April

OUR LADY OF TEARS, SICILY (1953)

Also known as the Weeping Madonna of Syracuse, this plaster hanging wall plaque depicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the style of the 1950’s. Like many others just like it, it was mass-produced in a factory in Tuscany and shipped to various locations throughout the world.

This particular plaque of Our Lady of Tears was purchased for a wedding gift for a couple who wed on March 21st, 1953. The couple, Angelo and Antonian Iannuso, would later admit that they were not devout, but they liked the plaque and placed it on the wall over their bed. Antonian soon became pregnant, but the happy couple soon learned that the pregnancy caused Antonian to suffer from toxemia that caused frequent convulsions and even temporary blindness.

On the morning of 29 August, 1953, Antonian awoke to find that her sight had been restored.

“I opened my eyes and stared at the image of the Madonna above the bedhead. To my great amazement I saw that the effigy was weeping. I called my sister-in-law Grazie and my aunt, Antonian Sgarlata, who came to my side, showing them the tears. At first they thought it was an hallucination due to my illness, but when I insisted, they went close up to the plaque and could well see that tears were really falling from the eyes of the Madonna, and that some tears ran down her cheeks onto the bedhead. Taken by fright

The plaque of Our Lady of Tears was publically displayed, convincing even the skeptics of the prodigy as many of the sick were miraculously healed of their ailments. Some of the tears were collected for scientific examination, and the findings were as follows:

“…the liquid examined is shown to be made up of a watery solution of sodium chloride in which traces of protein and nuclei of a silver composition of excretiary substances of the quanternary type the same as found in the human secretions used as a comparison during the analysis.
“The appearance, the alkalinity and the composition induce one to consider the liquid examined analogous to human tears.”

The tears stopped four days later at 11:40 am.

On October 17, 1954, Pope Pius XII stated the following during a radio broadcast:

“…we acknowledge the unanimous declaration of the Episcopal Conference held in Sicily on the reality of that event. Will men understand the mysterious language of those tears?”

OUR LADY OF HIGHEST GRACE

Before the Spaniards began their conquest of America, pilgrimages were already being made to the shrine of Our Lady of the Highest Grace in the town of Higuey in the Dominican Republic.

Ponce de Leon relates that he and his crew were saved from shipwreck through their prayers to this Virgin. Mary’s miracles have continued down to the present; a multimillion dollar ultra-modern Basilica erected at Higuey in Mary’s honor, where the image is still displayed, gives testimony of this.

Ponce de Leon’s daughter, La Nina, also had a great devotion to the Mother of God. Our Lady appeared to Nina while she prayed before the statue in their home chapel, and told her to request from her father a gift, a painting of Our Lady of Highest Grace.

Ponce de Leon was struck with amazement at the request, for he had never heard of Our Lady under that title.
He asked Nina, “How could I identify this image?”
“By the white scapular over her robe,” Nina replied.
Ponce de Leon searched and inquired everywhere in order to fulfill his daughter’s request.

One day while returning from a three-day trip, he asked for lodging at a small hut; his host granted this at the same time to an old man with a long white beard; the latter crouched against the walls, carefully guarding an apparent treasure in his saddle-bags.

Ponce de Leon, forgetting the old man, told his host of his daughter’s wish, and added that the Bishop of Domingo had told him no such painting existed.

The old man hearing this, exclaimed, “The Virgin of Highest Grace does not exist? I have brought the painting with me.”

He then took from his saddle-bags a parchment, unrolled it and displayed a beautiful painting of Our Lady in simple tones of blue, white and red. Mary was depicted adoring the Christ child, while Saint Joseph holding a lighted taper hovered in the distance. Over the Virgin’s starred blue robe hung a white scapular. Ponce de Leon offered all he possessed in exchange for the painting, but the stranger waved aside the offer, saying, “Take it to La Nina.”

The two men fell on their knees to give homage to the holy image. When they again looked up, the old bearded stranger had vanished. When Ponce de Leon arrived home, his daughter awaited him under an orange tree in the plaza, stretching out her hands she begged:

“The painting, Papacito! Please, let me see it!”

When it had been unwrapped, La Nina fell on her knees, covering Our Lady’s face with kisses. Then she cried:

“This is exactly how our Mother of Highest Graces appeared to me!”

The painting of Our Lady of Highest Grace was placed in the chapel where the townspeople came to venerate it. Not long afterward La Nina died and was buried beneath the orange tree, which she loved, for it was there she had received the image.

Later the painting of Our Lady of Highest Grace disappeared from the chapel and was found in the branches of the orange tree. After this had happened three times, the people were convinced that Our Lady wished a shrine erected on the spot. Countless miracles began to occur there.

APPARITION OF OUR LORD TO OUR LADY & THE APOSTLES

“When Thomas had left and the doors had been locked, the Lord entered and appeared to the others. In their midst He saluted them, saying: “Peace be with you. It is I; do not fear.”

“At this sudden apparitions, the Apostles feared lest what they saw was a ghost or phantasm, and the Lord added:

“Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I Myself; handle and see: for a spirit hath no flesh and bones, as you see Me have.”

The Apostles were so excited and confused, that though they saw Him and touched the wounded hands of the Savior, they could not realize, that it was He to whom they spoke and whom they touched. The loving Master in order to assure them still more, said to them:

“Give Me to eat, if you have aught.”

Joyfully they offered Him some fried fish and a comb of honey. He ate part of these, and divided the rest among them, saying:

“Do you not know, that all that has happened with Me is the same that has been written by Moses and the Prophets, in the Psalms and holy Scriptures, and that all must necessarily be fulfilled in Me as it was prophesied?”

And at these words He opened their minds, and they knew Him, and understood the sayings of the Scriptures concerning His Passion, Death, and Resurrection on the third day. Having thus instructed them, He said again:

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you, in order that you may teach the world the knowledge of the truth, of God and of eternal life, preaching repentance of sins and forgiveness of them in my name.”

Breathing upon them, He added and said:

“Receive ye the Holy Ghost, in order that the sins which you forgive may be forgiven, and those which you do not forgive, may not be forgiven. Preach ye to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.”

Then the Savior, having thus consoled and confirmed them in faith, and having given them and all priests the power to forgive sins, disappeared from their midst.”

OUR LADY OF GRACE, NORMANDY, FRANCE

Our Lady of Grace is one of the most ancient maritime chapels of Normandy. This sanctuary was built in consequence of a vow made, in a great tempest, by a Norman duke, who was very devout to the Blessed Virgin. The site of this handsome chapel, surrounded by large trees, in the midst of turf enameled with flowers, is beautiful and calm, like the rich and fresh landscapes of the magnificent province of which it forms a part.

Our Lady of Grace appears like the fortress of Honfleur; from the little mountain which it crowns, the mouth of the Seine is visible, and farther on the ocean, with its long waves of dark green, which receives in its bosom the river of blue waters. Two roads lead to the chapel: the one rough and rocky, the other smooth and even. In other times the inhabitants of Honfleur took delight in pointing out Our Lady of Grace, in reducing its steepness, in covering it with small, fine sand, so that a gracious princess, who had made herself beloved in these parts by her generous bounty, might be able to ascend it without fatigue, when she went to offer her prayers and vows to the Blessed Virgin.

The hurricane of revolutions has carried off the noble lady to a distance, as the wind bears away a rose leaf; but the remembrance of her beneficence still subsists.

The feast of Our Lady of Grace is observed in various churches at different times. Mary accordingly, is considered “full of grace” or, as the Mother who brings down graces and benefits on us. She does both, as the collect for the Mass of Our Lady of Grace states: “God conferred the grace of regeneration upon mankind through Mary’s fruitful virginity; may we then share her happiness in Heaven.”

The familiar image of Our Lady of Grace depicts Mary with hands outspread toward her devotees, and from those hands rays of light flow, symbolizing that always she is ready and able to shower upon us, her children, all the graces and blessings we desire.

“Hail Mary, Lily of spotless whiteness, thou dost ravish the gaze of the adorable Trinity dwelling in the eternal sojourn of light and peace. Hail, Rose of celestial sweetness, Virgin immaculate, whom the King of Heaven and Earth chose for His Mother and whom thou didst nourish with thy virginal milk, pour into my soul torrents of divine graces. Amen.”

Mary, Our Lady of Grace, promised Saint Gertrude, as we are told in the 19th chapter of the revelations, that the inestimable treasures of her loving compassion would be given to those who saluted her in the above prayer, known as the “Golden Ave Maria,” and in the words of the Blessed Virgin, “And at the hour of their departure, I will appear to them clothed with radiant beauty and I will pour into their souls heavenly sweetness and consolation.”

OUR LADY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, CUSSANIO, ITALY (1856)

The shrine of Our Lady of Divine Providence, or the Santuario Madonna della Divina Provvidenza, is situated or located in a rural district of the diocese of Fossano, Italy, called Cussanio. According to tradition, in the year 1521 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a deaf mute, Bartolomeo Coppa, (sometimes spelled Bartholomew Cup). The first apparition occurred on May 8th when she cured Bartolomeo of his disability and told him to preach penance to the inhabitants of Fossano.

