Our Lady’s Feast Days

Ignored and even at times rejected by other Christian denominations, the woman chosen by God to be the Mother of the Son of Man continues her mission which she humbly accepted from God, the Father by the workings of the Holy Spirit to give birth to the Only-Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ so that He could redeem mankind.

To allow Catholics to have more devotion to Our Lady, I list here her Catholic feast days without prejudice to her feast days in other churches where she is also given a greater veneration (hyperdulia);

1. Jan. 1- Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
2. Jan. 17- Our Lady of Hope (Pontmain)
3. Feb. 11- Our Lady of Lourdes
4. May 12- Our Lady of Ukraine
5. May 13- Our Lady of Fatima, first apparition
6. May 31-The Visitation
7. Monday after the Pentecost- Mother of the Church
8. The day after the Sacred Heart of Jesus-Immaculate Heart of Mary
9. July 16- Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
10. Aug. 5- Mary of the Snows
11. Aug. 13- The Dormition
12. Aug. 15- The Assumption
13. Aug. 22- The Queenship of Mary
14. Sept. 8- Birthday of Our Lady
15. Sept. 8- Our Lady of Vailankanni (Good Health, Star of the Sea)
16. Sept. 12- Most Holy Name of Mary
17. Sept. 15- Our Lady of Sorrows
18. Sept. 19- Our Lady of La Sallette
19. Oct. 7- Our Lady of the Rosary
20. Oct. 13- Our Lady of Fatima, last apparition
21. Nov. 21- Presentation of Mary
22. Nov. 22- Our Lady of La Vang
23. Dec. 8- Immaculate Conception
24. Dec. 10- Our Lady of Loreto
25. Dec. 12- Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady’s intercession through a Marian prayer specially the rosary had been proven historically in so many instances which is why Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, which was granted to St. Dominic de Guzman in the early 13th century to help him stem the tide of Albigensian heresy (the Cathars whose doctrine was similar to the Manicheans), and as Help of Christians are apt as her titles. We are only repeating below the most memorable ones;

1. The Battle of La Rochelle- against the Huguenot heresy with the siege ending on Aug 15, 1628 (Assumption).
2. The Siege of Belgrade- which ended on July 22, 1456 with the crusaders inspired by St. John Capistrano and led by John Hunyadi of Hungary against the Ottoman Turks threatening Christian Europe led by Mehmet II.
3. Vailankanni in Tamil Nadu, India- as early as May 1570, the legend of Our Lady’s appearance to a boy milk vendor is celebrated followed by the appearance to another lame vendor around 1597, who sold another milk product and was miraculously able to walk, as the Lady asked them their products for her Son. In 1650, a boat from Macao bound for Shri Lanka was about to capsize in the midst of a tempest but when Our Lady was invoked, the sea was calmed by her presence and she guided them to the same area where the milk appearances were made on September 8. In 1771, the Dutch Coromandel Protestants persecuted all people who do not want to receive their teachings on the pain of torture and death. These include the Catholics, Hindus and Muslims alike who found refuge in the thatched chapel of Vailankanni built first by the boat survivors. For some strange reasons the Dutch could not do harm to them whenever they are here. Beginning that time, people of different faiths participate in the religious festival of the mother of good health and where genuine ecumenism is practiced.
4. Naval Battle of Lepanto- fought in October, 1571 with the Christians outnumbered by the Turks both in men and ships with the praying of the rosary led by the Pope himself for a miraculous intervention.
5. La Naval de Manila -series of naval battles between Filipino-Spanish converted ships against the formidable Protestant Dutch fleet from Batavia which ended on October 4, 1646 during the month of the Holy Rosary.
6. The Siege of Vienna- it ended on Sept. 12, 1683, the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, with relief coming from the Polish troops of the future King John Sobieski who sought the intercession of the Virgin Mary before leaving Poland.
7. Our Lady of La Vang- as early as 1785, there had been persecution made against the Catholics by the Viet Emperor who ordered their extermination. To escape harm, the Catholics hid in the rainforest mountain of Quang Tri province where they could have easily died from the natural elements and causes but Our Lady appeared to them also wearing the traditional cao dai on the branch of the jasmine shrub. She taught them how to use forest foliage for food and tea to avoid the dangers of unclean mountain water. The survivors realized that it was indeed the Blessed Virgin Mary teaching them how to survive. Even the Buddhist started their reverence to Our Lady such that in 1820 they built a pagoda in her honor. Eventually, these Buddhists converted to Catholicism. In January, 2009 hundreds of pilgrims witnessed the statue of the Virgin Mary coming to life on Ta Pao mountainside in Phou Tiet. This writer feels that Duc Me La Vang is reminding them to remain faithful especially because the united Vietnam is a communist state.
   The exact location of Notre Dame de Ta Pao is Dong Kho, Tanh Lin, Bin Thuan province in Vietnam.
8. The Stopping of Prussian Invading France- on January 17, 1871, advancing in La Val was stopped by the apparition of Our Lady of Hope at Pontmain. The troops claimed they were stopped by the supernatural force of Our Lady as the people of Pontmain prayed and sang “Ave Maristella”.
9. Our Lady of China- in April, 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion in China, a horde of rebels launched an attack at the Vincentian Catholic community of about a thousand inhabitants in Dong Lu, Baoding, in Hebei province. Father Wu, the priest of the village asked for heavenly intercession especially from the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mary, Help of Christians. As they were attacking, the soldiers the soldiers were distracted by the appearance of Our Lady in the sky and started firing. St. Michael appeared on horseback and swept the scampering soldiers away. He then asked that a portrait of the Lady made to commemorate the event and this came to be known as Our Lady of China. On May 23, 1995 despite Communist government prohibitions around 30,000 members of the unofficial Catholic church came to Tong Lu to attend masses and pray the rosary.
10. The Miracle of Vistula- the miraculous deliverance of Poland from the first ever communist aggression instigated by Lenin to conquer the world in 1920 with the maneuver starting September 12. While Warsaw was already under bombardment, the Papal Nuncio Achille Ratti, the future Pius XI, carrying the monstrance led the Eucharistic Procession on the main streets before he left the city with other foreign dignitaries. The Black Madonna of Czestochowa appeared in the heavens above the slain chaplain Fr. Ignacy Jan Skorupka who inspired the young soldiers to fight but was killed while giving the last sacraments and scattered the terrified Russians. This happened at 3:30 of Aug. 15. Our Lady also appeared during the wee hours of Aug. 16 a huge figure with a shield protecting the troops with the celestial mounted winged hussars of the heroic Lt. Stefan Pogonowski terrifying the Russian invaders during the Battle of Radzymin such that Gen. Josef Pilsudski was wondering where the Red Army had gone which culminated at the Vistula.
11. Austria accorded independence on May 15, 1955- after the oppressive Russian regime which started 1949 as a result of the Anschluss (annexation) by Hitler’s Germany in 1938. Fr. Petrus Pavlicek urged the Austrian women to pray the rosary daily for deliverance as they most vulnerable targets by the Russian troops.
12. Eight Jesuits survive atomic blast on Aug. 8, 1945- Eight priests including Hugo Lasalle, Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Hubert Schiffer, Hubert Cieslak and four others survived the explosion of “Little Boy” from the B19 Superfortress Enola Gay over Hiroshima suffering only slight injuries from broken glass splinters and without any trace of radiation after around 200 tests. They attributed this miraculous survival to their daily prayer of the holy rosary.
13. Relief from Brazil’s Leftist regime- on May 31,1964, Brazil was relieved from the oppressive leftist regime under president Joao Goulart who was forced into exile. This came about with the daily prayer of the Brazilian people who felt so oppressed by his dictatorial rule. The one who is supposed to succeed him by being elected; Tancredo Neves, Goulart’s Prime Minister, however; was so arrogant that he mocked God saying that not even God can remove him from presidency. He died before starting his term.
14. John Paul II survived close gunshots- on May 13, 1981, the Pope miraculously survived close gunshots by a trained assassin which would have been fatal. This day commemorates the first day of the Fatima apparitions.
15. EDSA Revolt- on February 16, 1986, the peaceful EDSA revolution came to an end when Ferdinand Marcos left the Philippines for Hawaii. Catholics attributed this to the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary who they implored praying the rosary. There was even an account attributed to Jaime Cardinal Sin concerning the appearance of Our Lady of EDSA as seen by soldiers.
16. Miraculous Gathering at Hrushiv- on April 27, 1987, feast of the Ascension, people started gathering not only from Ukraine but also from other countries as well the Holy Trinity Church which was under Russian control at that time and the mass gathering continued for 4 months with neither the KGB nor the invading troops could stop. This started with the apparition of Our Lady to a 12-year-old Ukrainian girl, Marina Kyzin and a supernatural silver glow of the hallowed grounds. This was also site of the 1914 apparition where the Lady said that Russia will become a godless country. Here, it was prophesied, to a select few, that Ukraine will become independent after suffering so much.

