Our Lady of El Cisne
| Reported event | Diocesan tradition of a miraculous event in which the Mother of God manifested herself to the people of El Cisne during a drought and famine |
|---|---|
| Place | El Cisne, Loja Province, Ecuador |
| Dates associated with the event | 12 October 1594 (traditional) |
| Witnesses | Unnamed people of El Cisne |
| Ecclesial status | Public devotion authorized; supernatural authenticity not determined |
| Public devotion | Authorized |
| Competent authority | Walter Heras Segarra, Bishop of Loja, and the Diocese of Loja, Diocesan bishop and local Church |
| Judgment date | 2025-10-12 |
Our Lady of El Cisne is a Catholic Marian title and manifestation tradition associated with El Cisne, Loja Province, Ecuador. Its exact ecclesial status is public devotion authorized; supernatural authenticity not determined; that status governs what may truthfully be said about the reported event and the devotion connected with it.[1][2]
Reported event
Diocesan tradition of a miraculous event in which the Mother of God manifested herself to the people of El Cisne during a drought and famine. The tradition locates the event at El Cisne, Loja Province, Ecuador and associates it with 12 October 1594 (traditional).[1][3]
The identified witness or witnesses are Unnamed people of El Cisne (collective recipients described as the people of El Cisne in the diocesan account). The tradition is presented according to its competent ecclesial sources; later devotional embellishments, attributed messages, and anecdotes outside the authoritative judgment remain distinct from the approved material.[1][4]
Ecclesiastical judgment
The Diocese of Loja commemorates the 1594 manifestation with solemn diocesan Eucharists and a Marian procession presided over by the diocesan bishop, and identifies the continuing shrine devotion and annual pilgrimage as a living expression of Loja's Catholic faith. The competent authority was Walter Heras Segarra, Bishop of Loja, and the Diocese of Loja, Diocesan bishop and local Church, acting with respect to Diocese of Loja. The recorded judgment date is 2025-10-12, and its defined scope is The shrine, annual commemoration, Eucharistic celebration, procession, pilgrimage, and public devotion expressly linked by the diocese to the 1594 manifestation tradition.[1][2]
The competent ecclesial acts receive or authorize public devotion connected with the tradition, but they do not decide that the reported manifestation was supernatural. Liturgical observance, a shrine, pilgrimage, canonical coronation, patronage, or papal reception must not be converted into an authenticity decree that was never issued. The diocesan reports supply no names for the recipients and few phenomenological details. Their devotional description of a miraculous event and its public liturgical reception are not a formal supernatural-character judgment.[2][5]
Devotion and reception
Public devotion connected with Our Lady of El Cisne is authorized within the scope expressed by the competent acts. This permits Catholic prayer, pilgrimage, liturgical or shrine life, and pastoral reception only as those acts actually provide; local and universal observance remain distinct.[1][2]
A devotional permission is not a blank authorization for commercial exploitation, sensational predictions, disobedience, novel doctrine, or every text circulated under an apparition's name. Pastors retain responsibility for sound catechesis, the Sacraments, protection of the faithful, and any qualifications or restrictions attached to the judgment.[1][2]
Relation to Catholic faith
Public Revelation is complete in Jesus Christ and transmitted in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. A Marian apparition cannot add to the Deposit of Faith, correct the Gospel, or create an alternate teaching office. At most, an authentic private revelation helps the faithful live Christ's definitive Revelation more fully in a particular historical setting.[6][7]
No Catholic is obliged to accept a private revelation as an article of divine and Catholic faith, even when competent authority has made a favorable judgment. Catholics must, however, respect the Church's actual permissions, cautions, and prohibitions. Exact terminology safeguards both legitimate Marian devotion and the primacy of Christ, whose grace alone gives every authentic apparition its meaning.[6][5]
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Back to citation occurrence 1.5 Diocese of Loja: 431 Years since the Apparition of the Virgin of El Cisne — Official Catholic source supporting event, eventDate, collectiveWitnessDescription, miraculousCharacterization, bishopPresidedLiturgy, procession, shrine, pilgrimage, publicDevotion.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Back to citation occurrence 2.3 Back to citation occurrence 2.4 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1978 norms on presumed apparitions and revelations — The earlier procedural norms under which many historical favorable judgments and permissions of public devotion were made.
- Back to citation Diocese of Loja: Statutes of the Shrine of Our Lady of El Cisne — Official Catholic source supporting eventYear, firstShrine, currentShrine, pilgrimage, publicDevotion.
- Back to citation Diocese of Loja: 430 years under the protection of the Virgin of El Cisne — Official Catholic source supporting event, traditionalDay, drought, publicLiturgy, devotion.
- Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena — The current law governing investigation and the six possible prudential conclusions, including the exact limits of a nihil obstat.
- Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 65–67 — Catholic doctrine on the definitive fullness of Revelation in Christ and the subordinate role of private revelations.
- Back to citation Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum — The dogmatic constitution on Revelation in Christ and its transmission in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition.