[*Italian figli prediletti – when used in locutions, this wording normally indicates priests, but here it could also mean “my favored children”, denoting the faithful in a broader sense. Translator’s note.]

Why Gisella Cardia?
Apparitions in Trevignano Romano, Italy

The alleged Marian apparitions in Trevignano Romano in Italy to Gisella Cardia are relatively new. They began in 2016 following her visit to Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and purchase of a statuette of Our Lady, which subsequently began to weep blood. The apparitions have already been the subject of an Italian national TV broadcast during which the seer behaved with remarkable calm in the face of some heated criticism from panelists in the studio toward her and two books. A Nihil obstat was recently granted by an Archbishop for the Polish translation of the second of these, In Cammino con Maria (“On the way with Mary”) published by Edizioni Segno, containing the story of the apparitions and the associated messages up until 2018. While such a foreign Nihil obstat does not, on its own, constitute in situ diocesan approval of the apparitions, it is certainly not insignificant. And the local Bishop of Civita Castellana appears to have been quietly supportive of Gisella Cardia, having given access early on to a chapel for the overwhelming influx visitors who began to gather in the Cardia’s house to pray, once news of the apparitions began to spread.

There are several major reasons for focusing on Trevignano Romano as a potentially important and solid prophetic source. Firstly, the content of Gisella’s messages converges very closely with the “prophetic consensus” represented by other contemporary sources, without any indication of her awareness of their existence (Luz de Maria de Bonilla, Pedro Regis, Fr. Michel Rodrigue, Fr. Adam Skwarczynski, the diaries of Bruno Cornacchiola. . .).

Secondly, several of the overtly prophetic messages would appear to have been fulfilled: we notably find a request in September 2019 to pray for China as the source of new airborne diseases. . . 

Thirdly, the messages have frequently been accompanied by visible phenomena, photographic evidence found in In Cammino con Maria, which cannot be the fruit of subjective imagination, notably the presence of the stigmata on Giselle’s body and and the appearance of crosses or religious texts in blood on Gisella’s arms. See the pictures taken from her apparition website https://www.lareginadelrosario.com/, which say Siate testimoni (“be witnesses”), Abbiate fede (“have faith”), Maria santissima (“Mary most holy”), Popolo mio (“My people), and Amore (“Love”).

Of course, these could conceivably be fraud or even demonic interference, as could the weeping of the statue of the Virgin and images of Jesus in Gisella’s and her husband, Gianni’s, home. The idea that fallen angels could be at the origin of the messages nonetheless seems extremely unlikely, given their theological content and exhortations to holiness. Given our knowledge through the testimony of exorcists as to how the fallen angels detest and fear Mary to the point of refusing to name her, the chances that one would spontaneously induce the production of the words “Mary most holy” (“Maria santissima”) in blood on the seer’s body would appear to be next to nil.

Even still, Gisella’s stigmata, her “hemographic” blood images, or bleeding statues should not, on their own, be taken as indicative of the visionary’s sanctity such as to give her carte blanche with regard to all future activity. 

Yet there is additional video evidence of solar phenomena in the presence of multiple witnesses during prayer at the apparition site, similar to the phenomena of the “Dancing Sun” in Fatima in 1917 or attested by Pope Pius XII in the Vatican Gardens immediately preceding the proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption in 1950. These phenomena, when the sun appears to rotate, flash or be transformed into a Eucharistic Host, clearly cannot be faked by human means, and being recorded (albeit imperfectly) on camera, are also evidently not merely the fruit of collective hallucination. Click here to see a video of the miracle of the sun (Trevignano Romano – 17 Settembre 2019 – Miracolo del sole/“Trevignano Romano – September 17, 2019 – Miracle of the sun.”) Click here to see Gisella, her husband, Gianni, and a priest, witnessing the miracle of the sun in a public gathering of one of Gisella’s apparitions of the Virgin Mary. (Trevignano Romano miracolo del sole 3 gennaio 2020/“Trevignano Romano’s miracle of the sun, January 3, 2020”) 

Familiarity with the history of Marian apparitions suggests that these miracles should be regarded as confirmations of the authenticity of heavenly communications.