OUR LADY OF THE ROSES - THE EARLY YEARS
Veronica - Well, that evening on May the 19th was when Our Lady started talking to me with directives about Her coming. Well, it was a long list of circumstances or quite a long story involved with Our Lady's coming and how She set up the plan which I have tried to give on the taping at various times. But anyways, that evening, many people have asked me, well who was this apostle or Saint, this nice looking man who was with Our Lady when She was on the ball? Well that evening, when Our Lady was talking to me, giving me directions to give to St. Roberts, I asked Her who this nice looking young man was and She said, "St. Aloysius!" That's the way it was pronounced, Aloysius. So I had never heard of a St. Aloysius, so I woke my husband up--this was quite late in the evening, it was about 12 o'clock I guess, midnight--and I asked Art if he had ever heard of a St. Aloysius. So he said, well no, but we have a saints book and we would look it up. So I went all through the "A's" and finally I found the one, it said, "Aloysius ... Aloie" it looked like in the book Gonz--Gonzagner or something like that. Well, we started reading about Aloysius' life and ohh!! Were we surprised! Because on reading his life, it stated in the same book that the father confessor and the teacher of St. Aloysius, the one who taught him everything he knew and they fought heresy and tried to keep true doctrines of the Church intact, was St. Robert Bellarmine! That is the name of my church! Veronica--Well that evening and on towards--that was May the 19th--and on through the latter part of May and into June, Our Lady gave me many directives to give to the Fathers at St. Robert's, which I did by telephone, and by writing letters to them. And, well, actually, being human, the good Fathers just couldn't really ... [words unclear] into a story like they said. Now, they had to have proof. Naturally, I guess, since the history of the Church, I mean the Church has been in existence a long time, and I do imagine there are many souls that have come that weren't quite, let's say, on the up and up, and came with stories and hallucinations. So by now they are very cagey about acknowledging anything supernatural. So, I accepted the letdown, I naturally in my exuberance I expected them to really be overjoyed and the spirit would catch on of Our Lady's coming. Not realizing that it wasn't happening to them but to me, and that seemed outside the light of grace temporarily, that they couldn't understand. Veronica--Well, we have all the arrangements, oh the days became so exciting waiting for the 18th. Oh, I didn't explain to you, I was quite surprised that Our Lady picked the date "18th". In fact when I asked Our Lady what day She was going to come to New York, when the roses bloomed, She said, "June the 18th." Well, I was quite surprised. I wondered why not July, August, or September. Well, right now I was surprised because it was through talking to Joseph Lomangino, by telephone, that he asked me one time when I told him that Our Lady said She would come on June the 18th. He says, "Well, do you know what June the 18th is?" And I says, "No." And he says, "Well, that's the anniversary date of Our Lady's arrival at Garabandal in Spain." Well, gee, I was just as shocked to hear that but I wondered why Our Lady had picked the 18th here in New York. Well, Heaven has its reasons which we will find out in the future. Veronica--And then at this time Our Lady gave me messages also for Joseph Lomangino and about, Our Lady had said, which I didn't understand, but I just passed it on, to tell Joseph to "gather the lilacs from the bush and bring them to the Shrine." Well, I told Joseph this by telephone, and I was so happy, because I knew that he--at that time, he did believe me, and it was kind of, being worldly still, I haven't lost enough of my own feelings that I could stand alone, and it was wonderful to know that there was someone who believed me. And I thought that Joseph did, until some time later, but I think someone had really come to him and kind of talked him out of believing in me, I don't understand that, but of course, that's also one of the crosses that I've learned to live with. But anyway, Our Lady did give that message for him to me, to give to him, "gather the lilacs from the bush and bring them to the Shrine." For when I told Joseph, three days later, I think it was, I called him up again, and I asked him if he knew what Our Lady meant by that, gather the lilacs from the bush. And also, where was the Shrine? Well, he didn't seem to know, so that evening--I was quite depressed--and when Our Lady was talking to me I asked, "Dear Mother, where is the Shrine? I don't understand." And Our Lady said, "The Shrine is at St. Robert's." And I said, "Oh no, I don't know of any Shrine at St. Robert's." And Our Lady said, "Oh yes, there will be!" And then that is the time that Our Lady gave me the drawing for the Fathers and also have a copy in my notes, Our Lady says the Shrine will be called Our Lady of the Roses, Mary, Help of Mothers. And Our Lady drew, had me draw this picture, it looks like a round oval type of concrete background for a statue. And Our Lady said, "There are to be gold letters saying 'Our Lady of the Roses,'" and it appears to be a statue of Our Lady's holding a Rosary in each hand, it's very pretty looking and then at the side is another plaque and it says, "Mary Help of Mothers."