Mary appeared many time. Some apparitions, like Lourdes or Fatima, are known in the whole world.
Here are two examples: Paris and Lourdes.
Apparition in Paris - 1830
On July 18, 1830, the eve of the feast of Saint Vincent de Paul, whom she loved so much, and whose heart she had seen overflowing with love, St. Catherine prayed to him, so that her desire to see the Blessed Virgin be heard at last. At 11 p.m. that night she heard her name called.
A mysterious child is at the foot of her bed and asks her to get up:
“The Blessed Virgin is waiting for you,” he said. St. Catherine dressed and followed the child radiating rays of light wherever he went.
Having arrived in the chapel, St. Catherine stopped near the chair, used by the priest in the sanctuary. She then heard a sound similar to the swish of a silk dress.
“Look, here is the Blessed Virgin,” said her small guide. She showed reluctance to believe. But the child repeated in a stronger tone of voice. :
“Here is the Blessed Virgin.”
Catherine hurried to the knees of the Blessed Virgin who was sitting on a chair. “I then bounded to the steps of the altar, knelt and let my hands rest on the knees of the Blessed Virgin.
“There I spent the most pleasant time of my life. It would be impossible for me to describe what I experienced. The Blessed Virgin told me how I should conduct myself with regard to my confessor and many other things.”
Catherine received a mission, a request to have a Confraternity of the children of Mary established. Father Aladel would accomplish this request on February 2, 1840.
On November 27 1830, during meditation, St. Catherine saw at the present location of the Virgin of the Globe a picture of the Blessed Virgin.
Standing on a half-globe holding in her hands a small golden globe: her feet crushing a serpent.
Coming from the open hands of the Blessed Virgin were beautiful rays of light and at that same moment St. Catherine heard a voice saying:
«These rays are symbols of graces that Mary obtains for people »
Then an oval formed around the apparition and Catherine saw emblazoned in a semi-circle this invocation, until then unknown:
Then an oval formed around the apparition and Catherine saw emblazoned in a semi-circle this invocation, until then unknown:
« O Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to you ».
written in gold letters.
Then the picture turned and St. Catherine saw on the reverse side: the letter M surmounted with a little cross and below it the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Catherine then heard these words:
« Have a medal made on this model. Those who will wear it with confidence will receive great graces ».
In the month of December 1830, during meditation, Catherine again heard the rustling sound, this time behind the altar. The same image of the medal was present near the tabernacle, slightly to the back of it.
« These rays are the symbol of the graces that the Blessed Virgin obtains for those who ask them of her ».
Catherine communicated again these requests from the Blessed Virgin to Father Aladel, her confessor. He was not receptive to the message and forbade her to think about it. She was severely shocked.
Source: Chapelle ND de la médaille miraculeuse
Lourdes - 1858
Thursday 11th. February 1858 : the first meeting
Accompanied by her sister and a friend, Bernadette went to Massabielle on the banks of the Gave to collect bones and dead wood. Removing her socks in order to cross the stream, she heard a noise like a gust of wind, she looked up towards the Grotto : "I SAW A LADY DRESSED IN WHITE, SHE WORE A WHITE DRESS, AN EQUALLY WHITE VEIL, A BLUE BELT AND A YELLOW ROSE ON EACH FOOT. " Bernadette made the Sign of the Cross and said the Rosary with the lady. When the prayer ended the Lady suddenly vanished.
Sunday 14th. February: Holy Water
Bernadette felt an inner force drawing her to the Grotto in spite of the fact that she was forbidden to go there by her parents. At her insistence, her mother allowed her; after the first decade of the Rosary, she saw the same lady appearing. She sprinkled holy water at her. The lady smiled and bent her head. When the Rosary ended she disappeared.
Thursday 18 th. February : the lady speaks
For the first time, the Lady spoke. Bernadette held out a pen and paper asking her to write her name. She replied; "It is not necessary" and she added: "I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the other. Would you be kind enough to come here for a fortnight?"
