Missionaries of Divine Revelation

SUMMARY God Bless Us and the Virgin Protect Us We have listened to this story many times from Bruno Cornacchiola, without ever tiring. It’s a story that involves the mind, heart and whole being, because it shows God’s infinite love for all of his creation.

The Lord is the Good Shepherd who leaves the ninety nine sheep on the hillside to go in search of the stray taking no rest until he finds it. (Mt 18:12-14) In this way the Lord searched for Bruno Cornacchiola, helped by the mediation of His Mother the Virgin of the Revelation, and it is also how He searches for every one of us calling us to conversion. In fact, each time that the Virgin appears it is not only to convert the seer, but to leave a message and a reminder to all humanity.

All of mankind are her children and She, like a Mother, wants to take care of us in order to lead us lovingly through dangers and troubles in our earthly pilgrimage to finally arrive in the Heavenly homeland.

We want to share with you the joy we have received listening to this story so that the message given by the Virgin of Revelation can reach many hearts bringing them ever closer to God and His Church.

The Missionaries of Divine Revelation

The Cornacchiola family in 1947 from left to right: Iolanda Lo Gatto, Carlo, Isola, Bruno Cornacchiola and little Gianfranco

Rome, 12th April 1947 It is a spring day in which life seems to awaken after the horrors of World War II. In the Ostiense Station, Bruno Cornacchiola (1913-2001), a Roman tram driver aged 34, together with his children Isola 11, Carlo 7 and Gianfranco 4, missed the train for Ostia and instead headed for Tre Fontane (Three Fountains) the place where St Paul was martyred and also popular with children because of the handmade chocolate produced by the Trappist Monks. Bruno searched for a quiet place to prepare a speech that he was giving the next day entitled ‘Mary is neither ever

Virgin nor immaculate’. For Bruno this was an opportunity to become an Adventist Pastor and redeem a past spent in misery and religious ignorance. He was converted to Protestantism by a German Lutheran Soldier during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and he became an enemy of the Catholic Church.

Blinded by hatred, Bruno bought a dagger to murder the Pope.

Returning home, he forced his wife Iolanda to also become a protestant. She reluctantly agreed after trying to dissuade him by asking him, as a final hope, to make the nine first Fridays devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Bruno sat below a eucalyptus tree, browsing the Bible and started making notes while his children played ball in a clearing near a grotto dug out of the earth that was dark and smelly.

The Grotto at the time of the Apparition

The Beautiful Lady Bruno was preparing his speech when the voices of his children interrupted him saying, ‘daddy the ball is lost’. He started to search for the ball, but his children fell to their knees, one after the other in front of the dark grotto and with their hands joined together they repeatedly said, ‘beautiful lady, beautiful lady’. Bruno wasn’t able to physically move the children and frightened he exclaimed, ‘God Save Us’.

At this moment a veil fell from his eyes and he also saw the ‘beautiful lady’ with bare feet resting on a block of turf. She had a maternal gaze, with black hair covered by a long green mantle, a white dress and a pink band encircling her waist.

She spoke to Bruno and with a soothing voice she said, ‘I am the Virgin of t he Revel at io n.

You persecute me.

Enough now! Return to the Holy Fold on earth (the Catholic Church).

T he heavenly conversation lasted for one hour and contained a message to be delivered to Don Gilberto Carniel with the dedication to Bruno Cornacchiola. the Holy Father. The Don Albino Frosi, the Priest that replied to Mother of God held Bruno with the words, ‘Ave Maria my son

in her right hand a grey coloured book: The Sacred Scriptures, and with Her left hand indicated the black vestments of the priesthood next to a broken cross.

At the end of the heavenly meeting, Mary smiled, took two steps turning towards St Peter’s Basilica before the vision disappeared whilst a sweet perfume pervaded the grotto.

The First link between Heaven and Earth In order to give Bruno confirmation that the apparition was real, the Virgin gave him a sign. Bruno had to search for a priest and introduce himself with the following question; ‘Father, I must talk to you’ who would respond ‘Hail Mary my son, what do you want?’

