Since the apostolic era there have been apparitions of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, angels, demons and saints.
Universally known are apparitions Paray-le-Monial, la Salette, Lourdes, Fatima. Recognition of these apparitions obtained from the Church brings these apparitions to the attention and belief of the faithful not as articles of faith but as facts of history whose authenticity, considering the extreme prudence with which the Church to admit them, they cannot with reason be doubted.
One interesting point is the corporal essence manifested in the apparitions.
With regard to Jesus, theologians agree that Jesus may leave heaven to render himself visible on earth in the reality of his body.
Whereas with regard to apparitions of Our Lady, the fact that the Blessed Virgin appears with different aspects seem to confirm that it is not her real body which is manifested but only a sensible form which represents it.
Apparitions have continued to our day in different modalities.
At La Salette Our Lady appeared only once on 19 September 1846 to young shepherd children, Melania Calvat and Massimino Giraud. This manifestation was officially recognised on behalf of the Church by the local Bishop, Bishop Bruilard, on 19 September 1851.
In Banneux there were apparitions from January to March 1933, to a poor girl Mariette Beco. The apparition presented itself as “Our Lady of the Poor”. It was Bishop Kerkhofs, Bishop of Lieges, who recognised these apparitions on 22 August 1949.