3. Our Lady of Akita, 1973-1979 in Yuzawadai, Japan
In 1973, Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, who had received healing from multiple health problems after drinking water from Lourdes, went to live with a group of religious sisters in the remote area of Yuzawadai, Japan.
Sasagawa, who was completely deaf at this time, reported apparitions, stigmata, and tears streaming from the face of a wooden statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, claims which were corroborated by other sisters in the community
Sister Agnes reported hearing the Blessed Virgin Mary call to her and offer her messages such as, “Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach,” and “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father. I wish, with my Son, for souls who will repair by their suffering and their poverty for the sinners and ingrates.”
In addition to the messages, the weeping statue was broadcast on TV Tokyo Channel 12.
By June of 1982, Sasagawa, who had been diagnosed as incurably deaf, had her hearing completely restored. In addition, a Korean woman, Teresa Chun Sun Ho, prayed for healing from a brain tumor through the intercession of Our Lady of Akita and received both visions of Our Lady and a complete healing.
The local ordinary, Bishop John Shojiro, authorized “the veneration of the Holy Mother of Akita” in 1984, pending definitive judgment from the Holy See.