Mary indicated to Bruno, and through him all of us, that the return to God begins with the Priest, as he is the first link between heaven and earth. When the Priest celebrates Holy Mass he unites us ‘with the heavenly liturgy and anticipates eternal life when God will be all in all’.

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1326

Between the 12th and 28th April 1947, Bruno searched desperately for the appointed Priest praying in the night requesting the help of the ‘Beautiful Lady’. As a last attempt,

5th October 1947 the statue of the Virgin of Revelation being transported from St Peter’s Square to Tre Fontane.

Bruno’s wife Iolanda advised him to go to his local Parish Church called All Saints. Trying not to be seen, Bruno entered the sacristy and said to the Priest; ‘Father I must talk to you’. Father Frosi responded; ‘Hail Mary my son,’ and with this phrase gave Bruno the confirmation he had been searching for. Father Frosi indicated another Priest, Father Gilberto Carniel who helped Bruno and his family return to the Catholic Church on the 7th May 1947.

The Miracles that occurred with the Soil of the Grotto At the end of May 1947, the press publicised the news of the apparition at Tre Fontane (Three Fountains). Many devotees went to the grotto, where they felt the presence of the Mother of Mercy and there were many conversions and miracles.

Mary told Bruno: ‘I will convert the most obstinate with the miracles I will work with this soil of sin’. Like the water at Lourdes, the soil of the Grotto of Tre Fontane is sanctified by the presence of Mary, who by means of our faith will work great miracles. The first miracle: In June 1947 Carlo Mancuso fell down a lift shaft and received injuries to his arm and pelvis.

With the soil of the Grotto he was able to walk again although the X-Rays still show the fractures in his body. In summer 1947, a soldier from Naples was admitted to the Celio Military Hospital with a brain tumour and was completely healed after a Sister placed some soil from the Grotto on his head. On the 5th October 1947, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the statue of the Virgin of the Revelation was taken to St Peters Square to be blessed by Pope Pius XII. There was a great silence and the statue was unveiled whilst many devotees, including those that had received miraculous cures, honoured the Blessed Virgin. The Statue was placed on a carriage covered in white flowers and pulled by six white horses. The Statue was processed through Rome via the Imperial Forum and the main Roman streets flanked by many devotes of the Virgin until it finally reached its resting place: The Grotto at Tre Fontane.

A dagger for Pope Pius XII On the 9th December 1949, a group of Roman Tram Drivers recited the Holy Rosary in the private Chapel of Pope Pius XII. At the end of the Rosary Pope Pius XII asked, ‘which one of you wants to speak to me?’ Bruno stepped forward and kneeling down asked for forgiveness for intending to kill the Holy Father. Bruno presented Pius XII with the Protestant Bible and the dagger with the inscription ‘Death to the Pope’

9th December 1949 Bruno Cornacchiola presents the dagger to Pope Pius XII

Photograph of the dagger and protestant Bible. On the protestant Bible Bruno wrote, ‘this will be the death of the church and the Pope its head.

on the handle. The Holy Father responded smiling, ‘My dear son, by doing that you would have added a new martyr to the Church and a new Pope!’

A Confirmation For The Church On the 1st May 1946 Pius XII, in the letter ‘Deiparae Virginis Mariae’, invited the Bishops and people of God to ‘offer insistent prayers to God that he might clearly manifest His Will of His ever adorable goodness...’ regarding the possibility of defining the Dogma of the faith in the Assumption of the body of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven.

As a confirmation of the theological work, on the 12th April 1947, Mary said to Bruno ‘My body could not decay and

did not decay I was taken to heaven by my Son and His angels’ and so the Virgin gave the heavenly confirmation that the Pope had requested.

