JUAN ANGEL COLLADO’S TESTIMONY
JUAN ANGEL COLLADO’S TESTIMONY
CONSECRATION TO MARY
Oh Mother, Queen of our hearts, Our Lady of the Rosary, on this day I consecrate my life to you and promise to be an instrument of definition of the way towards your Beloved Son. I place before you my body, my energy, my soul, everything that I possess, that I may work my way towards a life of plenitude in your virtues and promulgate your name as Mother of the True Way to the Father.
BACKGROUND
On Thursday, April 23, 1953 the Most Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three humble children in Sabana Grande, a small town in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico. The children, Juan Angel Collado and the sisters Isidra and Ramonita Belén, aged from seven to nine years, were students at a small rural school named after the Puerto Rican poetess and patriot Lola Rodríguez de Tió.
At lunchtime it was customary for the children to fetch water from a nearby spring ("pozo" in Spanish). That day, when Juan Angel went there to get water, a deep silence came over the area and the Blessed Mother appeared for the first time. She seemed to be standing on a cloud, five or six feet above a hillock, behind the spring. She was dressed in a white tunic fastened at the neck with a brooch.
A blue mantle covered her head. She wore a belt around her waist and sandals on her feet. In her hands she held a rosary, and a crown of seven stars shone above her head.
On the third day, Saturday, April 25, the Blessed Virgin identified herself to the children as Our Lady of the Rosary. She appeared for 33 consecutive days, from April 23 to May 25. Ramonita and Isidra accompanied Juan Angel from the second day on.
From the fifth day on, a multitude of people began to visit the site, teaching became impossible, and the children were not allowed to go to the spring. So, from then on, Our Lady began walking from the spring to the school, where she assumed the role of teacher for the three visionaries. She taught them by the use of words, images, and symbols.
During her visit, great numbers of miracles and healings took place. Our Lady wanted to leave clear evidence of her presence t
there, so that people would believe when the time came to reveal the seven messages, which she left in 1953. To help us understand her important message our Blessed Mother used many symbols. On the third day she descended from her cloud, thus symbolizing Christ's Resurrection and talked to the children for the first time: "Do not be afraid, I am the Virgin of the Rosary". Her 33-day visit symbolizes Jesus’ thirty-three years and the founding of His true Church. Her visits to the school are a symbol of our pilgrimage towards the Lord. The school itself symbolizes education, for she assumed the role and behavior of teacher of a new generation.
The number 7 is a symbol of spiritual plenitude, and the Church's sacred number as well. On her first visit, Mary presented us with a rainbow of seven colors. The seven articles of her attire underscore her message: the seven stars in her crown symbolize the seven sacraments, with the large star on her forehead symbolizing the Eucharist. Her blue mantle symbolizes the spiritual guidance and the protection she offers to all her children, her white tunic is a sign of our apostolic mission, and the brooch symbolizes Mary's sovereignty over the apostles of our times. Her belt symbolizes our obedience to the true Church. The rosary symbolizes prayer and her sandals symbolize our pilgrimage towards God, consisting in living a truly Christian life.
The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, as a mother watching over the needs of her children, came to warn and direct us, and to define for us the True Way to salvation. Her purpose was to leave us the mandate of forming a new generation of true Christians who would recognize her as the Mother of the True Way to the Father, and as the Mother of the True Church, sustained by the seven sacraments which Jesus Christ instituted, and of which we are urged to partake.
Our Lady of the Rosary of El Pozo, as the people fondly called her, also wants us to imitate her seven virtues: humility, generosity, chastity, patience, temperance, charity, and diligence. And she teaches us that the necessary means for achieving these goals are sacrifice and prayer.