In a second apparition on May 11th, the Blessed Virgin brought Bartolomeo three loaves of bread and again asked him to preach penance to the people of Fossano. The latter, however, only ridiculed the visionary. A short time later, however, a plague broke out among the Fossanesse, who only then had recourse to Our Lady. After having been granted a release from the plague through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the grateful people of the region had a chapel built which was known as Our Lady of Divine Providence. This chapel was later replaced with a larger church between 1634 and 1642.

In 1600 the Augustinian Brothers of the Congregation of Genoa came to Cussanio and the friars built the great monastery complex next to the sanctuary. During the French Revolution the convent and church were suppressed and the buildings forcibly abandoned.

Then, in the year 1872, the bishop Emiliano Manacorda, a personal friend of Saint Don Bosco, arrived at the diocese and claimed ownership of the monastery that had been wrongfully confiscated by the state and decided upon the complete renovation of the sanctuary. Work began shortly after 1875 and continued for about twenty years, and included the elevation of the majestic dome and the reconstruction of the entire façade. The nave was extended, two aisles built and the interior was adorned with altars, sculptures and paintings. Two of the paintings, attributed to the painter Giuseppe Barotto, depict the two scenes mentioned above and are now preserved in the church.

OUR LADY OF THE CONCEPTION, FLANDERS (1553)

The Abbot Orsini wrote: “Our Lady of the Conception, at the Capuchin Convent of Donay, in Flanders, where is seen a picture of the Immaculate Conception, which was miraculously preserved from fire, in the year 1553.”

Donay, now known as Douai in France, was once considered a thriving and populous region of Flanders during the Middle Ages, markedly famous for its textile market. It is now a commune in northern France located on the Scarpe River 25 kilometers from Arras. The town of Douai is also known as Douay or Doway in the English language.

The county of Flanders became part of the domain of the Duke of Burgundy in the year 1384, and then in 1477 became a possession of the Habsburg’s. The town was taken by the French army and became a permanent part of France in the year 1668.

The University of Douai was founded in 1562. There was a Benedictine priory founded at Douai in 1605. In the year 1609 a translation of the Old Testament was published there and combined with the recently published New Testament from Rheims to create the famous Douay-Rheims Bible that is still considered to be the standard for the complete Catholic Bible.

It is certain that the French Revolution played a great deal of havoc in the region, and the town was heavily damaged during both World Wars.

In Butler’s lives of the Saints, there is a reference to a John Woodcock, OFM, born in 1603. According to this history, he joined the English Franciscans at Douai and was clothed there in 1631. For some time he lived as a chaplain and confessor, and became a zealous worker on the English mission for many years but suffered from continual sickness and eventually retired to the convent at Douai. This is the only reference I could find to the existence of a Capuchin Convent at Donay at the time.

There is also mention of a Capuchin Monastery in the list of historical monuments of Douai, but other than the above, I can find no other information about this feast.

OUR LADY OF PUIG

The fortress and the church of Our Lady of Puig are a short distance out of Valencia; both date from Roman times, when a temple of Venus stood on the hill overlooking the pleasant valley. At the coming of Christians, it was turned into a monastery.

Early in history they acquired the image of Our Lady of Puig, in bas-relief, carved on a slab of marble, which was said to have formed part of the tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. How it got to Spain is not known with certainty, though the pious insist that it was brought there by angels. It was the principal object of devotion at the shrine, which thrived and grew beautiful until the ancient kingdom of the Visigoths fell to the Muslim invaders in the 8th Century.

In the year 712 AD the monks sadly buried their treasure to hide it from desecration, along with the church bell, under the floor of the monastery, and fled for their lives. After five centuries the Moors were expelled from Valencia, and the plaque of Our Lady of Puig played a part in its liberation.

King Jamie I of Aragon, victorious in other parts of Spain, moved on Valencia with his armies. The Moors, in an effort to trick the Christians into sending their troops to the wrong place, moved to attack the ancient fortress of Puig. This was done with great secrecy, but Our Lady warned the Christians and helped them to win the desperate battle.

Saint Peter Nolasco, who helped to found the Society for the Redemption of Captives under Our Lady’s guidance, was in Puig when the battle took place. One of the soldiers came to him and reported that when he had been on night guard he had seen strange lights over the old ruined church of Our Lady of Puig; sometimes the stars seemed to come down from the sky and circle around the building. Especially on Saturday nights there were bright lights around the mount of the church.

Saint Peter suggested to the king that all the soldiers should receive the Sacraments and pray to know what God was trying to tell them. After this had been done, he led them to the top of the hill and directed them to dig under the floor of the old monastery. Here they found the plaque and the bell, buried for 500 years, but unharmed.

The plaque was first carried to the chapel of the castle fortress. As soon as possible a new church was built on the mountain and given into the charge of the Mercedarians under Saint Peter Nolasco.

The ancient bell which was dated as being cast in 660, was placed in the tower of the church. This bell was said to be powerful against storms and always rung of its own accord in time of trouble. In 1550 the bell broke and a new one was cast from the fragments of the old one.

The church built by Saint Peter Nolasco was called “the angelic chamber” because angels were often heard singing there in the night, especially on Saturdays.

Our Lady of Puig has been the patroness of Valencia for hundreds of years, and not longer ago than 1935 was honored by the Spanish Armies who have carried her image in so many successful battles. She was at this time named as a General in the Army and invoked as patroness in the Christian War against Communism.

OUR LADY OF THE VALLEY, SICILY (1040)

The Sicilian shrine to Our Lady of the Valley, or of the Green Valley, (Our Lady of Valverde) is said to have originated about the year 1040.

According to tradition, a soldier named Dionysius remained behind on the island of Sicily to engage in banditry, having been enticed by the wealth on the island and his greed for the money he felt he could easily steal from others. Assault, theft and murder meant nothing to him. Dionysius found a cave in which to hide, and then lurked in the shadows of the thick woods along the path that led from Catania to Aci. Dionysius was so active that this region near Mount Etna soon became infamous as the scene of robberies, violence and even murder.

At that time there was a certain man named Giles who lived in the city of Catania. In the course of business it became necessary for him to make the dangerous trip to Aci. Now, while Giles was aware of the danger, he was a pious man who was greatly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and he was absolutely convinced that she would watch out over him on his journey.

As Giles passed through the wood beneath Mount Etna, (which is actually a volcano) a bandit barred his way and threatened his life with a dagger.

Suddenly the earth shook violently and a globe of blinding light appeared nearby. From within the light a woman’s voice could be heard:

“Dionysisus, Dionysius, do not touch my devotee.”

The assassin’s arm was frozen by the command. He turned and looked around at the light.

“Lay down that weapon – and cease this life of banditry.”

At these words Dionysius saw in a flash the monstrosity of what had been his life passing before his eyes. Throwing away his knife, he humbly acknowledged the errors of his former life and prostrated himself at the feet of his intended victim, begging his forgiveness.

Dionysus retreated alone to his cave to weep over his sins. Knowing his sincerity, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him where he lived to comfort him. She urged him to trust in the goodness and mercy of God and go at once to confession. She also requested that a church be built on the hill of Valverde with the wealth Dionysius had obtained through his life of crime.

Within a few days word got out about what had happened, and the faithful from Aci processed to the hill of Valverde. Once on the hill they observed a noisy flock of cranes hovering in the sky before landing on a particular clearing nearby. Taking it as a sign, the bandit turned hermit began the work of constructing the chapel on that very spot. Although he began working immediately, and with impressive fervor, progress soon came to a halt due to the lack of a water supply.

Dionysius turned in prayer to the Virgin Mary, who once again appeared to order that a pickaxe be used to strike at the base of the rock forming the entrance to the bandit’s cave. The result of the blow was a trickle of water that formed a pool sufficient not only for the continuation of the work, but also proved to be miraculous, as it soon became a source of healing for many of the sick who came and drank there. So many people came to assist that the work that had begun in the year 1038 was finished only two years later.

Dionysius kept the faith and continued to live on Valverde as a hermit. One night he was rapt in prayer when he was struck by an intense beam of light and saw a cloud in which the Madonna appeared surrounded by heavenly angels. The light dispersed as the cloud rose toward heaven, revealing a magnificent image of the Blessed Virgin and her Divine Son imprinted on the rough wall of a pillar of the church.

The image, now known as Our Lady of the Valley, depicts the Virgin Mary seated and wearing a robe with gold accents. Her head is covered with a veil, although Mary’s hair can be seen framing her face. With her right hand she holds the Divine Child, who is seated upon a red and gold cushion. He has curly hair, and is dressed in a white tunic. His right hand is raised in blessing, while the other rests upon a small crane that seems to hide behind the Virgin’s left hand.

In the year 1565 a group of Christian soldiers stopped here to invoke the aid of Our Lady of the Valley while on their way to the island of Malta. Suleiman the Magnificent was about to lay siege to the island fortress with countless thousands of his finest warriors, while only 600 knights of St. John would stand against them to defend the stronghold. These Christian soldiers were the same who would later operate the cannon that fired the round that mortally wounded the infamous pirate commander Dragut Rais. A votive offering of two iron cannon balls now hang to the left of the altar as testimony and thanksgiving for the assistance of the Mother of God during that siege.

The feast of Our Lady of the Valley is kept throughout three dioceses of Sicily.

OUR LADY OF MYANS, SAVOY, FRANCE (1249)

The Abbot Orsini wrote: “It is believed that this image, in the year 1249, prevented the thunder, which had already consumed the town of Saint Andre with sixteen villages, from going farther, and was the cause of its stopping at Myans.”

