(FORMALLY KNOWN AS ROSES OF THE LAMB PRAYER GROUP)

In 2003, the prayer group named Roses of the Lamb was formed with the intention of “putting our prayer into action” and to become a non-profit group.  Through the efforts of this prayer group we succeeded in helping those affected by weather disasters; paying utility bills; paying medical bills; helping a young mother who was contemplating abortion and we stayed by her side during her journey of pregnancy and childbirth until she reconciled with her family; supplied clothes and school supplies to less fortunate children; provided Holiday meals and gifts for families; paid for the burial of a homeless man whose family could not be located; helped with Catholic school tuition; sponsored people to journey to Lourdes, France and Montichiari/Fontanelle, Italy in hopes of divine intervention to heal or for thanksgiving of healings received through Our Mother Mary; provided prayer support by giving “prayer bags” which contained:  a blessed “prayer pillow case”, intercessory prayer cards, rosary and chaplet of tears with the cd to follow in prayer, the green scapular, and other sacramental medals to those in need because of illness or conversion to our faith.  After the death of one of our founders, Renee Miley (wife of Fr. Mark Miley), our group received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award given by the Diocese of Lafayette in January of 2007.  We accepted this award to honor Renee, who left this earth December 24, 2006, in gratitude for the example Renee was to us by sharing her faith and encouraging us to grow deeper in ours.

The prayer group was dedicated to Our Mother Mary, under the title of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica.  Fr Manny Fernandez helped to form us by encouraging us to pray and discern what the Holy Spirit was leading us to do.  We had been introduced to this devotion by Mrs. Anna Lawrence, a very faithful devotee of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica, and discerned praying the Chaplet of Tears and novena to Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica as we waited on the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

In January 2005, we attended a healing service of Fr. Manny’s at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Berwick, LA, and had a profound experience there.  During the service, one of our members was divinely inspired and “hearing” instruction to pray the first day of the novena.  The group had just completed praying the fourth day together and it seemed odd that only one member felt or “heard” to pray an additional first day.  In obedience, she prayed and received the following message as she prayed:

“Through this devotion the Holy Spirit will guide this group under this title.  There will be a miracle through your dedication to this devotion.  Michael and Virginia will conceive through this devotion.  On Monday, you must contact them and tell them of your experience here.  They will know this message is true and given through the power of the Holy Spirit because they have an appointment with a fertility doctor and I am asking they reconsider and trust through my intercession they will conceive.  Share this with Fr. Manny.  Pray both novenas for the intention of the group and for the conception of this child.”

After the healing service, this was shared with Fr. Manny.  He immediately said to our member, “you must go on pilgrimage with us!”  This was very unusual because Fr. Manny had been the spiritual director of this member for a number of years and had never invited much less “demanded” she attend a pilgrimage.  After much prayer and convincing from Fr. Many, she signed up to go on pilgrimage June 2005.  Fr. Manny told her to tell Michael and Virginia, the first mass said at the shrine of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica, would be for the conception of a child.

Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica interceded in many ways for the funding and for all obstacles to be removed in preparing for this trip.  The member with the prayer experience felt it was important to give her pilgrimage reservation and funding to Renee who was fighting cancer at that time.  The rest of the group decided they would sponsor Renee and reached out to the community for support.  Miraculous circumstances opened up for the entire group to go on pilgrimage together.  The mass was celebrated on June 18, 2005.  On July 2, 2005, after our return, Michael announced they were expecting a baby!  We called Fr. Manny to give him the news and to tell him the baby was due nine months from our mass.  Precious Katelyn was born March of 2006.  Our first miracle of many through this devotion. 

One June 19, 2005, our second day at the shrine, a small statue was given to the member who had the prayer experience at Fr. Manny’s healing service.  We were instructed not to buy anything as we traveled because there was no room on the bus.  Our member, Marla Perez, was being obedient and had not purchased anything but Mr. Angelo Mehr, one of the founders of the association of the shrine and also knew the visionary and had been present at some of the apparitions, came out of the gift shop insisting the statue be given to Marla.  The message Mr. Angelo was conveying in Italian, was interpreted by a German priest visiting the shrine to Marla and Fr. Manny.  Mr. Angelo said Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica said she wanted her presence given to Marla to accompany her for her healing ministry.  Marla insisted this must be for Fr. Manny, and Fr. Manny assured her it was for her to accept and keep for the Roses of the Lamb prayer group.  Fr. Manny also said that we would be back to Montichiari/Fontanelle every year as he does to Lourdes in thanksgiving for Our Mother’s intercession for us.   Although, not understanding what this all meant, the statue was graciously accepted and brought home to be used for devotion through the ministry.

