Chris Maunder

Nova Cana

NOVA CANA TIMELINE

1947 (May 2):  Six year old Angela Volpini received her first Holy Communion in the village of Casanova Staffora, Lombardy, Italy, in the Apennine mountain range.

1947 (June4)Angela, having turned seven on the June 2, experienced her first apparition of the Virgin Mary at a place called Bocco on the hill overlooking Casanova Staffora.

1947 (July 4):  The second apparition occurred in which the vision confirmed that she is Mary. This established a series of apparitions on the fourth of the month over nine years.

1947 (October 4):  Solar prodigies, reminiscent of other apparitions especially Fátima, were reported during the apparitions.

1947 (November or December)The diocese of Tortona, having noticed the large crowds gathering at Casanova Staffora, began an investigation.

1948 (April 18)The crucial Italian general election of 1948 took place. Christian Socialists gained power against the left-wing coalition of Socialists and Communists.

1950 (November 4)Solar prodigies, reminiscent of other apparitions especially Fátima, were reported during the apparitions.

1950:  The building of the cappellina (English: “small chapel”) began at the site of the apparitions; the present statue was installed in 1960.

1952 (June 6):  The first indications of the decision of the diocesan commission of enquiry became known. Angela’s character was praised and she was declared mentally sound, but the Church took the position that there was no evidence to judge her apparitions as supernatural.  

1955 (November 4):  The last apparition in the regular series occurred, but the Virgin promised that she would return once more.  

1956 (June 4):  The final apparition took place in which the Virgin foretold a great spiritual revival after a period of instability among the nations. She said that God is merciful and would spare the people punishment. 

1957 (August 15):  The Diocese of Tortona agreed that a church could be built at Bocco as a Marian shrine. 

1958 (April 9):  Angela presented a file of her messages to Pope Pius XII at St Peter’s in Rome. 

1958 (June 22):  The first stone of the new church was blessed by senior priest Monsignor Ferreri, with many pilgrims present. 

1958:  The association Nova Cana was founded by Angela at the age of eighteen. 

1959 (November 4):  The bell of the new church was blessed by Canon Caldi, delegate of Bishop Melchiori of Tortona. 

1962 (June 4):  Monsignor Rossi, also a delegate of the bishop of Tortona, celebrated the Mass at which the new church was blessed and inaugurated.

FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY 

The apparitions of Casanova Staffora occurred in the context of post-war Italy, amid a very unstable political situation. In 1947, post-war Italy was in a period of intense uncertainty as to whether the future government would be Christian Democrat, and thus supportive of the Church, or Socialist/Communist, with the threat to the Catholic way of life that this would have suggested in the first half of the twentieth century and into the Cold War period. The Christian Democrats won the crucial election in April 1948 and stayed in power for some decades (among others, see Ginsborg 1990).

Believers in Casanova Staffora agree that the national context was relevant to the beginning of the shrine; the decade 1944-1954 saw more Marian apparitions in Italy than in any other modern period. Angela first reported seeing the Virgin Mary on June 4, 1947, having passed her seventh birthday two days before. The first message from the Virgin Mary was: “I have come to teach the way to happiness on this Earth … Be good, pray and I will be the salvation of your nation” (Angela Volpini’s website 2016). The first part of this message is written on a board at the site of the apparition, the cappellina (a small edifice containing a statue and marked off by a fence). For Angela, this first apparition established everything that she has since believed about God, Mary, and humanity:

It was the aim of the human life, it was all human possibilities, it was what gave meaning to every human living. It was the joy of the Creator. With great approximation I can say that I have contemplated the universal world, through the eyes of the Madonna I have seen all mankind … I saw all the story of human beings (Angela Volpini’s website 2016).

At the time of this first vision, Angela [Image at right] was a young girl in a farming family, pasturing the cows with other children in a hillside area known as Bocco, a few hundred metres outside the main village. At about four o’clock in the afternoon she recalls sitting on the grass putting flowers into bunches. She felt someone lift her up and, thinking it was her aunt, turned round to see an unknown woman with a beautiful face. Angela was a sole visionary, as the other children did not share this experience (one of the characteristics of a successful and long-term apparition movement is clarity over whom the Madonna is speaking through; a multiplicity of voices may harm the reputation of the case). Angela immediately identified her vision as the Virgin Mary, and this was confirmed in the second apparition one month later on the July 4, 1947, when the vision declared herself to be Mary. This was further clarified on the August 4, when she referred to herself as “Mary, Help of Christians, Refuge of Sinners.” These are traditional titles of Mary.

