Resurrection Appearances of Jesus - Post-Ascension Appearances and Roman Catholicism

Post-Ascension Appearances and Roman Catholicism

With the possible exceptions of the appearances to Paul and Ananias in Acts 9, Acts 22, Acts 26 and to Peter in Acts 10, Acts 11 and to John of Patmos in Revelation 1, the Bible only records pre-Ascension appearances of Christ. Yet a number of post-Ascension visions of Jesus and Mary have been reported long after the Book of Revelation was written, some as recently as this century. The Holy See endorses but a fraction of these claims, yet some of these visionaries have received beatification and some have achieved sainthood. However, Catholics are not required to believe in these visions.

And, despite the expected controversies, the post-Ascension visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary have, in fact, played a key role in the direction of the Catholic Church, e.g., the formation of the Franciscan order, the devotions to the Holy Rosary, the Holy Face of Jesus and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. (As an example of a recent reported appearance, see: Artemio Félix Amero, Cordoba Argentina.)

The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has a published a detailed set of steps for “Judging Alleged Apparitions and Revelations" that claim supernatural origin. The Holy See does, in fact, recognize a few post-Ascension conversations with Jesus. For instance, the Vatican biography of Saint Teresa of Avila clearly refers to her gift of interior locution and her conversations with Jesus. The Vatican biography of Saint Faustina Kowalska goes further in that it not only refers to her conversations with Jesus, but quotes some of these conversations

The post-Ascension appearances may be classified into three groups: interior locutions where no visual contact is reported (e.g., Saint Teresa of Avila), visions where visual (and at times physical) contact is claimed (e.g., Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque) and dictations where large amounts of text is produced (e.g., Maria Valtorta). Saint Juan Diego's reported vision of the Virgin Mary produced a physical artifact, but (apart from stigmata) there are no reported physical artifacts from post-Ascension appearances of Jesus.

As a historical pattern, Vatican approval of a vision seems to have followed general acceptance of the vision by well over a century in most cases. However, some recent Catholic devotions have had an accelerated path. For instance the Holy Face Medal is based on a vision reported as recently as 1936 by Sister Maria Pierina and was approved by Pope Pius XII in 1958.