Our Mother of Good Success

Our Mother of Good Success
and our Lord Jesus Christ
appearing to Venerable Mother
Mariana de Jesus Torres

On her death bed, Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, said about the Blessed Virgin Mary to her nuns (and to all of us): "Have recourse to her in all your spiritual and temporal needs. When your soul suffers temptations and hardships, and if the star of the divine vocation, by divine permission, is hidden from your soul's sight, run to her with confidence and say:

"Star of the stormy sea
of my mortal life,
may your light shine upon me
so that I do not stray
from the path
that leads me to Heaven."

The writer suggests memorizing this prayer and saying it daily to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This is the story of Mother Mariana and the prophesies of Jesus and Mary, made to her 400 years ago about the 20^th century, and the evils that would abound then.

On February 2, 1594, Mary appeared to Mother Mariana at the convent, and said "I am Mary of Good Success, the Queen of Heaven and earth." She also said she is the "Queen of Victories and the Mother of Good Success, and it is under this invocation I desire to be known throughout time."

On January 21, 1610, Mother Mariana was told by Our Lady of Good Success that shortly after the middle of the 20^th century, "It will be difficult to receive the sacrament of baptism and also the sacrament of confirmation. They will receive the sacrament of confession only if they remain in Catholic schools, for the devil will make a great effort to destroy it through persons in position of authority. The same thing will happen with the sacrament of Holy Communion. Alas! How deeply I grieve to manifest to you the many enormous sacrileges - both public as well as secret - that will occur from profanation of the Holy Eucharist."

Addressing Mother Mariana, the Mother of Christ said, "But in those times you will already be known, as well as the favors that I am bestowing on you."

"Since this poor country (Ecuador) will lack the Catholic spirit, the sacrament of extreme unction (now called sacrament of the sick) will be little valued. Many people will die without receiving it - either because of the negligence of their families or misconceived affection for their sick ones. Others, incited by the cursed devil, will rebel against the spirit of the Catholic Church and will deprive countless souls of innumerable graces, consolations, and the strength they need to make the great leap from time to eternity," said the Virgin Mary.

She added, "The devil will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them. These depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will make the hatred of bad Catholics and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic church to fall upon all priests." Mary told Mother Mariana, "Further, in these unhappy times (20^th century), there will be unbridled luxury which will ensare the rest into sin and conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women."

This time will, however, be "an epoch when there will be a great devotion to me, for I am Queen of Heaven under many invocations." She added, "This devotion will be the shield between Divine Justice and the prevaricating world to prevent the release of God's formidable punishment that this guilty earth deserves."

Our Mother of Good Success

The archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael took charge of making her statue, secretly, after the sculptor made the statue but didn't finish it.

"A simple, humble faith in the truth of my apparitions to you, my favored child, will be reserved for humble and fervent souls who are docile to the inspirations of grace, for our Heavenly Father communicated His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not or infatuated with empty science," pointed out Mary to Mother Mariana.

"The vices of impurity, blasphemy and sacrilege will dominate in this time of depraved desolation."

In one of His appearances to Mother Mariana, Jesus told her, "As Christians and, even more, as religious, I desire that they have My spirit in every act of their lives. My spirit is one of patience, meekness, abnegation and total abandonment to the Divine Will. Let them serve Me with diligence and disinterest, abandoning even their eternal happiness to the loving will of My Divine Heart."

Mother Mariana said, "My spirit was lost in the immensity of God, and divine love expanded in my small heart. Then, the tabernacle opened, and I saw that in the Holy Host were the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. I saw the sublime mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word in the most pure womb of the Blessed Virgin take place. Then, I understood the infinite love of the Three Divine Persons for Mary Most Holy, Our Lady, who was present there, so magnificent, beautiful and captivating."

The nine choirs of angels sang praises to the Virgin Mary and rendered her homage as their Queen and Lady.

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael came before the throne of the Divine Majesty of the Most Holy Trinity and then approached the Queen of Heaven. St. Michael saluted her as "Mary Most Holy, Daughter of God the Father"; St. Gabriel said, "Mary Most Holy, Mother of God the Son" and St. Raphael, said: "Mary Most Holy, Pure Spouse of the Holy Ghost." In modern times, the Holy Ghost is now called the Holy Spirit.

Then, all three archangels, said together: "Mary Most Holy, Temple and Sacrarium of the Most Holy Trinity."

Mary pointed out to Mother Mariana that men would work to oppress the church in their assemblies and prevent public devotion, for they would have already entered the party of satan by becoming members of the Masonic lodges.

On another occasion, the nun was shown the infidelity of the ministers of the altar to their holy vocation, and the unworthy way that some would approach the Holy Sacrifice. She considered the causes of this and her soul was overcome with a profound unearthly sorrow.

Our Lady of Good Success told Mother Mariana, speaking of the 20^th century, "The spirit of impurity that will saturate the atmosphere in those times; like a filthy ocean, it will inundate the streets, squares and public places with an astonishing liberty."

