The Ischia Earthquake, the Solar Eclipse and Our Lady of Zaro

As readers of this blog will know, I rarely write about current claims of Marian apparitions, and haven't done so in the past several years. This is a matter of prudence on my behalf, because I feel that many such claims are false, and prefer to wait until such phenomena has been approved by the Church. Of course, I don't rule out the possibility that some of these contemporary claims of apparitions are in fact genuine, and fully expect that very many cases are indeed legitimate. Does this mean that we should completely ignore any such claims? Obviously not, since it took years before the Church officially approved the appearances of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children. If devotion to Our Lady of Fatima had been ignored from the start because it was unapproved, then it could never have grown in the way it had. Such an attitude risks stifling popular piety and "quenching the Spirit":

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. (1Thes 5:19-21)

My rule of thumb has always been that if God wants us to pay attention to a particular claim of modern apparitions or private revelations is that He always sends extraordinary signs. It seems very likely that such a sign has now been given concerning the claims of apparitions by the alleged seers of Ischia, whose devotion is known locally as Our Lady of Zaro. I am reluctant to focus so much on an unapproved private revelation, but considering how this ties into what I have been speculating about for the past few months now, concerning the potential significance of the Great American Eclipse in relation to the sign of Jonah, I simply cannot now ignore this new development. Especially if there is urgent need, as seems to be the case here; since there is a good possibility that a chastisement is coming at the end of St. Michael's Lent, unless there is serious repentance - if the connection between the solar eclipse to the sign of Jonah rings true. If God is trying to tell us something right here and now through the intercession of the Blessed Mother, then it seems only prudent to examine these details further.

The patron saint of Ischia is the wonder worker St. John Joseph of the Cross, who was born on the island on the Solemnity of the Assumption, 15th August 1654 (which also marks the start of St. Michael's Lent). Apparently, St. John Joseph made many prophecies, which I will try to research further down the line. Some of his miracles were associated with St. Januarius, whose blood failed to liquefy during the ceremony in December last year in the neighbouring city of Naples, portending a significant event to come this year. If these alleged apparitions are indeed genuine (as this remarkable coincidence appears to indicate), then they are surely in honour of this great saint. It is noteworthy that the Bishop of Ischia established the theological commission to study these apparitions on the Solemnity of the Assumption in 2014. A fact which shows that the ongoing phenomena here is being taken very seriously by the local Church authorities. In my own discernment, I think these apparitions are very likely to be genuine.


I have written about the various prophecies made by the seers of Ischia previously here, and speculated that their vision of a volcano and an island being thrown into the sea warns of the threat posed by Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands, which many geophysicists believe could suffer a lateral collapse during its next eruption. If this were to happen, it would generate a mega-tsunami that could completely devastate the East Coast of the Americas.

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Ischia towards the end of the Great American Eclipse at 18:57:51 UTC. The path of totality ended on American soil in South Carolina at 18:48:59 UTC. So just nine minutes after the end of an eclipse that appears to announce a possible chastisement on America, an earthquake occurred on an island which is the site of an alleged Marian apparition which apparently foretold the events of 9/11 and the collapse of an island into the sea following a volcanic eruption.

The official website dedicated to Our Lady of Zaro found here lists the principal prophecies as pertaining to the destruction of the Twin Towers during 9/11, and also of the collapse of an island into the sea after a volcanic eruption. While the below prophecy does indicate a connection with the tragic events of the attacks on the World Trade Center in the vision of the collapse of skyscrapers, the fact that the seers also seen the Statue of Liberty lying broken in pieces suggests that the ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy lies in the future, and the scene of devastation in New York City is connected with the resulting tsunami generated by the collapse of the island into the sea:

"I saw skyscrapers coming down, then I saw the Statue of Liberty shattered and I realized that it was New York ." (Simona Patalano)

So it would follow that the above vision is actually an extension of the other given to Simona:

"I saw an island and a volcano erupting, people trying to escape but could not and the island was swallowed up by the sea ."  

