| |
 On 12 April 1947 in Rome, the Virgin Mary appeared to an anticlerical propagandist, Bruno Cornacchiola (1913-2001), a Roman tram driver, and to his three children, Gianfranco, Carlo and Isola, aged 4, 7 and 10 respectively, in a grotto on a hill of eucalyptus trees in the area known as the Three Fountains.
The man, born in a rough neighbourhood of Rome, was a volunteer during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) where, influenced by a German Lutheran soldier, converted to Protestantism.
 He went to the hill to prepare a speech against the Virgin Mary. While he was writing down notes, his children played. Suddenly the "Beautiful Lady" appeared in a grotto, above a mass of tufa rock, first to the three children, then to the father.
She introduced herself to her persecutor, who opposed faith in the Eucharist and the Immaculate Conception and detested the Holy Father, with a new title: I am the Virgin of Revelation. The earth of the Grotto, became the earth of conversion, prayer and miracles, as She promised: "I shall convert the most obstinate with miracles that I shall work with this sinful earth".
From that moment, the Grotto has been a gathering place for thousands of the faithful. Every 12 April, the Apparition is commemorated with a solemn celebration. The procession of 5 October 1947 remains a memorable one.
The Franciscan Conventual Friars Minor were given custody of the Grotto of the Three Fountains in 1956.
In 1997 the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, approved the renaming of the place as "Holy Mary of Third Millennium at Three Fountains".
|
|
