The divine is supernatural, but religion is very much of this world. The way people worship even has an impact on their physical surroundings. Here’s a telltale sign that you’re in Catholic country: chapels, shrines and grottoes dot the roadside. The latter are replicas of the cave in southern France where the Virgin Mary appeared to a local peasant girl in the early 19th century.

Those Marian apparitions themselves are another peculiar point of contact between faith and the world. Typically, they happen in times of crisis to young children from a humble background. They are often the only ones able to see the apparition. The visitations sometimes reoccur over a prolonged period. If the Virgin speaks to those who can observe her, it is to ask for a chapel or church to be built, to implore the faithful to be more devout, and/or to offer warnings for the future. Witnesses are often able to report in great detail on the dress and attributes of the apparition, but mostly there is no direct contact between the Virgin and the observers.

What is a Marian apparition?

Marian apparitions are generally associated with Catholicism, which has great devotion for Mary, the mother of Jesus. Despite her being the mother of Christ, the church does not consider Mary to be divine herself. According to Catholic doctrine, the age of public revelation ended when John, the last apostle, died around the year 100 AD. Marian apparitions therefore are ‘private revelations’, illuminating aspects of faith but never revealing new ones.

Apparitions often are the object of ridicule. Some may be fraudulent. Most do not get an official church approval, neither from the local bishop or from the Vatican. Unrecognized apparitions may thus lead to schisms with the official church. The visionary and their followers may decide to found their own independent movement or join existing sects. Either path is usually characterized by a traditionalist approach to the faith, often rejecting the innovations of the Second Vatican Council.

A world map of Marian apparitions

Image: National Geographic

Outside Europe, the U.S. leads the world in Marian apparitions – all but one unrecognized by the Catholic church.

Image: National Geographic

The Virgin Mary tends to appear in regions mostly inhabited by Catholics.

These maps, produced by National Geographic, show the geography of Marian visitations, in Europe and in the rest of the world.

• Crosses show where the Virgin Mary appeared to a future saint.
• Yellow dots mark visitations related by tradition (but not attested by the Vatican).
• Blue dots denote more recent, but as yet unconfirmed apparitions.
• Green dots signify visions approved as ‘worthy of faith’, but not supernatural.
• Red dots mean a local bishop has ‘approved’ the apparition as genuine.
• Larger red dots (for named apparitions) mark those that have also been recognized by the Vatican.

In Europe, the Virgin’s favorite destinations appear to be Italy and France, followed by southern Germany (i.e. the Catholic half) and Belgium. Considering the traditional hold of the faith on Spain and Poland, the number of Marian apparitions is relatively small. A fair number in western Ukraine, but none in eastern Germany. A handful in Hungary, almost none in the Balkans (Medjugorje being the most notable exception). Ireland out-Marys England, and Scandinavia is entirely free of Holy Mothers.

The U.S. leads the rest of the world in the number of apparitions, although most are unrecognized. Two apparitions in Africa and one in Mexico are officially recognized by the Vatican. Here’s an overview of all Vatican-approved apparitions of the Virgin Mary.