The pilgrimage of 2005 was significant in ways that we understand now, but took many years to be revealed to us.  Fr. Manny’s pilgrimages are in honor of Our Lady of Lourdes because of the favors she has interceded for in his life.  That was the final destination and held significant spiritual importance for us.  Renee had a deep devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and we just knew God would grant her healing there.  We were blessed to spend three days there for prayers of a miraculous healing through the waters and Our Lady’s intercession.  Each morning Renee and Marla would meet and pray together before going to the bathes and each day Renee would ask what should be prayed for. On the first day, prayer was for complete physical healing; the second day was prayed for Renee to have “spiritual eyes” so that she could “see” why God was allowing this trial.   Renee and Marla still wanted to make sure we did not miss any opportunity while we were there to pray without missing anything.  So, on the last day of our stay, Marla prayed to know what to say to Renee when she came in and asked what to pray for that day.  In prayer Marla heard, “you know the desire of her heart, ask her what the desire of her soul is.”  Although this seemed a bit odd, we did know the desire of her heart; it was to be healed and not to leave Mark, Catherine, Alex, her parents, nieces, family and friends.  She wanted to be here to grow old with her family and friends; to see her children married and know her grandchildren.  As she was asked the question, “Renee, I know the desire of your heart but what is the desire of your soul?”…she immediately remarked, with no hesitation and a little surprised that the question had to asked, she said, “to save souls, of course”.  At that moment the knowledge of the depths of love Renee had for Our Lord was revealed.  If Jesus met her on the way to the bathes, and said, “Renee, come with me, let’s go save souls”…she would not have hesitated.  Unlike most of us, she would have gone with him right away, without looking back or asking any questions.  That day changed everything for us.  In some way, we knew she was chosen for greatness.

Just two weeks before Renee passed away, she had Mark call for Marla to go immediately for a visit.  At this time, we did not know how many days we had left with her.  During this visit, Renee explained to Marla that she received the “spiritual eyes” asked for at Lourdes.  She said it was not possible to articulate in words for a human to understand.  She experienced heaven, in her room, while on earth.  Our Mother Mary, Jesus, as a baby, and other saints had visited her.  She said that Our Mother instructed Jesus, like she did at the wedding of Cana, and asked him to bless the “altar”, which was the dresser in the room.  She was introduced to people who were in heaven that she had not met on earth.  One was Marla’s handicapped brother, Vance, who passed away at the age of ten and whom Renee had not known about.  She also described a dream that Marla had the night before.  One where Marla saw Mark as an ordained priest consecrating the host during a mass as Jesus placed a crown of thorns on, now Fr. Mark’s head, while Renee looked upon him from heaven at the consecration.  Renee said, “I was there, in your dream, I gave my “yes” to Mark becoming a priest.”  Marla said, “Renee, you would make the most perfect deacon’s wife.”  Renee said, “A deacon cannot consecrate the host and cannot give absolution.  Mark and I will save souls.  I need you to write this and give it to him when the time is right.  Not now, not at my funeral.  You will know when.  Mark and I are soul mates.  Tina had the same dream at the same time and I was with her too.  I was with both of you at the same time.  I will always be with all of you at the same time. Tell Tina you have spoken to me about this when she calls you.”

In 2007, Fr. Mark went to seminary and our group became dormant not knowing how to carry on without Renee.  Because of the miracle of Katelyn’s birth and the acceptance of the statue, we did organize our first pilgrimage without Fr. Manny at his instruction.  A group of eight pilgrims set out together.  We have traveled as a group every year except 2013, the year Fr. Mark was ordained.  Instead of a pilgrimage to the shrine, we went as pilgrims to St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Crowley to be with Fr. Mark on the first Feast Day after his ordination.  We were overwhelmed as our devotion to Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica is to pray for holy priest and religious, more priests and religious orders, and to “fix” the church.  

Since the ordination of Fr. Mark, we have felt a yearning to serve the church under the title of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica but not knowing exactly how.  We serve when called and have been in a place of “waiting” as our spirituality grows.  During January 2017, Fr. Mark felt an urgent call to go to Montichiari/Fontanelle as soon as we possibly could.  He felt it was imperative that he meet with Mr. Angelo and that Mr. Angelo knew something of what his mission was supposed to be. Fr. Mark and Marla began a novena through the intercession of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica and on the tenth day Marla would attend mass with Fr. Mark celebrating in thanksgiving and trusting the trip would happen, but not understanding why the call was so urgent.  On the tenth day, as Marla was preparing to meet Fr. Mark, a call from Italy came through Skype by Lucia, a member of the ministry as well as the Italian guide for all pilgrimages and now great friend.  She said that it was an urgent call to us by the request of Mr. Angelo and his family.  Mr. Angelo had been gravely ill and was in ICU.  During this time, Our Mother, Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica, appeared to him and asked him to bring Fr. Mark’s blessing with him to heaven.  The family, at first, tried to discourage him because he had been visited by so many priests and bishops.  He had received the anointing of the sick and they did not know who this Fr. Mark was.  He told them to contact Marissa, with the Association of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica, and tell her to contact Lucia to get this message to Fr. Mark in the USA.  On this day, after we completed the nine day novena, the very novena that began our ministry so many years before, we understood we had to go.  Fr. Mark had been right when he said he felt the urgency to go there to see Mr. Angelo.  Plans were made immediately and we left for Italy two days later.

