We’ve had new fun for your coloring kids (and you!) for all through May!
Our series of “Our Lady’s Color-by-Number” Apparition Activity Pages!
We hope you and your children learned more about Our Lady’s messages in many of her apparitions and the importance of each of her outfits. She always dressed beautifully, but she never wore the same outfit twice!
Want to get all 6 at once? Click below for the entire Coloring Book Download!
Onward! Here’s #5: Our Lady of La Vang (and she brought someone else from Heaven with her!):
Now–the amazing story of Our Blessed Mother’s visit to Vietnam:
Throughout Vietnam during the 1600 and 1700’s, many of the Vietnamese people were converted to the Catholic faith by French and Spanish missionaries who were working to spread the word of God throughout as many countries as possible.
In the late 1700’s, however, a new emperor called Gia Long began to persecute Catholics viciously. Many Catholics and European missionaries were killed, their homes destroyed, and their land taken away from them. Many of them fled to the uncharted Vietnamese forests to escape with their lives and to continue to practice their Catholic Faith.
The people of several villages retreated to the forests of the La Vang province and tried to establish a meager life there while they waited for the persecution to cease. They hid there for many months, eating and drinking what little they could find while they prayed fervently for the end of the persecution against Catholics.
After a few weeks of drinking dirty water from the streams and being bitten by disease-carrying insects without access to their usual remedies, most of the people in the La Vang forest became very sick. They became afraid, thinking they might not live to see the end of the persecution.
On November 22nd, 1798, while the people were huddled together under a tree where they would gather every evening to pray the Rosary, they were startled by the sudden appearance of a beautiful lady in the branches high above them.
Everyone was surprised to see such a finely-dressed lady in such a place. She was wearing a white Vietnamese outfit (called an áo dài) rimmed with gold, and she was holding a sweet baby boy dressed in red.
Although the rainy forest was muddy, both the woman and the child were spotless. How could they have gotten up in the tree without getting dirty?
All could see her clearly as she and the precious child she was holding glowed like the sun in the dark forest.
The woman smiled down at them and held her baby close to her lovingly as she told them all not to fear. She told them that she had heard all their troubles through their prayers and that she had taken them to heart, like a mother to her children’s distress.
Some of the villagers recognized her as Mary the Mother of God and the baby as the Christ Child Himself! They began to pray once more, telling her how they were sick and could not return to their villages for medicine because of the emperor’s persecution.
The Sweet Lady looked sympathetically at them and pointed to several other trees nearby with peculiar leaves.
“Boil those leaves and drink the tea made from them. It will keep you well,” she told them.
Urging them to continue to pray, she raised her eyes to the sky and said, “From this day on, prayers said on this spot will be heard — and answered.”
Then she and the Christ Child were gone.
The people did as she said, boiling the leaves and praying earnestly. Slowly, those who drank the tea regained their strength and became well again.
Soon after, Emperor Gia Long called off the intense persecution of the Catholic faith and the people returned to their villages, talking eagerly about what they had seen and the promise the Lady had made. Many people became Catholic as they were drawn by the story of the Kind Lady. A small shrine and church was built on the spot where she appeared.
This first church of Our Lady of La Vang built on the site of the apparition was torn down and rebuilt in 1901. Eventually it was named a basilica by Pope Saint John XXIII.
Then in 1972 the basilica was destroyed by the communists during the Vietnam war–but the bell tower which housed the shrine to Our Lady of La Vang survived. It still stands today and continues to be a place many pilgrims visit.
Many parishes around the world are named for Our Lady of La Vang, and you can find small shrines in many places–even in the United States. Have you ever seen one? Just tell us in the comments!
Think about this visit: Our Lady must have clothes from all over the world in her wardrobe–and plenty of clothes for Baby Jesus, too!
When she was getting ready to visit the people in the La Vang forest, she picked out a white Vietnamese áo dài (which is a long split tunic worn over trousers). Hers had glittering gold details, white pants, golden shoes, and a blue cloak.
But this was a unique and special visit — Baby Jesus was coming too! She dressed her precious Son in the bright red clothes she knew a Vietnamese infant prince would wear! While she spoke with the people in the jungle, her Son nestled close to His mother and listened silently to their prayers. Baby Jesus trusts in her loving, motherly care–and so should we!
Our Lady of La Vang, pray for us!
PS Want to see some beautiful pictures of what Mary chose to wear for this and other visits from Heaven? Get a peek “inside Mary’s closet” (!) with this gorgeous new book: Our Lady’s Wardrobe!
“Our Lady’s Wardrobe is an exquisite book. The pictures are amazing. They look like photographs. The color choices are perfect. You could look at the pictures over and over again. Then the way the story is told, just a brief poetic explanation for each visitation that is focused on, but it tells so much. Every aspect of the book is reverent and gorgeous. Such a great way to explain to all why there are “so many Marys” so to speak!”
–5 star review
Our Lady’s Wardrobe tells the story of some of her most famous apparitions, highlighting the clothes she wore and the things she did. This delightful rhyming book introduces Catholic children to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a fun and simple way—through her apparitions and the clothes she wore! (Yes: you’ll see her as Our Lady of Guadalupe and many more!)
Audrey
At the national cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC there’s a side chapel on the lower level to her, OL of Vang