Maria Valtorta - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Maria Valtorta was a Roman Catholic Italian writer and poet, considered by many to be a mystic

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

. Her work centers on Catholic Christian themes. Her followers believe that she had personally conversed with Jesus Christ in her visions of Jesus and Mary

Visions of Jesus and Mary

Since the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary until today, a number of people have claimed to have had visions of Christ and personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary. Discussions about the authenticity of these visions have often invited...

Early life

Valtorta was born in Caserta

Caserta

Caserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...

, in the Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

region of Italy, the only child of parents from the Lombardy

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

region. Her father, Giuseppe, was in the Italian cavalry and her mother, Iside, was a French teacher.

At age 7 she was enrolled in the Institute of the Marcellienne Sisters and at age 12 she was sent to boarding school. As the family moved around Italy due to her father's military career, she received a classic education in various parts of Italy and focused on Italian literature. In 1917 she entered the ranks of the Samaritan Nurses and for 18 months offered her service at the military hospital in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

.

On 17 March 1920, at the age of 23, while she was walking on a street with her mother, a delinquent youth struck her in the back with an iron bar for no apparent reason. She was confined to bed for three months. Although she seemed to have recovered after three months, and was able to move around for over a decade thereafter, the complications from that injury eventually confined her to bed for 28 years, from 1934 onwards.

Settling in Viareggio

In 1924, her father retired and the family settled in the town of Viareggio

Viareggio

Viareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...

, on the coast of Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

in 1924. After settling in Viareggio

Viareggio

(which means "way of the kings"), she hardly ever left that town. In Viareggio Maria led a life dominated by solitude. Except for occasional excursions to the seaside and the pine-forest, her days mostly consisted of doing the daily household shopping and visiting the Church for the Blessed Sacrament

Blessed Sacrament

The Blessed Sacrament, or the Body and Blood of Christ, is a devotional name used in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, to refer to the Host after it has been consecrated in the sacrament of the Eucharist...

.

In 1925 she read the autobiography of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus at one sitting. The experience was deeply moving to her and on January 28, 1925 she offered herself as victim to the merciful Love. In December 1929, she was admitted to Catholic Action as youth cultural delegate, and in 1930 took private vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

January 4, 1933 was the last day on which Maria, walking with extraordinary fatigue, was able to leave her house. And from 1 April 1934, she was no longer able to leave her bed. In 1935, a year after she was bed-ridden, Martha Diciotti began to care for her.

In 1942 she was visited by a missionary priest, Fr. Rornuald M. Migliorini of the Servants of Mary, who became her spiritual director for four years. In 1943 her mother died and Martha Diciotti became her only constant companion and listener until her death. Except for a brief wartime evacuation to Sant’ Andrea di Compito in Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

, from April to December 1944 during the Second World War, the rest of her life was spent in her bed at 257 Via Antonio Fratti in Viareggio

Viareggio

Report of Visions

Early in 1943, when Maria had been infirm for nine years, her religious advisor, Father Migliorini, suggested to her to write about her life. After some hesitation, she agreed and, in about two months had produced several hundred handwritten pages for her confessor.

On the morning of Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

April 23, 1943, she reported a sudden voice speaking to her and asking her to write. From her bedroom Maria called for Marta Diciotti, showed her the sheet in her hands and said that something extraordinary had happened. Marta called Father Migliorini regarding the dictation Maria had reported and he arrived soon thereafter. Father Migliorini asked her to write down anything else she received and over time provided her with notebooks to write in.

Thereafter, Maria wrote almost every day until 1947 and intermittently in the following years until 1951. She would write with a fountain pen in the notebook resting on her knees and placed upon the writing board she had made herself. She did not prepare outlines, did not even know what she would write from one day to another, and did not reread to correct. At times she would call Marta to read back to her what she had written.

One of Maria's declarations reads:

"I can affirm that I have had no human source to be able to know what I write, and what, even while writing, I often do not understand."

Her notebooks were dated each day, but her writing was not in sequence, in that some of the last chapters of The Poem of the Man God

Poem of the Man God

The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

were written before the early chapters, yet the text flows smoothly between them.

Notebooks

From 1943 to 1951 Valtorta produced over 15,000 handwritten pages in 122 notebooks. She wrote her autobiography in 7 additional notebooks. These pages became the basis of her major work, The Poem of the Man God
Poem of the Man God
The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

, and constitute about two thirds of her literary work. The visions give a detailed account of the life of Jesus from his birth to the Passion with more elaboration than the Gospels provide. For instance, while the Gospel includes a few sentences about the wedding at Cana, the text includes a few pages and narrates the words spoken among the people present. The visions also describe the many journeys of Jesus throughout the Holy Land

Holy Land

The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

, and his conversations with people such as the apostles.

