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Baffling Images on rose petals cast focus on miracles in the Philippines
Written by Michael H. Brown Reported in Spirit Daily.com online newspaper. For years they have mystified me, rose petals said to appear miraculously with exquisitely and incredibly distinct images on them. The vast majority come from the Philippines, and they look like the work of an accomplished artist, but are done in a way and on a small area that defies explanation: images of Christ, the Madonna, the Last Supper, the Sacred Heart, doves in flight, and so forth. I don't know how many instances there have been. According to one report, there are at least six alleged seers from the Philippines connected to showers of petals with such images. I first wrote about this in The Final Hour. It started in the 1940s during controversial apparitions to a Carmelite named Teresita Castillo at a convent about an hour south of Manila. Teresita claimed to see a beautiful woman dressed in white, one who emitted a wonderful fragrance. Soon other sisters in Lipa witnessed the miraculous materialization of rose petals, and the entire convent, then the city, then the archipelago were caught up in the phenomenon. As hundreds of thousands gathered near the convent, figures were seen in the sky and rose petals fell like manna with likenesses of Jesus. Witnesses claimed to see them form out of thin air. I say it was "controversial" because at one point the local bishops declared Teresita's experiences fraudulent. We may never know the truth. Later several on a committee of bishops confessed before they died that they had been coerced into signing a negative judgment. An initial positive ruling by the local bishop was neutralized when he was stripped of his administrative powers and his equally favorably auxiliary bishop was banished to another diocese. Meanwhile, Teresita was followed by at least five other major reputed Filipino seers who had the same phenomenon. According to reports, they are Lola Thelma, caretaker of a Lourdes grotto in Quezon City; Carmelo Cortez and his older sister Puring Fruto, of San Francisco del Monte in Quezon City, Lito Valero of Manila, and an alleged stigmatist named Alan Robinson, who is now said to live in the U.S. Are they real? Are they good? We have not investigated this phenomenon enough to have reached a conclusion, and doubt we ever will. I have seen dozens of these images, and believe they are inexplicable, but like any phenomenon we must then ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern from whence they originate. We are only too well aware that the devil is always handy with counterfeits. If from heaven, these are extraordinary signs to an extraordinary nation. For in the past two decades the Philippines has risen as a miracle of Catholicism, sending into the world missionaries in a way that Ireland once did. It is a tremendously devout nation -- and at the same time one that has suffered more than its share of disasters (especially in the way of volcanoes, quakes, and typhoons) and persecutions by Muslim elements (some of whom are linked to Osama Bin Laden; one terrorist cell plotted to kill the Pope during a visit in 1995, but were discovered a week before by a miraculous explosion!). It was one of many Filipino miracles. We note that during the rebellion against dictator Ferdinand Marcos, thousands of Filipinos took rosaries in hand and blocked his troops from taking back a constabulary. The troops were ready to fire when a lady dressed in a long white gown suddenly appeared and raised her hands, asking the astonished troops not to fire. It occurred at the corner of Ortigas Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos in Manila. This is not folklore. There were many witnesses. The account was well-known by His Eminence Jaime Cardinal Sin-- whom soldiers sought out to tell what happened. A close inspection of the actual petals shows no marks or other indications that they were etched or drawn by humans hands, notes the report, and I have to say I have been baffled. These are not nebulous forms. The images are extraordinarily detailed, with facial features readily apparent. There are thousands of them and I believe from more than just a half dozen seers. Some seem very holy and some a bit unnerving. But let's stay on the positive side. The Lipa message: pray. Pray to stop persecution. Pray to halt bloodshed. The enemy is trying to destroy the Church, the Virgin allegedly told Teresita, but "be not afraid, for the love of my Son will soften the hardest of hearts and my motherly love will be their strength to crush the enemies of God."
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