Luz Amparo and the El Escorial apparitions

On June 14, 1981, in the valley of Prado Nuevo where the town of San Lorenzo del Escorial (Spain) and the famous El Escorial monastery are located, Luz Amparo Cuevas, a simple woman working as a maid, first saw the apparition of what she called the "Sorrowful Virgin". Over a period of twenty years, the Virgin and her divine Son imparted several messages, which Luz diligently wrote down. Jesus also asked her to endure the same painful wounds he sustained during his Passion. Luz tried to remain hidden, but as the unexplained phenomena gained notoriety, she became the target of much antagonism and even physical violence.

Mosaïque de la chapelle de pèlerinage des sept Douleurs de Marie à Malsch (Wiesloch), Allemagne. /© CC BY-SA 4.0 / Roman Eisele

Reasons to believe:

Luz Amparo's entire life, both private and public, exhibits beautiful human qualities, psychological balance, selflessness and a deep faith.
The messages she received and the numerous references she made to theology and mysticism far exceeded her level of knowledge.
The regular appearance and sudden healing of her stigmata had no medical explanation. The wounds and their healing were visible to anyone and duly controlled by doctors. The phenomenon has no scientific explanation.
The number and trustworthiness of the witnesses to the various supernatural phenomena surrounding Luz (stigmata, bilocations, ecstasies) rule out the possibility of deception.
The time lapse between the beginning and the end of the apparitions allowed for a thorough and serious investigation, lending even more credibility to the facts.
As always with unexplained phenomena, the Church authorities were at first cautious about Luz Amparo and the messages she received. The Church appointed experts to discern the supernatural origin of the apparitions and eventually authorized the construction of a chapel and the monthly celebration of mass at the site.

Summary:

Luz Amparo Cuevas was born in 1931 into a poor family in the hamlet of El Pesebre, Penascosa (Spanish province of Albacete). Her mother died when she was 6 months old, and she was taken in by her grandfather, a shepherd. She was then shuffled from orphanages to adoptive families, before being returned to her father, who had remarried. Luz’s stepmother was very harsh to her, deprived her of food and affection, beat her and forced her to sleep in a closet. Her school years were marked by absences and neglect. Her religious upbringing was no better.

When she was a teenager, Luz moved to Madrid to live with her Aunt Antonia, where she made a living cleaning people's houses. This would be her only occupation.

From an early age, she was chronically ill, but very limited resources prevented her from going to good hospitals. On February 18, 1957, she married Nicasio Barderas, a devoted husband who struggled with an alcohol problem and chronic unemployment. The couple barely managed to make a living, yet Luz worked very hard to provide for their seven children, who would testify that they never lacked for anything. The eldest of the siblings became a doctor.

In the mid-1970s, Luz was diagnosed with cancer. As time went by, the prognosis worsened. By 1979, her cancer was deemed terminal. Then she traveled to Lourdes, where she was instantly and totally cured!

Some false rumors claimed that she had had apparitions since childhood, but it is not the case. The first apparition of the Virgin took place in Cortès on May 1, 1981. It was followed by a message inviting people to pray the rosary. This request was repeated throughout the apparitions, up until the end.

The first apparition at El Escorial's Prado Nuevo (meaning “new meadow”) took place on June 14, 1981. On that day, the Virgin introduced herself under the title of "Our Lady of Sorrows", as she would do from then on, on the first Saturday of every month. This regularity of apparitions is not unusual: this was the case with Lourdes, Fátima, and many other places also took place at regular intervals.

This first vision had been preceded the year before, on November 13, 1980, by a locution. As she was putting away some laundry she had just ironed at home, Luz Amparo heard a "voice" say to her: "My daughter, pray for the peace of the world and for the conversion of sinners. The world is in great danger. My daughter, don't be afraid."

The dozens of messages Luz received are perfectly aligned with the teachings of the Church and the Judeo-Christian tradition. The messages were collected and transcribed as apparitions occurred, at the request of her spiritual director. One of them, from July 1987, was criticized for saying that Mary of Nazareth was the "Mother of Jesus' divinity". But this was undoubtedly a transcription error - probably from Luz Amparo herself, who had meant to say that Mary was in fact the Mother of God (Theotokos), as the Church teaches. Archbishop Marcos de Ussia Urruticoechea, in charge of relations between the Archdiocese of Madrid and the visionary, explained the error.