Our Lady of Myans in Savoy, is located on a little hill between Modane and Chambery near the Mont Cenis tunnel. It can be easily recognized, as there is a huge statue of the Blessed Virgin standing atop the shrine’s belfry. The shrine has been a pilgrimage center since at least the thirteenth century, and its small ‘Black Virgin’ was an object of the devotion of Saint Francis de Sales.

The foundation of the shrine is something no longer remembered, but the church became famous for a miracle that occurred there in 1248. On the evening of November 24th of that year a tremendous earthquake shook the region causing Mont Granier, the tallest mountain of the Chartreuse Massif, to disintegrate into huge boulders which came crashing down into the valley. Some of these boulders were the size of a house, and 16 villages were crushed and 5,000 lives lost. The church of Myans, however, was spared, though gigantic boulders were stopped abruptly at the very door of the church. Some of these boulders can still be seen around the church grounds.

A marvelous answer to prayer occurred in 1534 in favor of Jean Grandis of Savoy, who was on a vessel bound from Genoa to Leghorn. When the ship was threatened during a tempest and seemed likely to sink, Jean Grandis called upon Our Lady of Myans, Queen of Savoy. Battered by the waves, the ship foundered and sank. Jean Grandis was the only survivor. As a gesture of thanksgiving, he traveled barefoot to the shrine and there placed his ex-voto. It is said to be one of the oldest to survive.

Another miracle attributed to Our Lady of Myans was in favor of the brother of Saint Francis de Sales, Count Louis de Sales, who in 1603 was traveling to the Chateau of Cusy to marry Claudine Philiberte de Pingon. Since there was no bridge in sight, the Count attempted to cross the River Cheran at a place that he thought was shallow and sage. However, the Count was swept away by flood water. Invoking the name of Our Lady of Myans and promising to make a pilgrimage, he was suddenly thrust onto an obstruction that saved his life. The wedding ceremony was conducted on April 2. The next day Saint Francis de Sales offered a Mass of thanksgiving in the little crypt chapel before the miraculous image of Our Lady of Myans.

The church was half destroyed during the French Revolution, but the statue was saved and later enshrined again in the restored building, where it was crowned in 1905.

The sanctuary is particularly resorted to by pilgrimages of men, and the image was taken to Rome by a Savoyard pilgrimage for the definition of the dogma of the Assumption in the year 1950.

OUR LADY OF NAVAL

“Fair and comely art thou, terrible as an army set in battle array,” Holy Mother Church chants in her Office; and truly, Mary proved herself such in the battle of “La Naval,” or Laval, in 1646. Some Dutch privateers, bent on foraging and possible conquest, sailed their warships dangerously close to the shores of the Philippine Islands. To both the Filipinos, recently converted to the Catholic faith, and the Spanish Conquistadores, devoid of sufficient arms and without warships, the invasion was a serious threat.

To preserve their faith and their island, two commercial galleons were obtained and made ready for battle. They were rechristened “LaRosario,” The Rosary, and “LaEncarncion,” The Incarnation, and placed under the special patronage of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. On the special altars on deck sailors carried the image of their beloved Queen. Here on their knees, officers and men in two choirs prayed the rosary daily.

At the same time on both ships, officers and men – neither knowing what their comrades-at-arms had done – the Catholic forces had made a vow promising to make an annual pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of the Most Holy Rosary, should they survive the odds they were taking. With this heavenly protection the two galleons met the fifteen Dutch ships in an open encounter.

Hail Mary’s mingled with the roar of the battle; the beads dangling from the necks of the men as they launched into the fray and stood their ground against an enemy vastly superior in number and power. Firing and praying incessantly, they met the enemy five times, and each time the enemy was put to flight. Though the fighting was bitter, only fifteen of the Filipino-Spanish forces were killed.

Grateful to heavenly protectress, Our Lady of Naval, the men fulfilled their vows after the battle, which consisted in going to the Church of Santo Domingo at Manila barefoot, and instituting a public and perpetual feast in honor of the Mother of God. Even to this day that promise has been fulfilled by the Filipinos, who since the memorable time have taken as their own that pledge made by their ancestors.

OUR LADY OF FOURVIERE

According to the traditions of Lyons, supported by a bull of Innocent IV., Saint Pothinus erected the first oratory where Mary was invoked in Gaul. It is asserted that he brought from the interior of Asia a small statue of the Blessed Virgin, which he deposited in a solitary and shaded crypt on the banks of the Saone, in front of the hill of Fourviere. He set up in this wild and secluded spot an altar to the true God, and placed there the image, which was transferred later on to a temple built on the hill itself, whence it took the name of Our Lady of Fourviere.

The veneration of the people, in the middle ages, surrounded this church, and it was a pilgrimage of great renown throughout the Lyonnais; but the Calvinists, who destroyed and pillaged so many rich sanctuaries, showed no favor to that of Lyons; the church of Fourviere, where, from the birth of Christianity, each generation had marked its passage by gifts to Our Lady of Fourviere, which would be at this day as precious to the antiquary, the sculptor, and the painter, as to the pilgrim, retained nothing but its four bare walls, which could not be melted down in the crucible, where so many master productions disappeared, which had the misfortune to be made of gold or silver.

The chapter of Saint John could not attend to the renovation of that of Fourviere, till long after the ravages of the Protestants. They worked at it after they had restored the cathedral and the cloister. The altar of Mary, Our Lady of Fourviere, was at last consecrated on the 21st of August, 1586. From that moment the confidence of the inhabitants turned towards that beacon of salvation. “The source of prodigies seemed dried up there,” says an ancient historian; “they began again at the end of the sixteenth century, and all Lyons felt great joy on the occasion.”

During the revolution of 1793, the church of Fourviere was sold; but when calm was restored, the zealous prelate who governed the ancient church of Pothinus and Irenaeus procured the sanctuary of Mary to be restored to the veneration of her as Our Lady of Fourviere. The inauguration of it was performed on the 19th of April, 1805, by the sovereign pontiff Pius VII. In 1832 and 1835, Lyons being threatened with cholera, lifted up her eyes to the holy mountain, and the Blessed Virgin said to the scourge, “Thou shalt go no farther.” The capital of the Lyonnese, respected against every attempt, changed its cries of alarm into canticles of joy, and the prayers of thanksgiving were solemnly and justly offered to Mary in her protecting sanctuary.

Ever since the happy period when that sanctuary was restored to religious worship, piety seems to have redoubled its ardor for Our Blessed Lady, and it is at Fourviere that it is sharpened and revived. The inhabitants of Lyons, and those of the county adjacent, throng the paths of the hill of Mary; at whatever hour you repair thither, you always find yourself in the midst of a crowd of pious persons of all ranks, ages, and conditions.

One day, in the year 1815, a pilgrim of an unusual kind, who had begun by observing Lyons from the summit of the hill, like a man who wanted to study both its strength and its weakness, presented himself in the church of Notre Dame; and the faithful, lifting up for a moment their eyes, which had been cast down in prayer, said to themselves, “Marshal Suchet!”

It was indeed he – the marshal of the empire, the child of Lyons, to whom was confided the defense of his native city – who passed along the nave of the church of Mary with a slow step, with a respectful countenance, in which was mingled something mild and softened, something like a distant remembrance of joy, which awakens and soothes the soul with an invisible music. He goes into the sacristy, and directs one of the chaplains to come to him there; the vice-president hastens to him: “Monsieur l’Abbe,” says the marshal, stepping forward towards the ecclesiastic, “when I was quite a child, my pious and good mother often brought me here, to the feet of Our Lady, and this I still remember…I will say more, this recollection is dear to me, and I have never lost it. Be pleased to have some masses said for my intention.” And putting down three Napoleons on the table where the offerings are registered, the brilliant hero of the gigantic epoch went to kneel, quite unpretendingly, before the altar of Mary, where he prayed for some time with edifying devotion. Moreover, Marshal Suchet terminated his noble and loyal career by a Christian end, for which he was praised upon his tomb.

OUR LADY OF CHARITY, COBRE, CUBA

In the mountains outside Santiago in Cuba is an old pilgrimage church, “Nuestra Senora de la Caridad,” which means, “Our Lady of Charity,” also known as “Our Lady of Cobre.” It is the national shrine of Cuba.

Early in the 17th century, three sailors left the Bay of Nipe to collect salt. Their vessel was small, so that when a storm arose they were drifting and rocked violently on the roaring ocean. One of the men wore a medal stamped with an image of the Blessed Virgin, and the three began to pray for her protection. The storm suddenly cleared, and the men saw something they could not immediately identify coming toward across the water.

We still have the testimony of one of the men, Juan Moreno, regarding this incident. It was taken in 1687:

“Having camped in the French Key, which is in the middle of the Bay of Nipe, waiting for a good time to leave for the salt mines, being a morning of calm seas, they left the French Keys, before daybreak. The aforementioned Juan y Rodrigo de Hoyos and myself embarked in a canoe, headed for the salt mines, and far from the French Key we saw something white above the foam of the water, which we couldn’t distinguish. As we got closer, birds and dry branches appeared. The aforementioned Indians said, “It looks like a girl.” While they were discussing this among themselves, they saw an image of Our Lady, the Holy Virgin, on top of a small wooden plank, holding the baby Jesus in her arms. On this small tablet, was written in large letters, which read, “I am the Virgin of Charity.” Looking at her clothes, they realized that they were not wet.”

