OUR LADY OF THE ROSES - THE EARLY YEARS
2. Veronica smells roses for second time.
"Later that same afternoon, Veronica drove her father to the hospital for his regular medical check-up. While waiting for her father to complete his examination with the doctor, she began to pray the Rosary for Bobby again. No sooner had the first Hail Mary escaped her lips that the peculiar fragrance of roses mysteriously presented itself again. You can well imagine the strong odor of roses amidst the antiseptic atmosphere of a hospital. Veronica then felt a little frightened--smelling roses when there were no roses! Again she brushed aside the matter." ("Occulations from Heaven", p. 3)
3. She smells roses for third time:
"The miraculous scent of roses came over her again a third time while viewing the funeral service for the Senator on television. 'I slipped out onto the porch, and I was looking up to Heaven', Veronica said. 'I started to say Hail Mary, asking for the intervention of Our Lady for his soul. Well, the same thing happened again--this fragrance of roses started to come over me. However, this time I was frightened. I said, 'Oh, please, not again!' and instantly it was gone. Veronica then returned into the house."
4. Letter floats across living room:
"On August 4, 1968, at about 5:30 a.m., Veronica was in the living room making preparations for the early morning Mass. Suddenly this same framed letter went floating across the living room, as though propelled by an unseen, unknown force, and crashed with a loud noise at Veronica's feet. This turned out to be a little much. Veronica hastily sped to Saint Robert's again. This time she spoke to four priests who were, gathered in a room at that particular moment." ("Occulations from Heaven", p. 5)
5. "So Veronica went home, opened the Bible at random, and looked at the left-hand page. 'Oh, my heavens!' she exclaimed. A bright light appeared and blotted out everything but what she was to read. It was Job 27, and it said: 'I am the Almighty. I will teach by the hand of God what the Almighty has in store.' Veronica then began to understand." ("Occulations from Heaven", p. 5)
6. Veronica and St. Theresa:
"Returning to Veronica's experience of the explosion, when she was hit by that tremendous force in the face, St. Theresa entered into her in spirit. For three days Theresa lived in her dictating through her many messages, keeping her awake for three days and three nights approximately. Only after the dictation was finished did Veronica retire to rest. The next morning she was awakened by a force, like a pulling at her, pulling out of her and floating away. It was as if she was losing her very own self! It was a most heartrending experience as she had become so attached to Theresa. Theresa was leaving, and Veronica, to her great chagrin, knew this. Veronica was consoled, however, when St. Theresa appeared to her again a few weeks later.
"St. Theresa using Veronica's body is not in any way related to the false theories of reincarnation; rather St. Theresa was placed inside of Veronica as part of a special mission from God the Father." ("Occulations from Heaven", p. 7)
August 1968: VERONICA'S FIRST VISION (VN1970 tape transcription, pp. 5-7
Veronica--While we are in the area of discussing figures from Heaven, at this time I would like to briefly go back to the date of August 1968, when I saw my first vision. I was walking down Springfield Blvd. and I just chanced to look up into the sky, when before my startled eyes there appeared this large iron cross. Through the years, the last year I found that cross quite by accident in a bible of a neighbor. And it was...[words unclear] as a reliquary cross in Rome. But anyway, as I looked at this cross, there appeared in the center of this, the upper part of a chalice, just the cup....[words unclear] So, the cup disappeared and in its place, in the center there was Jesus, I could see just His face down to the area and above the chest like--where His chin area was. And oh! I saw Him as living as you--I would be looking face to face with you or I. And I do remember His face so vividly--I will never forget it. He has a beautiful face for a man, not just because He is God, but the beauty on His face--there was no hardness, no anger, none of these earthly feelings that we find on the faces of those around us. But He has a face just radiating love and emotion. Oh, He must be very sensitive to what's going on here on the earth now, because as I watched He looked to the side to His right and sort of downward. And the expression on His face was so heartbreaking. Oh, the only way you could explain it, was He was saying, "I can't believe it, I can't believe it."
I did notice that His hair was very dark and long, and in fact I really can't be sure how I ever got up so close to Him. But at one point I was so close as though He was kissing me on the forehead and I could see where the stubble, the black stubble was growing into His skin. And then I noticed too, that He had this beautiful white light--seems to come out from under His skin, just like St. Theresa did. And this light as it grew brighter--it seemed to obliterate everything but His eyes, so that you couldn't really distinctly explain to anyone the shape of Our Lord's nose or His mouth as with Theresa unless you had seen a picture of Theresa. After the vision, because the light seemed to obliterate everything but the eyes, and that always makes me feel that the eyes are a mirror of the soul.
Well when I first saw Jesus, it surprised me that the first thing that entered my mind was I said to myself, "Oh He looks so young to be God," I don't know what I expected to--you know somebody looking like a prophet, but He was very handsome. Then, also, I noticed He had something on His head that was quite different in what we see on the statues or in pictures of Jesus' crown. Now I would assume, then what I saw perhaps the thorns were underneath His basket weave up there...[words unclear] He had on His head. It was a very heavy more like a cap and it was like rolled in wood, sort of a reddish brown wood, but it covered His whole head even to the back down to His--back of His neck and down to His eyebrows. It looks so big and heavy. Well then I was forced to look to the right and I saw this figure of what I thought was this young boy at first, a very slim tiny figure, but then I noticed it was a woman because when the person turned to the left I could see Her hips and the way Her gown--dress was very high with a belt on the top--that She was wearing a--like a scarf or--like this mantle over Her head which looked to me white from where I was standing. But She also had that very, oh that, that anguished appearance of Her chin....[words unclear] hanging down on Her chest in terrible sorrow, but She disappeared and I could see Her as a very tiny figure way off in the distance on a hillside looking down, but in terrible sorrow again. Well then She disappeared and in Her place so life-like, the clearest picture of the whole vision was this bald white eagle. Its feathers were so beautiful and white and it was peacefully sitting there. I guess in the west, I would say. And then, I looked over to the east in area, the other side of eagle, like say the eagle's right side, and oh my goodness there I was almost frightened to death because there was a figure there, like something from the children's "Mad" magazine. Oh, it was a monster but then as I watched this grotesque looking glob of whatever it was--monstrous being, I noticed it turned into an owl with two huge outside eyes, and the eyes were staring over at the eagle. And that was the end of the vision.