Queen Virgin Mary & King Child Jesus of the Holy Family

1. In Study of Mariology:
THE BLACK MADONNA AS OUR LADY OF ALL NATIONS
(Mother of Adoption)
Agatha van der Palen (1951-2002) was born Raphaella Agatha Molki Kindua, a Catholic
laywoman from Papua New Guinea; and she became a well-known visionary in the
Netherlands (and in Europe) through her reported Marian apparitions and messages.
What made Agatha unique is that she was a black lady, and she became revered as a
visionary in a white-dominated country such as the Netherlands (with supporters from
nearby nations throughout Europe and worldwide).
In the beginning, Agatha was a member of the Siago tribespeople within the
Kwalgkenigle area in the hamlet of Irugl (Denglagu parish) at the foot of Mount Wilhelm
in Papua New Guinea. As a young woman, Agatha had to carry and nurse her sick
grandmother every day.
She then came into contact with the Dutch Christian Catholic missionary named Martien
van der Palen, who was involved with the “Missionaries of the Divine Word” (New
Guinea) since the early 1960s for 17 years; and as an architect, he also realized many
small-scale church buildings and schools in the rural areas.
Martien saw the young girl Agatha to be very caring for her sick mother, which
impressed him, so he courted her, and in 1970 they both agreed to get married and
then they had six children.
In 1979, the family migrated to live in the Dutch village of Grashoek (Limburg,
Netherlands); and in 1994, the family settled at the Dutch town of Valkenswaard (in
Brabant); and then later they adopted five more Dutch children from a deceased brother
of Martien.
Agatha's first mystical experience was in 1984, when she dreamed of the Virgin Mary as
the Lady surrounded by a “beautiful wonderful light” and standing on a cliff.
From the spring in 1995, a Rosary prayer group was formed that held regular prayer
meetings in Valkenswaard, under the supervision of a retired doctor (a general
practitioner) named Paul Schulte (who was also the family doctor of Agatha).
In 1998, the Rosary group made a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of the “Lady of All
Nations” in Amsterdam, and they acquired a replica painting that then circulated within
the prayer group.
The “Our Lady of Nations” painting was placed in the family house; and after some time,
Agatha had difficulty walking.

2. Then during one night, Martien had woken up and he saw that Agatha had left the bed
and was sleeping in front of the “Our Lady of Nations” painting; then the next day she
was cured and was able to walk again.
As of September 25 (1998), Agatha went to share in the sufferings of Christ and
received many signs of wounds of the stigmata (and one was on her feet that
manifested the crucified feet of Jesus on the Cross).
Each year Agatha receives an apparition of the Virgin Mary often from June 4 and 25
September; then on February 5 (1999), Mary revealed herself to Agatha as the “Lady of
All Nations” - a title associated with the Marian apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a Dutch
woman named Ida Peerdeman of Amsterdam (Netherlands) from 1945 to 1959.
Agatha said that Our Lady commissioned her to proclaim a message:
"I am the Lady of All Nations; same as you saw earlier in your dream. I am your mother
and the mother of all people. You have to go anywhere to say that people should stop
abortion.”
She has received many messages from the (Amsterdam) “Lady of All Nations”, who
presented herself to Agatha as the "mother of all people and of all individuals", and the
main "assignment" being to combat the existing abortion practices.
The anti-abortion command was repeated several times; and the first time for 59 days in
a row. The course of events were extensively described by her husband in a kind of
diary under the title “Testimony of a Visionary” and published only as a photocopy.
Since October 17 (1998), Agatha regularly had an “ecstatic mystical experience” that
lasted 10 to 15 minutes often talking to the Virgin Mary, Jesus, saints, and angels
(particularly the Archangel Rafael).
Following the publication of the phenomena, a Marian chapel was started on the
Brugseheide site through the donations of the local Dutch Catholic laypeople. Every
evening at 7PM, there was a rosary prayer group meeting at the site.
Then the chapel was opened on May 31 (1999), the feast day of the “Lady of All
Nations”.
The small Marian chapel is a simple rectangular wooden space, with an approximately
seven-meter-high tower that bears the text "Father's house is Mother's refuge"; then the
Marian Catholic chapel (also known as a Cross site), grew into a place of pilgrimage.
The small Marian chapel has a tabernacle, furnished with a double row of eight
benches. In the corners of the chapel are the images of “Our Lady of All Nations”,
Mother Mary carrying the Child Jesus, Father Saint Joseph, Saint Therese of the Child

