A number of people have claimed to have had visions of Jesus Christ and personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding his mother, Mary. Discussions about the authenticity of these visions have often invited controversy. The Catholic Church endorses a fraction of these claims, and various visionaries it accepts have achieved beatification, or even sainthood.
The first reported visions of Christ, and personal conversations with him, after his resurrection and prior to his ascension are found in the New Testament. One of the most widely recalled resurrection appearances of Jesus is the doubting Thomas conversation (John 20:24–29) between Jesus and Thomas the Apostle after his death.
Acceptance and impact Author Michael Freze argues that Catholic practices such as Eucharistic adoration, rosary devotions and contemplative meditation with a focus on interior life facilitate visions and apparitions.
In recent centuries, people reporting visions of Jesus and Mary have been of diverse backgrounds: laity and clergy, young and old, Catholics and Protestants, the devout and the previously non-believing.Wiebe, Phillip H. Visions of Jesus, 1998, Oxford University Press p. vii Visions should be differentiated from interior locutions such as those purportedly experienced by Consolata Betrone, in which inner voices are reported, but no visual or physical contact is claimed.
Vatican guidelines The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has published a detailed set of steps for "Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations" that claim supernatural origin.Šeper, Francis. "Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions ...", CDF, February 25, 1978 The reported visions of Jesus and Mary by Benoîte Rencurel in Saint-Étienne-le-Laus in France from 1664 to 1718 were only recognized by the Holy See in May 2008, making them the first Marian apparitions and visions of Jesus to be approved in the 21st century. According to the priest Salvatore M. Perrella of the Marianum Pontifical Institute in Rome, this is the 12th Marian apparition approved by the Holy See from a total of 295 that have been studied through the centuries."Vatican recognizes Marian apparitions in France", Catholic News Agency, May 5, 2008
Controversies
Over the years, a number of people, for the sake of monetary gain, have claimed to converse with Jesus and been exposed. A well-known example was Protestant televangelist Peter Popoff who often claimed to receive messages from God to heal people on stage. Popoff was exposed in 1987 when intercepted messages from his wife to a small radio receiver hidden in his ear were replayed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."Evangelist Popoff Off Air, Files Bankruptcy Petitions". Los Angeles Times. September 26, 1987.
Messages from Jesus reported by Catalina Rivas were later found to correspond to exact pages of books previously written by other authors (e.g. José Prado Flores), and published instructional literature for Catholic seminarians."Plagiarism of Carmelita Rivas""Catalina Rivas", Skeptics Dictionary
Reported Marian messages from Veronica Lueken were declared invalid by Bishop Francis Mugavero of the Roman Catholic Diocese of BrooklynMugavero, Francis. "Declaration Concerning The 'Bayside Movement'", November 4, 1986 and reports of Our Lady of Surbiton claiming that Mary appeared every day under a pine tree in England were flatly rejected by the Vatican as a fraud.
In December 1906, during the reign of Pope Pius X the former Polish nun Feliksa Kozlowska became the first woman in history to be excommunicated by name as a heretic."Excommunicantur J. Kowalski et M. F. Kozlowska [Mariavitarum sacerdotum secta]". The Ecclesiastical Review. Philadelphia: April 1907. 36 (4). Some visions of Jesus have simply been classified as hallucinations by the church, while in a few cases the church has chosen to remain silent on the authenticity of claimed visions.
Some of the reported visions of Jesus simply fade away by virtue of predictions that fail to materialize. Messages from Jesus reported by John Leary in Rochester, New York, in 1999 had predicted that Pope John Paul II would be forced out of Rome and sent into exile amid chaos. A commission appointed by Bishop Matthew Clark of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester Matthew H. Clark in 1999 unanimously found Leary's messages to be riddled with doctrinal errors and of human origin.Chancery Notice, Chancery of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore
Influence Despite the expected controversies, post-Ascension visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary have, in fact, played a key role in the direction of the Catholic Church, e.g. the formation of the Franciscan order and the devotions to the Holy Rosary, the Holy Face of Jesus and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
From 1673 to 1675, Marguerite Marie Alacoque recounted a series of visions of Christ speaking to her. This led her to promote Devotion of the Sacred Heart.Doll, Sister Mary Bernard. "St. Margaret Mary Alacoque." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 28 Jun. 2023 She was declared a saint in 1920 and the Feast of the Sacred Heart is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost.
Catherine of Siena was a Dominican tertiary who lived, fasted and prayed at home in Siena Italy. In 1370 she reported a vision in which she was commanded to abandon her life of solitude and to make an impact on the world. She corresponded with Pope Gregory XI and other people in authority, begging for peace and for the reformation of the clergy, writing over 300 letters. Her arguments, and her trip to Avignon, eventually became instrumental in the decision of Pope Gregory XI to return the Avignon Papacy to Rome where she was summoned to live until her death. She is one of only four female Doctors of the Church.
