Apparitions
of the Past: A Statistical Study
This graph of Marian apparitions covers
three prominent phases of church history: the Patristic age, the Middle ages,
and the Renaissance. The time periods denote not the occurrences of
apparitions, but the dates they were recorded by historians and church
officials. Therefore, "these figures are indicative and do not represent
reality except in a global and approximate fashion" (Laurentin 76). The
graph presented here is based on a similar one constructed by Canon Renč
Laurentin for a theology class. Laurentin notes that the data is exclusively
from Sylvie Barnay's study of 2460 texts for his doctoral dissertation in 1997.
Barnay used original information for his
study of Marian apparitions during the Middle Ages. However, Barnay's study for
the Patristic age and the Renaissance is based only on secondary references.
Statistics from the secondary sources include many apparitions of "which
nothing is known except that someone claimed to have had them" (Laurentin
77). We will now summarize Barnay's information about the Patristic age, the
Middle ages, and the Renaissance.
Patristic
Age : There is no recorded
literature about apparitions for the early centuries of the Church. The first
attestations of Marian apparitions are from the fourth century. For example,
Gregory of Nyssa, who lived in the fourth century, recorded that Gregory the
Wonder worker (213-270 A.D.) was the first beneficiary of a Marian apparition.
Middle
Ages : Canon Laurentin
notes that "we do not know much" about cases of Marian apparitions
recorded from the Middle Ages. The two most interesting cases from the Middle
Ages are the seers at the Cistercian Monastery of Helfta (13th century) and the
visions of St. Bridget of Sweden (who lived 1303-1373).
Renaissance
: During the sixteenth
century, a new kind of apparition began. These apparitions had a public
character and were intended to "re-animate faith" and to
"surmount the world's crises" (Laurentin 88). The most significant
case is Guadalupe (1531) which gave "birth to a new church on a new
continent" (Laurentin 88).
The
graph and historical summary are based on the following sources:
Barnay,
Sylvie. Les apparitions de la Vierge. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1992.
Laurentin,
René. Marian Spirituality In the Mystical Tradition. International
Marian Research Institute. Dayton: Marian Library, July 21-24, 1997.