The handwritten pages were characterized by the fact that they included no overwrites, corrections or revisions and seemed somewhat like dictations. The fact that she often suffered from heart and lung ailments during the period of the visions made the natural flow of the text even more unusual. Readers are often struck by the fact that the sentences attributed to Jesus in the visions have a distinct and recognizable tone and style that is distinct from the rest of the text. Given that she never left Italy and was bed-ridden much of her life, Maria's writings reflect a surprising knowledge of the Holy Land

Holy Land

. A geologist, Vittorio Tredici, stated that her detailed knowledge of the topographic, geological and mineralogical aspects of Palestine seems unexplainable. And a biblical archeologist, Father Dreyfus, noted that her work includes the names of several small towns which are absent from the Old and New Testaments and are only known to a few experts.

Popes Pius XII and John XXIII

Maria Valtorta was at first reluctant to have her notebooks published, but on the advice of her priest agreed in 1947 to their publication.

Her priest, Father Romualdo Migliorini and Father Corrado Berti, along with their Prior, Father Andrea Checchin, used their contacts to present the manuscript directly to Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII

The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....

. Among those impressed by the work at the Vatican was the Pope's confessor, Father (later Cardinal) Augustin Bea

Augustin Bea

Augustin Bea, SJ was a German scholar at the Gregorian University specializing in biblical studies and biblical archeology. He was confessor of Pope Pius XII. In 1959, Pope John XXIII made him cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first President of the Secretariat for Promoting...

who later wrote that he found the work "not only interesting and pleasing, but truly edifying". Father Berti presented the first copy of the work to Pius XII shortly after April 1947 and on 26 February 1948 received the three priests in audience, and the papal audience was listed on the next day's L'Osservatore Romano

L'Osservatore Romano

L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...

, the Vatican newspaper.

At the meeting Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII

reportedly told the three priests; "Publish this work as it is. There is no need to give an opinion about its origin, whether it be extraordinary or not. Who reads it, will understand. One hears of many visions and revelations. I will not say they are all authentic; but there are some of which it could be said that they are" Father Berti then signed an affidavit to that effect, as did the other two witnesses, with written testimony. The three priests understood this permission to publish as a papal imprimatur

Imprimatur

An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...

.

The permission of the author's ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...

or of the ordinary of the place of publication or of printing was required for publishing such books, and that had to be given in writing.
Because Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII

had thus agreed, before the three priests of the Servite Order

Servite Order

The Servite Order is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. Its objects are the sanctification of its members, preaching the Gospel, and the propagation of devotion to the Mother of God, with special reference to her sorrows. The members of the Order use O.S.M. as their post-nominal...

, to publication of the Poem of the Man God
Poem of the Man God
The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

, it was offered for publication in 1948 to the Vatican Printing Office, which however did not publish it.

While Pius XII was alive, the Holy Office did not announce an official position on the manuscript. When Pius XII died in 1958, his newly appointed successor Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...

, upon taking office, signed in 1959 a decision by the Holy Office (then headed by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani) to place the book on the Index of Forbidden Books, along with a number of other works, such as those of Sister Faustina Kowalska who was later declared a saint, and whose writings are now quoted by the Vatican.

In 1987, Vatican Cardinal Edouard Gagnon was persuaded to locate and evaluate the original minutes from the February 26, 1948 Papal meeting transcribed by the Vatican Recording Cardinal who accompanied Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII

. Shortly afterwards Cardinal Gagnon wrote from the Vatican, that Pope Pius XII's action was "the kind of official Imprimatur granted before witnesses by the Holy Father in 1948, an Official Imprimatur of the Supreme Authority of the Church". The Cardinal Gagnon letter was eventually published in a 1992 CEV periodical.

Cardinal Edouard Gagnon served as the Peritus (Expert Theologian Advisor and Consultant) during the second Vatican Council. He had a Doctorate in Theology and taught Canon law for ten years at the Grand Seminary.

Controversy

Supporters of Maria Valtorta argue that, according to canon law, the Roman Pontiff has full power over the whole Church, hence the initial approval given by Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII

effectively nullified any subsequent ruling by the Holy Office. The detractors argue that the same canon law applied to Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

when he signed the order to place the work on the Index. However, in 1963 Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI

Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...

succeeded John XXIII and abolished the Index altogether in 1965. Valtorta followers argue that this in effect nullified the suppression of 1959 since the Index no longer existed after 1965. Those opposed to the book considered the abolition of the Index as not reversing the Church's opinion of the work. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

) while acting as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...

in 1985 wrote that "the Index retains its moral force despite its dissolution." Valtorta supporters point to the fact that the long list of books on the Forbidden Index

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...

also included writings by Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...

, Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...

, David Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

, René Descartes

René Descartes

René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...

, Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...

, John Milton

John Milton

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

, John Locke

John Locke

John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...

, Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...

, Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...

and Saint Faustina Kowalska, among others. But some authors (e.g. Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

or Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

) whose views are generally considered highly unacceptable to the Church were never put on the Index.

At the moment the official position of the Catholic Church with respect to the book is less than clear. The Catholic Church does not endorse the book, yet does not ban it either, although church officials have made occasional comments about it. The last formal action taken by the Vatican with respect to the book was in 1992, when Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Secretary General of the Italian Bishops' Conference, wrote to the publisher Emilio Pisani. In his letter, Tettamanzi requested that a paragraph be added to the first few pages of the book disclaiming any supernatural origin for the work. The publisher assumes that the letter indicates that the Italian Bishops' Conference sees nothing in the work that contradicts the doctrines of the Church, yet some detractors claim that the letter intended to classify the work as fiction. Since 1993 the Catholic Church has chosen to remain silent on its position with respect to the work.

The Poem of the Man God
Poem of the Man God
The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

was eventually published as a 4,000 page multi-volume book and has since been translated into 10 languages and received the imprimatur

Imprimatur

An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...

and approval of several Catholic bishops and Cardinals worldwide. Valtorta's other literary works include historical notes on the early Catholic Church and martyrs and comments on biblical texts, as well as some religious poems and compositions.

The Poem of the Man God has, however, also drawn criticism from a variety of theologians and skeptics, who claim internal inconsistencies, friction with the Holy See and theological errors of the Biblical account of the Gospel and Catholic dogma.

Regarding the issue of internal consistency and correspondence with the Gospels, Valtorta supporters point to the fact that ever since Saint Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...

addressed the Augustinian hypothesis

Augustinian hypothesis

The Augustinian hypothesis is a solution to the synoptic problem, which concerns the origin of the Gospels of the New Testament. The hypothesis holds that Matthew was written first, by Matthew the Evangelist...

in the 5th Century, religious scholars have been debating issues regarding the comparison of various texts with the Gospels, at times with no clear resolution. Such debates still take place among experts even on issues regarding the Church Canons and the early Gospels themselves. Valtorta supporters point to the fact that the Poem of the Man God

Poem of the Man God

The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

seems to provide solutions to some synoptic debates such as those regarding Luke 22:66
and Matthew 26:57 on the Trial of Jesus

Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus

The Sanhedrin trial of Jesus refers to the Canonical Gospel accounts of the trial of Jesus before the Jewish Council, or Sanhedrin, following his arrest and prior to his trial before Pontius Pilate...

by providing simple explanations that resolve the conflicts. And highly respected scripture scholars such as the Venerable

Venerable

The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...

Gabriele Allegra

Gabriele Allegra was a Franciscan Friar and scripture scholar. He is best known for performing the first complete translation of the Catholic Bible into the Chinese language. His Studium Biblicum Translation is often considered the definitive Chinese Bible among Catholics...

have expressed their support for the Poem of the Man God

Poem of the Man God

The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

and its correspondence with the Gospel.

As for friction with and within the Holy See, it is well documented that the Cardinals favorable towards Valtorta's writings (e.g. Cardinal Augustin Bea

Augustin Bea

) and those opposing it (e.g. Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani) had high levels of friction with each other on a wide range of issues beyond Valtorta's work. Thus in defense of Maria Valtorta, when providing his imprimatur

Imprimatur

An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...

for the Poem of the Man God

Poem of the Man God

The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

, Bishop Roman Danylak

Roman Danylak

Roman Danylak, S.T.L., J.U.D. is a Canadian Ukrainian Catholic bishop. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1957 and ministered to Ukrainian Catholics in Canada. He received a licentiate of sacred theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University and a doctorate of canon and civil law...

recalled John 8:7 and referred to some of her critics as "those who want to cast stones".

Death and burial

Maria Valtorta died and was buried in Viareggio in 1961, at age 64. In 1973 with ecclesiastic permission, her remains were moved to Florence

Florence

to the Chapel in the Grand Cloister of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata di Firenze

The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata is a Roman Catholic minor basilica in Florence, Italy, the mother church of the Servite order. It is located at the northeastern side of the Piazza Santissima Annunziata....

. Chiseled on her tomb are the words: "DIVINARUM RERUM SCRIPTRIX" (Writer of Divine Things).