Friday 19th. February: short and silent Apparition
Bernadette came to the Grotto with a lighted blessed candle. This is the origin of carrying candles and lighting them in front of the Grotto.
Saturday 20th. February: In silence
The lady taught her a personal prayer. At the end of the vision Bernadette is overcome with a great sadness.
Sunday 21st. February: "Aquéro"
The Lady appeared to Bernadette very early in the morning. About one hundred people were present.
Afterwards the Police Commissioner, Jacomet, questioned her. He wanted Bernadette to tell what she saw. Bernadette would only speak of "AQUÉRO" ("that thing" in local dialect)
Tuesday 23rd. February: The secret.
Surrounded by 150 persons, Bernadette arrived at the Grotto. The Apparition reveals to her a secret "only for her alone".
Wednesday 24th. February: Penance.
The message of the Lady: "Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!"
Thursday 25th. February: The spring.
Three hundred people were present. Bernadette relates; "She told me to go, drink of the spring (….) I only found a little muddy water. At the fourth attempt I was able to drink. She also made me eat the bitter herbs that were found near the spring, and then the vision left and went away." In front of the crowd that was asking "Do you think that she is mad doing things like that?" she replied; "It is for sinners."
Saturday 27th. February: Silence
Eight hundred people were present. The Apparition was silent. Bernadette drank the water from the spring and carried out her usual acts of penance.
Sunday 28th. February: Penance
Over one thousand people were present at the ecstasy. Bernadette prayed, kissed the ground and moved on her knees as a sign of penance. She was then taken to the house of Judge Ribes who threatened to put her in prison.
Monday 1st. March: The First Miracle
Over one thousand five hundred people assembled and among them, for the first time, a priest. In the night, Catherine Latapie, a friend from Lourdes, went to the Grotto, she plunged her dislocated arm into the water of the Spring: her arm and her hand regained their movement.
Tuesday 2nd. March: Message to the priests.
The crowd becomes larger and larger. The Lady asked her: "Go, tell the priests to come here in procession and to build a chapel here." Bernadette spoke of this to Fr. Peyramale, the Parish Priest of Lourdes. He wanted to know only one thing: the Lady's name. He demanded another test; to see the wild rose bush flower at the Grotto in the middle of winter.
Wednesday 3rd. March: A smile
From 7 o'clock in the morning, in the presence of three thousand people, Bernadette arrived at the Grotto, but the vision did not appear! After school, she heard the inner invitation of the Lady. She went to the Grotto and asked her again for her name. The response was a smile. The Parish Priest told her again: "If the Lady really wishes that a chapel be built, then she must tell us her name and make the rose bush bloom at the Grotto."
Thursday 4th. March: The day all were waiting for!
The ever-greater crowd (about eight thousand people) waited for a miracle at the end of the fortnight. The vision was silent. Fr. Peyramale stuck to his position. For twenty days Bernadette did not go to the Grotto, she no longer felt the irresistible invitation.
Thursday 25th. March: The name they awaited for!
The vision finally revealed her name, but the wild rose bush, on which she stood during the Apparitions, did not bloom. Bernadette recounted; "She lifted up her eyes to heaven, joined her hands as though in prayer, that were held out and open towards the ground and said to me: Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou (I am the Immaculate Conception) ." The young visionary left and, running all the way, repeated continuously the words that she did not understand. These words troubled the brave Parish Priest. Bernadette was ignorant of the fact that this theological expression was assigned to the Blessed Virgin.Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX declared this a truth of the Catholic Faith (a dogma)
Wednesday 7th. April: The miracle of the candle
During this Apparition, Bernadette had to keep her candle alight. The flame licked along her hand without burning it. A medical doctor, Dr. Douzous, immediately witnessed this fact.
Thursday 16th. July: The Final Apparition.
Bernadette received the mysterious call to the Grotto, but her way was blocked and closed off by a barrier. She thus, arrived across from the Grotto to the other side of the Gave. "I felt that I was in front of the Grotto, at the same distance as before, I saw only the Blessed Virgin, and she was more beautiful than ever!
Source: Sanctuaire des apparitions mariales de ND de Lourdes