On the 1st November 1950 Pius XII proclaimed the Dogma of the Assumption. Like Mary, for mankind too there is the certainty that ‘...this perishable nature of ours must put on imperishability, this mortal nature must put on immortality’ (1 Cor 15:53)

The Message of the Virgin of the Revelation I am who I am in the Divine Trinity The Virgin Mary reminds us that She is intimately connected to the Most Holy Trinity: She is the daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

‘God the Holy Spirit, being barren in God – that is to say He does not produce another divine person, becomes fruitful by means of Mary whom he espoused. It was with her, in her and of her that he produced His Masterpiece, God-made-man, and that He goes on producing daily until the end of the world, the members of the body of that adorable Head. For this reason, the more he finds Mary his dear and inseparable spouse in a soul, the more powerful and effective he becomes in producing Jesus Christ in that soul, and that soul in Jesus Christ.’

Saint Louis de Montfort: True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary n20

I am the Virgin of the Revelation The Magisterium of the Catholic Church teaches that throughout the Bible or Divine Revelation, there are references to Mary and the special graces conferred on her by God. Without the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church, in fact, you run the risk of giving a subjective interpretation to the Word of God in order to endorse the perspective of a particular individual like Bruno Cornacchiola. Mary’s presence in Sacred Scriptures is illustrated beautifully in Pope Benedict’s first encyclical letter of his pontificate where he wrote: ‘how completely at home Mary is with the Word of God, with ease she moves in and out of it. She speaks and

thinks with the Word of God. Here we see how her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the Will of God.’ Deus Caritas Est No 41 You persecute me! Enough now return to the Holy Fold, the heavenly court on earth (the Catholic Church) be obedient to the authority of the Pope.... Return to the pure font of the Gospel.

The Virgin Mary, through Bruno, exhorts all who are outside the Catholic Church (Holy Fold) to enter or to return because it is founded by Jesus Christ on Peter and His Apostles. The Church is the universal ‘Sacrament of Salvation’ for all of humanity. Mary invites us to return to the pure fount of the Gospel, that one finds only in the Magisterium of the Church, that is in the Holy Father and the Bishops united with him.

The true church of my Son was founded on three white loves: the Eucharist, the Immaculate Virgin Mary and the Holy Father.

The ‘three white loves’ are the qualifying points of the Catholic Faith that make up part of the treasure of the Church. Our Lady desired that they are particularly recalled, known and loved by all with constant dedication because this truth of salvation has always fought in the world and will do so ever more in the future. ‘Here is the true Church,’ reaffirmed Bruno, ‘the Church that lives the Eucharistic Jesus that recognises the Immaculate Mary, the Most Holy

Mother that obeys and defends the Holy Father. We love the Pope!’ He would conclude with, ‘…and we live this unity of love and obedience with Peter. He that doesn’t want to live it is opposed to Christ’s will, which wants his followers to be ‘perfected in unity’.’

The nine First Fridays in honour of the Sacred Heart, the divine promise, have saved you.

Bruno’s wife, Iolanda, continually maltreated by Bruno because she didn’t want to leave the Catholic Church and accept Protestantism, as a last hope, persuaded Bruno to make the devotion of the nine First Fridays of the month. She hoped and prayed for his agreement to receiving the Eucharist, all be it without confession, on the nine first Fridays of the month in order to gain his conversion. Bruno made the pious devotion but on its completion had not changed his opinion and so after ‘failing the test’ Iolanda also became a protestant.

However, the Lord maintained the promise attached to this devotion of the nine first Friday’s entrusted to St Margaret Mary Alacoque, and the Virgin of Revelation confirmed this fact to Bruno during the apparition saying: ‘The nine first Friday’s in honour of the Sacred Heart, that your faithful wife convinced you to observe before you entered on the road of lies have saved you’ My body could not decay and did not decay I was taken to heaven by My Son and His Angels.

The Virgin of Revelation anticipated the definition of the

Dogma of the Assumption, which was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on the 1st November 1950. The Catechism of the Catholic Church number 966 summarises the Dogma of the Assumption quoting the words of Pope Pius XII: “Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950) The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians

The Chapel at the Grotto dedicated to the Virgin of Revelation

Pray incessantly and recite the Holy Rosary everyday for the conversion of sinners, unbelievers and the unity of Christians.

