Sister Teresing, witness to Lipa apparitions, dies at 89

SAN PEDRO CITY—Teresita Lat Castillo, the Carmelite novice who claimed that the Blessed Mother Mary appeared to her several times in 1948, died on Wednesday. She was 89.

On Friday, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles officiated a Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Lipa City for Castillo, also known as Sister Teresing.

Castillo’s remains will be buried at the monastery grounds today, after a funeral Mass at 3 p.m.

On Sept. 12, 2015, Arguelles declared the Marian apparitions, under the Virgin Mary’s title, Mediatrix of All Grace, as “supernatural in character [and] worthy of belief.”

Based on Castillo’s account, she was 21 and a Carmelite postulant when the Blessed Mother appeared to her several times and passed on messages. The event was followed by a shower of rose petals at the monastery.

However, in December 2015, the Vatican overruled Arguelles’ decree that the 1948 apparitions were authentic.

Arguelles said he received the document signed by German Cardinal Gerhard Müller of the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in May.

Mueller’s decree upheld Vatican’s “definitive” confirmation in 1951 against the apparitions.

“Furthermore, the [CDF] repeats its instruction that any and all commissions studying the question of the alleged supernatural phenomenon of the alleged apparitions in the Carmel of Lipa be immediately disbanded,” the decree added.

In June, Arguelles, in a statement, said he was obeying the Vatican ruling.

“While I cannot be forced to go against my conviction and beliefs regarding the Lipa Apparitions of 1948 and the many wonderful things still happening now due to the Mediatrix of All Grace and Her own purposes, in my love for the Church and in obedience to God’s Will, I submit to the CDF’s declaration that my Sept. 12, 2015, decree and all declarations related thereto are null and void,” Arguelles said.