Below is a day to day reconstruction of events, based on information gleaned from periodicals, including the [video pt1, pt2.] interview with Mr. Vitolo.

Day 1 October 29, 1945 After dinner young 9 year old Joseph Vitolo, Jr. nicknamed "Jo Jo", departed his home at 3194 Villa Avenue to play with children in the area. The spot, just 70 or so meters away his home, was adjacent to a rock ledge/hill, nearly 5 meters in height, on the west side of the Grand Concourse roadway. About 20 children were present. Joseph knew at least five of them: John Bruno (9), Anna Ronca (8), Enid Brown (age unknown), and the Nocerino sisters, Rose (9) and Jeannette (7). The children were looking at something and praying. Joseph did not see anything. One girl told him to "pray like you mean it". Upon praying the Our Father and/or Hail Mary, a lady appeared. Joseph became greatly unnerved, but the she told him not to be afraid, identifying him as "Joseph", not by his nickname. He calmed down. The lady told him to pray. She also gave the boy a candle, reportedly unseen by the other children. The lady requested him to return to the same place at the same time (7 pm) the next evening. The other children saw the lady but did not hear her speak. Joseph explained his interchange with the lady to the children and rushed back home to tell his parents of the incident. His father, Joseph, Sr., did not believe his son, and proceeded to give him "a slap". In a later report, his mother, Theresa, is quoted: "I didn't know what to say. My Joseph has always been a good boy and goes to church. He never lies to me". Mrs. Vitolo encouraged him to return to the spot. Indeed, Joseph returned and once again the lady allegedly appeared. Joseph began to tremble. At this appearance the lady said she would return to the same location for the next sixteen consecutive nights. [No information was found by this author regarding what happened immediately after Joseph's alleged second encounter on the same day].

Day 10 November 7, 1945 - No information obtained.

"The night began like the previous nights... But the crowd was larger and almost 100 policemen were detailed to handle it. Joseph, led by [Frank] Huffino [name misspelled, should read Rufino], pushed his way to the altar which was decorated by a statue of the Virgin Mary and 56 candles. The crowd sighed as he reached the altar... Joseph began praying. Many echoed his words. A group of girls began singing softly and the rain increased its constant patter. 'He isn't getting wet', someone whispered, and it was passed through the crowd... Then, near the end of his prayers, a photographer used a flash bulb. 'That's when Jo–Jo got mad', Huffino [again, Rufino] said later. 'he didn't like that'... James Sheridan, 44, said 'I'm hard to convince, see. But I saw it. It was there on the side of the building. I saw the virgin's figure, just as plain as anything'. 'Did you see the sky?' asked Mrs. Julie C. Murphy of Manhattan. 'I tell you the clouds just opened up and I saw an angel's head with butterfly wings. Everyone around me saw it. The crowd was in a panic' "

Joseph was again carried to the shrine, this time surrounded by his six brothers and sisters. A priest led the saying of the rosary and several hymns were sung. A steady rain made the view from the apparition site a sea of black umbrellas. Some in the crowd speculated that Joseph was not getting wet. One hundred policemen kept order. The well did not appear, and Joseph denied ever having promised that a well would appear. A break in the rain when he finished praying led to cries of excitement, even as photographs show a more raucous, perhaps skeptical, segment toward the back of the crowd... [Afterward] Joseph returned to his house, and family members refused to let him answer the questions of reporters, although one photographer caught Joseph hurling a bouquet of flowers at a persistent cameraman. Joseph's sister, Theresa, addressed the press after the final evening. She insisted repeatedly that the Virgin had told Joseph: I'm not coming anymore. I did my work and I do not want you to answer any more questions' "

"As elevated trains rattled overhead and photographers' bulbs flashed, 25,000 persons stood praying in the mud of a vacant lot... watching Joseph Vitolo, Jr., pray at an improvised altar on the crest of a bluff... on the sixteenth day, he said she [the lady] was to show him a miracle, perhaps the appearance of a miraculous spring. The crowd saw no miracle but several invalids claimed their condition had suddenly improved... 'Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee...' chanted the swaying crowd in unison. The boy knelt before his altar... 'Look, look,' spread a rumor through the lot. 'He is not getting wet. The rain does not touch him'. But those who were closest could see the rain glistening on his dark hair and new blue sweater as he knelt in the mud... Yes, he said, he had seen the Blessed Virgin again."

Video Interview - This interview of Mr. Vitolo (in 2003, he was 66 years old at the time), was conducted by Paula Gloria (Tsakona) of The Concordia Foundation. Some internet searching evidenced that, despite her enchanting voice, Ms. Georgia is the principal questioner. Occasionally you will hear a male voice posing questions. Both interviewers are off–screen. The interview is to be found on YouTube, in two parts, each lasting approximately 30 minutes. Video and audio is subgrade quality in some parts. Audio loss occurs for approximately two minutes in Video 1 (between 9:44 and 11:21). Summaries for Videos 1 and 2 are respectively in the notes below for any reader unable to spend a full hour watching.

Reported Apperance of BVM - According to the video interview, Mr. Vitolo states that Our Lady appeared "very human" (Video 1, 5:23+). Her height was, allegedly, not much taller than his (as a boy), about 5 feet.

Clothing/Apparel - She was dressed in blue at her first appearance (October 29). But later, following a specific question on the matter, he states that that she also wore pink and black (Video 1, 22:40+). The McGreevy article [31, p. 406], indicates somewhat differently, attesting that she "dressed first in white, then in blue, then in black". When young Joseph returned to the rock ledge for the second time on the first evening (on the insistence of his mother), Our Lady was said to be holding a batch white roses and wearing a crown. Nonetheless, Mr. Vitolo states she wore a different color every night. One report, referring to the third or fourth night of the alleged apparitions, indicates that the "vision was not dressed in white with a rose on her breast as she had been the other nights, Joseph said, but 'she wore a pink gown, had a gold crown on her head and red shoes trimmed with gold on her feet' ". Regarding the last night, a newspaper quotes young Joseph as saying: "She had lots of stars around her head... and she was dressed all in blue". However, in the video interview Mr. Vitolo is quite insistent that, on the last night of her reported appearance (November 14), Our Lady wore all white with a gold Star of David. It is this image on the last night – emphasized by Mr. Vitolo – by which Our Lady wished to be remembered. This likeness is rendered in the painting situated behind Mr. Vitolo in the video interview.

Voice - Mr. Vitolo is almost at a loss for words in characterizing her voice, i.e. "it was so beautiful, I couldn't describe it", more at it sounded like "music from heaven" (Video 1:, 22:40+). Recall that young Joseph was afraid when he first saw the lady but, after hearing her voice, "ìt calmed me down".

Olfactory - Mr. Vitolo also indicates a pleasing odour when the BVM was present, a "beautiful smell", acknowledging the word "perfume" as a descriptor (Video 2, 21:20+).

"Our Lady of The Universe" Painting- The artist who painted this image, from Connecticut, was retained by Fr. John Santyr, the priest who later married Joseph and his wife, Grace. Joseph reported that, in 1945, a Jewish woman , after receiving "some kind of grace", left a statute of Our Lady with a gold Star of David on its chest. Joseph said that was how the BVM appeared on the final night and asked that the painting be rendered as such. In 1996 the painting was meticulously examined as there were claims its colors had "shifted".

Note - This is the painting seen behind Mr. Vitolo in the video interview. Now known as "Our Lady of the Universe", the title "Our Lady of the Concourse" was originally conferred right after 1945. This is because the BVM reportedly appeared adjacent to the Grand Concourse roadway. Notice the emanating Star of David and the gold band around Our Lady's head.