Our Lady of Aokpe: Mediatrix of All Graces and the Eucharistic Sign

The Marian title Mediatrix of All Graces is at the heart of the reported apparitions of Our Lady of Aokpe in Nigeria—one of the most little-known Catholic events of the modern era.

Transcript

On a hillside in rural Nigeria, thousands of people fall silent. A young girl says, "An angel is coming." And steps forward to kneel. A stillness settles over the crowd. Then she opens her mouth in reverence. The Eucharistic host appears on her tongue, photographed in that exact moment. But how did a 12-year-old from a remote village become the center of one of Africa's most remarkable Catholic events? To understand that moment, we have to go back to the first time she saw that lady that nobody else could see. Welcome to episode 11 of Advent Daily, where we are exploring Marian apparitions in preparation for Christmas.

It's early '90s. Aokpe, a quiet village in Benua State, Nigeria. a humble 12-year-old girl with no theological background and no exposure to Marian apparitions. One afternoon in October 1992, while gathering herbs with her sister, Cristiana saw a sudden flash of light. She looked up and saw a beautiful lady standing in the air, radiant, young, smiling. Her sister saw nothing. At first, no one believed her. Some said it was the sun. Others thought she imagined it. Even her parish priest expressed doubts. But the lady kept coming. And Cristiana's quiet consistency began to change everything.

As the word spread, the local church watched carefully. They observed Cristiana's humility, her steadiness, and her lack of embellishment. Her family encouraged her to ask the lady's name, but when she saw the lady again, uh, she didn't wait to be asked. Cristiana heard the words, "I am the Mediatrix of all graces." A title the 12-year-old visionary could not have invented. Theologically precise, deeply Marian, and entirely beyond her formation. This moment marked a shift in everything that followed.

As the apparitions continued, something else started to change. It was the people. Crowds grew larger. Some came out of curiosity, others out of desperation, many out of faith. And as the village awakened, the messages deepened and grew more urgent. The Lady called for prayer, especially the rosary, for penance, much penance, for fasting, for prayers for sinners and for souls in purgatory. Some messages echoed Fatima, others pointed directly to the Eucharist. Still others warned of spiritual confusion, a time when many would drift from the sacraments. And as the crowds grew, pilgrims began reporting unusual signs in the sky. Subtle movements of the sun, colors shifting through the clouds. Not everyone saw them, but enough did that word spread far beyond Aok Bay. Pilgrims arriving barefoot. Families praying through the night. Priests hearing confessions under trees. A movement unfolding, quiet, humble, persistent from the words of a girl who never sought attention. And soon the apparitions themselves would reach their most dramatic moment.

Our Lady foretold that on August 4th, 1994, it would be a day of grace and that Christiana would receive a miracle of the Holy Eucharist. On that day, that morning, Aokpe overflowed. Priests were present. A bishop's representative was present. Photographers were ready. If nothing happened, everything people believed about Aokpe would be called into question. Before the prayers began, Cristiana quietly told those near her, "An angel is coming." She stepped forward, knelt, and opened her mouth in reverence. "Silence! A stillness settling over thousands." Some present described sensing a light around her. Others simply watched breathless. And then the eucharistic host appeared on her tongue, photographed exactly as foretold. For many who witnessed it, the question shifted from, "Is something happening here?" to, "What is heaven showing us about the Eucharist?"

In the years that followed, the church watched carefully, slowly, and prudently. A shrine was permitted, pilgrimages were allowed, and the accounts of the events received an imperata. But Rome has never issued a definitive judgment. The church moves at the pace of certainty, and she is still discerning. The large crowds and reported solar signs gradually faded after the mid 1990s, but the private apparitions continued quietly until 2004. And Cristiana for a time she pursued religious formation, but eventually she stepped back from public view, married, and today lives a simple life of faith far from cameras, crowds, and controversy.

So, your thoughts on this one, Janelle? Well, first of all, I honestly have never heard of it. Yeah, I'm wondering if some of the people from our parish from Nigeria know about this operation. Yeah, I uh I had never heard of this one before until I came across this book called The World of Marriian Apparitions. Um it was in this book and hey, let's test this out. Let's check it out. And so, I started doing some research. Some of the details in the book were very difficult to verify. So there were some inconsistencies. So what we shared in the story is what has people commonly report. And so there's other things in this story that you know some people say and other people dispute. But this was kind of the core that most people agree on. Particularly I just think this is amazing. That moment where Christianity receives the Eucharist. Mhm. She says an angel is coming and in the documents that I read that that host is really really big as the angel's coming. So she sees this huge host and as it gets closer to her gets smaller and smaller until it's the size of a regular host and then in that moment it's placed in her vision on her tongue when everyone can see it and that is the moment that it it is photographed. And uh the bishop at the time had asked for his representative to be there because it was a prophecy. Something's going to happen on this day. So they had a bishop's rep representative there and a diosis and photo photographer and a professional photographer. But anyways, uh just an incredible moment of of grace that we can witness. Yeah, it's amazing. Like the only thing that everybody was able to see was the host. Yeah. Right. from all of these apparitions. Yeah. And there is a lot of people who reported seeing the miracle of the sun and and different things that happened like and and events. There was uh people that said there was uh in the early days two people who were blind that were healed. Um but very little information on this apparition and it's difficult to find perhaps because of where it came in and in in Africa. It's a rural area. Some say it's not as easy to get to. Uh but we're happy to bring that message to you. And um one thing that I thought of sometimes when we hear of these visionaries who see our lady or see an angel, we think, "Wow, what incredible grace that they were given." When you were little, did you ever pray to see Mary? Oh, I did all the time. And then I was also kind of scared that she would appear to me. I think we watched the movie about Fatima like a thousand. No, probably more like 50 times it felt like. But uh yeah, I always thought about that. So um I prayed when I was little if I could see the grace to see Mary. I don't think I've ever shared this on on and guess what happened? Nothing. It was just so rare. Now sometimes we be like, "Oh, wouldn't it be amazing to see Mary?" Uh I think this apparition points to something even deeper. What's a greater grace than seeing Mary receiving him? That's the gift that we receive every time we receive the Eucharist at mass. This is a grace that's greater than any seer or visionary that who's that's witnessed the mother of God coming to earth. And that's your opportunity every time you attend mass. Mhm. A great grace. One thing that really stood out to me is that her message is the same as the messages from Fatima and Lords like repentance, uh, pray the rosary, um, you know, pray for the souls in purgatory, return to the sacraments. Yes. Yeah. So, I just feel like it's a great message. Yeah. In my research, lots of people did comment on that. It's just an extension of Fatima. How does this bring us back to Advent? How does it bring us back to Advent? Let's do all those things in preparation for Christmas. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.