Mary’s words are more than ever relevant today now that the dark clouds of hate and division seem to present themselves on the horizon of the third millennium. When reciting the Holy Rosary, the faithful do not flee the problems of the world but looks at them with ‘responsible and generous’ eyes confident in divine intervention because only God can touch the hearts of man to give us true peace. Apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae Pope John Paul II 16/10/2002 Be missionaries of the Word of God. From this invite, the Missionaries of Divine Revelation have drawn the inspiration for their missionary work based firmly on the will to serve Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church.

The Thoughts of the Church In order to understand the procedures of the Church with regard to private revelations we remember the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, in an interview he gave to a Vittorio Messori which was published in a book called ‘The Ratzinger Report’. The Cardinal explained as follows: ‘No apparition is indispensable to the faith, Revelation

finished with Jesus Christ. He, Himself, is Revelation. Yet we cannot impede God from speaking to our times through simple persons or by way of extraordinary signs that denounce the insufficiency of our culture that dominates us, disguised as rationalism or positivism. The apparitions that the Church has approved officially …have their precious place in the development of the life of the Church in the latest centuries.

They show, between one another, that Revelation - being unique, is concluded and therefore is not surmountable -

Via Laurentina in 1947 at the time of the Apparition

but it is not in this way dead, it is life giving. Of those that remain, one of the signs of our times is that the number of ‘Marian Apparitions’ are multiplying in the world…’ The Cardinal then continues: ‘…One of our criteria is to separate the aspect of the truth or ‘supernaturality’ of the apparition from that of its spiritual fruits. The ancient Christian pilgrims directed themselves towards places in respect of which our modern critical spirit would be baffled at the lack of ‘scientific verification’ of the tradition to which they are attached.

This doesn’t take away that those pilgrimages are profitable, beneficial and important for the life of the Christian people.

The problem is of the evaluation of the vitality and orthodoxy of the religious life that develops around these places’.

(The Ratzinger Report Pages 111&112.)

‘To confirm this it was reported that the Monsignors of the Roman Curia asked Pope Pius XII what ought to be decided about the events at Tre Fontane: The Holy Father responded: ‘But what must we decide? Is it not doing good? Are there not prayers? Is there not repentance? Are there not reconciled marriages? Therefore, we will leave it that the Virgin Mary will do that which we don’t know how to do’’ (‘La Bella Signora delle Tre Fontane’ – Angelo Maria Tentori)

It is important to underline that with regard to the apparitions, called private revelations, one must speak directly to the diocesan Bishop that, in the dioceses of Rome, is the Holy Father. Now the Pope, as can be clearly understood, cannot bind the authority of the Magisterium regarding private revelations and so he delegates this work, in this case to the Vicariate of Rome. In this regard there is already a precedent to refer to: In 1842 the Vicariate of Rome approved the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Alphonse Ratisbonne in the Church of Saint Andrew delle Fratte in Rome.

On the 5th October 1947 the statue of the Virgin was blessed by Pope Pius XII in St Peter’s Square and from there it was transported to Tre Fontane.

Delineated below, therefore, are the steps already made by the Vicariate of Rome in the story of the Virgin of Revelation at Tre Fontane: • In 1956 the Vicariate of Rome trusted the custody of the Grotto to the Franciscan Conventual Friars Minor, already having been trusted in 1955 to the Parish of Saint Peter and Paul as the Grotto resides within its parish boundaries.

• I n 1982 the Vicariate of Rome established a committee to raise funds for the construction of a sanctuary. The President of the committee was Monsignor Pietro Bianchi; the first phase was to build an altar in the chapel in front of the Grotto for the celebration of the Holy Mass.

• O n the 12th April 1987, the 40th anniversary of the apparition, Cardinal Vicar Ugo Poletti visited the Grotto and presided over the solemn celebration of the Holy Mass.

• In 1993 the Vicariate of Rome bought the ground where the grotto is situated from Ent EUR, for the construction of a future sanctuary.

• In 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary the Vice General Bishop Cesare Nosiglia presided over the celebration of the Holy Mass.

• In 1997 the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II approved the renaming of the sanctuary as ‘Holy Mary of the Third Millennium at Tre Fontane’.

