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DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
22nd August 2024
«A LIGHT IN SPAIN»
Letter to the Archbishop of Mérida-Badajoz (Spain)
about the spiritual experience of Chandavila
Your Excellency,
As you mention in your letter of 28 July 2024, the devotion to Our Lady of
Sorrows in Chandavila (Spain) originated at the end of the Second World War (in
the summer of 1945), in the spiritual experiences that Marcelina Barroso
Expósito and Afra Brígido Blanco separately experienced. With this letter, I am
transmitting some considerations of this Dicastery.
Marcelina recounts that, at first, she saw a dark shape in the sky. At other
times, it became more apparent that this shape was the Virgin of Sorrows, with a
black mantle full of stars, on a chestnut tree. More than the vision itself,
this girl had the profound experience of feeling the embrace and the kiss that
the Virgin gave her on the forehead. This assurance of Our Lady’s close and
affectionate presence is perhaps the most beautiful message. Even though, as the
days went by, both she and Afra identified the figure as the Virgin of Sorrows,
what stands out the most is the presence of the Virgin that instills
consolation, encouragement, and confidence. When the Virgin asks Marcelina to
walk on her knees through a stretch of dry chestnut hedgehogs, thorns, and sharp stones,
she does not do so to cause her suffering. On the contrary, she asks for her
confidence in the face of this challenge: “Do not be afraid; nothing will happen
to you.”
This call of the Virgin, to trust in her love, gave this poor and suffering girl
hope, and also the experience of feeling dignified. Is that simple mantle, made
of reeds and grasses with which Our Lady protected the girl’s knees, not a
beautiful expression of Mary’s tenderness? At the same time, it was an
experience of beauty because the Virgin appeared surrounded by luminous
constellations, like those that could be admired at night in the clear sky of
the small villages of Extremadura, Spain.
After the alleged visions, the two girls led a discreet and inconspicuous life. Both dedicated themselves
to works of charity, especially to caring for the sick, the elderly, and
orphans, thereby transmitting to those who are suffering the sweet consolation
of the Virgin’s love that they had experienced.
Your Excellency, there is nothing one can object to in this beautiful devotion,
which presents the same simplicity that we can see in Mary of Nazareth, our
Blessed Mother. Many positive aspects indicate an action of the Holy Spirit in
so many pilgrims who come, both from Spain and Portugal, in the conversions,
healings, and other valuable signs in this place. The 75th anniversary jubilee,
which was recently celebrated, was recognized by your predecessor as a blessing
for the Diocese.
Therefore, this Dicastery readily grants its consent for you to proceed with the
declaration of the proposed “nihil obstat” so that the Shrine of
Chandavila—which is an heir to a rich history of simplicity, few words, and yet
much devotion—may continue to offer to the faithful who wish to approach it, a
place of interior peace, consolation, and conversion.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest regards and
fraternal affection in the episcopacy.
Víctor Manuel Card. FERNANDEZ
Prefect
EX AUDIENTIA DIEI: 22.08.2024
Franciscus
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