LUZON, PHILIPPINES  (1982)

On the island of Luzon in the Philippines, there is an elementary school by the name of Emilia Auginaldo.  Janet Holly, age 10, a fourth-grader, was sitting on the playground at 4:30 in the afternoon.  When she looked up in the sky, something caught her attention.  She saw three angels, Mother Mary with a baby in her arms, and an old man standing next to her (Joseph?).  They were coming out of a golden palace in a carriage pulled by winged horses.  Janet was an orphan and started to cry, because she thought the angels were coming to take her away.

She ran into the classroom and called her teacher – who came out but did not see anything.  But other children came running out of the buildings and did see the exact same apparition in the sky.  They described the vision to a reporter in great detail.  The Virgin Mary was wearing a long gown with a gold crown on her head.  The angels had golden hair and long flaming gowns.  One of them had a key in her hand.  When the children waved their hands, the Blessed Virgin Mary waved back at them.  Then the apparition disappeared altogether.

One teacher, who had seen the vision along with the children, said that she felt an awesome force making her kneel down on the ground.

A week later, the children still told the same story without changing or embellishing any of the details.  However, what is most amazing is that the number of children who witnessed this apparition along with the one teacher totaled five hundred in number!  It is significant when five hundred young witnesses do not change or add to their stories over time, but remain consistent and credible.  Perhaps Mary allowed the one adult to see her as further validation that the event was real – and not just “imagined by children.”