• O n the 11th February 2001 Cardinal Vicario Camillo Ruini approved the statutes of the Missionaries of Divine Revelation.

We remember the testimony of the late lamented Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Ugo Poletti who, referring to the apparition at Tre Fontane, said: ‘Usually one is asked: But is there official recognition of the Church? This is not a problem. It is not so much the problem of official recognition of the event in itself but its message, its merit, its significance. God chose, continued the Cardinal Vicar, many times directly or through His Mother, to open meeting places between suffering humanity, Himself and His love. This is one of those places. One opens, then a spring of grace from the apparition at the Grotto at Tre Fontane. This is important. I am happy to say this to praise the goodness of God that wished to appear here at the entrance to Rome, a place surrounded by the pleasures of the world, He wished to open a spring of His grace and love honouring and glorifying his Mother. I am happy to give this testimony and I would like you to reflect and to search for God, not in clamour but to search for Him in love, in goodness, in His mercy always by means of Mary. It is by means of Mary, that the Lord God in Jesus our Divine Saviour has trusted the task of opening the closed eyes of many men to God’s Divine Revelation, that don’t want to believe. This is the merit and significance of the sanctuary at Tre Fontane, the Virgin of Revelation.

A treasure of the Grotto Mother Prisca (1922-1988) entered this story in silence; she was the first woman to follow and gather the treasure of the Virgin of Revelation and, progressively, donated herself in her simple every day life.

Concetta Mormina, whose religious name was Mother Prisca, was born in Sicily (Ragusa) on the 18th April 1922 and died in Rome on 1st June 1988. Until she was 18 years old she lived in Africa, in Bengasi. In 1941 she returned Italy like a refugee and established herself, along with her mother in her birth place, whilst her brother sought his

fortune in Argentina. In Sicily she received an appointment from Catholic Action to take care of the Association for the Blind (1946-1948) a mission to which, animated by an intense apostolic zeal, she dedicated herself body and soul.

In 1948 Mother Prisca came to Rome to participate in a meeting between Catholic Action and Pope Pius XII and it was on this occasion that she first heard about the Virgin of Revelation of Tre Fontane. Intimately attracted to this story, she decided to move to Rome with her mother (her father had already died of a tumour) though living in very poor conditions. To support herself she worked in a laundry that was managed by a group of religious lay people. This group was the first nucleus of a ‘Movimento Pro Sanctitate’ founded

by Monsignor William Giaquinta, who eventually became her confessor and spiritual guide.

In 1954 Mother Prisca and Bruno founded a catechetical association of which she became the President until the end of her life. There were difficulties and discouragement

at the start of the foundation but a meeting with the man who would become Saint John Calabria in 1954, gave her the encouragement to move forward without hesitation.

Mother Prisca was a simple woman, humble, devout, and especially maternal, characterized by a deep love for the Eucharist, the Virgin Mary, the Word of God, the ordained priesthood and an intense life of prayer. In particular, the love and desire to imitate Mary marked her entire life, which was a constant meditation on the Word of God. Aware of her lack of formal education, she loved to call herself ‘the Lord’s donkey’ making reference to the Prophet Balaam’s donkey.

She loved the apostolate performing her mission where ever she found it finding encouragement from the words of Jesus ‘If you knew the gift of God’ (Jn 4:10). She used all her energy, without ever holding back, to continue growing and maturing more profoundly the desire for a project of consecrated life as the Holy Mother Church intended.

After her peaceful transit to heaven her project became a reality. Her track traced, her first sisters became the seeds of the Missionaries of Divine Revelation. Her marvellous example of donation and love for all was and will be for us a secure guide to lead souls to love of the Catholic Church.

‘Keep and conserve in your heart, as the Virgin Mary did, everything that the Church has taught and teaches you. It is with Mary Mother of the Church that you will succeed in every undertaking’.

Mother Prisca

Prayer to Mother Prisca O Lord, you that in Mother Prisca, ardent missionary of pure Catholic doctrine, deigned to reflect the light of your humility, obedience and love grant us to be able to keep in our hearts and spread with a passionate zeal your Holy Word.

