“(The Holy Virgin is speaking:) “Love! By loving, you will know yourself in order to leave yourself and everything that is momentary.” God is love; love is the pasture of life; love is the life of the soul; [the soul] thinks of nothing else; it doesn’t want anything other than love–not for itself, but to give back to God His own love.”
— The Diary of St. Veronica Giuliani: A Compendium: “Tell Everyone Love has been found!” by Veronica Giuliani
“(The Holy Virgin is speaking:) “Daughter, I want you to describe these seven places that are most painful in hell, and for whom they are [reserved]. The first is the place where Lucifer is chained; with him is Judas, who is his seat, and there are all those who have been followers of Judas. The second, where all the ecclesiastics and prelates of the holy Church are; as they have been in dignity and honors of the holy Church, so they have perverted the faith; they have trampled on the Blood of Jesus Christ, my Son, with so many enormous sins, so in hell there is a secluded place for them. The third place that you saw contains all the souls of men and women religious. The fourth is where all the confessors go who have deceived their penitent souls. The fifth, where are all the souls of the judges and governors of the temporal things of justice. The sixth, all men and women superiors of Religion. The seventh, where are all those who wanted to live of their own will and have committed all sorts of sins, have been demons in the flesh. Daughter, remember that you also saw that near this seventh place there was that terrifying place, where it seems to be a new hell. I didn’t want you to see it. In here are all those taken away in body and soul by demons. Add a period. I don’t want you to write anything more than that.””
— The Diary of St. Veronica Giuliani: A Compendium: “Tell Everyone Love has been found!” by Veronica Giuliani
Many traditions and legends surround the Virgin Mary’s physical Assumption into heaven. Evidence for these relevant and captivating customs and beliefs varies. We know for certain, however, based on Pope Pius XII’s Munificentissimus Deus: “The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” While the reality of this historical event wasn’t recognized dogmatically until 1950, we have 2nd century references to Mary’s Assumption.
Tradition holds, Mary appeared to St. James in A.D. 40 to encourage him during an especially difficult Mission to the pagans. She appeared with The Child Jesus standing on a pillar and asked St. James and several of his disciples to build a church on that spot. She promised it would stand until the end of time. The church of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza still stands to this day. It even had three bombs dropped on it during the Spanish Civil War and none of them exploded.