVM.

Emergency workers are searching for a group of people who disappeared while on a spiritual retreat in the Andes.

Drones and dogs are being deployed to comb the mountainous area around La Grita, in Venezuela's Táchira state. An official with the civil protection team said between 16 and 20 people were missing, but local media suggest the number could be higher.

Relatives say they have not heard from their loved ones since they left for the retreat on 22 August. Neighbours told local paper La Nación that a number of local families had packed food and camping mats and set off into the mountains on what they described as a four-day spiritual retreat.

A priest in La Grita said the group had followed a woman who claimed to have received a revelation by the Virgin Mary. In his Sunday sermon, the priest warned of the dangers of believing in "fanatics" who made claims about the end of the world being nigh.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62792027
Seems they were found safe, but as the report was in the the Daily Heil I remain regretfully ignorant of the details.
 
An interesting old case.

Ninety years ago a tiny hamlet on the Essex-Suffolk border found itself at the centre of a national media storm when its rector claimed to have experienced visions of the Virgin Mary. What were the Visions of Middleton and why, today, are they all but forgotten?

A 15th Century chronicle stored at Canterbury Cathedral tells of two dragons fighting at Middleton. Even if you took the tale of sparring dragons at face value, it still might not be the strangest thing to have happened in the village.

That honour, arguably, belongs to events involving the hamlet's former rector, Father Clive Luget. The 48-year-old arrived in Middleton in 1931 from Walthamstow in London. Then, one Sunday in February 1933, he told his congregation at the 12th Century All Saints Church about a series of unusual events in the village.

Robert Halliday, who has carried out extensive research into the Father Luget story and wrote a comprehensive account of his findings 20 years ago for Ecclesiology Today, says a number of people in the village - including both Father Luget and an 11-year-old called Bertie Andrews - claimed to see a glowing ball of light moving around the hamlet.

Robert Halliday outside the church

Image caption, Robert Halliday has researched, written and spoken about Father Luget

Father Luget, Mr Halliday says, claimed to have seen the light over a hillock in the rectory garden and to have seen the Crucifixion above it and the Virgin Mary kneeling before it.

A couple of days after the apparent sighting, Father Luget was with his friend Dr Thornber, and Dr Thornber's son Francis, when another light appeared above the garden.

Dr Thornber went over to investigate, Mr Halliday says, and fell to his knees - at which point the light rose and disappeared.

"I think his intention was just to share the news with the congregation in the church," Mr Halliday, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, says. "But somebody who knew about this 'leaked' the information to the press, and it made national news. The Sunday People at that time was interested in the paranormal and the supernatural and ran a rather exaggerated account."

List of rectors

Image caption, Father Luget's name can still be found fourth from bottom on Middleton's list of rectors

He says Father Luget made no public comment about the visions or sought to garner media attention.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-65904695
 

Now it looks as if a Cult of Poverty is building up in Rwanda. Glorifying poverty is just another twist on the Prosperity Gospel scam.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has warned Catholic believers against engaging in practices that he says glorifies poverty and which a government spokesperson described as "cult-like" behaviour.

He was alluding to a Catholic pilgrimage that took place in June, the New Times paper reports.

"If I ever hear about this again, that people travelled to go and worship poverty, I will bring trucks and round them up and imprison them, and only release them when the poverty mentality has left them," Mr Kagame is quoted by the AFP news agency as telling a youth conference in the capital, Kigali, on Thursday.

"No-one must worship poverty. Do not ever do that again," he said.

The government clarified Mr Kagame's comments, saying he was not referencing - as had been reported - the world-famous Catholic site in Kibeho where the Virgin Mary is thought to have appeared.

"President Kagame did not at any point mention a specific pilgrimage site, and certainly not Kibeho," spokesperson Yolande Makolo told the AFP news agency.

Ms Makolo added that the president was likely referring to "an informal pilgrimage-type event that takes place in Rutsiro district".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world?ns_m...e8499896ad8677126af7c2&pinned_post_type=share
 
An interesting old case.

Ninety years ago a tiny hamlet on the Essex-Suffolk border found itself at the centre of a national media storm when its rector claimed to have experienced visions of the Virgin Mary. What were the Visions of Middleton and why, today, are they all but forgotten?

A 15th Century chronicle stored at Canterbury Cathedral tells of two dragons fighting at Middleton. Even if you took the tale of sparring dragons at face value, it still might not be the strangest thing to have happened in the village.

That honour, arguably, belongs to events involving the hamlet's former rector, Father Clive Luget. The 48-year-old arrived in Middleton in 1931 from Walthamstow in London. Then, one Sunday in February 1933, he told his congregation at the 12th Century All Saints Church about a series of unusual events in the village.

Robert Halliday, who has carried out extensive research into the Father Luget story and wrote a comprehensive account of his findings 20 years ago for Ecclesiology Today, says a number of people in the village - including both Father Luget and an 11-year-old called Bertie Andrews - claimed to see a glowing ball of light moving around the hamlet.

Robert Halliday outside the church

Image caption, Robert Halliday has researched, written and spoken about Father Luget

Father Luget, Mr Halliday says, claimed to have seen the light over a hillock in the rectory garden and to have seen the Crucifixion above it and the Virgin Mary kneeling before it.

A couple of days after the apparent sighting, Father Luget was with his friend Dr Thornber, and Dr Thornber's son Francis, when another light appeared above the garden.

Dr Thornber went over to investigate, Mr Halliday says, and fell to his knees - at which point the light rose and disappeared.

"I think his intention was just to share the news with the congregation in the church," Mr Halliday, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, says. "But somebody who knew about this 'leaked' the information to the press, and it made national news. The Sunday People at that time was interested in the paranormal and the supernatural and ran a rather exaggerated account."

List of rectors

Image caption, Father Luget's name can still be found fourth from bottom on Middleton's list of rectors

He says Father Luget made no public comment about the visions or sought to garner media attention.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-65904695
They see the glowing ball of lights a some sort of Christian manifestation, which is fair enough but to me that is classic earthlight territory
 
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