Our Lady of Good Success: Prophecies for Our Times by Marian Therese Horvat PhD outlines the main messages given to Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres y Berriochoa (b. 1563 – d. 1635), a Conceptionist nun at a convent in Quito, Ecuador. Although these messages were given just before the modern era, they are relevant to the 20th century and onwards, mentioning the corruption and apathy of these times.
At approximately 70 pages, it rushes through the early life of Mother Mariana and circumstances at the Quito convent before jumping into the first apparitions of Our Lady of Good Success, including the order for the statue to be made and how it was miraculously completed by the Archangels. In essence, the book is a compilation of the main messages from Our Lady to Mother Mariana.
Below is an excerpt of a message given on 20 January 1610:
“Thus I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and from shortly after the middle of the 20th century, in what is today the Colony and then will be the Republic of Ecuador, the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the children in order to sustain this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation. … The Devil will make a great effort to destroy the Sacrament of Confession by means of persons in positions of authority. “The same will happen with Holy Communion. Alas! How deeply I grieve to manifest to you the many enormous sacrileges – both public and also secret – that will occur from profanations of the Holy Eucharist! Often during this epoch, the enemies of Jesus Christ instigated by the Devil will steal consecrated hosts from the churches so that they might profane the Eucharistic Species. My Most Holy Son will see Himself cast upon the ground and trampled upon by filthy feet.”
Although Our Lady refers to Ecuador, it is clear that it is generally true for the rest of the world. Also interesting is the mention of freemasonry even though it had not been organized into its modern form at the time (or at least it was not publicly known if it was). She also comments on marriage (and in turn the family) and religious vocations:
“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Freemasonry, which will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the aim of doing away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin and encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing of the Church. The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay and the precious light of Faith will gradually be extinguished until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs. Added to this will be the effects of secular education, which will be one reason for the dearth of priestly and religious vocations.”
Despite all this, there is some hope. Note that it refers to some form of restoration which is consistent to other modern Marian messages. In other words, the upcoming conflict is not the end proper. Below is an excerpt of a message given on 2 February 1634:
“In order to dissipate this black cloud which prevents the Church from enjoying the clear day of liberty, there will be a formidable and frightful war, which will see the bloodshed of countrymen and foreigners, of secular and regular priests, and of religious. That night will be most horrible, for, humanly speaking, evil will seem to triumph. “This, then, will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way, will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and fettering him in the infernal abyss. Thus the Church and Country will finally be free of his cruel tyranny.”
There is a follow-up to the above titled Stories and Miracles of Our Lady of Good Success. At approximately 100 pages and as the title states, it briefly covers some of the miraculous episodes, including the events regarding the statue, Mother Mariana’s dealings with the local bishop and her visions of the Child Jesus of the Cross on Pichincha Mountain.
It mostly avoids repeating the messages covered in the above, so it can be treated as an additional text that runs in parallel chronologically. Included at the back is a helpful chronology of the events covered in these two texts.
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The source of the above texts is the two-part biography of Mother Mariana by Fr Manuel Sousa Pereira, originally written in Spanish in the year 1790. Its title, translated to English, is The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, a Spanish Sister and One of the Foundresses of the Royal Convent of the Immaculate Conception of the City of St Francis of Quito.
Horvat has translated this two-part biography to English, The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana Volume I and Volume II. The former is approximately 250 pages and the latter 360 pages.
Like many biographies of saints and mystics, it includes her daily life, the “smaller” episodes of the supernatural or miraculous or just “weird” occurrences, more visions and messages, and particularly her sufferings, all of which may provide a better context and support to the apparitions and messages of Our Lady of Good Success than the two abovementioned books which are much shorter.
These two volumes are obviously a more complete work but the two abovementioned shorter books are fine in covering some of the major messages and episodes.
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All fours books are published by Tradition in Action (www.traditioninaction.org/index.htm) and are available at their bookstore.
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