Pilgrims soon came in their thousands to Casanova Staffora. By the autumn of 1947, it was national news; newspapers such as La Stampa and Oggi covered the story. The crowds participated in the dramatic events: the title of Ferdinando Sudati’s book (2004) promoting the apparitions, Dove posarano i suoi piedi (“Where her feet rested”), refers to the fact that pilgrims claimed to have seen the invisible Mary’s feet imprinted on the flowers which had been placed to honour her. Angela’ gestures and charismatic smile assured them that Mary was present; she presented flowers to the Virgin and children to kiss and bless, and she carried the invisible Christ child in her arms. The shrine overlooks the beauty of the Apennine river valley below, providing a memorable backdrop to the scene. In the late 1940s, the hillside was literally covered with people. Like many Catholic visionaries, Angela as a child seer attracted a great deal of attention. Many priests visited too, and the diocesan authorities at Tortona began an investigation. Angela describes how intensively she underwent interviews by priests, journalists, and doctors: she recalls being taken from her home for about forty days and kept in a room without windows. This pressure was applied to see if Angela would admit that she had falsified the visions, but she did not.

Angela’s apparitions were experienced in a series, like other apparitions, in this case on each fourth of the month up until June 1956, with some breaks over the years. A series helps to create a pattern of pilgrimage. The messages were not unfamiliar in the Marian apparition tradition: the Virgin requested prayer, penance, a chapel and, eventually, a larger sanctuary. The Casanova Staffora apparitions also echoed the famous apparitions of Fátima in 1917, increasingly well-known across Europe in the late 1940s, with the anticipation of a great miracle, warnings of divine punishment, and sensational reports of movements of the sun, for the first time on the October 4, 1947 and then later on the November 4, 1950, three days after the definition of the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary by Pope Pius XII.

Angela’s apparitions concluded on the June 4, 1956, and she says that she has not had any further experiences of this kind. The message of this final vision was important in determining future directions. According to Angela, Mary said:

The great miracle has already begun, and once again the merciful God has spared the earth his punishment. Many people will come back to the Church and the world will finally have peace. But before that happens, many nations will be shaken and renewed. Always remember my last words: love God sincerely, love your heavenly mother, love each other. I will not return, but I will give the signs and graces promised, so that you may know that I will always be with you (Sudati 2004:174, my translation).

Therefore the sixteen year-old Angela, immediately after the final apparition, announced that the miracle would be a spiritual renewal which had already begun. This, and the removal of the threats of divine chastisement, distinguished Casanova Staffora from other apparitions in the second half of the twentieth century that emphasised apocalyptic miracles and punishments. Angela’s mission was to be more grounded and more optimistic about the direction of human society. Angela remembers that:

Mary told me that the miracle would be an increase of public conscience and awareness. In 1958, I founded the organisation Nova Cana to help this process. Nova Cana attempts to focus people’s attention on the coming of the Kingdom of God, just as the wedding at Cana was the manifestation of the divinity in Jesus. It is a centre for dialogue. I realised the need for a space in which people could reflect on their desire for fulfilment and come to know that it could be realised (Interviews, October 28-31, 2015, also quoted further below).

Despite priestly support for Angela, two diocesan bishops of Tortona, Egisto Melchiori and Francesco Rossi, announced that they could not authenticate the apparitions, in 1952 and 1965 respectively. They expressed their appreciation of Angela’s character and the orthodoxy of her message, and could not rule out the possibility of a supernatural origin. However, they felt that the apparitions were more likely to have been triggered by the experience of her first communion and her coming into contact with the story of Fátima. Nonetheless, the diocese did grant permission for the building of a shrine church at Bocco, the first stone was laid in 1958, and the building was formally blessed by an episcopal delegate in 1962. The relationship with the Church has not always been smooth, but the diocese continues to provide support by appointing a priest to celebrate Mass at Bocco once a month. Furthermore, Angela has enjoyed strong friendships with many priests and monks, most notably the priest and politician Don Gianni Baget Bozzo (1925-2009) and the monk Frate Ave Maria (1900-1964) of the hermitage of Sant’ Alberto di Butrio.

DOCTRINES/BELIEFS

Angela’s messages from Mary are optimistic about human potential in a way that anticipates later Catholic movements, such as Creation Spirituality and Fully Human, Fully Alive. They also have non-Catholic parallels in the Human Potential Movement in the United States arising in the 1960s. For Angela, however, this vision was already fully present in the initial apparition on the June 4, 1947, when Mary said that “I have come to teach the way to happiness on this Earth.” Angela says that:

Mary is an icon of the history of humanity. All human beings possess the opportunity for fulfilment and entry into the domain of the divine, and Mary is the one in whom this is fully realised.

While Angela refers to the importance of human liberation, she does not associate herself with liberation theology per se, nor with feminist theology either. Nevertheless, she does agree that being a woman has made it more difficult for her voice to be heard in the Church.