Presiding over the services at Valtorta's "privileged burial" and the relocation of her remains from Viareggio

Viareggio

to the Santissima Annunziata Basilica was Father Gabriel M. Roschini. A respected Mariologist

Mariology

Roman Catholic Mariology is theology concerned with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ as developed by the Catholic Church. Roman Catholic teachings on the subject have been based on the belief that "The Blessed Virgin, because she is the Mother of God, is believed to hold a certain...

, founding professor at the Marianum pontifical institute in Rome and advisor to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...

, Father Roschini had studied Valtorta's writings and her book The Poem of the Man God

Poem of the Man God

The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

and was initially skeptical of the authenticity of her work. But upon studying her work further he grew to appreciate it as a private revelation

Private revelation

In the teaching of the Catholic Church, a private revelation refers to visions and revelations from God to a specific Christian which have taken place since the completion of the New Testament...

. He wrote of Valtorta's work:

"We find ourselves facing an effect (her work) which seems to be beyond its cause (Maria Valtorta)".

The house at 257 Via Antonio Fratti in Viareggio

Viareggio

, where all her messages were written, was purchased by the publisher of The Poem of the Man God

Poem of the Man God

The Poem of the Man God is a multi volume book of about four thousand pages on the life of Jesus Christ written by the Italian mystic Maria Valtorta...

and has been preserved intact. It can be visited by appointment in Viareggio

Viareggio

, Italy.

Mentions in other reported visions

In the 1980s, she was mentioned in the visions of two of the visionaries in Medjugorje. The Medjugorje visions by Marija Pavlovic and Vicka Ivankovic

Vicka Ivankovic

Vicka Ivanković is one of six visionaries at Međugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina who claim to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary on multiple occasions....

both stated that Maria Valtorta's records of her conversations with Jesus are truthful. According to Ivankovic, in 1981 the Virgin Mary told her at Medjugorje: "If a person wants to know Jesus he should read Maria Valtorta". According to printed records of Medjugorje messages, Marija Pavlovic stated that she was told at Medjugorje by the Virgin Mary that it was permitted to read Maria Valtorta's book.

A 2009 Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

student report details the intricate connection between the Medjugorje apparitions and the writings of Maria Valtorta.

Maria Valtorta's work is also mentioned in the writings of Archbishop Don Ottavio Michelini

Don Ottavio Michelini

Archbishop Don Ottavio Michelini, of Mirandola, Italy is a Roman Catholic figure, Italian author and considered by many to be a mystic. He wrote several books pertaining to his visions of Jesus and Mary....

, from Mirandola

Mirandola

Mirandola is a city and comune of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the Province of Modena, 31 km northeast of the provincial capital by railway.- History :Mirandola originated as a Renaissance city-fortress...

, who reported a series of Dictations and Visions given to him by Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary from 1975 to 1979. He reported these words dictated to him by Christ:

I have dictated to Maria Valtorta, a victim soul, a marvelous work. Of this work I am the Author. You yourself, Son, have taken account of the raging reactions of Satan.... You have verified the resistance that many priests oppose to this work. This also proves, Son, that he who has not sensed in the Poem the savor of the Divine, the perfume of the Supernatural, has a soul encumbered and darkened. If it were -- I do not say "read" --but studied and meditated, it would bring an immense good to souls. This work is a well-spring of serious and solid culture.... This is a work willed by Wisdom and Divine Providence for the new times. It is a spring of living and pure water. It is I, the Word living and eternal, Who have given Myself anew as nourishment to the souls that I love. I, Myself, am the Light, and the Light cannot be confused with, and still less blend Itself with, the darkness. Where I am found, the darkness is dissolved to make room for the Light.

The particular Michelini book from which this quotation was taken is called La medida está colmada in its Spanish version and remains in the library of The Archidiocesan Minor Seminary of Monterrey in the city of San Pedro Garza García. It is worth noting that the first page of the book has a seal that reads "Biblioteca Seminario Menor de Monterrey Donativo del Sr. Emmo. Adolfo Antonio Cardenal Suárez Rivera", ("Library of the Minor Seminary of Monterrey Donated by Sr. Eminentísimo Adolfo Cardinal Suárez Rivera

Adolfo Cardinal Suárez Rivera

Adolfo Antonio Suárez Rivera was a Mexican Cardinal Priest in the Roman Catholic Church who also served as Bishop of Tepic, Tlalnepantla and Archbishop of Monterrey.Suárez Rivera studied classical literature at the conciliar seminary of Chiapas in San Cristóbal, where he was...

