Walk with Mary throughout the Year

Day 144: October 03 Our Lady of the Well, Italy In the heart of the Trevi district, between Largo Chigi and Via del Tritone, stands the splendid Church of Santa Maria in Via, whose history begins as early as the tenth century AD, as evidenced by the mention of a bull of 955 by Pope Agapetus II. The origin of the name in via is instead somewhat uncertain: some believe it may derive from its proximity to Via Lata (today's Via del Corso), a crucial junction of the area; others from its position since, as is still clearly visible today, the church was located in the street, or "in the middle of the street”. What is certain is that in the twelfth century, its destiny changed radically. The church stood next to the stable of the palace of Cardinal Pietro Capocci and it is said that on the night between 26 and 27 September 1254, from the well of the stable, suddenly, the water began to rise, flooding the whole environment! The servants, alarmed by the noise of the horses, rushed to t...

Day 143: October 02 Our Lady of the Assumption, Naples On the second of October, the people of Naples commemorate a special feast in honor of Mary’s passage into Heaven.  Typical of their veneration of Mary in this mystery is an art production from the eleventh century.  The Morgan Library in New York now owns it.  It is interesting, since it depicts the belief of our ancestors in that day when the dogma of the Assumption had not yet been declared. Our Lady is shown in a mandorla, an almond-shaped device, signifying that she is in eternity in heaven, body and soul.  She is shown at full length, frontally faced forward (somewhat stiffly and statically, in manner Byzantine to indicate the serenity and glory of eternity), large-eyed, filling out the mandorla with her noble form.  It is noteworthy that only the Persons of the Trinity and the Blessed Virgin were surrounded by the mandorla in the earliest centuries of Christian art. The crown on Our Lady’s head and th...

Day 142: October 01 Our Lady of Protection            Like a number of the other Marian feasts, this of Our Lady’s protection is first found in Spain, where it was granted in 1656 in thanksgiving for all the victories over the Moors.  It spread  to many other parts of the world on various dates, but has since been dropped from a number of calendars.     Among the Cistercians it has particular reference to St Alberic’s vision of our Lady in which she assured him she would always watch over and protect that order of monks.  The feast is especially observed with reference to the sanctuary of Chartres and Our Lady of Miracles at Lucca.       The word “patronage” is sometimes added to the name of a patronal feast, e.g. Patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Help at Santiago de Guatemala. St Justin Russolillo Writes... "Heaven possesses you now, but earth has not lost you. You carry in your heart the whole world and its in...

Day 141: September 30 Our Lady of Beaumont, Lorraine, France The little shrine of Our Lady of Beaumont (Notre-Dame-de-Bermont) is located in Lorraine, France, between the towns of Domremy and Vancouleurs. For many years the small church was thought to date from the 11th century. It was thought that perhaps it might have been built for a monastery of Benedictine monks, but was subsequently sold to a man named Geoffrey de Bourlemont. We know now it was founded by Antoine Sigismund of Lorraine in the year 920. It is known that St Joan of Arc liked to go to Our Lady of Bermont on pilgrimage on Saturdays when she was a little girl, and also often during the week, to offer candles and flowers to Our Lady. Although a small chapel, it has great importance, as it was here that Joan of Arc commended the affairs of France to the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and it was here that Mary ordered Joan to take up arms to deliver her country of France from the hands of the English. Joan was always faithful...

Day 140: September 29 Our Lady of Tongres, France Our story goes back to the First Crusade and concerns a knight by the name of Hector, who becoming blind while on a crusade, was obliged to return home. One night in the year 1081 while Hector was living in retirement in Tongres, angelic voices were heard in the garden of his castle and lights were seen among the shrubs. The next morning his servants found in the garden a lovely statue of Our Lady. He ordered it to be brought into the castle and had it set up in his private oratory. Here he prayed all night before it and arranged a procession on the following day in honor of the Royal Visitor. That night the statue disappeared, only to be found on the following morning in the garden. Hector gave orders that it was to be covered with a shelter and sent word to the bishop of the place to ask what to do about it. The bishop came himself and convinced that the oratory was the place for the statue. He had it moved. It returned that night its...

Day 139: September 28 Our Lady of Cambron, France The abbey of Cambron was founded on the River Blanche and was a daughter house of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It was situated some leagues from Mons in Cambron-Casteau in Hainaut, Belgium, and took its name from the land on which it was built. Cambron, in its turn, had daughter houses in the abbeys of Fontenelle at Valenciennes and six other sites. The image of Our Lady formerly honored at Cambron was famous for a great number of miraculous cures. A chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Cambron, was built at Mons in 1550 in a part of the prince’s park. In the following centuries the magistrates of Mons had a beautiful door built for the shrine and added other embellishments. In 1559, thieves broke into the chapel and stole everything of value to be found there. There was a small oratory that was very much frequented. After the French Revolution when the State took over all properties given to religious services, this chapel of Our Lady of Cam...