This post is the fourth part of my series of images of Giuseppe Maria Abbate (1886-1963), the Italian-American Celestial Messenger. They are part of my collection of documents related to Abbate and his New Jerusalem Catholic Church. See part 1, part 2, and part 3.
However, in this part, the focus is not on Abbate, but on a girl, Grace, whom he and his Church believed to be the reincarnated Virgin Mary. Grace was born in Chicago in 1915. Both her parents were born in Italy and had recently emigrated to the United States. When she was newly born, Abbate became convinced of her true identity.
Just as Abbate, the reborn Virgin Mary, took a prominent place in religious services, both sitting on thrones. Grace left the church when she was about 18 years old, but her image remained on the church’s altars until the 1980s.
Magnus Lundberg 
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