Pierina Gilli

Pierina Gilli, the Italian visionary of Our Lady Rosa Mystica.

Pierina Gilli (August 3, 1911 – January 12, 1991), was an Italian visionary who claimed to receive apparitions and messages from the Virgin Mary in 1947 and 1966. The Marian apparitions were originally determined by the local ordinary, after consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), to be lacking in sufficient evidence of credibility. However, a process of review which began in 2013 and is ongoing as of 2022 has reached a provisional finding of the 'validity and exemplarity of the mystical-spiritual experience of Pierina, as well as the richness of her existential, humble and virtuous story.' Having reached a favourable view of the person of the visionary, the diocese is conducting a review of the theology of Pierina's writings in the light of Catholic teaching.

Pierina was born in the municipality of Montichiari which is located in the Brescia province of the Lombardy region in northern Italy. She died there when she was 79 years old. She is mainly known as the seer who claimed the Blessed Virgin Mary revealed herself as Rosa Mystica; the message focused on Our Lady's motherly care for her deeply beloved consecrated souls of priests and of male and female members of religious institutes within the Roman Catholic Church.

Childhood Pierina Gilli was born on August 3, 1911, in the San Giorgio section of the northern Italian municipality of Montichiari. Her parents, Pancrazio Gilli and Rosa Bartoli, had three children, of which Pierina was the eldest. Her family was poor, as her father worked as a daily hired farm-worker. Due to its limited household income, the family often moved to various residences in Montichiari.

When Pierina was seven years old her father, died, leaving her mother to support the three children. Between 1918 and 1922, Pierina was placed in a Montichiari orphanage, conducted by the sisters of the Handmaids of Charity. This experience had a lasting impact on Pierina. Pierina received her First Holy Communion in the orphanage when she was eight.

Pierina returned to her family to assist her mother with the care of her two younger siblings, at the age of 11. At age 12, her mother (who was now remarried), and eight siblings moved to live in a cottage with her step-family. Pierina claimed she had received inappropriate attention from her step-father. Although not wishing to introduce any discord into these two families that were now living together, Pierina eventually confided everything to her mother. Partly due to that trauma, Pierina decided to consider a vocation in the religious life at age seventeen. Her confessor advised her to wait, in order to further discern any genuine religious calling to the consecrated life.

Despite all of Pierina's troubles, a soothing glimpse of her caring and devout family upbringing can be observed by this early childhood reminiscence from Pierina's diary: "I was the first of nine children, I the first to be delighted in the joy, the bliss, and the caresses of my parents. The day of 3 August 1911 was the dawn of my earthly coming, and I was baptized on August 5, the feast of the Madonna of the Snow; on that given day, my Mamma consecrated me to the true Mamma in Heaven, so that her maternal protection would preserve me as white and pure as snow.".

On April 14, 1944, Pierina, then 32 years old, was accepted as a postulant by the Handmaids of Charity. She never attained the profession of final religious vows at this religious institute. Even so, this congregation of women deeply influenced her spiritual growth during her formative years, continuing well into her later life. She was subsequently assigned as a nurse at the Children's Hospital in the city of Brescia. On December 1, 1944, Pierina contracted meningitis, and was taken to her religious order's infirmary in Ronco for infectious isolation and medical treatment. The infirmary was located in a tiny section of the small Alpine village of Corteno Golgi, in the Brescia province. After twelve days in a comatose state Pierina was administered the Last Rites. Pierina recorded that beginning December 17, 1944, Sister Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa began to appear to her. Sister Maria held a vial of ointment that was given to her by Our Lady, and she anointed Pierina, saying comfortingly to her: "You will be cured, but you will have a heavy cross to bear."

On November 2, 1946, Pierina was stricken by an intestinal occlusion and was again taken to the Civil Hospital in the Montichiari. During the night of November 23–24, 1946, Blessed Maria Crocifissa appeared to her again. Also, for the first time, the Madonna appeared, as described in Pierina's diary: "Then I see the most beautiful Lady, as if transparent, dressed in purple with a white veil that descends from her head to her feet; she held her arms open, and I saw three swords piercing her heart." Our Lady did not speak to, nor converse with, Pierina at that time. Additionally, on these first thirteen days of every month, Mary asked for the prayerful observance of the following four long-standing Roman Catholic devotional practices: the Holy Mass, the Holy Communion, the Holy Rosary, and the Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration.

Notable developments therefore took place on June 1 and July 13. The first development is that the initially silent Madonna (first appearing on the night of November 23–24, 1946) becomes the speaking Madonna (from 1 June 1947). The second is one of appearance: the sorrowful and tearful Madonna dressed in purple (reported by Pierina on the night of 23–24 November 1946 and again on 1 June 1947) gives way to the white-clad Rosa Mystica from 13 July 1947, when Mary appears in a white dress and long white cape, with three roses: white, red, and gold, adorning her Immaculate Heart.