Upon returning home, the men revealed what they had discovered and told the story of what had happened to them. A government official, Don Francisco Sanchez de Moya, had a small chapel built in her honor.

The Village of Cobre, where the shrine is, is surrounded by high hills that roll back to the Sierra Maestra Mountains. The village is named Cobre because of the rich deposit of copper. A lamp of copper is kept burning before the statue of Our Lady. Twice the statue mysteriously disappeared from the locked church, and then returned just as unaccountably. In each case Our Lady indicated where richer deposits of copper could be found.

In 1936 after the completion of a beautiful church in honor of Our Lady of Charity, the statue was solemnly crowned amid great rejoicing and religious festivity.

The shrine has much of old-time charm, and literally hundreds of lights burn before the shrine’s statue. Our Lady is dressed richly in silken garments; she is dark like a Cuban girl with a sun-tanned Infant on her arm, smiling down on her brown Cuban children, who come to her in great numbers and with great confidence. The prayers of centuries seem to hang down from the walls in heavy folds. It is a place where prayer comes easily, and its answer seems to be a matter of course.

OUR LADY OF MANTUA (1640)

This present shrine to Our Lady of Mantua was built by the Gonzaga family in the year 1460. There is seen a miraculous painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus that is known to have been venerated since about the year 1000. Originally known as Saint Mary of the Vows, the painting is crowned today.

According to tradition, the history of the site dates back to Saint Anselm. At that time the Blessed Virgin had promised her protection for the city. Starting in 1477, word spread that before the image numerous miracles had occurred, so that by then substantial offerings began to pour into the church (hence the name of Santa Maria dei Voti).

After the plague of 1630, which had overwhelmed the city and its territory, the princess Maria Gonzaga, regent of the duchy, wanted to entrust herself, her dynasty, and the state to the protection of the Blessed Virgin. The princess was determined to place herself, her son Charles II and the states of Mantua and of Monferrate under the special protection of Mary. She ordered that the image of Mary should be carried in procession through the streets of the city, and desired that the image be solemnly crowned in the Basilica of Saint Andrea, as the Queen of Mantua.

The solemn crowning of Our Lady commonly called Santa Maria dei Voti was strongly urged by the pious princess Maria Gonzaga in the year 1640, when the dam of the Po River in Italy broke. The coronation took place with great solemnity on November 28, 1640.

Since then, the church and the picture painted of Santa Maria dei Voti were named dell’Incoronata, or ‘Saint Mary the Crowned,’ and the annual festival was fixed on the first Sunday after the feast of Saint Martin, November 11. On this occasion, but also during the month of May, which is traditionally dedicated to Marian devotion, the dell’Incoronata is exposed in the cathedral, covered in sumptuous dresses dating from the seventeenth century.

The three following centenary years in particular saw an unanimous and grateful expression of love on the part of the Mantuans, who still venerate the Madonna “Incoronata,” the Madonna who said, “Mantua is mine, and as mine I will always defend it.”

OUR LADY OF GUAM

Our Lady of Guam, the miraculous statue to which the natives have such deep devotion, is three feet high, all ivory from the delicate classical face of Our Lady to the hem of her exquisite gown. She has a head of brown hair, adorned with a beautiful crown, and golden rings hang from her tiny ears. According to the Jesuit history of the island, Our Lady’s coming was miraculous.

A Spanish soldier, in the year 1825, was fishing a distance from the shore between the village of Mirizo and Umatac when he saw a strange object floating upon the waves. He moved closer and saw that it was a statue, supported by giant golden crabs, holding lighted candles in their claws. The soldiers claiming the statue as their own, installed it as Patroness in their barracks. They made a shrine for her, a wall recess with doors like a cupboard or camarino, from which Our Lady of the Cupboard takes her name. She is called Santa Maria de Camarino.

She made her home many years in the barracks, but the atmosphere did not always please her. She would be found missing, only to return with the edge of her mantle full of burs. When the soldiers were drunk with coconut brew, she would slam the doors of her cupboard shut against them.

No one remembers how she came to leave the barracks for the cathedral of Agana, but on the fourteenth of April a great earthquake occurred, terrorizing the natives and destroying their homes. It is believed that on that day she deserted the uncouth soldiers and showed herself to be the Patroness of the people and of Guam in particular. Many miracles of protection are attributed to Our Lady of Guam on this day.

On the eve of this day the people place a lighted candle outside their tight-closed shutters; they do this in memory of their Fathers who made the promise to Santa Maria de Camarino. In 1825 and again in 1834, they vowed to celebrate yearly a special feast for her protection from Linao, the earthquake, and Pagyo, the typhoon. On its part the miraculous statue has seen to it that no devout life has since that time been lost. Earthquakes and typhoons have come and left destruction, yet they have never taken one life or harmed the children of Santa Maria de Camarino, Our Lady of Guam.

Such is the story of Our Lady of the Cupboard, the miraculous virgin of Guam; to the eyes of fact simply a beautiful statue, some three feet height, executed with all the refinement of eighteenth century art, yet to the eye of faith, she is power incarnate. She is all ivory, but where that ivory came from, or what artist fashioned those exquisite hands, she alone can tell, just as she is the only one who knows the truth of her coming to Guam.

Flags of various nations have flown over the royal coconut trees of Agana: admirals and governors have come and gone, and each in his proper time has departed. Spanish architecture has had its day, and the Seabee buildings mushroomed all over the island. Yet, Santa Maria de Camarino abides through all changes to cherish her strangely chosen people. She reigns affectionately in the hearts of the people, the natives, as their Queen and Patroness.

When American Marines and Soldiers during the latter part of July, 1944, captured the island of Guam, the native population was for the most part Catholic. The Faith was brought there, no doubt, by Spanish priests who accompanied Magellan when he sailed around the world. The natives are called Charmorros, offspring of Spanish and Micronesian ancestors, religions, most progressive, most cultured of the people of the Mariana Islands. The greatest majority of them are brown-skinned, pleasantly featured, shy, well mannered, scrupulously clean. They know the American way of life, since they have lived for more than fifty years under the benevolent guidance of the Stars and Stripes. And Mary, Our Lady of Guam, Our Lady of the Cupboard, loves them and protects them.

OUR LADY OF KIEFF

Kieff on the banks of the Dneiper River was the first resting place of this famous image of Mary. Here, according to legend, the Apostle Saint Andrew had once stopped on his way from Constantinople to Rome. Waking in the morning to the sights of the heights of Kieff, he was moved to prophecy:

“See those hills? On those hills shall shine hereafter the grace of God.”

However, it was nearly 1,000 years, 1010, to be exact, before the Russian Prince Vladimir was baptized at Kieff with all his people, and the teachings of the Gospel began to go out from the heights that had so impressed the Apostle.

The prince sent to Kherson for a picture of Our Lady which was, according to legend, painted by Constantine, and according to another, commissioned by him, which seems more likely. The Prince endowed the monastery in Petchersk to house the famous picture and here it remained until the fifteenth century.

In 1467 Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow, built the Church of the Assumption in the Kremlin as a memorial of his marriage. As a crowning jewel of his new church, he asked for the famous picture of Kieff. This aged city was both grieved and frightened at the demand. The people rose in protest; they did not want to lose their dearest treasure. Then the Blessed Virgin appeared in sleep to the prince and told him to give up the picture, because she would personally see that it was replaced. He gave it to the agents of the Duke of Moscow on the following morning and returned to his church to find that another picture exactly like it had mysteriously appeared in the place of the one he had returned.

Kieff and Moscow were still disputing vigorously up to fifty years ago, the 400-year old customary disagreement over which city had the original picture of Our Lady of Kieff, and which had the one placed there by the Blessed Mother. There are thousands of copies now spread all over the world.

OUR LADY OF VICTORIES OF ST. MARK

In the year 1683 a formidable army of well over 100,000 Turks invaded Austria and laid siege to Vienna for the second time. The city was strategically located in Europe, and the Ottoman Turks had been pressing further and further into Christendom over the preceding centuries. If they could take Vienna, it would open up all of Europe to them.

Unfortunately, all of Europe was not united against the invader. The differing Protestant sects hated their Catholic neighbors more than they feared the Turk, and stood by doing nothing as the Catholics fought alone to save Europe. In fact, the Ottoman Empire had been supporting the Protestants, and encouraged them to revolt and rebel against their lawful government, which weakened Christendom and obviously played into the hands of the Turks. It went so far that they actually promised their Protestant dupes that they would be given the “Kingdom of Vienna” if they should help defeat them.

Suffering under an intense siege, Vienna was on the point of surrendering to the enemy. The people were filled with fear and anxiety, for had this happened, the Turks would easily have invaded the rest of Europe, and filled it with blood and strife. From all parts of the Catholic world prayers were offered to the Queen of Heaven, that she intercede and avert this disaster. Our Lady, Consoler of the Afflicted, did not fail her people.

The pious and valiant Catholic King of Poland, John Sobieski, with an army seemingly inadequate to the need, bravely marched against the enemy anyway. Even though his army was tiny in comparison to the multitudes that awaited him, there was no one else who could come to the aid of Vienna.

