Our Lady of America refers to private revelations reported by Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil, a Sister of the Precious Blood, beginning in 1956. The messages call the United States to purity, reparation, and devotion to Mary's Immaculate Conception, and request a national shrine image. The devotion has received limited diocesan permissions for private veneration.
Sister Mildred Mary Neuzil (1916–2000) was a member of the Sisters of the Precious Blood who reported interior locutions and visions beginning in 1956. Although the devotion is often associated with La Crosse, Wisconsin, Sister Mildred also lived and received messages in other locations, including Ohio and Indiana, over the course of several decades.
According to Sister Mildred's written accounts, the Blessed Virgin Mary presented herself as Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin, and called for a renewal of purity in family and personal life. A central request was that an image of Our Lady of America be honored in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., as a sign of dedication of the nation to Mary Immaculate.
The messages emphasize interior purity, reparation for sin, protection of the family, and consecration to the Immaculate Conception. Associated devotions include a medal, a chaplet, prayers of consecration, and the promotion of a specific image of Our Lady of America crafted according to descriptions given by Sister Mildred.
Archbishop Paul F. Leibold of Cincinnati, who served as Sister Mildred's spiritual director, granted his imprimatur in 1963 to a written account of the messages and encouraged the devotion during his lifetime. Later bishops in dioceses where Sister Mildred lived also permitted private devotion, though canonical questions surrounding the image and the revelations have been the subject of ongoing discussion.
The ecclesial status of Our Lady of America remains at the level of local pastoral permission rather than a formal Holy See pronouncement on the supernatural character of the events. The Church allows private devotion under the earlier approvals while leaving definitive judgment on the alleged apparitions to competent ecclesiastical authority.
Today the devotion continues among Catholics in the United States who pray for the nation's moral and spiritual renewal, particularly for the protection of children, the sanctity of marriage, and growth in the virtue of chastity. Pilgrims venerate the image of Our Lady of America in various chapels and shrines where its display has been permitted by local bishops.
Fuente del relato SanctumNomen (public historical digest) · Fuente del catálogo Marian Apparitions – Historical Atlas · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Lectura adicional Declaração oficial do Bispo Raymond Burke sobre Nossa Senhora da América · La revelación privada no es de fe obligatoria. La aprobación permite creer con prudencia. · Imágenes de Wikimedia Commons (dominio público o Creative Commons).
