Serving as a nurse and postulant for the Handmaids of Charity in Montichiari, Gilli first encountered the Blessed Virgin privately while praying in a hospital chapel in the spring of 1947. As Gilli described in her diary, the Virgin Mary appeared wearing a violet dress and white veil with an expression of sorrow and tears in her eyes. Showing her heart pierced with three swords, Our Lady asked for prayer, penance, and sacrifice.
Appearing again to Gilli on July 13, 1947, the Blessed Virgin Mary was dressed in white and instead of having three swords in her breast, she had three roses: a white one, a red one, and a yellow one that symbolized the spirits of prayer, sacrifice, and penance.
When asked by Gilli who she was, Our Lady responded: “I am the mother of Jesus and the mother of all of you. Our Lord sends me to bring a new Marian devotion to all religious orders and institutes, male and female, and to the priests of this world.”
According to Gilli, Our Lady continued on in wishing that “the 13th of July be celebrated every year in honor of the Mystical Rose.” Gilli would later translate this term as meaning that “Mary is the master teacher of the innermost mystical life and the mother of the mystical body of Christ — the mother of the Church.”
Our Lady would appear to Gilli five more times in 1947, including a series of public apparitions in November and December of that year. At the Cathedral of Montichiari on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin told Gilli: “I wish to be known as the Mystical Rose. It is my wish that every year, on the 8th of December, at noon, the hour of grace for the world be celebrated.”
“Many divine and bodily graces will be received through this devotion. Jesus will send his overflowing mercy if good people will pray continuously for their sinful brother,” Our Lady continued. “The Lord is still protecting the good and is holding back a great punishment because of my intercession. Soon, one will recognize the greatness of this hour of grace.”