Angela regards Mary as humanity fulfilled: she is the first human being to achieve fulfilment and thus an exemplar for all others. Mary has a strong relationship of communion with God, and Angela (aware of possible interpretations of her message) makes clear that God and Mary are absolutely distinct and not to be confused. The goal of every human being is Mary but also for each person to be unique. To quote Angela:

Fulfilment is development of our own uniqueness, by which we are in communion with God. The concept of the divine is based on the personal; it is the original source of oneself. When humanity is fulfilled, we can enter the domain of the divine. There is a choice, a choice to love.

God’s project was incarnation and God chose Mary. This was because she was the one human being who was acknowledging and realising her potential. She committed herself to her own desire to love and was not bound by the culture around her. She discovered that the secret of God was that this could be done.

Angela also says that:

This is a vision of potential but it depends on us. The task of receiving the message is our responsibility. Traditional believers of all religions prefer to delegate this to God. Mary relied upon herself. Mary was independent of God in order to meet him in love. This is the project of all human beings: 1) To be oneself, which is the purpose of creation, and 2) to love, which is to grasp the human quality. Other things follow.

RITUALS/PRACTICES

The shrine at Bocco, Casanova Staffora, [Image at right] is part of the Roman Catholic diocese of Tortona. Therefore religious rituals follow the Catholic sacraments which are administered by priests of the diocese. Angela Volpini and practicing members of Nova Cana remain within the Catholic Church.

ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP

Angela played her part in the message of renewal by founding a new association for prayer, Nova Cana, in 1958. Its target membership was young, its principles respect and love for humanity, and the unity of political thought and religious life. Unlike other 20th century Catholic movements such as Opus Dei, the Nova Cana movement has tended to sit on the left of the political spectrum rather than the right. This is testified to by its links with the Latin American churches, and contacts with bishops with liberation theology credentials such as Helder Camara and Oscar Romero. Angela says that she was invited by Latin American bishops to discuss the themes of the Second Vatican Council to which her own vision of human potential corresponded. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nova Cana attracted students and left-wing workers, and was accused by Church members of being communist. While Angela accepts that Nova Cana and its humanitarian project did largely resonate with the political left, she also states that it was never communist (socialism and communism can be clearly distinguished in Italian political history). After the difficulties with the Church that this caused, Angela was reconciled to the parish in the 1980s and has established herself as an influential Catholic teacher and speaker; several books and numerous articles have been written about her and she has appeared several times on television. In recent years, bishops of Tortona have visited the shrine at Bocco and it continues to attract pilgrims.

Angela describes Nova Cana in the following way:

Nova Cana gave the impulse to the birth of initiatives whose purpose was to value those economic subjects that operated in the local area under the conditions of long term marginalisation. Thanks to the self-esteem boost that Nova Cana was able to inject to the subjects involved, solitary farmers were transformed into modern social entrepreneurs. For example livestock and farming cooperatives were created (Angela Volpini website 2016).

Nova Cana runs successful conferences, seminars, and courses, and it has enabled Angela to publish several books, with distribution in the thousands. Angela’s husband, Giovanni Prestini, a sociologist, has contributed to the setting up of co-operatives in the agricultural regions surrounding Casanova Staffora. Nova Cana works to promote self-esteem in poor communities and thus help people realise their potential for economic, social, and political development. Nova Cana projects have also been launched in Peru, Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa.

ISSUES/CHALLENGES

Nova Cana has always existed at a distance from the official Catholic Church, despite the support of many priests and the visits of bishops to the shrine at Bocco. Early on, while Angela was a child, the Church was not persuaded to authenticate the apparitions, a decision which still stands. Later on, the adult Angela’s interpretation of her visions differed in some aspects to Catholic teachings as established by the Vatican. However, this does not make Nova Cana a sect, as the community has never made a complete break from the Church. All of Angela’s teachings reflect the Catholic culture into which she was born.

One major contrast between Angela’s vision and the Church’s official teaching consists in the fact that she believes we are all immaculate. This does not conform to the doctrine of the Church, in which Mary is the sole instance of immaculate conception. Angela contrasts her own vision to Church doctrine by saying that the Church emphasises God’s initiative and Jesus’ redemption, whereas she puts much more weight on human fulfilment and belief as definitive in the liberation of humanity. For her, Jesus was more a revealer of our potential than a redeemer; she is against passive views of human involvement in salvation. She says:

This has been my vocation, to help people become more empowered in respect of themselves and the world, and live their desires which are the starting point. The projects of Nova Cana are partial examples of this empowerment. The divine in man is a potential and a choice. One must see this potential in humanity. The message was more about humanity than about God. Being faithful to oneself is at the core of the relationship with God. Without this, one cannot be faithful to others. The Church does not emphasise this message; rather the contrary, as the Church teaches that man is a sinner and requires a saviour, but in fact the potential for salvation is internal. Jesus, by his words, actions, life, death and resurrection, revealed the potential for liberation to us. Salvation is our accomplishment and our value.

