Apparitions of Jesus, Our Lady, and St. Joseph to Edson Glauber, age twenty-two, and his mother, Maria do Carmo, began in 1994. In 2021, Edson passed away from a short terminal illness.
The manifestations became known as the Itapiranga apparitions, named after their native town in the Brazilian Amazon jungle. The Virgin Mary identified herself as the “Queen of the Rosary and of Peace,” and the messages often emphasized praying the Rosary daily—in particular the family rosary, turning off the television, going to Confession, Eucharistic Adoration, as well as the confirmation that the “true Church is the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, and that a “torrent of chastisements” are soon approaching. Our Lady showed heaven, hell and purgatory to Edson, and along with her Son, Jesus, gave various teachings for families to Maria do Carmo.
Moreover, Our Lady specifically requested a Christian evangelization directed in a distinct way toward the youth, the construction of a simple chapel for pilgrims, and the institution of a soup kitchen in Itapiranga for needy children.
Edson’s father, who was a violent alcoholic converted due to the influence of the apparitions, was found, in time, on his knees praying his early morning Rosary in the family living room, and Our Lady said that a large piece of land that he owned belonged to her and to God. The Queen of the Rosary touched with her own hand a stream of water that flows from the place of apparitions in Itapiranga and asked that the water be brought to the sick for healing. A great number of miraculous healings have been reported, positively assessed by doctors, and many were forwarded to the Apostolic Prefecture of the Archdiocese of Itacoatiara. Our Lady also requested that a chapel be built, which still stands.
In 1997, the messages of Itapiranga began to emphasize devotion to St. Joseph’s Most Chaste Heart, and Jesus asked for the following Feast Day to be introduced into the Church:
I desire that the first Wednesday, after the Feast of My Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, be dedicated to the Feast of the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph.
On Wednesday, June 11, 1997, the day, of this requested Feast that year, the Blessed Mother said the following, making reference to a series of apparitions of the Holy family that took place in Ghiaie de Bonate in northern Italy during the 1940s—apparitions in which devotion to St. Joseph was also accentuated:
Dear children, when I appeared in Ghiaie di Bonate with Jesus and St. Joseph, I wanted to show you that later on the whole world should have a great love to the Most Chaste Heart of St. Joseph and to the Holy Family, because Satan would attack the families very profoundly in this end of times, destroying them. But I come again, bringing the graces of God, Our Lord, to grant them to all the families most in need of Divine protection.
Edson had never before heard of Ghiaie di Bonate or any apparitions there.
As has occurred in other Marian apparitions, such as in Fatima and Medjugorje, Our Lady revealed to Edson secrets that pertain to the destiny of the Church and the world, as well as extremely serious future events should humanity not convert. Currently, there are nine secrets: four pertaining to Brazil, two for the world, two for the Church, and one for those who continue to live a life of sin. Our Lady told Edson that she will leave a visible on the Mount of the Cross next to the chapel in Itapiranga. Appearing in front of the cross on the mountain next to the chapel, she said:
“Beloved son, I wish to tell you this afternoon and to tell all my children the importance to live the messages. For those who do not believe, I wish to tell them that one day, where this Cross is, I will give a visible sign, and all will believe in my maternal presence here at Itapiranga, but it will be too late for those who have not converted. The conversion has to be now! In all the places where I have already appeared and continue to appear, I always confirm my apparitions so that there will be no doubts, and here in Itapiranga, my Heavenly manifestations will be confirmed. This will happen when my apparitions here at Itapiranga will end. All will see the sign given in this Cross; they will repent of not having listened to me, for having laughed at my messages and at my messengers, but it will be too late because they will have dissipated my graces. They will have lost the occasion to be saved. Pray, pray, pray!”
Dom Carillo Gritti, Bishop of the diocese of Itacoatiara, approved the 1994-1998 phase of the apparitions as "supernatural" in origin on May 31, 2009 and personally laid the cornerstone of a new Sanctuary in Itapiranga on May 2, 2010. The messages to Edson Glauber, which total over 2000 pages, are highly consonant with many other credible prophetic sources and have a strong eschatological dimension. They have been the object of Many studies, and leading Mariologist Dr. Mark Miravalle of Steubenville University devoted a book to them, called The Three Hearts: Apparitions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph from the Amazon.
Since Dom Gritti's death in 2016, there has been an as yet unresolved conflict between the diocese of Itacoatiara and the association established by Edson Glauber and his family to support construction of the Sanctuary. The Diocesan Administrator contacted the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and obtained a statement in 2017 to the effect that the CDF did not consider the apparitions supernatural in origin, a position also maintained by the Archdiocese of Manaus. The CDF, under Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller at the time, did not mention the second seer, Maria do Carmo, who likewise met with approval by the now-deceased Bishop Gritti.
Given that the apparitions are no longer formally approved (but not formally condemned), it may legitimately be asked why we have nonetheless chosen to feature material received by Edson Glauber on this website. The juridical actions undertaken by the CDF only restrict 1) official Liturgical promotion of Edson's messages, 2) "wider dissemination" of his messages by Edson himself or his 'Association' in Itapiranga, and 3) the promotion of the messages within the Prelature of Itacoatiara. We remain in full compliance with all of these directives; and, if his messages are formally condemned in the future, then we will remove them from this website.
While it is true that Dr. Miravalle withdrew his book after learning of the CDF document, it is also worth noting that several websites around the world featuring alleged prophetic material that are known for their faithfulness to Church teaching have nonetheless decided to continue publishing translations of the Itapiranga messages. This is perhaps best explained by the fact that, during Dom Carillo Gritti's lifetime, the Itapiranga apparitions enjoyed an unusual degree of approval and a number of commentators have raised questions regarding the procedural regularity of the Diocesan Administrator's actions. Furthermore, the urgency of the messages' content is such that suspending the dissemination of this material until the resolution of Edson Glauber's case (which may take several years) would risk silencing heaven’s voice at a time when we most need to hear it.