Our Lady of La Vang is honored today.
It was 1798, when our Blessed Mother appeared to a group of persecuted Catholics taking refuge in the rainforest in Vietnam.
They were in hiding, because the Nguyen Dynasty lead a wide-scale brutal persecution of Catholics. The dynasty considered Catholicism as a threat to their ways and how they ruled and lived.
One night as the group gathered to pray the Rosary together a breathtakingly beautiful woman dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing, holding a baby in her arms appeared. She reappeared several times each time bringing them peace. It is recorded that the group made a small shrine in her honor. They were careful to share this Marian apparition with only faithful people who also had taken to the jungle in hiding. The group that would come to the shrine grew and grew, praying and seeking the intercession of Mary.
As the persecution of Catholics eased, and the shrine of Our Lady of La Vang became a symbol of hope and perseverance.
In 1961, Pope John XXIII granted a canonical coronation to the statue of Our Lady of La Vang, and in 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized 117 Vietnamese martyrs who had died during the persecution in the late 18th century.
