Veronica Lueken, (1923-1995), also known as "The Seer of Bayside", was a wife and mother of five children, She
gave up her soul to God this past August 3rd, 1995 at the age of seventy-two. She was a most priviledged soul,
having been entrusted with perhaps the most important revelations in the annals of Church History.

The story of her heavenly visitations began in 1968 when St. Theresa, the "Little Flower", appeared and directed
her to record her poems and spiritual writings.

Our Lady herself appeared to Veronica in her home on April 7, 1970, informing her that she would appear on the
grounds of the old St. Robert Bellarmine Church in Bayside, Queens, New York, on June 18th, 1970; that vigils of
prayer be held there (now temporarily held at the Vatican Pavilion site in Flushing, Queens, New York), and that full
directions be given to the local parish clergy to prepare for Our Lady's first visit there. Our Lady also requested
that a Shrine and Basilica be erected on this this Her chosen sacred site which is to be named "Our Lady of the
Roses, Mary Help of Mothers". Our Lady promised to come on the great feast days of the Church. The Blessed
Mother further instructed Veronica to diseminate the messages given to her throughout the world.

Our Lady requested that the Rosary be recited for the duration of the Vigil. On all Vigils when Veronica was
present a message was given to her from Heaven, either from Our Lady, Jesus or on occassion a powerful Saint
from Heaven. The messages were repeated word for word by Veronica. She also gave a very detailed description of
what she saw. All was recorded on cassette tape.

Even though Veronica is no longer present with us, Our Lady promised to be with us until the Second Coming of
Her son; so the miraculous cures, conversions and photographs as well as the Vigils of prayer and atonement
continue to this very day on the great feast days of the Roman Catholic Church from 7:30p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at the
Vatican Pavillion Site in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, borough of Queens, New York City, New York.

All are welcome to attend these vigils.
 

April 17, 1986

Dearest Veronica and Workers,

This is a testimonial of a great miracle from Our Lady of the Roses.

My brother Artie recently went through a horrible ordeal with his marriage, and he became severely depressed. He tried to commit suicide (a definite attack from Satan) by drinking poison (a pint of methyl alcohol.) My mother found him and got him to the hospital. I spent the night at home saying a vigil of rosaries for him. I prayed with friends (Shrine pilgrims) and family continuously. [He was blessed and/or his body touched almost daily by a Bayside Rose and/or Rose Petal, and the blessed Rose was left at his bedside, her sister Rosemary informs us.] My sister called for the priest and he was given the Last Rites. The doctors didn’t give us much hope, and they said if by any chance he were to survive, he would at least definitely be blind.

After many prayers and novenas, my brother was totally cured physically. There was absolutely no trace of physical damage whatsoever. However, his mental and spiritual state was very, very poor at this point. He would not keep any of the sacramentals on him. It was just an indication to us that more prayers were needed. He refused to eat, as he said it was painful; he was being fed through a tube in his nose. He had no will to live, and he was down to 116 pounds from his normal 140 pounds.

One day he seemed to have a great improvement overnight. He then accepted the sacramentals. He is doing fabulously right now. We have to add that on the eve of St. Joseph (his patron saint), he was told by the nurse that his case was a miracle. He had taken in six times the amount of poison in his blood than the fatal amount! He is the only person nationwide to have ever survived with that amount of poison in his body. And, incredibly, without a trace of physical damage! Also, the doctor’s name who was operating the dialysis machine was Dr. Rosette.
His case will be documented in the American Medical Journal as a medical miracle--but it is a miracle through Our Lady of the Roses.

Lucille Strafer
Smithtown, New York
 

Dear Veronica,
Please publish this letter for your readers. It’s more proof of the powerful intercession of Our Lady of the Roses. My friend’s sister was facing major surgery to prevent her from having a stroke due to a damaged, corroded artery leading to her heart. I gave my friend a Rose Petal blessed by Jesus and Mary and also a medal of Our Lady of the Roses, to keep up her faith and comfort her. My friend and her sister are not Catholics, but Methodists; however, my friend believes in Our Lord and Our Lady’s power. Recently, my friend called to inform me that the damage to her sister’s artery, the heart, was gone and in such a short time. I am writing this letter to acknowledge Our Lady’s powerful and miraculous deed in this serious situation.
With special thanks and prayers.
from Massachusetts

