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Apparitions of the Madonna at Oliveto Citra. By Paolo Apoito. Translated by William A. Christian,Jr. (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. 1998. Pp. xi.267. $49.50.)
On November 24, 1985, the feast of Saint Macarius, the patron saint of Oliveto Citra, a small town south of Salerno, Italy, the townspeople held their annual evening celebration in honor of their saint. Late that night, while many were still celebrating, twelve boys who had been playing in the center of the town, reported having seen the Blessed Virgin Mary. They ran into a nearby bar shouting, "We've seen the Madonna." The barmaid went to where the boys had been playing and reportedly saw the Madonna herself, who spoke to the barmaid. That was the beginning of a long series of alleged apparitions, which continued for about ten years on an almost daily basis. Many people, hundreds, some of them pilgrims who have come for an evening of prayer to the place where the Madonna is said to appear, say that they have seen the Virgin Mary and heard her speak to them. HIer message has always been the same: she calls them to be converted, to...