Later in that same year, on October 22, 1947, at 7:00 pm, while the Rosary was being recited by Pierina and others in the chapel of the Montichiari hospital of Pierina's religious order where she was serving as a nurse, Pierina saw a luminous ray of light emanating from the tabernacle to a nearby statue of Blessed Sister Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa holding a crucifix. She saw the statue of Sister Maria and the figure on the Crucifix seemed to become animated; Pierina rose up and knelt in front of the statue, and, from the crucifix in its hands, were emerging drops of blood, which Pierina wiped dry with the purification cloth from the altar, as instructed by her holy foundress. a minor basilica, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title as Saint Mary of the Assumption. According to Pierina, at the first such event in Montichiari's minor basilica of Saint Mary of the Assumption, on November 16, 1947, while Pierina was praying in thanksgiving after having attended the 7:00 a.m. Sunday Mass, it was near the altar in a wonderful light the Madonna appeared in the midst of a garden of white and red and golden roses.

She asked Pierina to make, as an act of reparational humility, the sign of the Cross with her tongue on four tiles in the center of the basilica's floor. She requested prayer and sacrifice and penitence in reparation for the numerous offenses of humanity to the Lord. Pierina asked the Madonna if she would take her to heaven; Our Lady smiled and said to Pierina: "If you can be generous, then many graces can be obtained for the whole world." Then, the Mystical Rose delicately joined together her hands in prayer, slowly turning away and distancing herself into a waning light. These two healings involved: a young boy Ugo Senici about six years old, having suffered from polio and not being able to stand or to walk (who suddenly ran around and jumped up and down excitedly); and a 26-year-old woman Teresina Magli, having suffered for nine years from severe tuberculosis and not being able to speak even a word (who suddenly sang out a spontaneous song of praise in a loud voice). A third miraculous cure also happened during the same time as the other two, involving a mentally disturbed 36-year-old woman, Lauriana Zamboni, who was healed at home while her family members were praying for her inside Montichiari's minor basilica.

After these episodes at Montichiari's minor basilica of Saint Mary of the Assumption, Pierina was soon investigated and closely interrogated by the diocesan ecclesiastical authorities. Subsequently, she secluded herself, at age 38 years, on May 20, 1949, at the convent of the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Child in Brescia, Italy. She did not become a member of that religious order.

Pierina stayed at this convent for 19 years, rendering her nursing services to this community of religious sisters, even though Pierina herself sometimes needed to be cared for. the apparitions of Gilli were resumed as a requested sign by their mutual spiritual director, Fr. Giustino Carpin, O.F.M.Conv., in order to verify the interior locutions that Cornado had been receiving since 1958. Reportedly, Fr. Carpin had invited Coronado, without entering into any details, to ask for an especial grace from the Lord – and the grace was exactly that his other spiritual daughter Gilli would see again the Virgin Mary, who had promised to newly manifest herself without specifying when and where. Even the Virgin Mary said to Gilli on May 19, 1970, "Montichiari can be a second Lourdes."

Last Years Pierina began a very reclusive life from the late 1960s onwards, living simply and prayerfully in a donated little, humble house with a small prayer chapel, making herself available at her private home (in Montichiari's section or "frazione", called Boschetti, which in English means "the little forests"), to visitors coming on pilgrimage to Fontanelle (and to the Montichiari minor basilica.

After Pierina's death, during the 1990s and 2000s (decade), despite the local Brescia diocese's generally unsupportive historical stance, some 40 reported apparitions of Our Lady, a few times as the sorrowful Madonna, though mostly as Mary the Mystical Rose; as recorded in Pierina Gilli's diaries.

The number of visitors coming to Fontanelle and Montichiari increased sufficiently that in 2001, two priests were assigned in regard to the spiritual care of the pilgrims.

In relation to Montichiari and to Fontanelle, the spiritual conversions and the miraculous cures and the liberation from diabolical possessions are still continuing, accompanied by other supernatural signs, such as (for examples) solar prodigies and luminous crosses in the sky. Sociologist Bruno Massaro has researched the apparitions, and has written a book on his findings The Case of Pierina Gilli of Montichiari (2003).

La Madre della Chiesa, Rosa Mistica: Fatima, Bonate, Montichiari: Le Anime, La Famiglia, La Chiese (The Mother of the Church, the Mystical Rose: Fatima, Bonate, Montichiari: The Souls, The Family, The Church), is a book compiled by Father Eligio Garbo, which informs mostly about the Montichiari apparitions.