Three months of the year are considered Marian months in Catholic communities or two, at the least. May is considered the Marian month of flowers because she is the Mystical Rose (Rosa Mistica) and the Gumamela Celis which means Flower of Heaven. September which is the month of her birth and her Most Holy Name and October which is the month of the Most Holy Rosary and her last apparition in Fatima.

The efficacy of the Virgin’s intercession through a Marian prayer should not be undervalued. King Alphonsus of Leon and Galicia had already died when he was given a boon to return to earth so that he could have a chance to enter Heaven. This was because although he did not know how to pray the rosary, his wearing it as a sort of belt inspired many of his subjects to pray it. Alive again, he strove again to learn how to pray it and had a happy and more prepared death receiving the sacraments.

On the other hand, this writer would like to point out that as a fan, he noticed that Manny Pacquiao’s great losses came when he abandoned his Catholic prayer on the ring, at least with the sign of the cross. Besides in his earlier great fights Mommy Dionisia, his mother, ostentatiously prayed the rosary while he was still fighting. These were lost when he embraced becoming a “Christian” and suffered great losses such as:

1. June 9, 2012 (Our Lady of Monterello and Ligny)- lost to Timothy Bradley in split decision.
2. Dec. 8, 2012 (The Immaculate Conception)-lost to Juan Manuel Marquez by TKO on 6th round.
3. May 2, 2015- lost to Floyd Mayweather in Unification fight in welterweight.
4. July 2, 2017 (The Visitation)- lost to Jeff Horn of Australia
5. August 21, 2021 (Eve of the Queenship of Mary)- lost to Cuban Yordenis Ugas Hernandez

Even Mommy Dionisia rebuked him for abandoning the rosary. But the boxer turned senator was confident under his spiritual adviser Jeric Soriano. Some associates believe that Pacquiao’s conversion to being a Born-again Christian happened after his fight with De la Hoya in 2008. In fact, he said he had a spiritual experience before the presidential elections which he divulged in an interview. It involved winged angels.

What do you think? Let your imagination take wings…

– Ricardo B. de los Santos