Reported messages from Jesus have also influenced papal actions and encyclicals. The 1899 consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Annum sacrum was due in part to the messages from Jesus reported by a Sister of the Good Shepherd, Mary of the Divine Heart. Pope Leo XIII performed the requested consecration a few days after the death of Sister Mary and called it "the greatest act of my pontificate".Bainvel, Jean. "Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 Jul. 2013
Pilgrimages Churches and sanctuaries built based on reported visions of Jesus and Mary attract many millions of pilgrims each year. According to Bishop Francesco Giogia the majority of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world are vision based, in that with about 10 million pilgrims, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, was the most visited Catholic shrine in the world in 1999,"Shrine Of Guadalupe Most Popular In World", Zenit News, June 13, 1999 now followed by the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, in Cova da Iria, Portugal, with between 6 and 8 million pilgrims per year."Religion moves 330 million tourists a year and six million go to Fátima", Diário de Notícias, February 19, 2017."Fátima expects to receive 8 million visitors in 2017", in Sapo20, December 15, 2016. The Padre Pio of Pietrelcina's sanctuary in San Giovanni Rotondo, in Italy, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, received each about 6 to 7 million pilgrims per year,Davidson, Linda Kay and Gitlitz, David Martin. Pilgrimage: from the Ganges to Graceland : an encyclopedia, Volume 1, 2002 p. 38 followed by the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in France, with 5 million visitors per year.
Visions of the early saints
The Bible includes primarily pre-Ascension visions of Jesus, except for the vision of Christ by Saint Stephen in Acts 7:55,Bible gateway Acts 7:55 and the conversation between Jesus and Ananias in Damascus in which Ananias is ordered to heal Paul (Acts 9:10–18).
In 1205, while praying in the Church of San Damiano just outside Assisi, Francis of Assisi reported a vision in which an image of Jesus purportedly spoke to him: "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins."Chesterton, G.K., Saint Francis, Hodder & Stoughton, 1924, pp. 54-56 This vision led Francis to renounce his merchant family, embrace poverty and form the Franciscan order.
Starting in 1208, Juliana of Liege had visions of Christ which she kept a secret for almost 20 years. In these visions she was reportedly told to institute a solemn feast for the Blessed Sacrament as the Body of Christ. When she eventually reported her visions to her confessor, the information was relayed to the bishop. Years later, in 1264, in the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo Pope Urban IV (who was formerly the Archdeacon of Liege) formally declared the feast of Corpus Christi as the first papally sanctioned universal feast for the Latin Rite.Jestice, Phyllis. Holy people of the world, ABC-CLIO, 2004, , p. 457
In 1372, the English anchorite and saint, Julian of Norwich was on her deathbed and had been given her last rites when she reported a series of visions of Jesus, followed by a sudden recovery. Almost twenty years later she wrote about these visions in her book "Revelations of Divine Love” perhaps the first book in the English language written by a woman.Leyser, Henrietta. Medieval Women: a Social History of Women in England 450–1500. London: Phoenix Press. 2002, p. 219 Her book mentions her illness, her recovery as she saw the image of Christ and her understanding that Christ still dwells in the souls of those who love him. She is celebrated in the Anglican Church.
On St. Peter's Day in 1559, Teresa of Avila (Teresa de Jesús) reported a vision of Jesus present to her in bodily form. For almost two years thereafter she reported similar visions. Teresa's visions transformed her life and she became a key figure in the Catholic Church eventually being recognized as one of only four female Doctors of the Church. One of her visions is the subject of Bernini's famous work The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa in the basilica of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.
In the early 17th century, María de Jesús de Ágreda reported a number of mystical experiences, visions and conversations with Mary. She stated that Mary had inspired and dictated passages in the book Mystical City of God as a biography of the Virgin Mary. However, the book (which makes a number of somewhat unusual claims) has remained controversial within the Roman Catholic church, having been banned and restored a number of times, and her process of beatification (started in 1673) has not been completed.Gies, David Thatcher. The Cambridge history of Spanish literature, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 157Perry, Tim S. Mary for Evangelicals, InterVarsity Press, 2006, , p. 228
At her profession as a Capuchin Poor Clare nun in 1678, Veronica Giuliani expressed a great desire to suffer in union with the crucified Jesus for the conversion of sinners.Hess, Lawrence. "St. Veronica Giuliani." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, . 2013 Shortly after that time she reported a series of visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary that lasted a number of years. She reported a vision of Christ bearing his cross and of the chalice symbolizing the Passion of Christ. On Good Friday 1697 she received the five wounds of Christ as stigmata.