Walk with Mary throughout the Year

Day 344: April 22 Our Lady of Splendor, Giulianova, Teramo, Italy "On April 22, 1557, it pleased the Lord to give a sign of his divine goodness by making known to the people of Giulianova the Virgin of Splendor."  This is what we read in the first chronicle that the prior father of the Celestine Monks, Don Pietro Capullo, wrote in the years 1657-1674 and which served as a source for Don Niccola Palma for his Ecclesiastical and Civil History ... of the city of Teramo and the Diocese of Aprutina (Teramo, 1832-1836). "On a small hill, outside the walls of Giulianova, a pious peasant, tired from having collected firewood to take to his house in Cotogna, went to rest around noon in the shade of a leafy olive tree. Bertolino, as the farmer was called, was about to fall asleep when he saw a dazzling light among the branches of the tree and, in the center, the Virgin Mary who said to him:  "Come, Bertolino, get up and go quickly to Giulianova and spread throughout the count...

Day 343: April 21 Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag, Manaoag, Pangasinan, Philippines The shrine of Manaoag, built as a result of an apparition, is located about 200 km north of Manila. Here we find an ivory image of Our Lady of the Rosary from the 16th century, particularly venerated by the Filipino faithful. Pope Pius XI crowned the image on April 21, 1926, while Benedict XVI canonically approved the granting of a "special bond of spiritual affinity in perpetuity," through which pilgrims will have the guarantee of the same blessings and the right to a plenary indulgence equal to that received when visiting Rome's papal basilica of St Mary Major. Tradition has it that the name given to the city of Manaoag derives from the verb mantaoag , which means "to call". And indeed here the Blessed Virgin appeared calling a peasant. The statue of Our Lady of Manaoag is a 17th-century ivory image of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus placed on the main altar of the Basil...

Day 342: April 20 Our Lady of the Slap, Vercelli, Italy The ancient statue of Our Lady of the thirteenth century is made from a single piece of white marble. On the left cheek she has a large livid spot, as if she had received a blow. A tradition tells that in 1200 a certain scandalous drinker and blasphemer, for having remained without the possibility of satisfying his passion, with a sacrilegious gesture hit the statue with a strong slap right on the left cheek. The mark would remain indelible in the holy Image. Another legend of the foundation of the sanctuary tells that a player, in the first half of the sixteenth century, angry at having lost, would have hit the statue of Our Lady kept in the cathedral of Vercelli, which would have started to bleed. The player, unable to leave the church, would later be executed. Since then it has become a destination of devotion especially on the occasion of epidemics and calamities. The statue of the Virgin, after the miracle of the slap, was ke...

Day 342: April 19 Our Lady of Lyons, France St Pothinus, the Apostle of Gaul, is said to have kept a painting of Our Lady in an underground chapel that now sits beneath the church of St Nazaire in Lyons, where many Christians suffered death in the Ancient Forum on the hill called "Hill of Blood." In 1186 the Canons of the Cathedral began to build a larger church above the sanctuary. In thanksgiving for the care of his son by Saint Pothinus, King Louis VII of France made a pilgrimage to Lyon, where he had a votive tablet made in front of the sanctuary of Our Lady. In 1466, King Louis XI founded a daily Mass in perpetuity, always followed by the solemnly sung Salve Regina . Vast pilgrimages had come to seek Mary's help, especially in times of famine and pestilence. During the plague of 1643, it was decided to dedicate the city to Our Lady. Immediately all traces of the plague vanished and, until 1792, twenty-five Masses were celebrated every day in thanksgiving. During the ...

Day 341: April 18 Our Lady of Good Health, Monteortone, Padua, Italy On the Euganean Hills, on the outskirts of Abano Terme, there is a famous Marian shrine, which for over five centuries, following an apparition of the Virgin, is a place of convergence of the Christian faith of the neighboring Venetian-Euganean peoples: it is the sanctuary of the Madonna della Salute (Our Lady of Good Health) of Monteortone. It is an artistic monument of faith, which consecrates to the Mother of God this very fortunate stretch of Venetian land, miraculously visited and miraculously blessed by Mary’s maternal assistance. After many battles and following serious injuries that made the articulation of his lower limbs difficult, Pietro Falco went to Monteortone (Padua) on the advice of friends and doctors to search for healing or, at least, some relief from the injuries. He was a God-fearing man and had experienced the special protection, during his actions in warfare, by miraculously escaping death many ...

Day 340: April 17 Our Lady of the Miracles in Corbetta, Milan, Italy This sensational news could be considered the result of pure fantasy, if it did not have the support of historical data. The three boys who played in the square were: Cesare dello Stampino, Antonio della Torre and his brother Giovanni Angelo, ten years old, deaf and dumb from birth, familiarly called Navello. On the façade of the church of St Nicolas there was a beautiful image of Our Lady, seated on a throne, with the Child Jesus in her lap. That day, as every day, three boys were playing on the square in front, when suddenly a cry was heard, in an articulate voice: The Child! Our Lady! It interrupted the game and attracted everyone's attention. It was Giovanni himself who first noticed that the Child Jesus had come down to the square to play with them. His wonder flowed into a scream of joy and at the same time he regained the use of speech. The Child Jesus, having left the painting, had taken to the square, obs...