"I WILL BE BACK IN TROUBLED TIMES"    by Father Gerhard

Suddenly last summer, Marpingen, a small village of five thousand inhabitants near the German-French border in the Saar area of Germany, became a focal point for the German media because three middle-aged women claimed that, since May of this year, they had been having apparitions of OUR LADY at the little Marian shrine just outside the village.  

Last century, beginning at the end of September 1876 and continuing until July 1877, the little village of Marpingen was already in the limeight, when three little girls, all eight years old, claimed to have seen OUR LADY in the "Härtel-Forest." Despite threats and intimidation, the girls did not withdraw their claim. The news about their apparitions went quickly around, and the people of the neighbouring villages went to the site to pray and honour OUR LADY.

Not all were believers; however, the crowds were mixed with naysayers and curious onlookers. It was the time of the German "Kulturkampf," and the Prussian administration tried everything in its power to oppress Catholic influence in Germany. Some bishops and a large number of priests and laymen were imprisoned.  The supernatural events at Marpingen were a thorn in the side of many government officials. Soldiers were called in to disperse the crowds at Marpingen. The people were forbidden to visit the site.The place was closed down for some time. Later on, pilgrims started to come again, and reports about unexplicable cures made the rounds.  A number of pilgrims were arrested and tried. In the eyes of the authorities they were criminals, but the believers in the apparitions considered them to martyrs.

The poor little girls were sent into a children's home as punishment. After one year, the stream of pilgrims became less and less and dried up. Pastor Neureuter, the village's parish-priest, said: "If it is human work it will disappear, but if it is God's work it will remain."   Beside of the three main visionaries, Sudanna Leist, Katharina Hubertus and Margaretha Kurz, fourteen other children claimed to have seen OUR LADY during that period. There were many reports about miraculous cures.

Because the episcopal seat of Trier was vacant for some years,  no one there followed up on the case. Nothing is known about an actual diocesan commission investigating the case, but some said the events had something to do with "autosuggestion."   Others said that, as an adult, one of the visionaries withdrew her first statement about having had visions. Two visionaries joined a religious order later in their lives.   In the last apparition OUR LADY said to the small visionaries: "I will be back in troubled times." Has this prophecy become true in the year 1999?

After the reported 1876-77 apparitions, Marpingen once more became again the quiet village it was before, but with one little difference. Some villagers built a chapel and shrines at the site to honour OUR LADY.  From time to time they went to the little spring near the site to draw water because they considered this water blessed by OUR LADY and beneficial for their health. After the "Kulturkampf," the parish priest and the diocesan authorities did not forbid the believers to visit the site.  On the other hand, Marpingen was never officially acknowledged by the church as a pilgrimage place.   It became a local shrine visited by the villagers and some people of the Saar-area for a very long time. But Marpingen was never completely forgotten. Some years ago the English author David Blackbourne wrote an interesting book about the events of Marpingen, and for some, the book created a furor.

Suddenly, on the 17th of May 1999, Marpingen came again into the limelight. Three middle-aged women--Marion Guttmann, Christine Ney, and Judith Hieber--claimed to have seen OUR LADY at the site. Marion Guttmann explained that she saw OUR LADY in a three-dimensional way, while Christine Ney said that she could see the apparition only hazily. Judith Hieber stated that she didn't see anything but that she heard clearly the voice of OUR LADY.-

Of which kind are the "messages" of OUR LADY? Nothing sensational, but theologically sound, and this speaks for their truth. There are no prophecies about future wars and disasters.  Asked about its identity, the apparition answered: "I am the mother of Jesus. I came as mother to Germany. Remain in the love of GOD, follows his commandments and learn again to estimate his sacraments." About
prayer she said:"The Holy Rosary is an important weapon against evil. I need your prayers and I will
bring your prayers to my SON. Pray the Rosary for the conversion of sinners and for the peace of the world."  She added that the source would be a spring of life. She promised that the blessed water would bring for some people bodily and spiritually healing. Not everyone would be healed, but the ones God had chosen would be healed.   On other occasions the visionaries saw a big dove behind OUR LADY pouring petals over the pilgrims. And behind the dove a luminated cross appeared
beaming into the faithful.  The apparition insisted on the importance of prayer. She asked the
people to be faithful to the pope and urged the present priests to bless together the faithful.

The water of the spring was officially checked by the German health authorities with the result that they found dangerous microbes, and the well was closed down. Many pilgrims and friends of the shrine were very upset because nobody had died after drinking the water. Even the village's Lord Mayor and his councellors insisted that the spring must be opened again.  The church press and medias disregarded for a long time the events of Marpingen. For months the church press kept silent. The secular press was faster and pressured the church media to comment. The echo in most of the magazines and TV reports were rather negative. But what can you expect from reporters, who have no faith and who are only looking for the sensational?  The messages of Marpingen are
not sensational. They are rather a call for conversion and prayer and receiving the holy sacraments.
The secular press ridicouled, mocked and scoffed in many articles the happenings at Marpingen. Many newspapers and magazines accused the pious and marianic priest Father Gressung of directing the visionaries because the vissionaries had chosen him as their spiritual director.