We were told Mr. Angelo “came back to life” when he was told Fr. Mark, Kendall, and Marla were on their way.  During our meeting with Mr. Angelo, he explained things to us that he would not have known without divine knowledge given to him.  He asked if we remembered the first trip we made to the shrine, with another priest (Fr. Manny) whom he did not know, and with Renee.  Lucia was confused about what trip he was talking about because we had not met her or had ever formally met with him until our 2006 pilgrimage.  This instance in 2005, was before we formally knew who each other were.  We told Lucia that was the trip with Fr. Manny.  Mr. Angelo said yes, that trip, the one that he handed the first ministry statue to Marla for our healing ministry.  He explained to us that Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica told him to give us the message that he had to give the statue to Marla because this was where Renee gave her yes, at the shrine of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica, to carry the actual cross of Christ upon her back.  Because Renee carried the cross, Marla had to carry the statue to remain devoted to the cause of this ministry and Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica.  In thanksgiving for Renee’s yes, the healing properties of the Spring of Grace, the healing waters of the shrine, has been infused into the priestly hands of Fr. Mark allowing the gift of healing to flow from his blessings.  He said many miracles would occur through this healing ministry and the hands of Fr. Mark.  Souls would be saved; conversions would take place; cancer and other physical healings would happen; mental, emotional, and spiritual healings would be granted as well as genetic defects would be healed and reversed in the family tree.  He said the four children we were there to pray for would receive healing. (No one knew Marla had four names of children to offer at the mass at the shrine during this trip.  Fr. Mark knew there were intentions for children but not the details.)  Mr. Angelo revealed this and said it was through Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica that he knew this information. He then asked if we remembered the pilgrimage of 2007, when Fr. Mark was just Mark, with Renee.  We all certainly remembered as this was the trip we encountered a woman truly possessed.  She was known by the church to have been possessed for some eight years.  Priest were not allowed to visit her and she was not allowed in the churches.  On the Feast Day of 2007, she was healed through the prayers of Mark.  Mr. Angelo confirmed that she was still free of demonic possession and visited the shrine in thanksgiving for this miracle.  Before her healing, as she confronted Mark in an ancient Italian dialect that only Lucia could interpret, she said, “you think you are a priest of God, but I will have your soul”. She said this in a deep man’s voice.  We all felt the evil presence there.  By the grace of God, evil fled and she was able to go through the Spring of Grace for the first time completely healed.  Lucia, of course, was shaken up by the incident as she had to tell us what she heard the woman say while the woman was possessed with the evil and calling Mark “a priest of God” as he was married to Renee at this time.  We called Fr. Manny about this encounter that evening and he gave us instruction to go to the sacraments and adoration.  There have been other encounters to this degree, and deeper that we have witnessed since Fr. Mark’s ordination and have witnessed evil fleeing and healing received.  Many other healings have also been attributed to his intercession and the intercession of Renee joined with Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica.

During the trip of January 2017, we were escorted to the Office of the Bishop of Brescia to meet with the Vicar General, Don Marco Alba, who had been briefed on who we are.  Mr. Angela and Marissa wanted us formally introduced because of this great gift bestowed on Fr. Mark.  Our relationship with them has grown and they are aware of the healing services and ministry work we are doing here through the leadership of Fr. Mark.  Many are drawn to Fr. Mark with no explanation of this gift or even knowing who he is.  We have experienced this everywhere, even on the Feast Day of Our Lady Maria Rosa Mystica at the shrine with several other priests, many were in line for the blessing given by Fr. Mark as the other priests stood to receive them.  Everyone stayed in the line directed to Fr. Mark.  So many received blessings that day as we prayed in thanksgiving for the exceptional gift bestowed upon him.

Celebrating the Holy Mass for the Feast Day of Rosa Mystica on July 13th, 2018.
(Father Mark Miley is pictured last to the right.)

Father Mark Miley celebrating a private mass at the shrine in Fontanelle, Italy