Location: Siluva, Lithuania
Date:  1608 - 1612

Summary: 
Our Blessed Mother appeared to children playing/shepherding their sheep near Siluva.  She was holding a child, weeping bitterly, and had a glow about her.  The children ran to the Calvinist catechist named Solomon in town to tell them what they saw.  Solomon also witnessed the vision and asked her why she was weeping.  She explained that "This spot once adored my son, but now it is plowed and sown". Most likely she was referring to the fact that the Catholic community founded in 1457 had become almost completely Calvinist.  An iron box containing a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Child, liturgical vestments, and documents proving the Catholic Church’s title to the land had been buried very near the apparition location months before the Calvinist government seized the property.  Shortly after the apparition, a blind man nearly 100 years old was led to this place.  He regained his sight and led them to the exact spot.  The ironclad box was recovered with all its contents perfectly intact.
 
Interesting facts:
-The Madonna and Child painting which was in the box is still on display to this day as the Miraculous image of Siluva.
-In 1622, (10 years after the apparition) the land was returned to the Catholic Church.
-In 1628, 11,000 people received Holy Communion on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a Mass offered on the apparition site.
-In 1627, a small wooden church was built. In 1641, a larger church was built with a school, and in 1643, a brick chapel of the apparition was built.
-In 1775, the Holy See approved the image to be crowned but the local bishop wanted a thorough investigation of the apparition.
-In 1786, the Coronation took place with 30,000 people in attendance over a 3 day ceremony.

GO BACK TO MARIAN APPARITIONS HOME