Mary, Mystical Rose
Feast: July 13    Spanish
The Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mystical Rose, is the Mother of our Community, Love Crucified.

Our choice of the Mystical Rose as patron of the community occurred during our 2009 community retreat after Penny, a community member, bought the statue and we reflected on the messages. They are a call to turn to the cross and seek conversion. Our Mother asks us to unite with her and pray, sacrifice and do penance for all, specially for priests and religious.

Clarification: While the Marian title "Mystical Rose" itself has a long history in the Church (below) and is recognized, the apparitions of the Mystical Rose to Pierina Belli at Montichiari and Fontanelle, Italy have not been officially approved by the Church. The local bishop does welcome private pilgrimages and celebration of Holy Mass at the apparition site >>>. 

We receive our faith from the Church and it is not dependent on private revelations. These messages are meant to remind us of truths that we already know but need bring to our hearts and put into practice. We fully submit to the judgment of our Mother the Catholic Church.

Saint Bernard, Father of the Church: "Eve was a thorn, wounding, bringing death to all; in Mary we see a rose, soothing everybody's hurts, giving the destiny of salvation back to all. Mary was a rose, white for maidenhood, red for love; white in body, red in soul; white in her seeking after virtue, red in treading down vice; white in cleansing her affections, red in mortifying her flesh; white in her love of God, red in compassion for her neighbor" 

Three swords and three roses:

On the first apparition of the Mystical Rose to Pierina, she had three swords piercing her heart. She was sad and said
"Prayer, Sacrifice, Penance". then she was silent.

On July 13, 1947 was the second apparition of the Mother of God. Instead of the three swords she had three roses on over her heart: red, white and gold (yellow). 

She explained the meaning of the three swords and the three roses:

The swords
-The first sword: Unworthy celebration of Holy Mass and Communion unworthily received.
-The second sword: Priests and religious who are unfaithful or give up their vocation.
-The third sword: Betrayal of the Faith.

By praying, sacrificing and doing penance we bring roses to our Mother and do reparation for the injury of the swords.

The roses:
-The  white rose : spirit of prayer.
-The  red rose : spirit of sacrifice (reparation)
-The golden-yellow rose: spirit of total immolation

Cross at spot where Mystical Rose requested it. Fontanelle

The Blessed Mother appeared with Blessed Francisco and Jacinta of Fátima and presented them as models and examples of sacrifice. She asked for devotion to her Immaculate Heart.

She said that the advocation "Mystical Rose" symbolizes the «Fíat» of redemption and the «Fíat» of her co-redemption.

On september 8 of 1974, she said to Pierina: "I am Mary, Mother of the Church. For the Church, for the Holy Father, for the priests and for all the children fo the Church I ask prayer, prayer, prayer, so that the true love for the Lord and true charity may return to the hearts.

More on the apparitions:  Mother of all peoples

Symbolism of the rose in relation to Mary

In antiquity the rose was considered a symbol of mystery. For Christians it became a symbol of martyrdom (Cyprian, Ep. 10) and of paradise (Catacombs of Callixtus, III C).  Tertullian (Adv. Judaeos, 9) and Ambrosius (Exp. Gr. Luc. II, 24) used the rose as a reference to the Davidic genealogy. The sprout (virga, bush) is Mary and Christ is its flower (rose).

The explicitly Marian interpretation of this symbol dates to the fifth century. Sedulius Caelius is the first known to call Mary a "rose among thorns" (Carmen paschale II, 28-31). Theophanes Graptos (Monk and metropolite of Nikaia, +845) uses the same symbolism to express Mary's purity and the fragrance of her grace (Oktoechos, Friday of the sixth week).

During medieval times frequent Marian references were made to rose and rosebush inspired by Isaiah 11:1 ("...a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom.") and Sir. 24, 14 ("like a rosebush in Jericho"). Both passages refer to God-graced fertility and growth, which Christians apply to the mysterious generation of Christ from the womb of Mary. Based on these two traditions the expression mystical rose was coined by the author of the Litanies of Loreto, and subsequently was used in hymns ("Es ist ein Ros...") and art (center of the labyrinth of the Cathedral of Chartres, France).

Mary herself has shown us her predilection for roses. In her apparition at Guadalupe, she had roses miraculously appear in the winter, to be taken by S. Juan Diego to the bishop as a proof authenticity of her apparitions to him. Mary even arranged them with her own beautiful hands in the tilma of S. Juan Diego.

A miraculous image of the Mystical Rose is venerated since 1739 at the sanctuary of Rosenberg, in the dioceses of Speyer, Germany. Three roses are painted on her pedestal, one white, one red and one gold.

At La Sallette, France, Mary appeared wearing rose garlands and roses on her slippers. Also at other approved apparitions: Lourdes, Pontmain, Pellevoisin, Beauraing and Banneaux, the Blessed Mother in various ways had beautiful roses.

Pope John XXIII, in 1962, asked that all pray to the Mother of God under the title of "Mystical Rose" to obtain the success of the II Vatican Council (Ancilla Domini Magazine, May 6-1962). Pope Paul VI, 5 May, 1969, asked that the Holy Rosary be prayed and that the Mary be honored with the title of "Mystical Rose"

More Symbolism of the Mystical Rose   The Mystical Rose -Cardinal Newman