Mary Cecilia of Jesus

Mother Mary Cecilia of Jesus, O.C.D., (7 September 1908 – 13 December 1982) was a Discalced Carmelite Nun and Prioress of the Carmelite Monastery in Lipa during the alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Grace (1948). She was also the confidante of the visionary postulant, Teresita Castillo.

When the Carmel of Gilmore was founded in 1926, and Bishop Verzosa learned about it, he began appealing to the nuns to give him a Carmel in Lipa. After 20 years of perseverance and the end of the 2nd World War, the Carmelites finally responded to the invitation of the Bishop. The place given to them was the seminary, where a number of Lipeno people had been massacred, because it was the only property of the diocese available at that time. The Carmelite Monastery was foundedin 1946, and Sister Mary Cecilia of Jesus was elected Prioress.

By the time, Teresita Castillo, daughter of a former Governor of Lipa, entered the Carmel of Lipa, many mystical and unexplained occurrences had already begun. Mother Cecilia eventually heard Sister Teresita's reports that she was being visited by a devil and the apparition and requests of a beautiful lady in her cell. After a long observation of these events, she came to believe in the visions of Sister. Teresita and confided everything to their Spiritual Director, the Auxiliary Bishop Alfredo Maria Obviar. She also reportedly became a recipient of interior locutions from the Blessed Virgin Mary, who instructed her how to assist Sister Teresita in fulfilling her requests.

The Apparitions became later known in public through news about miraculous healings, heavy fragrance of roses, the shower of rose petals that bore images of Jesus, Mary and religious scenes, the appearance of the blue bird and the spinning sun like what happened in Fatima, Portugal. Initial recognition by the Bishop of Lipa was followed by a subsequent negative final decision. The verdict was signed by the Commission composed of one archbishop and five bishops, namely: Archbp. Gabriel Reyes of Manila, Bp. Cesar Maria Guerrero of San Fernando, Bp. Mariano Madriaga of Lingayen, Bp. Rufino Santos, the newly assigned Apostolic Administrator of Lipa, Bp. Vicente Reyes, Auxiliary Bishop of Manila and Bp. Juan Sison, Auxiliary Bishop of Nueva Segovia.

Mother Cecilia was then banished from Lipa along with Sister Mary Anne, the Sub-Prioress of the Carmel of Lipa, after the negative verdict was issued by the Church authorities, and she was reduced to the status of as scullery maid.

In February 1982, the Jesuit Bp. Federico Escalar of Ipil gave them a retreat, during which she was released from the ban of silence that had been imposed to her as well as to other witnesses of the apparitions in 1948 by the Apostolic Nunciature Egidio Vagnozzi.

On 13 December 1982, Mother Cecilia fell from the stairs of Carmel. She suffered a head injury and later died in the night.