3. Jesus, Saint Faustina Kowalska’s Divine Mercy, a metal statue of the archangel Michael
and a Pietà statue.
Reportedly, the (Roman Catholic) Bishop apparently disapproved of the apparitions
reported by Agatha, but the diocese has not yet taken an official position. But he did,
however, ask the (Roman Catholic) priests of the Valkenswaard parish to distance
themselves from the apparitions, messages, and the Marian chapel.
Then the (Roman Catholic) clergy of the diocese (of Valkenswaard) refused to formally
consecrate the Marian chapel of Agatha. Mass was then not allowed by the local
(Roman Catholic) diocese at the Marian shrine.
However, a (Roman Catholic) diocesan priest, named Father Luc Buyens (from
Reusel), was in contact with Agatha and fulfilled the role of spiritual director. And
according to Martien that they were in consultation with the other Diocese of Den Bosch
about the position of the Marian sanctuary.
Then the Marian cult has created a division within the already divided Roman Catholic
Church (in the Netherlands) from the beginning of the Pro-Mary Marian devotions and
that of the Pro-Rome clergy.
In 2000, a “Way of the Cross” (with 14 painted “Stations of the Cross”) was also
donated by supportive Dutch Catholic laypeople; and the “Way of the Cross” was
walked at 3PM in the afternoon, every first Friday of the month.
In addition to the locally sourced participants in praying the Rosary, up to 2002 there
would have been a total of 70,000 visitors (at 250 pilgrims per day) - especially from
Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland.
Thanks also to the publications about the Marian sanctuary in the international
conservative Marian magazines such as “Maria Heute” (or Maria Today); and also
thanks to the organized Marian group pilgrimages (from Catholic parishes, Marian
Catholic organizations, and among individual Rosary family prayer groups).
Moreover, the Marian chapel has also been visited by Buddhists, Hindus, and by other
Christian groups (and “Christianized” groups).
Shortly after Padre Pio was beatified (on May 2, 1999), Agatha said that she received
an appearance from him on June 20 (1999), informing her that the only sanctuary he
knew in the Netherlands was her Marian sanctuary in Valkenswaard; then devotees of
Padre Pio began organizing pilgrimages to Agatha’s Marian shrine.
On September 5 (1999), Agatha said that Padre Pio reappeared to her and took her into
the Marian chapel that he "officially" blessed; and that Padre Pio said: "Then it is no
longer necessary for this to be done by a priest of the diocese".

4. Thus, in believing that Padre Pio did bless the Marian chapel, that the saint in Heaven
solved the problem that had arisen because the (Roman Catholic) diocese ever since
refused to formally consecrate the Virgin Mary’s Marian chapel.
On May 19 (2002), at Pentecost Sunday, “Mother” Agatha passed away at age 50; and
in total, the reports accounted for 67 apparitions of Mary and also 134 other
appearances, 61 of the angels, Padre Pio, Father Saint Joseph and Jesus Christ; and
she also encountered the attacks of the Devil three times that she was able to
overcome.
The pilgrims declined since the death of Agatha (since they also came to see her).
Moreover, in 2005, a government decision of the Council of State forced the owner of
the chapel’s land to close the pilgrimage site as being in conflict with the current zoning
plan.
The appeal of the foundation “Father's house is Mother's refuge” with regards to
“freedom of religion” was declared inadmissible by their local government (allegedly
because they accused the chapel as an “office” that was open daily for prayer from
8:30AM to 9PM)
Although the “Stations of the Cross” was torn down, the posts bearing the small
inscriptions have survived. Thus, the “Stations of the Cross” can still be followed by the
devotees, and there is a small devotion for the visionary Agatha on her grave.
Thus, the visitor numbers have also declined due to the temporary closure of the Marian
sanctuary from 2005 to 2010. However, a small core of Marian devotees remains active
there in regularly praying the Holy Rosary, following the “Way of the Cross”, and the
singing of Mother Mary songs.
Due to a change in the zoning plan (of no more agricultural land in that area), since
October (2010), the Marian chapel and pilgrimage site was opened up again for visitors
and the Holy Rosary is prayed daily (however, from 7PM to 10PM in the evening).
In an interview, the widowed husband Martien shared his sentiments: “I know the story
is true. It is now with the bishop and it is in Rome. The parish priest also knows this, as
do several other clergy.”
Then he offered to take a walk along the “Stations of the Cross”, and even if the number
of pilgrims has decreased drastically in recent years, nevertheless, it is clear that
everyone is welcome to visit the Church and participate in the Holy Rosary prayer.
(researched)