SAN ANGELO, TX – A Catholic Priest from the Vatican in Rome who leads research into evidence for possible sainthood is in San Angelo this week gathering information on the Jumano Indians and their documented encounters with a mysterious ‘Lady in Blue’.
Father Stefano M. Cecchin leads one of the Vatican’s seven Pontifical Academies for Pope Francis. Ftr. Cecchin presides over the Pontifical International Marian Academy for the Pope.
According to legend, 388 years ago the Jumano Indians, indigenous to what is now the Concho Valley, were visited by a mysterious ‘Lady in Blue’ who taught them about Jesus Christ and Christianity.
At the same time in Agreda, Spain, Sister Sor Maria De Jesus De Agreda was falling into trances and claiming to interact with people who fit the description of the Jumanos.
In a wide ranging interview Wednesday through a translator at Holy Angels Church, Ftr. Cecchin said, “I’m just coming to see; to look for testimonies and clues.” The apparitions in San Angelo are a big part of the information Cecchin is gathering.
What makes this visit unique is that Cecchin has seen the evidence at the Monastery in Spain where Sor Maria lived, prayed and experienced her visions. “I have seen the evidence in Spain. Sor Maria had crocheted a big quilt that goes over the altar with birds and flowers that have only been seen here and never been seen in Spain.” Cecchin continued, “She also knit images of the Jumano Indians she’d encountered in her bi-location.”
When Cecchin visited Paint Rock, TX Indian Pictographs, he said, “I saw a painting of a cross and a little girl and the lady in blue that was painted.”
Cecchin said that when Sor Maria wrote about the three rivers that came together here and a particular pearl that can only be found here, he said, “ that’s the truth right there because that pearl isn’t found anywhere else in the world.”
The Franciscan Priest said, “It’s very important that Sor Maria would be the first evangelizer in the Americas.” “Sor Maria got here before the Franciscans who brought Christianity to the Americas.”
For eight years now, area Catholics have celebrated a feast of Sor Maria in May of each year.
Ftr. Cecchin visited several sites around the Concho Valley recently including the Carmelite Hermitage at Christoval, Our Lady of Grace Carmelite Monastery, and the Indian pictographs in Paint Rock.
Cecchin said it was very important that Sor Maria appeared to a peaceful people and that her mission was one of peace.
Ftr. Cecchin’s visit comes as local Catholics are preparing for the installation of bronze statues of Sor Maria and the Jumanos along the river downtown in the summer of 2018.
The case for beatification for Sor Maria continues. A video documentary has been filmed and will debut in May of 2018.
Tilly Chandler and her team showed the video trailer Wednesday at Holy Angels Church.
Ftr. Cecchin said there is no timeline for the decision on sainthood for Sor Maria.
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