marian anniversaries     november

November 10

Masina Maria, Anosivolakely, Ambohidratrimo, Analamanga, Madagascar

On November 10, 1990, Patrice Raharimanana went to lead a prayer group in the village of Andasibé in north central Madagascar. A volunteer Catholic catechist from Anosivolakely village, seven miles away, Patrice, 40, often commuted to Andasibé to work a rice field he owned there. After the prayer meeting, participants brought Patrice to a house to sleep in a room with six other people.

"But I wasn't thinking of sleeping. I was reflecting on my life, my wife, my children, our poverty, and above all my faith. I was wide awake and alert when, around 10:00, lightning flashed three times. Then there was a flame like that of a candle, but bigger, very beautiful and brilliant; and the room was very bright. Everyone was sleeping. After that there was a whitish cloud and in the cloud, a space in the form of a niche or grotto. And the Holy Virgin appeared in the niche. The cloud became like a ramp where she could move about."

Resembling Our Lady of Lourdes, whose image appears in many church grottoes in Madagascar, the Lady "carried a current local edition of the New Testament, and introduced herself thus: "'My Son Jesus has sent me to you to communicate a message and entrust you with a job. I am Saint Mary (Masina Maria in Malagasy), Queen, Mother of Jesus Christ.' She read 2 Timothy 3 in its entirety, in Malagasy: 'This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. ...'"

The Lady warned of four "roots of evil"—love of self, love of money, love of honors, and the pleasures of the flesh—and of trials ahead for Madagascar if people didn't change. She asked Patrice to convey her warnings to church and civil authorities.

When he demurred, she added a demand: "Have a 102'x32' church built at Anosivolakely." She told Patrice how to recognize the donor who would make that possible. "But since you lack confidence, your first job will be to build a house for the pastor ..." She also asked Patrice to continue and enlarge the village school and to establish a dispensary for the poor. She spoke with him for several hours, until just before cockcrow.[1]

Despite a visit to Cardinal Victor Razafimahatratra in the capital, Antananarivo, 100 miles distant, he had still gotten nowhere with church officials when, the following April, Patrice heard a woman on the radio say the identifying sentence the Lady had given him to recognize the donor for the church project. Pierrette Bemananjara, mother of six, who worked in Antananarivo for a company called Air Tours, responded favorably when Patrice told her of heaven's project.

He saw the Lady again occasionally, at unexpected times, for several years: 13 times in all, mostly in the small chapel he'd helped build in Anosivolakely in 1989, now known as the Apparition Chapel.[2] Repeatedly, the Lady asked Patrice to share her message with the local people as well as the authorities. She stressed that the village of Andasibé would suffer if its wrongdoers did not repent. But he didn't convey the warning.

In 1993, police arrested six thieves in Andasibé; and in 1994, six more. Then they dispersed the remaining inhabitants and razed the village.[3]

With the help of a German company, Missio, the church building got underway. After a setback in 1994, when Cyclone Geralda destroyed walls under construction, the church was roofed and ready for worshippers in 1995. Some 300 pilgrims gathered there November 25, and the church was formally inaugurated November 26.[4] These events garnered some media attention. Meanwhile, the tiny Catholic school in the village had been greatly enlarged, to serve students of all faiths from around the area.

Another pilgrimage took place in May 1996, this time with some 3500 pilgrims, many of whom said they were guided through the night by a bright star that moved to indicate direction. Later that month, Patrice met with Zafy Albert, President of Madagascar, who then broadcast St. Mary's message on radio.[5]

The health center Mary requested opened in 1996, providing medical services for the area ever since.[6]

For many years Masina Maria's church in Anosivolakely held three pilgrimages annually. In 2017 Odon Razanakolona, Archbishop of Antanarivo, forbid them,[7] but he spoke in a 2019 video, Madagascar et les apparitions de Notre-Dame d'Anosivolakely, which also showed pilgrims joyfully traversing rutted roads to get there and gathering in prayer, song, and a candlelight procession. Some participants spoke of miracles, healings, and conversions they had witnessed.

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