In 1973, on the days of June 12th, 13th, and 14th , something miraculous occurred in Akita, Japan: a message from Our Blessed Mother began. Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa was the visionary selected by Mary, Mother of God, to receive and relay her messages—a role that she had been preparing for her entire life.
Sister Agnes had not had an easy life. At the age of 19, she was paralyzed during an accident in a routine medical operation. For sixteen years, Agnes lived immobile, completely dependent on others to drive her to medical appointments and care for her basic needs. She suffered through many operations, most largely unsuccessful. During one hospitalization she met a Catholic nurse, who instructed her on the tenets of the faith, taught her to pray, and brought her to Christ. Agnes, through prayer, improved significantly, and was eventually accepted into the community of Nuns of the Virgin Mary, located in Nagasaki.
Agnes served joyfully with her community for four months, after which time her health suffered. She was again hospitalized, unconscious, her condition listed as critical. Doctors had little hope for recovery. Again, through the power of prayer and after drinking blessed water from
Lourdes, she recovered. Agnes officially joined the order of Eucharistic Servants, becoming Sister Agnes, and moved to the remote mountain community of Yuzawadai to live with the community. It was there that she completely lost her hearing, and the miraculous events of Akita unfolded.
On June 12, 1973, Sister Agnes was praying in the chapel, deaf, when she witnessed a brilliant and mysterious light begin emanating from the tabernacle. On each of the two successive days—June 13 and 14—she witnessed the same heavenly glow.
Later in the month, on June 28, Sister Agnes again witnessed the heavenly glow emanating from the tabernacle—although this time, she described it as “blinding.” In the glow, she discerned a multitude of angels surrounding the alter in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.
Following her vision, Agnes continued praying, but was interrupted by a sudden scratching sensation, followed by pain, upon the palm of her left hand. She gazed upon her skin, where two red scratches in the form of a cross had appeared. The pain increased over the next several days, until she received both a visitation from her guardian angel and a message from Our Blessed Mother on July 6. Following the visit, the appearance of the cross-shaped stigmata continued to appear every week, with Sister Agnes feeling pain on Thursdays, and experiencing the scratches on Fridays and Saturdays.
In total, Sister Agnes would receive three messages from
Our Lady of Akita, similar to those delivered by
Our Lady of Fatima. Additional miracles would occur, including a
bleeding statue of the Blessed Virgin, and several miraculous cures.
The messages and miracles at Akita have been approved by the Church. In 1988, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, declared definitively that the Akita events and messages were reliable and worthy of belief.
Eucharistic Prayer of Akita:
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart, being sacrificed at every instant on all the alters of the world and giving praise to the Father, pleading for the coming of His Kingdom. Please receive this humble offering of myself. Use me as you will for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls. Most Holy Mother of God, never let me separated from Your Divine Son. Please defend and protect me as Your special child. Amen.
