Our Lady of Siluva

The Story

Our Lady of Šiluva is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in connection with an apparition traditionally dated to 1608 at Šiluva, a small town in the Raseiniai district of Lithuania. It is counted among the earliest Marian apparitions in Europe to receive Church recognition, and the town has been a center of Catholic pilgrimage for centuries. A Catholic church had stood at Šiluva since 1457, but during the Reformation the parish passed into Calvinist hands. According to tradition, around 1569 the parish priest buried an iron chest containing the church's title deeds, liturgical valuables, and a venerated image of the Madonna and Child, hoping that Catholic worship would one day be restored. According to the traditional account, in 1608 shepherd children tending their flocks saw a young woman standing on a large rock, holding a child in her arms and weeping bitterly. When a Calvinist catechist questioned the vision, the woman is said to have lamented that the ground where her Son had once been honored was now given over to plowing and sowing. Tradition holds that an elderly blind man later led searchers to the spot where the chest had been buried; the documents and image were recovered, and the man's sight was reportedly restored. The find enabled the Catholic community to reclaim the parish, and devotion at Šiluva grew steadily thereafter. The recovered image of the Madonna and Child was crowned in 1786 with the approval of Pope Pius VI, and the late Baroque Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was completed in the same era. The Chapel of the Apparition, completed in 1924 to a design by Antanas Vivulskis, rises directly over the rock associated with the apparition. Šiluva remained a stronghold of faith through Lithuania's periods of occupation, and St. John Paul II prayed at the shrine during his 1993 visit. Each September 8 to 15 the great Šilinės festival, tied to the feast of the Nativity of Mary, draws pilgrims from throughout Lithuania and abroad, continuing a tradition of pilgrimage that has endured for more than four centuries.

Church Recognition

A recognized apparition with longstanding, Church-sanctioned devotion.

Catholic Teaching

A call to restore true worship and devotion to Christ and his Mother.

Plan Your Visit

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Practical

1 Additional Information ▾

The Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Siluva hosts the annual Siluva festival in September.

Go Deeper

Learn more at the official shrine website, siluva.lt, which includes an English section. St. John Paul II's 1993 homily at Šiluva and the Catechism on devotion to Mary (CCC 971) offer further depth.