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APPARITION OF OUR LADY TO ST AGNES OF MONTEPULCIANO

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Day 38: June 18 This “little lamb” was born not far from Montepulciano in 1268. She expressed a desire to give her life to God and practiced pious exercises from an early age. Now and then, her parents gave in to her requests to visit the various convents in town. On one such occasion, Agnes and her mother were passing a house of ill repute, when a flock of crows suddenly descended upon her, pecking and scratching the little girl. Her mother remarked that the crows represented demonic forces threatened by her purity. Indeed, years later, Agnes would be asked to found a convent on that very spot. In her teens, Agnes joined the Franciscans in Montepulciano and rose to become its prioress. Small white flakes in the form of crosses fell gently from the heavens in celebration. It is said that the sisters have preserved some of these until today. In 1306, God inspired Agnes to found a Dominican convent with three stones given her by the Blessed Mother in honor of the Trinity. The Blessed Mot...
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OUR LADY OF THE FOREST

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 Day 38: June 17 In 1380 there lived near Lesneven a good old man named Salaun or Solomon. He had no one to care for him, lived alone, and did not associate with any person; he walked with his eyes to the ground, but his heart in Heaven. As the years went by, old and crippled as he was, he might be seen every evening hobbling toward the chapel of the Blessed Virgin where he spent most of the night in prayer after the villagers had returned to the warmth and security of their own homes. He was a simple man of the woods, and here where the chapel of Our Lady of the Forest was later built he slept in the open under an oak tree near a fountain. Solomon loved to swing from the branches of a tree that hung over the fountain, all the while singing his praises to “Ave Maria!” at the top of his lungs. He begged for bread each day to obtain his meals, and in doing so he was often laughed at, jeered at and otherwise mistreated by the small boys. He was commonly known to one and all as “The Fo...
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OUR LADY OF AIX LA CHAPELLE

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 Day 37: June 16 Charlemagne began the construction of the Palatine Chapel around 792, along with the building of the rest of the palace structures. It was consecrated in 805 by Pope Leo III in honor of the Virgin Mary. The building is a centrally planned, domed chapel. The east end had a square apse, and was originally flanked by two Basilican structures, now lost but known through archaeology. The chapel was entered through a monumental atrium, to the west. The plan and decoration of the building combines elements of Classical, Byzantine and Pre-Romanesque, and opulent materials as the expression of a new royal house, ruled by Charlemagne. The antique bronze doors of Our Lady of Aix la Chapelle are surmounted by regal lion heads, and they date from the time of Charlemagne. The short pillars of what is called the nave support an octagon shaped cupola of 50 feet in diameter. They date from the 12th and 13th centuries, and were brought from Rome for that purpose. These pillars were ...
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OUR LADY OF TAPER

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 Day 36: June 15 Popular tradition tells how, in the Middle Ages, a beautiful statue of Our Lady, her Son on her lap, and a burning taper in her hand, appeared on the banks of the River Teifi in Cardiganshire.  Any attempt to move the statue to the parish church in Cardigan resulted in its reappearing at the spot where it first appeared.  It became a place of pilgrimage and St Mary’s church was built on that spot in 1158.  The original statue was destroyed in the Reformation. At the beginning of the 20th century, monks from Brittany gave their abbey church the name of Our Lady of Cardigan and revived the devotion.  They made the same dedication to the small church they built in Cardigan in 1912.  The monks left in 1916 and the devotion lapsed. In 1952, Bishop Petit learned that there had once been a shrine in Cardigan and decided to restore it.  He commissioned a new statue, which was blessed in Westminster Cathedral in 1956. Unfortunately the statue w...
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OUR LADY OF ARRAS

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 Day 35: June 14 In the year 371, there fell from heaven at Arras, something like white wool, mixed with heavy rain, of which mention is made by St. Jerome.  It is maintained that the famine, great in the country, was alleviated thus, because the inhabitants of Arras prayed to the Blessed Virgin who sent them this heavenly bread, commonly called manna.  Some remains of this are still to be seen in the church dedicated to Mary’s honor. There is also a legend regarding the above-mentioned shrine, that Our Lady bestowed on two jongleurs a sacred candle which had power to cure persons afflicted with the then raging plague, known as the “Sacred Fire”. St Justin Russolillo Writes... "We believe in the participation of Mary in the divine perfections, and in the divine immensity. We feel her presence near every soul, in all the houses of God, in all religious houses of formation for the apostolate, in all our Vocationist residences."  ( Opera Omnia, Vol I , no. 352, quoted i...
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Second Apparition of Fatima

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 Day 34: June 13 June 13, 1917. It was children's feast in Portugal, so the parents of Lúcia naturally thought that the festivities at the parish church in Fátima would distract her from the appointment at the Cova. However, undismayed by this tactic Lúcia and the Marto children proceeded to the apparition site to keep their noon day rendezvous. When they arrived they found a small crowd awaiting them. After having said the rosary with Jacinta and Francisco and other people who were present, we saw again the reflection of light nearing us, (we used to say it was lightening), and following, Our Lady on the holm oak as in May. "Please tell me, Madam, what it is that you want of me?" I want you to come here on the thirteenth of next month. I want you to continue saying the Rosary every day. And after each one of the mysteries, my children, I want you to pray in this way: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins , save us from the fire of hell. Take all souls to heaven, especially tho...
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OUR LADY OF CRANGANOR

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 Day 33: June 12 In the East Indies stands the church and the shrine of Our Lady of Cranganor, which it is asserted, was built by one of the three Kings who visited the Divine Child and His Blessed Mother. India was one of the countries that had the privilege of receiving the light of Faith at the dawn of Christianity. History relates that Saint Thomas the Apostle came to India at Cranganor in 52 AD. Cranganor was a leading port and commercial center in ancient and medieval India, associated with the ancient port of Miziris, north of Cochin. Medieval travelers (including Benjamin of Tudela) refer to it as Shingli, Shinkali or Ginjalek. The place is now known as Kodungallur. There the Christians are still known as Saint Thomas Faithful. Kerala, as the place is also known, is cut off by the mountain ranges from the rest of India, and has held firmly to the Faith, regardless of the gloom of the rest of the continent. The deep spirituality of the Catholics evidences their great love fo...
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