The Bridge to Heaven: Interviews with Maria Esperanza of Betania

In the great eruption of mysticism, in the din of locutionists and visionaries, in the current chaos of private revelation, one voice has managed to stand out. It's the voice, and the vision, of a matronly woman named Maria Esperanza de Bianchini, form the hillside outskirts of Caracas, Venezuela. During the past several years I have met dozens of reputed visionaries and have visited more than thirty sites of supposed apparition. I don't like to draw comparisons, but with the exception of the seers in Medjugorje, none have left as deep and lasting an impression as Maria Esperanza. As you will discover, this not your standard "visionary." The phenomena go far beyond those normally associated with apparition sites. She's a stigmatist, a prophet, a healer. She has been seen in bilocation, and dozens of competent observers have themselves witnessed the Virgin while in maria's company at a place called Betania. No, this is not just another seer, Nor, as far as I can tell, is this the product of imagination, exaggeration, or hysteria. If but half of what they say is true, maria Esperanza de Bianchini is one of the major mystics of this century.… (more)