Leibold Witness

This item was originally published on SpiritDaily.com. It was written by the nephew of Archbishop Paul Leibold as he told of his experience on July 14, 2001 on his first visit to Rome City, IN.

Archbishop Leibold had been the long-time spiritual director of Sr. Neuzil and had issued the Imprimaturs to her texts and commissioned a medal, plaque and statue in the image of Our Lady of America. The following is presented here for your discernment.

ARCHBISHOP'S NEPHEW RELATES STRIKING OCCURRENCE AT AMERICAN APPARITION SITE

A nephew of Archbishop Paul F. Leibold has informed us of an extraordinary visit to the site where Sister Mildred Mary Ephrem Neuzil, the American seer, had her first apparitions.

The nephew, whose name is also Paul Leibold, and who was especially close to the now-deceased archbishop, says that during a spur-of-the moment visit on July 14 to a spot
called Sylvan Springs near Rome City, Indiana, he and a small group experienced the "miracle of the sun" and that he spotted a beautifully strange blue butterfly that brings to mind phenomena reported at another apparition site in Venezuela called Betania (which he had not heard about previous to the experience).

According to Paul (who we will call by his first name to differentiate him from the archbishop), he made the trip after reading articles about the situation on this internet site and was surprised by what he found. He and 11 others piled a recreational vehicle and headed five hours up the highway that recent Saturday.

There they found the current owner of the land, Larry Young.

"We took off to the mound where the third apparition was," says Paul, who now owns a pharmacy in the Cincinnati area.

"We said we were going to pray a family rosary, and there was another couple that had arrived just after we did, Angel and his wife Maria and their son Angel Junior. We were
getting ready to start the rosary and Larry looked at the sun and we began to see the miracle of the sun. When I was at Medjugorje we did not see the miracle of the sun. Someone with me had, and he said it was absolutely identical to what he saw on that mound.

"The next 15 to 20 minutes we sat or stood in prayer, some were kneeling and some were singing. Maria began praying over my son, who has epilepsy. I was as touched as I ever have been in prayer. As another man, Tom breaks into the song Ave Maria, a little blue butterfly lands on an altar and it was just, oh!- There was no doubt the Blessed Mother was with us, blessing us. It was solid pale blue, and absolutely beautiful.

It was a wonderful experience. It just stopped my heart. I was the only one to see it. The others were watching the sun. It just hovered over the altar area. Apparently this altar once had a gold cross and two angels facing it. There had been these black and orange butterflies in the area with no logical reason for them to be there. It's not a flowered area. It's on a mound with mulch on the ground and trees up around it and benches. These little butterflies became more and more prominent as we began talking and sharing, and then Tom broke into Ave Maria. When we got back to the parking lot Angel had some holy cards and it was the Blessed Sacrament and a gold cross with an angel on either side. There was confirmation after confirmation."

Paul had been to Medjugorje, where his experience in prayer on Apparition Hill had been so profound he never thought he would feel that way again -- knowing God was so present. "Well when I went to Rome City I had that same feeling," said Paul, "and I had had no expectations."

It was on September 25, 1956, that Sister Mildred was making a holy hour from 7 to 8 p.m. when she felt the distinct presence of Our Lady at the Indiana site. "I was under the impression that she came as Our Lady of Lourdes, and she herself confirmed this," the nun, who died last year, once wrote -- adding that the Virgin promised great miracles in the United States.

During a vision the next morning the Virgin came in a veil, robe, and mantle of pure white as "Our Lady of America," requesting Americans to honor her by the purity of their lives.

Now the owner of the land reports that people are making inquiries about the land and pilgrims are arriving on weekends at this spot that was once owned by the Order of the Precious Blood (at the time the order to which Sister Neuzil belonged).

Our Lady of America

On September 25, 1956 The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Sr. Mildred Ephrem Neuzil in the Our Lady Mother of Mercy chapel at Kneipp Springs in Rome City, IN as Our Lady of Lourdes. The next day, Our Lady again appeared to Sr. Neuzil, this time She announced herself as being "Our Lady of America" and that She wanted the children of America to lead the world by the purity of their lives. This was the beginning of what is now a devotion to the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of America.

Although these messages from Our Lady of America continued on for years afterward, the central ones concerning the title Our Lady of America and the request that the Virgin Coredemptrix made of the Catholic bishops and of the entire nation, occurred in late 1956 while Sr. Neuzil was serving as a Precious Blood nun at the order's convent and healing center in Rome City, IN (now Sylvan Springs).

From their inception these messages, in particular the central ones, were given a certain approval, not only by the seer's religious superiors, but also by Sr. Neuzil's spiritual director of many years, the then Vicar General and later Archbishop of Cincinnati, Paul F. Leibold, regarded by many as a very holy prelate. It was he who issued an Impramatur for the prayer to The Immaculate Conception written at the request of Our Lady of America. In late 1965, Auxiliary Bishop Leibold of Cincinnati carried out the first of Our Lady's requests to strike the medal of Our Lady of America with her picture on one side and the coat of arms of the Christian family on the other.

Our Lady the Immaculate Virgin, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to support Our Lady's request to have her likeness placed in the National Shrine to The Immaculate Conception (Washington, D.C.) and to support the preservation of the Holy Ground (Rome City, IN) where the central messages of Our Lady of America were given and this special devotion began.

From Mother of All Peoples Website
It was on the eve of the feast of the North American Martyrs, 25 September, 1956, what Sister calls the "official" visits of the Virgin Mother began: official because they define quite precisely what is meant by the title Our Lady of America and what in assuming this title Our Lady asks of the American nation. According to Sister Our Lady came as Our Lady of Lourdes and promised to work more miracles in America, particularly in the United States, than worked either at Lourdes or Fatima, if Americans would do what she asked:
I am pleased my child, with the love and honor my children in America give to me, especially through my glorious and unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception. I promise to reward their love by working through the power of my Son's Heart and my Immaculate Heart miracles of grace among them. I do not promise miracles of the body, but of the soul. (The emphasis here, according to Sister, is that of the Immaculate who is anxiously concerned about our inner life.)

For it is mainly through these miracles of grace that the Holy Trinity is glorified among men and nations. Let America continue and grow in its love for me, and I in return, in union with the Heart of my Son, promise to work wonders in her. My child, I desire that this be known.

And the next morning, in a stupendous vision of the Immaculate during which Sister saw the heart of Mary appear "encircled with red roses, the symbol of suffering as it was revealed to me, and sending forth flames of fire," Our Lady said: "I am Our Lady of America. I desire that my children honor me, especially by the purity of their lives."

Later, on the same day, Our Lady of America said:

My child, I entrust you with this message that you must make known to my children in America. I wish it to be the country dedicated to my purity. The wonders I will work will be the wonders of the soul. They must have faith and believe firmly in my love for them. I desire that they be the children of my Pure Heart. I desire, through my children of America, to further the cause of faith and purity among peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach peoples and nations. Let them come to me with confidence and simplicity, and I, their Mother, will teach them to become like to my Heart that their own hearts may be more pleasing to the Heart of my Son.

Sisters adds, that though Mary came in this manner as a token of her love for Americans, nevertheless Our Lady of America welcomes her children of all nations to her feet, for there will be found true peace. Our Lady of America is such because she is Lady of all nations, the Queen of men and angels.

Read the entire article:

http://motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=908&Itemid=40

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