When John Sobieski came in sight of the Turkish camp, before beginning battle, he ordered Holy Mass to be celebrated, at which he himself served; then he begged the celebrant to bless the whole army.

Full of confidence in the help of Mary Most Holy, Our Lady of Victories, King John Sobieski manfully threw his forces into the conflict. Initiating what would be the largest cavalry charge in history, King John led his now legendary Winged Hussars into the face of the enemy like a host of avenging angels, disrupting the enemy formations and breaking their lines.

The enemy, though far more numerous, turned and fled, while the king’s army were masters of the field. The rejoicing of Christians was great at this news, and from all Christendom fervent prayers were offered to the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Victories, in thanksgiving for her protection.

Pope Innocent XI, reigning at the time, placed all his trust in the Blessed Virgin Mary. He had vowed to institute a feast in her honor, if she would liberate the Church from this terrible danger. In fulfillment of this vow, he extended to the whole Catholic world the solemnity of the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which had up to that time only been observed in particular churches.

The famous image of Our Lady of Victories is the one which Emperor John Zimiarnes and John Commenus carried in a triumphal car after having besieged the enemy. The image is now borne in procession at Vienna to obtain rain or fine weather, as the need may be.

OUR LADY OF ARABIDA

The shrine of Our Lady of Arabida is popular with sailors and with all those who travel by water. It owes its beginnings to a miraculous occurrence during the 16th century.

At some time during this century an English merchant named Hildebrand was standing off the entrance to the Tague River when a great storm caught his ship and immediately plunged him into the dangerous waters at the mouth of the river. The ship was in great danger and the merchant, being a pious Catholic, knelt before a picture of Our Lady which he always kept on board his ship.

Soon after he began praying a bright light was seen shining through the darkness and the ship came to rest in calm waters. When daylight came, it could be seen that the vessel was safely anchored at the foot of a very steep wooded mountain.

Hildebrand went back below decks to kneel before the illustration of Our Lady in thanksgiving, when he found that the picture was no longer there. Since it had been from that direction of the mountain that he had seen the light the night before, the merchant went on land and climbed the steep trail to the top.

There, on the very top of the mountain, amid the dense woods, was his picture of Our Lady, before which he had prayed in his hour of need. Greatly moved, the merchant finished his business as soon as possible in England and returned to Portugal. He gave away his goods to the poor and settled down in a small hermitage at the top of the mountain, where the picture had indicated that Our Lady wished a shrine to be.

The shrine is there today, and still popular with all who travel by water. Numerous votive tablets surround the picture, testifying to miracles worked by Our Lady of Arabida for those who come to her in need. Sailors going on a long voyage usually go for a farewell visit on departure and return to give thanks when they come back.

THE CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY OF LORETO IS ERECTED IN 1586

The church of Loreto, one of the finest in Italy, has been adorned, according to their taste, by the popes, who have often come thither on a pilgrimage like the common faithful; three gates of chased bronze give entrance into the holy temple, in the center of which arises the Santa Casa in its clothing of white marble, adorned with magnificent bas-reliefs, designed by Bramante, and executed by Sansovino, Sangallo, and Bandinelli.

La Sala Del Tesoro no longer displays enough riches to pay the ransom of all Italy; but it has still received, in our days, very magnificent gifts of princes and popes. Among these pious gifts we observe a gold monstrance, enriched with diamonds, a chalice, and a thurible, offered by the Emperor Napoleon to the Madonna; an enameled chalice, set with rubies and aqua marinas, offered, in 1819, by Prince Eugene Beauharnais; another chalice, adorned with brilliants, by the Princess of Bavaria, his spouse; a large cross of gold and diamonds, and a crown of amethysts, rubies, and diamonds, offered in 1816, by the King and Queen of Spain, at the time of their pilgrimage to Loreto; a nosegay of diamonds, offered, in 1815, by Maria Louisa, sister of the King of Spain, Queen of Etruria, and Duchess of Lucca; an immense heart of very fine gold, with a precious stone in the center, suspended from a chain of emeralds and amethysts, the gift of the Emperor of Austria to the Madonna. It would be impossible to enumerate the precious stones and rich presents of all kinds offered by princes and kings, under the simple title of dono de una pia persona, in the register containing the names of benefactors to the Santa Casa.

The miraculous statue of the Madonna is thirty-three inches high; it is carved in cedar wood, covered with magnificent drapery, and placed on an altar glittering with precious stones. We are assured that the niche which it occupies is covered with plates of gold. A number of lamps, of massive silver, burn before it.

The beautiful litany of Our Lady of Loreto was the votive offering with which a celebrated Florentine composer, of the early years of the eighteenth century, repaid a miracle of the Blessed Virgin. This composer, whose name was Barroni, all at once lost his hearing, like Beethoven; after having exhausted the succor of art without success, he invoked that of Mary, and set out on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Loreto. There he was cured, after praying with faith, and in his gratitude to the Holy Madonna, he composed, by inspiration, in her praise, a chorus, which, under the title of Litanie della Santa Casa, was performed for the first time on the 15th of August, 1737. This litany was repeated every year afterwards for the feast of the Madonna; Rossini, happening to pass by Our Lady of Loreto, was struck with the charm of this composition, and is said to have introduced it into his Tancredi (Gazette Musicale).

The front area of the church was constructed during the pontificate of Pope Sixtus V in 1586, and it was he who founded the order of Knights of Loreto, who were a company of knights especially devoted to defend the shores of the Italian Mediterranean against the incursions of barbarians.

The popes have delighted to testify their respect for Mary, by making her miraculous sanctuary of Loreto the object of their devout solicitude. Pope Pius V offered to the Santa Casa two silver statues of Saints Peter and Paul; he did still better by diverting from its natural channel a river, the waters of which, sluggish and in great measure stagnant, sent up the most unwholesome exhalations to the top of the hill, where a small town has been formed, under the shadow of the magnificent church of Mary.

Pope Benedict XIV, embellished this sanctuary with truly persevering generosity, where Pius VII, having recovered his liberty, came to kneel, before his entrance into Rome, and where he left, as a memorial of his visit, a superb gold chalice, with this inscription: “Pius VII, sovereign pontiff, restored to liberty on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and coming from France to Rome, left at Loretto this monument of his devotion and gratitude.” His holiness Gregory XVI also made a pilgrimage to Loreto.

OUR LADY OF LYONS (1643)

Saint Pothinus, the Apostle of Gaul and first bishop of Lyon, is said to have enshrined a picture of Our Lady in an underground chapel which is now beneath the church of Saint Nazaire, or Nizier, in Lyons where many Christians suffered death in the Old Forum on the Hill of Blood.

According to tradition, there was once a temple to Attis on the site, whose followers precipitated a persecution against the Christians in about the year 177 AD. Later, in the 5th century, a basilica was built on the site, and the remains of many Christian martyrs from that persecution were buried there, as well as the bishops of Lyon. The church takes its name from Nicetius of Lyon, who was the 28th bishop there in the 6th century, due to the numerous miracles that occurred there after his burial.

In 1186 the Canons of the Cathedral started building a larger church over the shrine. In thanksgiving for the cure of his son by this Saint, King Louis VII of France made a pilgrimage to Lyons, where he had an ex-voto tablet set up before the shrine of Our Lady. In 1466 King Louis XI founded a daily Mass in perpetuity, to be followed always by the Salve Regina, solemnly sung.

Vast Pilgrimages came to seek Mary’s aid especially in time of famine and plague. During the plague of 1643, it was decided to dedicate the city to Our Lady. Instantly all traces of the plague vanished and, until 1792, twenty-five Masses were said daily in thanksgiving.

During the years of the French Revolution the sanctuary was profaned and the church used as a warehouse. Sometimes pilgrims would still come to visit the shrine at night under peril of their lives. In 1805 Pius VII himself presided at the opening or re-opening of the shrine. Shortly before the battle of Waterloo, the shrine was threatened with destruction when Napoleon wanted the hillside fortified. The Marshall was to give the order to demolish the shrine but refused to do so.

Because the city was spared many vicissitudes during the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, the people of Lyons decided to show their gratitude by adding a tall tower to the church surmounted by a great bronze figure of Our Lady.

After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, a vast basilica to Our Lady was built next to the old shrine, which remained almost untouched. The crypt of Saint Pothinus, under the choir of the church of St. Nazaire, was completely destroyed in 1884.

OUR LADY OF SCHIER, BAVARIA, GERMANY

The Abbot Orsini wrote: “This church was built on the spot where the castle stood, which those of the house of Scheir voluntarily ceded to Our Lady, except Arnaud, who, in punishment of his obstinacy, was drowned in a neighboring lake.”

Arnaud Schier is remembered as being the odd son of the Bavarian House of Schier. Sullen and disgruntled, he angrily left the dining hall before the meal was finished. It would prove to be his last meal. His parents had decided to give up their castle, which Arnaud had hoped would be his heritage, for the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He did not favor the idea of giving the castle to the Virgin, and no one had even thought to ask him his opinion.

