Veronica Lueken, the seer of Bayside, was a wife and mother of five children from Long Island, New York. She first claimed to receive visitations from Saint Thérèse of Lisieux in 1968. This was followed by her first vision of an entity that identified herself as Our Lady of the Roses, on April 7, 1970. The Lady informed Veronica that a miraculous spring, called the “Lourdes of America,” would be given to convince the bishop of her appearances, but it has never appeared. After the seer passed away on August 3, 1995, the messages have ceased.

Not only do the Bayside messages charge the Catholic Church with misconduct in disseminating the Fatima message and failure to fulfill its demands, they also create paranoia about the Soviets, relentless chastisements, papal “extermination” attempts, Vatican II, the validity of the post-Vatican II Mass, and the authority of priests and bishops.

Veronica Lueken prophesied imminent chastisements that never occurred. These include the prediction in 1980 that the United States was about to experience a great trial consisting of a terrible winter and wars, with internal strife in the government, streets running with blood, and a great ball of fire. It was said that nations would disappear within ten minutes and there would be earthquakes, famine, starvation, and rotting crops. Almost no one would survive.

Frightening gimmickry is offered as proof of authenticity. The site is known for its “miraculous” photographs, which the seer said God the Father is using to convert the world. They consist of squiggles and nebulous formations that must be interpreted by either Veronica or those persons designated as having the special grace of discerning their meaning. Over 10,000 photographs have been taken on Kodak Polaroid film, all indecipherable for the average person.

Written in an “eerie supernatural scrawl” across one Polaroid photo are the words “Jacinta 1972,” supposedly written by Jacinta, one of the visionaries of Fatima, from beyond the grave. An entity that identified himself as Jesus revealed that the photograph was given to mankind as a puzzle for the human race to figure out, because it contains the date, the month, the hour, and the year of the coming Chastisement. Ten years later the solution was revealed as: “A-C into, I-N-T-O, miters 1972,” meaning that the Antichrist entered into the hierarchy of the Church in 1972.

Veronica reported many strange visions, including one in which Pope John Paul II was being held hostage by the Eternal Father, who was threatening to kill him as a chastisement because the world had not listened to the counsel of the Lady at Bayside. Veronica reported that Pope Paul VI was held prisoner in the Vatican while an impostor Pope appeared in public in his place.

In 1974 Veronica was told that the great “ball of fire” was already in the earth’s atmosphere, but later messages said it was still at the foot of the Father’s throne. The seer revealed that after the ball of fire hits the earth, the few people who remain alive will join the entity named Jesus in “setting up the Kingdom.” After many earth years, it was said that man would evolve back into his human nature and find himself sinning once again.

Followers are called the “children of light.” They must wear their sacramentals constantly, post a crucifix on the front and back doors of their homes, store canned goods and water, wear a rosary around their necks, and exercise sexual abstinence as a “sacrifice.” If the Saint Benedict medal is not worn, great calamity will befall the individual.

On November 4, 1986, Bishop Francis Mugavero of Brooklyn made the following statement concerning the alleged Marian apparitions at Bayside:

For more information please visit Our Lady of the Roses - Bayside, New York.