"There will be almost no virgin souls in the world," said Mary. "Without virginity, it would be necessary for fire from Heaven to fall upon these lands to purify them."

She added, "The Masonic sect, having infiltrated all the social classes, will be so subtle as to introduce itself into domestic ambiences in order to corrupt the children, and the devil will glory in dining upon the exquisite delicacy of the hearts of children. During these unfortunate times, evil will assault childhood innocence."

"Every type of vice will enter, which will attract, in their turn, every type of chastisement, such as plagues, famines, internal fighting and external disputes with other nations, and apostasy, the cause of the perdition of so many souls so dear to Jesus Christ and to me," said the mother of Jesus.

"The laxity and the negligence of those who possess great wealth, who will indifferently stand by and witness the church being oppressed, virtue being persecuted and the triumph of evil, without piously employing their riches for the destruction of this evil and the restoration of the Faith, will be very sad in these times."

In the end, however, Mary "will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss."

Jesus, one day showed Mother Mariana his Sacred Heart, which was covered with small but piercing thorns which tormented Him with extraordinary cruelty. He said, "Understand that they are the grave as well as slight faults of my priests, secular and religious... I lavish on them a deluge of spiritual graces, giving them also serious, prolonged sickness so that they might become like unto Me. But, ungrateful and heartless, they complain about My loving Providence. They think I am being cruel to them, and withdrawing with indifference, they leave Me alone."

Jesus further stated to Mother Mariana, "The times will come when doctrine will spread among the learned and the ignorant, accessible to priests and religious, and even the common people. Many books will be written (20^th century). But the practice of the virtues and these doctrines will be found only in a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare."

Jesus Christ further enlightened Mother Mariana, "Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people but for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by perfection of their state, to be the salt of the earth, the masters of truth, and the shields to hold back Divine ire."

"Do you see what the three Archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael carry with joy?" asked the Blessed Mother of Mother Mariana.

"St. Gabriel carries this precious chalice bearing the Blood of the Redeemer: this signifies the grace of the resurrection from death and the restoration of souls by means of the Sacrament of Penance."

"St. Gabriel also carries a ciborium filled with Hosts: this signifies the most august Sacrament of the Eucharist, which will be distributed by my Catholic priests to the faithful belonging to the Holy, Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose visible head is the Pope, the King of Christendom. His pontifical infallibility will be declared a dogma of Faith by the same pope chosen to proclaim the dogma of the mystery of my Immaculate Conception." (Pope Pius IX did both in the 19th century).

Mary further told the now famous Venerable Mother Mariana, the Hosts in the ciborium are a sublime Mystery and the reverence with which it should be treated and received by the faithful must be comprehended. "It will be an antidote against sin and an easy and powerful means for souls to unite themselves to their God and Redeemer, Who, in the excess of His love, hides Himself under the white accidents of the Host, exposed to the sacrilegious profanations of His ungrateful sons."

"No one on the face of the earth realizes whence comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the deferral of great scourges, the production and fertility of the lands, the end of pestilences and wars, and the harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from monasteries and convents," explained Mary.

The Archangel Raphael carried violet-colored stoles, which symbolize "the effective action and zeal of good priests, who with self-abnegation, forget themselves to make Jesus Christ and myself known and loved."

In the 20^th century, and obviously thereafter, this devotion to Our Lady of Good Success will work prodigies in the spiritual as well as temporal spheres. Mary explained that each Archangel fulfills a mission in assisting decadent humanity to overcome evil.

Venerable Mother
Mariana de Jesus Torres

Mother Mariana was born in 1563 and died in 1635. In 1885, her body was exhumed and it was found to be whole and incorrupt. Her face even retained its natural color with a rosy hue in the cheeks and lips. The whole body exhaled a perfume of lilies, the flowers most used at Easter time. In fact, the bodies of the other Founding Mothers were also discovered incorrupt, and are located today in the newly restored sepulchre of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception of Quito, Ecuador where all these appearances of Jesus and Our Lady of Good Success took place with Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres.

In her Last Testament, she wrote that Jesus "gave to redeemed humanity His mother as Our mother... Behold your Heavenly Mother, Our Lady of Good Success. She will always give you good successes," she said to her nuns in her care.

Her very last words before she died January 16, 1635, were these: "Have recourse to Her in all your spiritual and temporal needs. When your soul suffers temptations and hardships, and if the star of the divine vocation, by divine permission, is hidden from your soul's sight, run to Her with confidence and say (to Our Lady): 'Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to Heaven.' "

Postscript: In 1986, the Archbishop of Quito, Ecuador, issued an Episcopal decree to initiate the cause of the Beatification of the Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres. Archbishop Antonio J. Gonzalez also held a solemn canonical coronation of the statue of Our Lady of Good Success at the convent of the Immaculate Conception in Quito.

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