I have argued at some length that the Statue of Liberty is intimately connected with the prophecy of the Angel of the Seven Thunders, which also represents St. Michael striking the earth with his flaming sword, as was foreseen in the visions of Our Lady of Fatima.

It is worth noting that a predominant theme in the messages of the seers of Ischia this year is that of Our Lady holding an open scroll, which appears to be related to the scroll sealed with seven seals described in the Apocalypse. For example, in the last message given to the seer Simona before the earthquake took place on 8th August, 2017, we find a vision of the Blessed Virgin holding a scroll:

I saw Our Mother: she had baby Jesus in her arms; Mother had a white dress, a white veil on her head and a crown of twelve stars: the mantle on her shoulders was blue and went down to her feet, in her left hand she had a scroll. The baby Jesus had a white tunic, a crown on his head, in his right hand a small globe of the world with a cross above it, and in his left a golden scepter.
Around them there were a myriad of small and large angels wearing white tunics, with golden belts around their waists; their wings were large and majestic, some of them were on their knees in front of Our Mother and Jesus and were honoring them with incense; all the angels were singing the Gloria in an amazing and marvelous chorus. (Message to Simona, 8th August, 2017)


The above message was a continuation of a vision given to Simona at the start of the year bearing the same motif of Our Lady shown with an open book in her hand:

I saw Mother: she was dressed in a rosaceo dress and a green mantle, a white veil and queen's crown on her head, a roll in her right hand, and an open book she left in her left; she looked away from the book and looked at us and smiled, but his eyes were sad and full of tears. Her feet were bare and leaned on the world.

Praised be Jesus Christ

"Dear children, I love you immensely, I know you all and I call you each by name.
Pray my children, pray.
Children, all that I have been announcing to you is going to be fulfilled, the times are ripe. "
(As she said so I saw a big black cloud approaching the world beneath her feet and as a swarm of mosquitoes invade the world and there are earthquakes, famines, diseases, disasters and wars falling into every part of the world, serious pain and suffering.
Then Mother with a gesture closed the book she had in her left hand and covered the world with her mantle and everything went off leaving only peace.
(Message to Simona, January 26th, 2017)

As I have detailed at some length in the post Our Lady of Knock and the Opening of the Sealed Book, the Knock vision is primarily concerned with the opening of the scroll of the Apocalypse by the Lamb of Revelation. So it is significant that the earthquake here would occur on the Feast of Our Lady of Knock, in the immediate wake of the eclipse. While there were not many casualties during this earthquake on 21st August, a lot of the buildings on the island took significant damage. The most notable of which was the destruction of the Church of St. Michael, known locally as the "Church of Purgatory", because of a Latin inscription above the door reading as follows: "Quos purgans ignis cruciat his hell levamen exoptans Agnellus D'Ascia usque parí Templum, quos haec rura tenent hanc extulit aedem tortisque and fiamma elatis purgante dicavit."

I have suspected for some time now that the destruction of churches during earthquakes denotes some form of spiritual warfare, and points to invisible realities occurring on a preternatural level. Indeed, it was one of the reasons that I headlined my previous post with a painting of the Vision of St. Benedict by Cosmas Damian Asam Bavarian, since I felt that the destruction of the Monastery of St. Benedict in Norcia last year, on 30th October, 2016, was itself some sort of prophetic sign which accompanied a clustering of such events during the same month (the entirety of which is dedicated to the Rosary), including another lightning strike on St. Peter's Basilica on 7th October - the Feast of the Holy Rosary.

When I came across this painting of St. Benedict enraptured during a vision symbolised by a total solar eclipse, I felt compelled to use it in light of the events of the collapse of the Monastery at Norcia. St. Benedict was famed for his struggles against Satan, so the symbolism of the destruction of the Monastery of St. Benedict is the same that which is imbued in the collapse of the Church of St. Michael.

The collapse of the Church of Purgatory in Ischia during the earthquake is not only reminiscent of the destruction of the Monastery of St. Benedict, but these events are also strikingly similar to the words of the alleged visionary Angela in her latest message on 26th July, 2017:

“My daughter, please pray together … (While praying together with Mother, she showed me scenes of abominations, wars, violence, and facades of churches that collapsed. Then I saw the Holy Father, Pope Francis, was in kneeling in front of Jesus and praying intensely.)