Slamming the door, he wandered into the darkness of night alone, caring little if anyone should overhear his repeated objections. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Why did the family wish to give up the ancestral home? And for a shrine to Our Lady at that! Arnaud wanted no more of this continued discussion on the subject. On he walked, oblivious of where, nursing his grievance against the Mother of God. He was last seen by a servant waiving his hands in the air and bemoaning his loss, wondering what he should do.

Arnaud had forgotten that his chief concern should have been to seek after perfection. Children will usually imitate their parents after initially watching them and then conversing with them. Parents who are a fine Christian example, such as Arnaud’s parents, should have had children who would also seek to imitate their Divine Master. The surest route is with the help of God’s grace, but also through the intercession of His Most Holy Mother.

INSTITUTION OF THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN TOLEDO, SPAIN (1506)

Saint Beatrice de Silva was born of Portuguese parents at Ceuta on Moroccan soil, and manifested a special attachment to our Immaculate Mother very early in life. At the court of the king of Castile she was presented and cast into prison by a jealous queen, but by the visible intervention of the Immaculate Queen of heaven, she was released and justified with great honor. Then she left the court and went to Toledo. On the journey thither St Francis and St Anthony appeared to her and announced that she would be the founder of a new order. At Toledo Saint Beatrice de Silva repaired to a convent of Cistercian nuns and remained there for almost 40 years. She did not don the religious garb; nevertheless she was a model of religious perfection. Gradually the resolution took shape to establish a new order that would honor the Immaculate Mother of God. With 12 companions who entertained sentiments similar to hers, she withdrew to a separate house. Beatrice wrote the rule and asked Pope Innocent VIII to approve it. This occurred in the year 1489.

A few years earlier the Blessed Virgin had showed Saint Beatrice de Silva in a vision that she should wear a habit consisting of a white tunic and scapular with a light blue mantle. This was the origin of the Order of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Conceptionist Poor Clares.

The whole life of the foundress was conformed to her religious rule. The rule itself can be summed up briefly in three short mottos: to be silent and submissive in all things that happen to us by God's ordinance or are required of us by holy obedience; to become small in the eyes of God, of the world, and of ourselves, and to prefer a life of obscurity; to love everyone with a holy love, and become all to all by prayer, sacrifice, and labor.

At the age of 65, Mother Beatrice departed from this life in 1492, a year after the founding of her order. Pope Pius XI enrolled her among the beatified. The Conceptionists were incorporated into the Franciscan Order and soon spread through Europe and America.

OUR LADY OF BERTHARAM, FRANCE (1503)
The Abbot Orsini wrote: “Our Lady of Betharam, in the diocese of Lescar, in the province of Bearn. This image was found, in the year 1503, by some shepherds, who, seeing an extraordinary light on the spot where the high altar of the chapel now stands, came up to it, and found there an image of Our Lady, for which they had a chapel built immediately.”

More commonly known as the Shrine of Betharram, it is located only 15 kilometers from the more famous Marian shrine at Lourdes. It used to be a very popular pilgrimage destination, as according to Saint Vincent de Paul, Betharram was once the second most popular place of pilgrimage in France. The river Gave, beside which the shrine is located, is the same river whose waters flow past Lourdes.

The shrine of Our Lady of Betharam is famous for no less than three miracles attributed to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

According to tradition, one day in 1503 there were some shepherds leading their flocks along the bank of the river Gave when they suddenly observed an extremely bright light coming from the rocks. When they drew nearer, they found a beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin. Learning of the incident, the people in the nearby village of Lestelle decided to construct a chapel to house the statue. Due to space limitations, the chapel was initially planned for the opposite bank from where the statue had been found. Once the statue was placed there, however, they found that it would always return on its own to the other side of the river where it had originally been found. The faithful then understood that the Blessed Virgin desired that the chapel should be built where the statue had been found, and so it happened.

The next miracles occurred in the year 1616 when some peasants from the village of Montaut were returning home from the fields at the end of the day. A rushing storm suddenly appeared, with fierce winds that threatened Betharram. In fact, the laborers saw that there was a cyclone in the storm that beat against the great wooden cross that had been erected at the summit. The cross fell, but then was encircled by a radiant aura of dazzling light before standing again of its own to its former position.

The third miracle is the one after which the shrine is named. Apparently a young girl fell headfirst into the Gave when trying to pluck a flower along the bank. The water runs fast in deep in this area, and the girl was on the verge of drowning when she cried aloud to Our Lady of Betharam of the nearby shrine. The Blessed Virgin appeared standing on the bank holding the Divine Infant, who held a branch which he extended to rescue the girl. She offered a golden branch to the shrine as an ex-voto offering. A beautiful branch is ‘Betharram’ in the local dialect, and thus became the name of the shrine.

There were many other miracles, as at one point between the years 1620 and 1642 there were 82 documented miracles involving the blind who received their sight, the paralyzed who regained the use of the limbs, and those instantly cured of cancer, among other miracles.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous frequently visited the shrine of Betharram. In fact, the rosary beads that Bernadette used when praying with the Blessed Virgin during the first apparition at Lourdes had come from the Betharram shrine, and the priest that she was sent to after the apparitions was Saint Michel Garicois, the priest of Betharram. He it was who alone believed Bernadette’s accounts of the apparitions at Lordes. He was canonized in 1947.

The cross on the summit that the winds could not destroy was finally destroyed by the folly of man during the French Revolution. The property was unlawfully confiscated and the chaplains expelled.

Saint Pope Pius X was known to be devoted to Our Lady of Betharam. He offered her two magnificent golden crowns made up of branches woven together. This prayer accompanying the inscription stated: “May the Son had His Mother accept our gifts and by appeasing our hopes and desires may they keep for us one day the crown of glory which none can tarnish.”

OUR LADY OF ARDENTS, FRANCE (1095)
The Abbot Orsini wrote: “A wax candle is kept in the cathedral of Arras, which is held to have been brought thither by Our Lady, in the year 1095.”

Our Lady of Ardents, or Eglise Notre-Dame des Ardents d’Arras in French, is a small, charming red brick church in the lower part of town in Arras, France. It was built in the beautiful style unique to the twelfth century in order to celebrate the appearance of the Blessed Virgin, and to commemorate the miraculous assistance she gave to the people then living in the region.

According to Tradition, there was a terrible epidemic that was given the name ‘the hellfire’ that ravaged the countryside in that year of 1105, and all men felt that they were in the clutch of the specter of Death. The Evil of Ardent, the disease caused a kind of gangrene in the limbs, and the strange sickness caused terrible suffering in all parts of the body, and laid low both men and women, and even their children throughout the whole of the region.

There were at that time two minstrels, one named Itier, who lived in Brabant, and the other named Norman, who lived in the Chateau de Saint-Pol. They had vowed a mortal hatred, as Norman had killed Itier’s brother.

One night they both had the same dream: the Virgin Mary, dressed in white, appeared to them and told them to go to the cathedral. Norman, who was closer, arrived first. As he entered the cathedral he saw all the patients who had taken refuge there. He found the bishop and told him of the apparition, but Bishop Lambert thought that Norman was mocking him and sent him away. Itier arrived the following day and also spoke to the bishop. When the bishop told Itier that someone named Norman had come to tell him of the same vision, Itier asked where he was, because he intended to kill him on the field to avenge his brother’s death. Bishop Lambert then understood that the Blessed Virgin had sent the two men to be reconciled. The bishop spoke to each separately and then put them in each other’s presence and asked them to give each other the kiss of peace and then spend the night in prayer inside the cathedral.

It was Pentecost Sunday, May 28, 1105, at about three o’clock in the morning, when the Virgin Mary appeared to the two minstrels in the Cathedral. Norman and Itier witnessed a sudden light as the Blessed Virgin descended from the height of the nave, carrying a lighted candle in her hands. She gave the men the candle intended for the healing of the sick, and explained to them what they must do. A few drops of the wax that fell from the candle were to be mingled with water, giving it miraculous properties the people would then drink.

All who believed were healed. The two minstrels, now brothers, distributed the miraculous water and the epidemic was stopped, for the patients would regain their health after they drank of the water mixture. There were many prodigies of healing that went on for hundreds of years, especially with wounds, inflammations, and ulcers. All of this shows how reconciliation and prayer are pleasing to God and can precipitate great miracles, such as curing diseases, ending natural disasters, as well as ending or preventing wars.

The Bishop of Arras wanted to build a church worthy of Our Lady of Ardents and to receive the relic of the Holy Candle, and the church was consecrated in 1876 just before the definitive establishment of the Third Republic.

This relic, the Holy Candle, can still be seen today. On the eve of Corpus Christi and the four following days, the Holy Candle was lit and shown to the people. It has not diminished.

The reliquary of the Holy Candle is a masterpiece of art that preserves the relic of the Holy Candle since the time of the thirteenth century. The content of the reliquary has been the object of Christian veneration since the Middle Ages, and every year it is presented to pilgrims during the time period which runs between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost.

OUR LADY OF BONARIA, ISLAND OF SARDINIA (1370)

The shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria (Good Air) dates back to the latter years of the fourteenth century, at Cagliari, on the island of Sardinai.

According to tradition, on March 25, 1370, a ship ran into a terrific storm at a spot some miles off the coast of Sardinia while enroute from Spain to Italy. Soon the ship seemed in imminent danger of sinking, and the sailors in a last desperate effort to save her, began to get rid of the cargo.