Angela sees these ideas as central to the vision of the Second Vatican Council. Like others who followed radical interpretations of the Council, such as Catholic liberation and feminist theologians and some progressive moral theologians, Angela regards herself as a Catholic but not one that would accept the view of the Magisterium without question. She says that: “Unity is very important but not at the expense of the conscience. Unity is not conformity, but unity in diversity.”

Divergence between the hierarchy of the Church and visionaries who are often female as alternative sources of authoritative teaching is more common than perceived to be the case (see Maunder 2016). The assumption that visionaries merely restate Church teaching and thereby exist only to reinforce the status of the Vatican is not justified. This viewpoint can be derived perhaps from Bernadette Soubirous, famous in the Church as the model visionary who said that Mary referred to herself as “the Immaculate Conception” just four years after Pius IX declared this as dogma. She is the most well-known seer, perhaps, but not the normal case.

The Church-approved vision, although desired by devotees of apparitions, is the exception rather than the rule. In twentieth century Europe, only four apparitions (at Fátima [Portugal, visions in 1917], Beauraing, Banneux [both Belgium, 1932-1933], and Amsterdam [the Netherlands, 1945-1949]) were accorded full approval by the diocesan bishop. Others achieved the status of official diocesan shrines but without recognition of the visions themselves: examples include the German shrines Heede (1937-1940), Marienfried (1946) and Heroldsbach (1949-1952). Many more gained a compromise whereby the Church accepted the existence of the shrine and gave some support, such as blessing of the shrine buildings and provision of priests to celebrate Mass. This is the case at Casanova Staffora. Other famous examples of compromise include San Sebastian de Garabandal (Spain, 1961-1965), San Damiano (Italy, 1964-1981) and Medjugorje (Bosnia-Herceovina, 1981-date).

Finally, when Angela Volpini experienced apparitions watched by thousands of pilgrims in the 1940s and 1950s, this was perfectly natural and normal in the context of the time. The child seer has been understood in Catholicism as enjoying special divine favour because of their innocence, a view repeated by Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, in The Message of Fatima (Bertone and Ratzinger 2000). However, my recent book, Our Lady of the Nations: Apparitions of Mary in 20th Century Catholic Europe asks whether putting child seers under the spotlight of public attention would be regarded as acceptable any longer given the developing concern about child welfare. Gilles Bouhours of Espis in France (where visions occurred to a group of children between 1946 and 1950) was only two years old when he was recognised as a visionary. Unsurprisingly, then, most prominent visionaries after the early 1980s (when the Medjugorje children began to have visions) have been adults. The revival of Catholic devotion due to apparitions to rural children while animal herding [Image at right] has been a standard motif in Europe across the centuries, but this phenomenon is disappearing now.

IMAGES

Image #1: Photograph of Angela Volpini worshiping as a young child.
Image #2: Photograph of the church at Bocco.
Image #3: Photograph of Angela Volpini herding cattle as a young woman.

REFERENCES*
* Quotes in the text from Angela Volpini that are unreferenced are from interviews during my fieldwork in Casanova Staffora, October 28 – 31 2015.

Angela Volpini’s website. 2016. Accessed from http://www.angelavolpini.it on 5 November 2016. Translations by Laura Casimo.

Bertone, Tarcisio and Ratzinger, Joseph. 2000. The Message of Fatima. Vatican City: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Accessed from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html on 5 November 2016.

Ginsborg, Paul. 1990. A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics 1943–1988. London: Penguin.

Maunder, Chris. 2016. Our Lady of the Nations: Apparitions of Mary in 20th-Century Catholic Europe. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 

Nova Cana’s website. 2016. Accessed from http://www.novacana.it/index.htm on 5 November 2016.

Sudati, Ferdinando. 2004. Dove Posarono i suoi Piedi: Le Apparizioni Mariane di Casanove Staffora (1947–1956). Third Edition. Barzago: Marna Spiritualità.

Volpini, Angela. 2003. La Madonna Accanto a Noi. Trento: Reverdito Edizioni.

SUPPLEMENTARY RESOURCES

Boss, Sarah J., ed. 2007. Mary: The Complete Resource. London and New York: Continuum.

Graef, Hilda and Thompson, Thomas A. 2009. Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion, New Edition. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria.

Rahner, Karl. 1974. Mary, Mother of the Lord. Wheathampstead: Anthony Clarke.

ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS

Grateful thanks to Angela Volpini for agreeing to be interviewed by the author at Casanova Staffora in October 2015, to Maria Grazia Prestini for interpreting at these interviews, and to the Nova Cana community for providing excellent hospitality. Thank you also to Laura Casimo for translating passages from Angela Volpini’s website.

Publication  Date:
10 November 2016

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