Positions of the Roman Catholic Church

The following five pronouncements were made over the course of several decades by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brescia as cited by Kevin Symonds and Alfredo Tradigo:

Communicated by the Episcopal Curia on June 30, 1968: "The Monsignor Bishop vividly exhorts all the faithful that they declare themselves respectful to the directives of the Church not to favor either by publications or by pilgrimages the spreading of devotions that are founded upon a non-approved interpretation of facts neither objectively controlled nor responsibly evaluated." Communicated by Monsignor Luigi Morstabilini on November 25, 1975: "The Monsignor Bishop renews the firm invitation to the faithful and to the clergy because by their obsequious acceptance of preceding decisions they might find at other sanctuaries and places recognized by the Church the better form to experience the right and necessary devotion to the Mother of God according to more authentic contents of faith and of Catholic spirituality." Declaration of Monsignor Bruno Foresti on October 15, 1984: "The Bishop of Brescia supported by the authoritative opinion of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, communicates that (a) the aforementioned apparitions of Our Lady the Mystical Rose in Montichiari do not present motives of credibility; (b) the cult relative to Our Lady the Mystical Rose, therefore, is not approved and can not be practiced nor favored; (c) whosoever favors it, by spreading publications or by organizing pilgrimages, does not help, but disturbs the faith of believers by inducing them to behave contrary to the disposition of the Church." Declaration of Monsignor Bruno Foresti on February 19, 1997: "The Bishop of Brescia holding accountable some various solicitations that come continuously requested in merit, both from Italy and from external nations, reconfirms that which was disposed by him and by his predecessors." In the attachment to Decree number 229/08 by Monsignor Luciano Munari on March 19, 2008, at point 2 is read: "In a particular way there is explicitly asked of individuals and of groups, that until now are more or less directly dedicated to promote the Marian cult in the Fontanelle locality, to respect all the indications of the Directory, and not to spread the messages or publications, neither to promote the acts of the cult, nor to send compositions that might even only indirectly induce the faithful to restrain both the judgment and the Church on the aforementioned apparitions or other extraordinary phenomena, even as may be modified in a positive sense."

The Brescia diocesan bishops' have repeatedly clarified that the alleged apparitions have not been approved, and discouraged the premature promotion of the cultus, while at the same time making provision for the spiritual care of those who nonetheless go there. Bishop Giulio Sanguineti appointed on May 5, 2001, Monsignor Piero Boselli, Director of the Liturgical Office of the Diocesan Curia, as the Presider of a constituted Committee, "with the purpose of watching over the devotional manifestations, while avoiding what might rest entrusted to the arbitrariness of occasional (casual) and passing-through priests"; moreover, "Responsible for the activities and for the judgment of Marian devotions is the diocesan Bishop only, in which the singular care directed on the part of the Diocese can avoid the possible multiplications of episodes tending to reinforce some simple convictions around presumed extraordinary phenomena. This responsibility is necessarily retained also to avoid slightly illuminated devotional practices and certain forms of tendentious preachings." In short, Our Lady can be honoured under the title Rosa Mystica because this is an ancient title of the Madonna; but no reference may be made during official activities to the alleged visions and their messages.

In 2014, an official decree of the Diocese of Brescia erected the "Foundation Rosa Mystica Fontanelle" as the Church's official organisation to care for the property and activities at Fontanelle. It is noteworthy that the cycle of monthly and annual events include all the particular devotions (13th day of each month, and special activities on 13 July, 13 October and 8 December) which can be found in the alleged revelations. While the new Foundation's mission is not to promote the alleged messages of Pierina Gilli, and stresses that her claims must currently be considered as being "a pure personal experience", their website does nevertheless refer to them by necessity when explaining why the shrine came to be.

On 7 December 2019, Bishop Tremolda (Bishop of Brescia since 2017) instituted an official sanctuary of Our Lady Rosa Mystica at the apparition site in Fontanelle. In a letter issued 21 November 2019, the new bishop recognises that many thousands of pilgrims have come to this place to honour Our Lady, and is cautiously optimistic that this is a healthy devotion for the Christian faithful. His letter acknowledges that judging the fruits of the devotion is as important as weighing up Pierina's claims in judging this spiritual phenomenon. He also mentions that there is a 'renewed phase' of investigation taking place, with the Diocese of Brescia and the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith continuing to evaluate the claims.

On July 5, 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement approving of the apparitions and of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of "Rosa Mystica". In a letter sent to the Bishop of Brescia, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández said that the “spiritual proposal that emerges from the experiences narrated by Pierina Gilli in relation to María Rosa Mystica does not contain theological or moral elements contrary to the doctrine of the Church.” This determination was given in light of the "Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena" issued by the DDF in May of the same year.