Over one thousand apparitions

Father René Laurentin decided to write a "Dictionary of Apparitions" for all those who are interested in supernatural apparitions, either because they are curious about them or because they have an official responsibility to discern them, as appointed experts or pastors of the flock.

The book deliberately abounds in rich details and lively stories properly set in their local and historical context. This dictionary will appeal to all those for whom Mary is a living, maternal and spiritual *presence.

The dictionary also gives an account of hoaxes, like a fake statue of Our Lady of Fatima in 1981 in *Thornton, California. These debunked allegations sharpen the reader’s critical mind.

Apparitions are events that are often relegated to the status of news items, and it is true that they shouldn’t be overemphasized.

Yet they play a greater role in the life of the Church than it appears. Apparitions produce many conversions - which sometimes lack the benefit of proper pastoral guidance after the fact. These events are sometimes of great significance in their own country and abroad, requiring a formal official position from Church authorities, which tend to err on the side of caution. Since *Paul VI and *John Paul II, the episcopal pronouncement must be validated by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith before being made public.

The Dictionary lists approximately one thousand apparitions, and comes with a bibliography. This overall figure hides a great diversity of apparitions, especially as far as their importance or relevance is concerned. We must distinguish:

-those whose content was officially approved by the Church and whose seers are often beatified;

-those whose shrine is approved as a place of worship;

-those which are accepted or tolerated by the Church to various degrees;

-those that pertain to private revelations and are somewhat recognized as authentic;

- finally, those which have been the subject of critics regarding the seers, who might even have been excommunicated (this includes some antipopes).

The Dictionary is also addressed to Church officials and ecclesiastical experts who may be uncomfortable with the subject and wrestle with the prevailing uncertainties associated with supernatural apparitions. This comprehensive survey tries to overcome these obstacles. Scientists put all their energies in trying to pierce impenetrable or unexplainable mysteries, while theologians and mariologists seem to ignore or reduce the mystery. The future of mariology should therefore imitate the bold attitude of science, which thrives on making daring and penetrating discoveries confirmed by laborious checks and verifications. The splendor of Revelation, of the Christian mystery which sheds light on everything, including man, the cosmos and sciences, calls for a deeper search capable of a critique that is not systematically skeptical and suspicious, but on the contrary a closer look and examination of something that surpasses us in the Christian mystery (cf. *Presence).

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N.B. Asterisks refer to articles in the dictionary.

Françoise Breynaert, Doctor in Theology

Excerpts from: F. Breynaert, a Review of: René Laurentin and Patrick Sbalchiero, Dictionnaire encyclopédique des apparitions de la Vierge. Inventaire des origines à nos jours. Méthodologie, prosopopée, approche interdisciplinaire (Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the Apparitions of the Virgin. An Inventory from the Origins to the Present Day. Methodology, Prosopopoeia, Interdisciplinary Approach), Fayard, Paris 2007 (1405 pages), in Miles Immaculatae, Anno XLIII, fasc I, 2007, p. 413-420.