Finally Mother said to me: “I heal and kiss my pilgrims, and I especially bless the priests here.”

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

In my book Unveiling the Apocalypse: The Final Passover of the Church, I have amassed a wealth of credible evidence that the “burning mountain” being thrown into the sea in Rev 8:8 is one and the same as the seven burning mountains described in the Book of Enoch, which was known to have been a source used by several of the writers of the New Testament, including St. John himself. These seven burning mountains feature in Greek mythology as the Isles of the Blessed, and can be positively identified as the Canary Islands. One of the recent visions given to the seers in June 2017 contains a rather detailed description evoking the imagery of the escutcheon of Tenerife, which details St. Michael holding a shield and flaming lance, striking a volcano.

This afternoon Mother came across dressed in white. Even the mantle she had on her head and wrap it was white. Her chest had a heart of flesh surrounded by thorns. She had a queen's crown on her head, in her right hand a long white crown of light that came almost down to her feet. Under her feet was a long water course. To the right of Mother there was St. Michael the Archangel, like a great leader, with a long spear in his right hand and on his left a large shield.

Mother was sad. (Message given to Angela on June 26th, 2017)

This volcano depicted in the escutcheon of Tenerife represents Mount Teide, the snow-capped peaks of which is why this island was known as the White Isle in Greek mythology - one of the Isles of the Blessed and one of the seven burning mountains described in the Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch states that these seven mountains standing at the edge of the known world in the West was the location of the primordial Abyss, where the Watchers were bound, and marked the exact spot from which the waters beneath the earth emerged to inundate the earth during Noah's Flood - recalling the words of Christ:

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matt 24:37-39)

It just so happens that an earthquake swarm occurred at Mount Teide in Tenerife on 5th October last year, around the same time as the collapse of the Monastery of St. Benedict, igniting fears that the volcano would erupt. I noted the symbolism of the escutcheon of Tenerife in a blog post I published last year here, noting how it is eerily similar to Sr. Lucia's 1944 Tuy vision, in which she was instructed by Our Lady to commit the contents of the Third Secret to writing:

I felt my spirit flooded by a light-filled mystery which is God and in Him I saw and heard: the point of the flame-like lance which detaches, touches the axis of the earth and it [the earth] shakes: mountains, cities, towns and villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, rivers and clouds leave their bounds, they overflow, flood and drag with them into a whirlpool, houses and people in a number unable to be counted; it is the purification of the world from the sin it is immersed in.

I want to make it absolutely clear here that I do not in any way expect the threat posed by Cumbre Vieja to be in any way imminent. In fact, I have repeatedly stated that I believe that this event still lies much further in the future, after the Gospel is proclaimed to the ends of the earth during the period of peace promised by Our Lady of Fatima. This will only take place after the world has been given the final grace seen in the Third Secret, when the hands of the Archangel Michael is stayed by the rays emanating from the hands of the Blessed Mother to allow for a period of penance, which parallels the earth swallowing up the flood which threatens to the destroy the Church in Rev 12:

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Rev 12:15-17)

As Sr. Lucia told Fr. Augustin Fuentes in 1957, before God is about to punish the world for its sins, he always sends His Blessed Mother first as a last means of salvation:

"...in the plans of the Divine Providence, when God is going to chastise the world He always first exhausts all other remedies. When He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever, then, as we say in our imperfect way of talking, with a certain fear He presents us the last means of salvation, His Blessed Mother.

If we despise and reject this last means, Heaven will no longer pardon us, because we will have committed a sin that the Gospel calls a sin against the Holy Spirit. This sin consists in openly rejecting – with full knowledge and will – the salvation that is put in our hands."

It is only after the world once again rejects Christ after it has been given this last means of salvation in the appearance of His Blessed Mother that it will meet the events of the great chastisement. We are only shown this horrific fate of chastisement in order to bring us to repentance, just like the ancient Ninevites:

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!'.

(The Third Secret of Fatima)