When they heaved a certain large packing case into the sea, the waves immediately died down and the sea became calm. The sailors knew the ship had been miraculously saved and attempted to regain the last crate, followed it for some time. Unable to retrieve it, the sailors returned to their original course. The case floated away, and pushed by the tides, eventually landed on the shore of Sardinai at the foot of a hill called Bonaria.

A large crowd ran down to the beach when the crate washed ashore, eager to see what it contained. Some tried to open it, though no one was able to pry off the lid. Others tried to carry it from the waves, but could not do so, for the crate was too heavy. One of the children suddenly cried out: “Call for the Mercedarian Friars!”

The Mercy Fathers came and raised the heavy crate without any difficulty, and took it to their church, where it was opened in the presence of a large group of people. To the surprise of all, they found it contained a beautiful statue of the Virgin and Child. In her right hand the Virgin held a candle which was still lit!

Thus, a prophesy was fulfilled – the church had been build around 1330 by Father Carlo Catalan, while he was the ambassador to the Argonese Court. At the dedication he told the monks, “A Great Lady will come to live in this place. After her coming, the malaria infecting this area will disappear and her image will be called the Virgin of Bonaria.”

So when the statue floated in from the sea, and the Fathers placed it in their church, remembering what Father Carlo had said, they named it “Our Lady of Good Air,” or “Our Lady of Bonaria.” Due to the miracle, devotion to the Virgin spread quickly, especially among sailors who took the Blessed Virgin for their protector and carried her devotion far and wide.

The statue is in colored wood, probably of Spanish workmanship. Pope Pius X in 1908, declared Our Lady of Bonaria the patron Saint of Sardinia. Most recently, on September 7th, 2008, Our Lady of Bonaria was visited by Pope Benedict XVI in honor of the first centenary of her announcement as the Patron Saint of Sardinia. He gave Our Lady of Bonaria a Golden Rose.

OUR LADY OF THE HOLY CHAPEL, PARIS

At the door of the chapel stands a graceful statue of Mary. At the feet of this statue the doctors and literati of the day loved to prostrate themselves and their works. Although the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary had not yet been declared, many believed in it, and prelates preached it from the pulpits. John Dons Scotus, one of the most prominent theologians of the Middle Ages, was among those who believed in the Immaculate Conception, and he very ardently argued in her favor. He was beatified in the year 1993 by Pope John Paul II.

One day as Dons Scotus knelt before Mary’s image preparing to champion her sinlessness against the antagonists, he asked her to bend her head forward if she were pleased with his efforts. The image of Mary inclined her head, and from that very moment the head of the image remained inclined.

Upon witnessing this miracle, the faithful championed the cause of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, praying to her under the title and receiving answers to petitions, special graces and miracles.

The statue survived the French Revolution, and is currently on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris, which describes it as “unquestionably the most beautiful piece of ronde-bosse (in the round) ivory carving ever made,” just as She is the most beautiful creature ever to have been created by God.

OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL

Our Lady of Genazzano
Or Our Lady of Good Counsel

George Kastrioti Skanderbeg (1405–1467), also known as Iskander, or by his more colorful title, the Dragon of Albania. He was a great warrior and leader of the people of Albania who fought against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into his kingdom. An invincible opponent of Islam, the reason for his successes was no secret: he “loved the sanctuary of Mary with a devoted, enthusiastic love; and Mary in return, not only made him a model of Christian perfection, but also gave him an invincible power, which preserved not only Albania but also Christendom during his reign.”

There was at this time a miraculous painting located in the town of Scutari, which was the capital of Albania. Our Lady of Scutari, now known as Our Lady of Good Counsel and Our Lady of Genazzano, is an image of Our Lady holding her Divine Son which had been painted on a thin sheet of plaster by an unknown hand. This portrait, reputed to date from the time of the Apostles of Christ, was greatly venerated and beloved by the faithful Albanian people. It was Our Lady of Scutari who had consoled and preserved Iskander through all his trials.

After his victories, Iskander went to kneel before the image of Our Lady of Scutari, thanking and publicly praising her for his success. “He was a hero formed in the same school as all those who derive their strength from their devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Like a new Saint Fernando III, King of Castile, Scanderbeg was, under the guidance of Mary, as gentle in peace as he was terrible in war. The good Christian prince was often seen at her feet to beg the protection of his Lady in his greatest afflictions.”

Pope Nicholas V called Iskander “the champion and shield of Christendom,” which was true, although it was the Blessed Virgin Mary who protected her champion and granted him his victories. The prince and unvanquished warrior, whose strength of soul gave his compatriots fortitude to throw off their lethargy, courage to rise up against the oppressive infidels, daring to despise death and thus expel them from their country, moved his subjects not only by example but also by his unbreakable faith, his ardent charity, and his unshakable hope. Scanderbeg was God’s sword against the enemies of the holy Catholic Faith, the impregnable defensive wall protecting his realm.

At the end of his life, physically exhausted from his labors, Iskander sensed that his death was near. He went one last time to visit Our Lady of Scutari at her shrine, and then retired to the city of Lesh to die. There he won a final battle against the Turks before he laid down and gave up his soul to God. He had ended his life heroically as a powerful defender of the Catholic faith and of Christendom.

He fell asleep, and in his dream a mysterious old man entered his tent to him to advise him that it was God’s will that he would be victorious in the coming engagement against the Moors. Afterward, he was awakened by his guard, who told him there was an old man waiting outside who wished to speak to him. King Afonso bade him enter, and was started to see it was the old man from his dream. The old man said: “Alfonso, have confidence, because you will conquer and destroy these infidel kings, you will smash their power and the Lord will appear to you.” He then instructed the king to leave his camp that night, without any attendant, at the sound of the church bell ringing from the old man’s hermitage.

It was dark, and the night seemed ominous and strangely vacant when King Afonso heard the mournful toll of the bell. He took up his sword and shield and mounted his horse to ride alone from the camp. A heavy cloud cover blotted out the light of the moon and stars when suddenly an intense beam of light illuminated the night from the East, and in this resplendent light a Cross appeared bearing the crucified Christ. King Afonso dismounted and prostrated himself before the image of the King of Kings when he heard a voice telling him that he would indeed be victorious against the Moors. Trusting in God, King Afonso went into battle and won an impressive victory against the five kings. It is said that Saint James, the Moorslayer, appeared during the battle to guarantee the victory of the Christian army.

King Afonso went on to win other great battles against the Moors, doubling the size of the kingdom of Portugal that he had founded.

OUR LADY OF MORENETA, SPAIN

The one and only “Lady of Spain,” is a black Madonna who reigns from the lofty heights of Montserrat. The Virgin smiles down from her place of honor above the main altar of the Basilica of Montserrat. La Moreneta means the “Little Black One.” The statue is four feet high and made of wood, blackened from the smoke of innumerable candles which have burned before her through the ages. Our Lady of Moreneta is seated upon a chair and holds her Divine Child who has a fir apple in His left hand. Our Queen is clothed in a golden mantle, a tunic and a veil of diverse colors; the Infant wears a simple tunic, and He and His Mother wear matching wooden crowns. The miraculous statue reposes upon a gleaming throne of marble, and over all, the sunlight diffuses glow. The origin of the statue and the manner in which it first came to a lowly grotto in the mountainside is not known, but is told by an uninterrupted folklore describing its descent from heaven. The legends date from the ninth century when it is believed the hermits who dwelt in caves kept watch over a tiny chapel known as Santa Maria de Montserrat. Reliable documents have it that a great monastic center was founded among the same cliffs in the eleventh century and that a small black statue of the Madonna drew the kings of Aragon, the monarchs of Spain, Emperor Charles V, saints, and celebrities, as well as common folks to the difficult mountain. Here arduous pilgrimages terminated, and here wondrous miracles were wrought.

As the fame of La Moreneta spread, her original chapel underwent many transformations before the basilica was constructed in the sixteenth century. Now the first chapel is called the “Holy grotto” and is decorated within with marble, fine tapestries, and two altars; one to Saint Scholastica, the other to Saint Benedict so that Mass can be said on feast-days and other special occasions.

Montserrat, or “Saw-tooth Mountain,” which Our Lady chose for her shrine is believed to have an intrinsic holiness. Its highest peak bears the name. Tradition says this is the place the devil took Christ after His forty days fast; there is possibility of this being true. Legend further says it was the sight of the Holy Grail in Wagner’s opera “Parsifal.” The mountain of the shrine is 4,070 feet high, multicolored and interspersed with lush patches of tropic vegetation.

OUR LADY OF QUITO, ECUADOR (1534)

This miraculous image of Our Lady of Quito, currently in the capital of Ecuador, is said to date from the first Spanish settlement there in the year 1534. At the very least, it has certainly been venerated there for a long time, and is popularly called by the people of Quito Our Lady of the Earthquake. The painting represents the Sorrowful Mother, and in the early years of the twentieth century, devotion to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Quito was introduced into England by the Servite Friars in London. Pope Saint Pius X accorded them an indulgence for those who should pray before her picture, and the devotion was greatly promoted in England by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, Mother Cornelia Connelly’s congregation. The original image at Quito was solemnly crowned in 1918. On April 20, 1906, thirty-six boys attending the boarding school of the Jesuit Fathers at Quito, Ecuador, together with Father Andrew Roesch, witnessed the first miracle of this famous picture of Our Lady. While in the refectory they all saw the Blessed Mother slowly open and shut her eyes. The same miracle occurred no less than seven times after that, in favor of the boys at the school, but this time in the chapel to which the picture had been taken.