Grant us to make known your ‘three white loves’: the Eucharist, the Immaculate and the Holy Father, so that we, Missionaries of Divine Revelation, can be in joyful communion with the Holy Mother Church and rooted ‘tota tua’ to the most loving Holy Mary, Virgin of Revelation.

Amen.

With Ecclesial approval

Missionaries of Divine Revelation After a long experience as consecrated lay women with Mother Prisca, with full dedication we have completely realised her project. The diocesan approval for the ‘Missionaries of Divine Revelation, was signed on the 11th February 2001 by Cardinal Ruini. The Missionaries of Divine Revelation feel that they are apostles of the mystery of the Church. ‘Think as the Church has always thought, love as the Church has always loved, want what the Church has always wanted’ (From the Missionaries of Divine Revelation Rule of Life).

With our name, ‘Missiona ries of Divine Revelation’ we want to express our charism that was founded in the passionate love for the God’s Word and for, what the Virgin of Revelation called ‘the three white loves’: the Eucharist, t he Im m aculate Virgin Mary and the Holy Father.

We desire to make these known and loved through catechesis in absolute adherence to the teaching of the Church. Our apostolate is addressed to the people of God to form them to live an authentic Christian life in the life of the Church through catechesis in the parish, in the family, parish missions and our ‘Catechesis with Art’ programme. We are the official guides for St Peter’s basilica and the Vatican museums for the ‘Art and Faith’ itinerary. We also work in St John Lateran’s Basilica, Cathedral of the Holy Father and Mother Church of all the Churches in the world. The colours of our habit are those that the Virgin of Revelation wore during the apparition: the green represents God the Father,

the Creator; the white represents God the Son, the Redeemer; the pink symbolises the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. In this way we always keep in our minds that only God can be the centre of our lives because He is our unique God and ultimate end.

We greet each other with the greeting of unity and peace that was requested by the Virgin of Revelation: ‘God bless us and the Virgin protect us’. It is a filial invocation, which is valid for every time and circumstance which addresses everyone uniting us like sons of God and spreading in our hearts a profound sense of peace.

Taking the example of Mary, Mother of the Church and of our founder Mother Prisca, who knew how to imitate

Mary with great simplicity and humility, we are grateful to the Lord every day for the gift of our vocation that is lived in joyful fraternity. We have the living desire to fill ourselves always with God’s love, to donate ourselves in the service of humanity and through this we feel loved and cherished.

We desire to donate ourselves sincerely and maternally to those near us and in that way we can participate in Mary’s spiritual maternity. We have renounced everything, but not love! Yet it is precisely because we are free from earthly attachments that we can totally donate ourselves to others.

May the Lord accompany us in our way so we can always do His Will, under the maternal protection of Mary, Virgin of Revelation.

God bless us and the Virgin protect us

Supplication To The Virgin of Revelation To obtain any grace Most Holy Virgin of the Revelation, you who are in the Divine Trinity, deign we beg you; turn your merciful and kind glance towards us.

Oh Mary! You are our powerful advocate before God, Who by this soil of Sin will obtain graces and miracles for the conversion of sinners, grant that we obtain from Your Son Jesus, salvation of the soul, perfect health of body and the graces which we need.

Grant to the Church and His Holiness, The Roman Pontiff, the joy of seeing the conversion of His enemies, the propagation of the Kingdom of God over all the earth, the unity of all believers in Christ, peace among nations in order that we can love and serve You better in this life and one day deserve to see and thank you eternally in Heaven.

Amen Nihil obstat + Bishop Ilario

God Bless us And The Virgin Protect Us!

For information or to arrange a guided tour or Parish Mission: Missionaries of Divine Revelation Via delle Vigne Nuove, 459 00139 Roma ITALY Tel & Fax (0039) 06 8720 1159 (0039) 366 8015 308 St John Lateran Basilica Basilica Museum Tel (0039) 06 69886409 www.mdrevelation.org missionaries@mdrevelation.org