"). He was for many years Cardinal Archbishop of the Diocese of Monterrey. This Spanish edition of Michelini's writings where supposedly Christ himself defends Valtorta's Work, comes with a copy of two letters between Bishops (within the first pages). The first letter is from the Bishop of León, México Anselmo Zarza Bernal

Anselmo Zarza Bernal

Anselmo Zarza Bernal is a Roman Catholic Bishop in Mexico.He was ordained a priest in 1939. He was the Bishop of Linares from 1962 to 1966 and the Bishop of Leon, Mexico from 1966 to 1992.-References:* *...

and is addressed to Bishop Miguel García Franco at the time Bishop of Mazatlán

Mazatlán

Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning...

. The response to Bishop Zarza is the second letter. In the first letter, Bishop Zarza recommends to Bishop García Franco the reading and reflection of Michelini's book (where among many supposed dictations from Christ, there is one defending Valtorta's work), on response (second letter) Bishop García wrote: "I received your letter...that came with the book" (Michelini's Book) "...I find all the doctrine contained in the book 100% orthodox, more yet, in whole coincident with the writings of Mrs. Conchita Cabrera de Armida..." (the Venerable

Venerable

The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...

Concepción Cabrera de Armida

Concepcion Cabrera de Armida

The Venerable Concepción Cabrera de Armida was a Mexican Roman Catholic mystic and writer....

a Mexican mystic in the process of canonization) "... and with the book of Father Esteban Gobbi (In Italian Stefano Gobbi

Stefano Gobbi

Father Stefano Gobbi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. He was born in the Province of Como, Italy and was ordained as a priest in 1964. He later obtained a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University in Rome...

), books for which we have ecclesiastic aprobation".

Imprimatur

Over the years, support for Valtorta's work grew among the mid-levels of the Vatican. Her work has received the imprimature of Bishop Roman Danylak

Roman Danylak

and Archbishop Soosa Pakiam. But the official position of the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

with respect to the book is currently less than clear. Since 1993 the Vatican has decided to remain silent on the work

Yet, support for her work continues to appear from unlikely corners of the Vatican, usually from biblical experts who are not at the Holy Office. One such expert was the respected scripture scholar the Venerable

Venerable

The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...

Gabriele Allegra

, who spent 40 years translating the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

to Chinese. Allegra wrote:

"I hold that the work of Valtorta demands a supernatural origin. I think that it is the product of one or more charisma and that it should be studied in the light of the doctrine of charisma."

Another expert was the respected Servite Mariologist

Mariology

, Fr. Gabriel M. Roschini, professor at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Rome, advisor to the Holy Office and founder of the Marianum
Marianum
The Marianum is both the name of a Pontifical institute for the study of Mariology and the name of the prestigious journal of Marian theology. The school and the journal share the same name since their formation was based on the work of Father Gabriel Roschini, who founded both the journal and the...

(which is both the name of the pontifical school and the prestigious journal of Marian theology) who wrote of Valtorta:

"I must candidly admit that the Mariology found in Maria Valtorta's writings, whether published or not, has been for me a real discovery. No other Marian writing, not even the sum total of all the writings I have read and studied were able to give me as clear, as lively, as complete, as luminous, or as fascinating an image, both simple and sublime, of Mary, God's masterpiece."

Father Roschini, who published over 900 works on Mariology, presided over the relocation of the remains of Maria Valtorta from Viareggio

Viareggio

to the Grand Cloister of Santissima Annunziata Basilica in Florence

Florence

(the mother church of the Servite Order

Servite Order

) in 1973.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Maria Valtorta's death on 12 October 2011, a petition has been started to ask the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith/Vatican to actively promote Valtorta's work.
On 12 and 15 October 2011 there will also be Masses in memory of Maria Valtorta in the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in Florence, where Valtorta readers from all over the world will be
present.

Sources and external links

Msgr Vincenzo Cerri, 1994, The Holy Shroud and the Visions of Maria Valtorta, Kolbe's Publications, ISBN 2920285122
Maria Valtorta official website
Foundation Maria Valtorta Cev Onlus
Bishop Roman Danylak's imprimatur
Bishop Danylak's Comments on Maria Valtorta
Petition to the Congregation of the Faith for the promotion of Maria Valtorta's work
The Venerable Gabriele Allegra on Maria Valtorta
Valtorta Publishing excerpts
The Maria Valtorta Network
The Maria Valtorta Reader’s Group in Australia
About 20% of Valtorta's writings (in several languages) online
The Maria Valtorta Web-Ring
Valtorta Medjugorje confirmation
Father Mitch Pacwa's critical view
Response to Fr. Mitch Pacwa
Response to Colin B. Donovan
Petition to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith/Vatican

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