On the morning of November 15, 1980, Luz saw a cross with Christ at the center of it suffering the Passion. At the same time, her forehead and hands began to bleed. She didn't understand what was happening to her, and exclaimed: "What is this? "- It is my Passion. It is a trial. You have to endure it. [...] You can save many souls by your pain," Jesus replied. This was the beginning of her stigmatization. She experienced Christ's Passion every Thursday, and always remained in great peace, despite her physical suffering.

Luz Amparo's entire body was examined by numerous doctors: none was ever able to explain the origin and evolution of these epidermal bleeds and sores. On some occasions, the stigmatization was total: wounds and blood appeared on the palms of the hands and feet (crucifixion nails), eyes, mouth, shoulder (carrying of the cross), back (scourging), side (Roman centurion's spear), and knees (falls during the Stations of the Cross). At other times, Luz suffered in these different places without a wound appearing, but the degree of pain she felt was identical. When the bleeding stopped, it left no marks on the skin, and strangely enough, the wounds required no medical attention. This point has been a constant in cases of authentic stigmata.

In addition, seven bilocations were recorded. One of these is attested by Father Alfonso Maria Lopez Sendin, her confessor. Other phenomena, which were witnessed by people totally unrelated to Luz Amparo's family or sympathizers, should also be noted: levitation, use of a language unknown to her (and for good reason: she only spoke Spanish, and a lower class Spanish), "mystical" communions, miraculous lingering perfumes... Unexplained healings occurred each time the seer agreed to take upon herself the pathology(ies) of others. Luz’s persistence in concealingthese manifestations reveals her great humility.

The multiplicity of the reported phenomena, their perfect consistency with the annals of mysticism, and the moral quality of many of the witnesses all contribute to authenticate the facts.

Luz was fully obedient to the representatives of the Church: on April 12, 1985, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Madrid, Angel Suquia Goicoechea, ordered her to stop going to the Prado Nuevo, where too many people gathered. She immediately obeyed. The same prelate issued a document stating that the supernatural nature of the apparitions had not yet been established: Luz accepted this decision without ever contesting it or expressing any personal opinion.

Luz Amparo's trials didn't end there. Until 1994, the land on which the apparitions took place belonged to the municipality of El Escorial. Elected representatives, anti-Christians and opponents of any public manifestation of religion rallied against her, calling her mad and subversive... Despite this, she remained at peace, never retaliating and always assuring her detractors that she was praying for them.

On May 26, 1983, she was violently attacked by three hooded individuals (two men and a woman) while she was alone at Prado Nuevo. After beating her, they demanded that she admit she was a fraud. She refused. They threatened to rape and kill her by hanging her from a tree. She cried out: "My God, my God, are you going to allow this too?" At this point, the three assailants fled, having heard what sounded like a "rock crashing to the ground". On her hospital bed, she forgave her enemies, adding that she was ready to die for them if it would save their souls: these words were heard by the nursing staff.

Cautious at first, the ecclesiastical authorities eventually followed and discerned the apparitions right up to the last message, in May 2002. In fact, the long time span of several years between the beginning and the end of the apparitions testifies to the thoroughness of the investigations and lends credibility to the facts.

It was not until June 14, 1994, that the Archdiocese of Madrid approved the Association of the Faithful Reparators founded by Luz Amparo (recognition of the three "branches" of this movement). On July 12, Father José Arranz, a canon, was appointed chaplain to the Association. In February 1, 2009, Madrid Archbishop Antonio María Rouco Varela, successor to Archbishop Angel Suquia, authorized the celebration of mass with pilgrims on the first Saturday of every month. Finally, on April 30, 2012, he also authorized the construction of a chapel at Prado Nuevo. This had been requested by the apparition as early as June 14, 1981.

Patrick Sbalchiero

Beyond reasons to believe:

Luz Amparo's incredible resistance to the multiple pressures of her entourage, and the courage she displayed through all obstacles, are worthy of respect and admiration.