To Our Lady of the Roses:
My father-in-law was stricken with cancer of the colon; practically all of his colon was cancerous. He had surgery to remove the cancer. I had placed a rose petal of Our lady of the Roses Shrine on his hospital bracelet, and the surgery was successful--thanks to Our Lord and Our Lady. Also, the tax people were going to take our home away from us. I prayed to Our Lady of the Roses, and we now have a chance to save our home.
In loving thanks to Jesus and Our Lady of the Roses.
from Missouri

To Our Lady of the Roses:
This letter is to acknowledge the miraculous cure experienced by me from Our Lady of the Roses. Through the  summer months, I developed and suffered from a Planter’s wart on the ball of my left foot. It grew steadily worse and worse, until I could no longer walk without extreme pain and great difficulty.  A friend of mine had made visits to Our Lady of the Roses Shrine, and she gave me a medal of Our Lady of the Roses and told me to wear it on my foot and to pray to Our Lady of the Roses--to say the rosary--and that the wart would go away. I did as she told me to do. I started to wear the medal and pray to Our Lady. I felt less pain, and from that time on the wart started to
disappear. Today, six weeks later, the wart is almost entirely gone. I have been pain-free for three weeks. Let me explain what a Planter’s wart is--how it grows. It is attached to the surrounding tissues, making it impossible to be
removed except by surgery. Also, I might add, that this type of wart is extremely painful, especially when it is attached to the foot.
I wish to express my gratitude to Our Lady of the Roses.
from N. Y. State

Dear Veronica,
In May this year, I went to the doctor for a sore throat. In his examination, he detected a growth in my thyroid, and he suggested that I see a specialist. I made a visit to Bayside, and put my petition to the Blessed Mother for a good come-out of my condition. I saw the specialist, who confirmed the growth on my thyroid, and ordered a scan and tests to be made. This was done on the 9th of June. I was to call the specialist one week later, on the 16th of June, for the results. We made several attempts to reach the doctor, and for various reasons we weren’t able to get in touch with him. We finally were able to talk to him on the 18th of June, for the results. The results were good. Although there were more than one growth now, there was no malignancy found, and the condition would be controlled by medication--no operation. With this good result of the test, and how it ironically dragged out to be given to us on the Anniversary date, June 18, of the Bayside Vigil, I believe it was through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother. I thank the Almighty Father, Jesus and Our Blessed Mother for this wonderful report.
from Pennsylvania

Dear Veronica and Workers:
For a whole month, I suffered with a sore right eye, and it was the second time I had an infection in it. I didn’t have the money to go to the doctor. The other day, I went looking for my Rose Petal, which I had received from Our Lady of the Roses Shrine. I thought I lost it, but I didn’t.  For a month, matter was running from my eye. It was red, and inside, around the rim of the eye, was a small pus bag. I bathed it, but to no avail.  In the meantime, I lost my mother. She died from a fractured hip which had all kinds of complications. My mother was 81. I lost the best friend I ever had. At the wake, I made my Confession to a priest, when he was there. I had not been to Church for years. I wanted to go in memory of my mother; though all day at the wake, my eye kept getting worse and worse, two blood
blisters developing right under the eyelid. I found my rose petal and applied it to the eye. The next morning, I awoke. My eye was shut tight with blood and matter. I washed my eye. The blood blisters were gone, my eye has cleared, and I thank the Holy Mother of the Roses for doing this for me.
God bless you all.
from Connecticut
 

Q.. Is Bayside an approved apparition site?. I heard that the Catholic Church disapproved of Bayside....

A. This is probably the most frequently asked question regarding Our Lady of the Roses Shrine at Bayside and requires some explanation. In 1986, ( after a period of sixteen years), a one page memorandum was issued by Bishop Mugavero of the Brookyln Archdiocese, which conveyed a negative judgment on the Apparitions of Our Lady and Our Lord to Veronica Lueken at Bayside.

The Archdiocese pronouncement is null and void as far as the Shrine of Our Lady of the Roses is concerned for the following reasons:

Veronica Lueken and the Shrine were never approached and interviewed in the context of a proper church investigation, not even by telephone. This statement was confirmed by Monsignor King (who was serving in the Brooklyn Archdiocese at the time) in a radio interview with a Canadian radio station. Therefore there could have never been any investigation, as the principal witness, the seer herself, was never given the opportunity to be interviewed as part of what should have rightly been a major aspect of the formal investigative process.

