Journal article
Recycling Millennialism, Hope, and Healing: The Messages of the Virgin of the Americas and Modern Apparitional Culture
American Catholic studies, Vol.114(4), pp.21-48
12/01/2003
Abstract
In this article, I examine Marian apparitions to Estela Ruiz, a middle-aged Mexican-American woman who claims that the Virgin appeared to her from 1988-1998 with messages for both her personal edification as well as public consumption. A focus on these messages provides us with a window into Marian apparitional culture, and a backwards look to the nineteenth century as well, where Estela's messages, as all contemporary apparitions, are rooted. When we compare Estela's apparitions with other contemporary visions, what becomes clear is that they reflect and even recycle nineteenth-century Marian messages' themes such as apocalypticism, premillennialism, and healing. Sightings of Mary are nothing new, and their resurgence in the late twentieth-century United States can inform us of the hopes, dreams, and anxieties of a significant group of Catholics, who have conservative social, political, and religious leanings. Although the Virgin declares her love for her earthly children to be unconditional, there are conditions for their entrance to heaven. They must not stand idly by and be "of the world." Accepting God as their savior is necessary in a world that is seen starkly as a struggle between good and evil, a classical millennial theme. The Virgin, in her many manifestations, sees that many of her children have embraced God, and she frets because most of them are still engulfed in the "ways of the world." While Estela's messages reflect and recycle nineteenth and twentieth century apparitions' themes, what distinguishes them from the rest is their insistent emphasis on postmillennialism — women's and men's ability to enact religious and social reform. The evangelizing organization, Mary's Ministries, founded by Estela and her family, stresses hope and healing and men's and women's ability to make a difference "in the world."
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Recycling Millennialism, Hope, and Healing: The Messages of the Virgin of the Americas and Modern Apparitional Culture
- Creators
- Kristy Nabhan-Warren
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- American Catholic studies, Vol.114(4), pp.21-48
- ISSN
- 2161-8542
- eISSN
- 2161-8534
- Publisher
- American Catholic Historical Society
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2003
- Academic Unit
- History; Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies; Religious Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9984255156102771
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