Ecclesiastical authorities soon investigated these incidents and finally concluded by ordering the picture to be transferred in procession from the college to the church of the Jesuit Fathers. Once at the church the prodigy was repeated several times before large crowds, and many, many conversions took place because of these miracles. At one time the wonder continued for three consecutive days. At Riobamba, before a faithful reproduction of Our Lady of Quito, the same wonder was seen by more than 20 persons, including the president of the city. In Quito this picture is known as the Dolorosa del Colegie.

OUR LADY OF FAITH ( NOTRE-DAME DE FOY or NOTRE-DAME DE FOI )

Not far from the small town of Dinant, in the country of Liege near a home belonging to the lord of Celles, two magnificent oaks once grew. One of the two venerable old trees was felled in the year 1609 for lumber. The worker who inspected the tree found in the interior a small statue of the Mother of God, enthroned, as it were, with three iron bars that served as a trellis. Apparently, at some time in the distant past, some pious Christian soul had placed the holy image in a hollow of the oak, as if in a niche. Then, over a period of time, the opening the tree had made while it was still young gradually closed, and as it grew, the tree hid in its womb the precious figure. To honor the Virgin, the statue was subsequently displayed on the other oak, once again behind an iron grating, by order of Baron of Celles. In this new sanctuary the Mother of God was honored with the title of Our Lady of Faith. Those passing by did not fail to venerate the statue; and there were many unexpected healings. Graces of all kinds multiplied, and soon pilgrims began to flock to the area because of the dazzling miracles.

A priest of the Society of Jesus had recently been sent to Gravelines. He worked diligently to cultivate souls, as if upon a fruitful vine, and by his sermons excited the people of the region to a greater love for the Mother of God. Seeing that this devotion had taken root, he met with the local Magistrate to discuss how to maintain and increase the piety of the people. It was decided that they should make replicas of the statue of Our Lady of Faith, made from the wood of the first oak. When the first was completed, the image was observed to have a great resemblance to the original. Received with great joy, it was to be placed in a large reliquary above the high altar in the parish church.

The image of Mary, Our Lady of Faith (de Foy), was solemnly installed by the Bishop of St. Omer on the feast of the Ascension. Since the year 1622 she has been honored by huge gatherings of the faithful. Great numbers of miracles occurred and still occur daily, says Father Boil, and he cites as support of his assertion a booklet entitled: Remarkable Healings made through the invocation of Our Lady of Faith, Gravelines, which was a booklet printed at St. Omer in 1623, with the approval of the Bishop.

To satisfy the pious zeal of the faithful, the venerated image of Our Lady of Faith was frequently reproduced. The oak, which for so many years had contained the image, served this purpose, as its wood was used to create other similar statues of Our Lady of Foy. The additional statues of the Holy Virgin which were distributed to churches in Bailleul, Dilingue, Gravelines, Huy, Lille, Lobbes, Marchiennes Montmartre, Saint-Omer, Oudenbourg, Reims, Ruislip, an D’Furnes, among others. These cities were honored to possess this image of Mary, and welcomed the statue, made of the same wood of the tree of Foy. In all of these various localities Our Lady of Faith began to work many wonders.

Of all the images made of wood modeled after the original Madonna, the most famous perhaps is the one that is kept today at the cathedral of Amiens. The statue was placed in the church of the Augustinian religious at the beginning of the year 1629, whose monastery was located in the parish of Saint Michael. As of May 3 of that year wonderful miracles began to occurr, and soon the Bishop of Amiens, Francois Le Febvre de Caumartin, formed a commission to study and conduct the necessary investigations. He ended by canonically recognizing devotion to the image and published four major miracles which had occurred, including the most striking being the resurrection of a dead child.

Here are some details recalling this memorable prodigy. A child had fallen into a pit and been buried for several hours. The devout Christians who struggled to rescue him did all in their power to revive him, but to no avail. Finally, the people took the child before the statue of Our Lady of Foy and knelt to pray with confidence for Our Lady’s intercession. Immediately the child showed signs of life and awakened as if from sleep.

At Gravelines, there had been a child who died at birth. While he was being prepared for his burial, the sorrowful mother invoked Mary in the image of Our Lady of Faith. Suddenly, a life-giving warmth spread through the child’s icy members, who then began to cry and shake his small hands. The child received baptism, and now grows under the watchful eyes of his mother, for whom he is a constant consolation.

A ship captain related that his ship had recently sunk beneath the waves, and that the sailors and passengers aboard had all perished. The captain alone remained struggling against the swells, without hope of rescue, and recalled that he himself was near death. In his pressing moment of need he has recourse to Our Lady of Faith, and vowed to make a pilgrimage to the church if he should live. Although he was three leagues from Gravelines, he was instantly transported to the shore and hastened to fulfill his vow.

On another occasion, a father, whose child had died, came to Amiens carrying the lifeless body of his infant son. The child had been baptized out of necessity by the hands of his grandmother. The father arrived at the church of the convent during the celebration of Holy Mass. He set the child before the image of Our Lady of Faith, and the little corpse revived before the wondering eyes of the faithful during the Elevation.

The chaplain of the queen-mother, who was a former canon of the cathedral, split the press of people and inquired whether the child had been baptized. On the negative reply of the father, who falsely believed the grandmother’s baptism had been invalid, the priest renewed the sacramental rite and gave the name of Augustine to the happy child of the Blessed Virgin. Sometime after the miracle, the child died again and was buried in the cemetery of Saint James. After thirteen days the body was exhumed, and there was no sign of any corruption.

During the plague of 1634 which ravaged Amiens, the people of the town processed with the image of Our Lady of Foy, and the bishop presided over the ceremony and celebrated the Pontifical Mass. The plague ceased.

In the year 1636 the noble ladies were frequently seen with their maids of honor praying before the holy image, and Cardinal Richelieu who attend the litanies that were sung every day in this blessed sanctuary. In addition, the brotherhood, established under the title of Our Lady of Foy, included a number of high ranking personages, including King Louis XIII, Anne of Autriclhe, King Louis XIV, Queen Marie-Therese, King Louis XV, as well as the members of the noblest and most illustrious families of Picardy. The religious association had chosen as its main feast the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, a mystery that recalls so perfectly the incomparable faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

All of these prodigies had an immense effect, and the number of extraordinary favors soon became considerable. The miraculous Madonna of Foy drew the faithful more than ever in all their necessities.

The image of Our Lady of Foy was hidden to protect it from the impious during the time of the French Revolution.

Afterwards, the image was returned to the church, but the little Madonna became lost in the vastness of the cathedral, and received the homage of only a few souls who knew and remembered.

In 1878, Bishop Battle, of pious memory, celebrated Mass at Notre-Dame de Foy, and the restoration of this cult was finally decided. Soon the venerable Chapter, supported by the bishop, asked the Pope to deign to open the treasure of indulgences. Many devotions and pilgrimages were once again made in her honor, and candles were constantly kept burning before her image. Every 15thof August, the Feast of the Assumption, there again resumed public recitation of Litanies along with processions as the people showed their love and appreciation for their Heavenly Mother. Since then Our Lady of Faith constantly gathers new testimonies of love by her precious favors.

OUR LADY OF AFRICA, ALGIERS (1876)

In our day we think of North Africa as being dominated by Islam, but in the 2nd century AD the region was part of the Roman Empire, and in the 3rd century, under the Emperor Constantine, it began to become Christian. This was once the land of Saint Augustine, and remained Christian until the Arab invasions in later centuries. The French re-established themselves early in the 19th century. There was, of course, no church in Algiers when the first bishop arrived, and the local population was hostile to the French. As he had no money to build a church, Bishop Dupuch went back to France to appeal for any assistance. The Sodality of Our Lady in Lyon had a bronze statue of the Immaculate Conception that they offered to the bishop with the understanding that she would be the Protectress of both the Mohammedans and the natives. It was brought from France in 1840 and was for long entrusted to the Cistercian monks of Staueli; then Cardinal Lavigiers, founder of the White Sisters, enshrined it in the new basilica at Algiers, where in 1876 the image was crowned.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, or Notre Dame d’Afrique, was eventually built, and is situated on a height overlooking the Bay of Algiers. It took fourteen years to construct in an attractive Neo-Byzantine style, and was consecrated in the year 1872.

The statue donated by the sodality became known as Our Lady of Africa, and the statue venerated in Algiers today is this same bronze image, very dark in color, but with European features. Pilgrims began to come to venerate the image where the lame, the blind, and the crippled were miraculously healed, and sailors came also to beg for protection of their long and perilous voyages. The walls of the basilica are now covered with votive offerings testifying to the assistance the faithful had received from the Mother of Mercy.

At this and other North African shrines the veneration given to Mary by Mohammedans is very marked. The full name of Cardinal Lavigiers’ congregation of White Sisters is Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. There is an indulgenced prayer to Mary under that title for the conversion of the Africans on the apse: Notre Dame d’Afrique priez pour nous et pour les Musulmans (Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims.) There is a proper feast commemorated for the crowning of the Algiers statue on April 30.