None of the Shrine workers, including her personal secretary, Mrs. Ann Ferguson, has ever been questioned or interrogated.

No attempt was made by the Archdiocese to investigate any of the thousands of miraculous cures and spiritual conversions received by the faithful attending the vigils or through the intercession of Our Lady of the Roses.

It is impossible to obtain from the Brooklyn Archdiocese the names of the investigative committee, or even the most rudimentary documentation which provides explicit dates when and where the investigation was conducted.

The fact that the Bishop of Brooklyn had personally affixed his name to the declaration on the Apparitions does not bind Catholics under obedience or pain of sin to disbelieve in or remain away from the prayer vigils or the apparition site. Under Canon Law, Ecclesiastical permission is not required for the publication of revelations, visions, miracles or with respect to the frequenting of non-recognized places of apparitions. (See the Canon Law decrees abrogated below)

We invite the faithful to personally contact the Public Information Office of the Archdiocese of Brooklyn, New York at (718) 399-5955 and formally request a copy of the "full investigative report" regarding the Bayside Apparitions. To this date, the report does not exist.

The Bishops negative judgment on Our Lady's Shrine at Bayside has had no impact whatsoever on the mission of Our Lady of the Roses Shrine: The dissemination of Our Lady's and Our Lord's urgent messages throughout the world. Our Lady's Shrine at Bayside has continued to enjoy an ever growing and worldwide following for almost twenty-seven years.

 Our Lady has assured us that the local Bishop [she did not say who the Bishop would be] will receive an unquestionable miraculous sign when the time is right which will attest beyond anyone's doubt to the authenticity of her apparitions at Bayside.
 
 

Q. What is the actual Church Law (Canon Law) regarding apparition sites?

A. Ecclesiastical permission is not required for publication of revelations, visions, miracles or for the frequenting of non-recognized places of apparitions.

A decree of the "Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith " was published in the "Official Acts of the Holy See" (A.A.S.) 58/16, dated December 29, 1966.

Articles 1399 and 2318 of Canon Law are abrogated by this decree.

This decree of abrogation was approved October 14, 1966 by His Holiness the Sovereign Pontiff Paul Vl, who ordered at the same time its publication.

This approval by the Holy Father took place during an audience accorded to His Eminence Cardinal Ottaviani, Pro-Prefect for the "Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith."

The decree was made in Rome, November 15, 1966. It bears the signatures of:

     A. Cardinal Ottaviani, Pro-Prefect

     P. Parente, Secretary

The decree took effect three months after its publication, hence on March 29, 1967.

Canon 1399

The Canon 1399 forbade by right the publication of certain books such as those that deal with revelations, visions, prophecies and miracles.

This Canon has been repealed. This means that as far as these publications are concerned, the prohibition is lifted as to their being bound by ecclesiastical law.

This means that henceforth: Catholics are permitted without need of Imprimatur, or of Nihil Obstat, or any other
permission, to publish accounts of revelations, visions, prophecies and miracles. Of course these publications must not put in danger the Faith or the Morals: this is the general rule which every Catholic must follow in all his actions, even journalists, especially journalists.

There is hence no longer any prohibition concerning the narrative of seers, be they recognized or not by Ecclesiastical Authority.

All the more reason is it permitted for Catholics to frequent places of Apparitions, even those not recognized by the
Ordinaries of the diocese or by the Holy Father: Granted that the Catholic visitors who frequent these places must respect the Faith and the Morals. However, they are not subject to any ecclesiastical discipline, not even for their public prayers.

Permission is required only for the celebration of Holy Mass or any other religious service.

Canon 2318

Canon 2318 carried penalties against those who violated the laws of censure and prohibition.

This Canon is abrogated since 1966. None can incur ecclesiastical censure for frequenting places of Apparitions even those not recognized by the Ordinaries of dioceses or by the Holy Father.

Also, "those who would have incurred the censures treated in Canon 2318 will be like absolved by the very fact of the abrogation of this Canon." (Cardinal Ottaviani)