The apparition Church at Our Lady of Katunayake Shrine, Sri Lanka, where the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared twenty-three times, was miraculously filled with the fragrance of jasmine flowers on Saturday evening, August 17, 2024.
The miraculous event occurred when the statue of the Blessed Mother, situated above the main altar in the apparition Church, began to emit the fragrance of jasmine flowers.
This statue of the Virgin Mary is unique. The Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine is the first and only Shrine in Sri Lanka where the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared. She has manifested here twenty-three times to date, and on each of these occasions She appeared before the world’s first Sri Lankan Apostle and the second Apostle appointed by Jesus Christ through an apparition, His Holiness The Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso.
Among the twenty-three apparitions of the Mother of God, the eighteenth apparition remains particularly significant. This eighteenth apparition occurred on July 27, 1977, when the Virgin Mary appeared before His Holiness The Apostle, holding the infant Jesus in Her left arm. As usual, Her golden rosary hung from Her right hand. Appearing before His Holiness The Apostle with the infant Jesus, this revered Mother spoke many things in Her familiar tone, as She had done before.
A life-size statue depicting the Virgin Mary’s apparition with the infant Jesus was created under the guidance of His Holiness The Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso. This statue was blessed by the hands of His Holiness The Apostle at the conclusion of the Midnight Christmas Mass on December 24, 2015.
This statue is currently enshrined above the main altar in the apparition Church at Our Lady of Katunayake Shrine. On Saturday evening, August 17, 2024, for the sixth time, the statue miraculously began to emit the fragrance of jasmine flowers.
Despite millions of statues of the Blessed Mother, in churches, shrines, homes, and roadsides worldwide, this statue became the only one known to emit the fragrance of jasmine flowers. The phenomenon first occurred on the evening of Saturday, July 27, 2019. This date marked the 42nd anniversary of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s apparition with the infant Jesus. That evening, devotees who had gathered at Our Lady of Katunayake Shrine, Sri Lanka, from various regions for the usual miracle prayer service were blessed with the opportunity to experience the jasmine fragrance emanating from the statue of the Blessed Mother.
On the evening of Saturday, August 17, 2024, devotees from various regions once again gathered at Our Lady of Katunayake Shrine, for the customary miracle prayer service. This time, for the sixth instance, the great miracle occurred during the Saturday evening miracle prayer session. Consequently, the faithful who had come to participate were blessed with the opportunity to experience the jasmine fragrance emanating from the statue of the Blessed Mother for the sixth time.
On the evening of Saturday, August 17, 2024, the statue of the Blessed Mother with the infant Jesus, enshrined in the apparition Church at Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine, began emitting the fragrance of jasmine flowers. In these photographs, you can see devotees inhaling the heavenly sweet fragrance, joyfully experiencing it, and praying devoutly before the statue of the Blessed Mother, expressing their requests