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OUR LADY OF GRACE

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Day 269: February 5 Our Lady of Grace, Este, Padua, Italy The people of Este have always had a lively devotion to Our Lady of Grace; a tangible sign of this is the grandiose Church, a true Basilica, worthy of a great city. The main feast is celebrated on the day of the Nativity of Mary; today (5 February) we commemorate the solemn transfer of the venerated Icon from the ancient seat of St Martin to the current Sanctuary. The painting of the icon, in the world of Byzantine sacred art, was not only an exercise of art, but it responded to precise canons that served the artist as indications to create an image of the mother of God or of the saints that could inspire the faithful who contemplated the painting to bring their soul closer to God and be guided in prayer. The painter himself prepared a path that was not only technical but also spiritual, as he was aware that the icon, well painted, could be considered a work of God Himself, who expressed His perfection through the hands of the i...
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OUR LADY OF FIRE

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Day 268: February 4 Our Lady of Fire, Forl ì , Romagna, Italy The devotion to Our Lady of Fire ( Madonna del Fuoco )   began many years ago, in 1428, when the miracle that many Forlì people witnessed it happening. On the night between 4 and 5 February a fire broke out that destroyed a school, which was located in what is now Via Cobelli , where the church of the Miracle is located today. Lombardino da Riopetroso had been teaching in that school for a few weeks. Not much is known about this teacher: he had arrived in Forlì at the beginning of that year from his village of Valbona , between Bagno di Romagna and Santa Sofia and had taught his students not only to read and write but also to pray in front of the image of Our Lady that was in the school. It was a drawing, more precisely a woodcut, that is, a printed drawing depicting the Madonna surrounded by many saints. Those students are also remembered in the famous hymn to Our Lady of Fire composed in 1928 by two important priests...
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MADONNETTA OF GENOA

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Day 267: February 3 Madonetta of Genoa, Italy The church was built on a stretch of land above the religious house of St Nicholas, donated to the religious by the Senate of the Republic (1641). In that area there was an ancient chapel, dedicated to St James, which Fr Carlo Giacinto had restored in 1689, placing a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms, a gift from the noblewoman Isabella Moneglia , wife of Senator Paride Salvago . The Image, carved in finely decorated alabaster, is the work of Giovanni Romano (Trapani, XVII century); she was affectionately called the Madonnetta . She was crowned four times (14 August 1692,  14 August 1693, 25 December 1700 and 27 June 1920). Numerous faithful soon flocked to the modest chapel from the city and its surroundings, so the Founder decided to hasten the construction of the Sanctuary. Many years earlier (1674-75), he had a surprising vision in the inner chapel of the novitiate: "One day, according to the meditati...
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PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD

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Day 266: February 2 The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple and of the Purification of Our Lady – Candlemas In addition to commemorating the presentation of Christ in the Temple, this day has another meaning, because it is called Candlemas. The candle is one of the most used items in the Church; one blessed at a special Mass. We use candles at Baptism, Holy Mass, and other church services, in particular, at the ordination of a priest, the consecration of a bishop, at Easter, at Christmas to signify in various events the coming and presence of Christ in our midst. Blessed candles should be in every home, to be used in times of illness, death, storms and calamities. In the blessing of candles, the Church reminds us that candles signify light; they are blessed for the service of men, for the health of body and soul. Honor also for those who wish to carry them in their hands because it means carrying Christ, the true light and fire of charity. All of us are invited to bles...
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IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF COPACABANA

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Day 265: February 1 Immaculate Conception of Copacabana,  Bolivia Among the passengers of a ship lost in a storm near Rio de Janeiro, were some Brazilian pilgrims who returned from a visit to the shrine of the Virgin of Copacabana in Bolivia. They invoked the Virgin to intercede for them and they were disembarked safely on the Brazilian coast. In gratitude, they named the spot Copacabana — and it has since become one of the world's favorite resorts in Brazil. In Bolivia, however, a wonderful story of faith and love is being enchanted. Enclosed by beautiful sloping mountains overlooking the azure Lake Titicaca, lies the small cove called Sepa -cabana or Copacabana. The name means "the one who looks at the precious stone", because in the distance, extends the majestic ice necklace of the Andes Cordillera. In this place, at the time of the Inca Empire, lived good Indians whose only task was to prepare for the journeys of the faithful to the Island of the Sun, a few miles on ...
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OUR LADY OF GRONDICI

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Day 264: January 31 Our Lady of Grondici, Tavernelle di Panicale , Perugia, Umbria The sanctuary that houses it was erected following the resurrection of a child, hence the name " Grondici " which derives from " suggrunda ": eaves or canopy that the Romans indicated as the tomb of children under 40 days of life. Children who died without baptism were taken here. The  Grondici , which gave its name to the Sanctuary, is a locality a few kilometers from Tavernelle , in the municipality of Panicale (Perugia) and takes its name from the Latin term sub grunda , under the eaves (of the roof), a place chosen to lay infants who died before baptism, and here to call them in a temporary resurrection in order to administer the sacrament of baptism and have a worthy burial. According to medieval theology, children who died without baptism were destined for limbo and had no right to be buried in a consecrated place, but their little bodies were placed next to the house where th...
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OUR LADY OF THE HELP

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Day 263: January 30 Our Lady of the Help, Busto Arsizio, Varese, Italy The devotion of the people of Busto Arsizio to Our Lady of the Help (Madonna dell'Aiuto) dates back to the Middle Ages. In the primitive church of Santa Maria di Piazza, on the remains of which the current grandiose Sanctuary was built in 1517, an image representing the Virgin was venerated, which had miraculously manifested itself on January 30, 1346. The characteristics of this image are recognizable in a fresco from the late fifteenth century that was located in the courtyard of a house in the area.  The painting, transported on canvas, was destroyed in 1943 during a bombing of Milan, while it was in the restorer's studio. Fortunately, it has remained an excellent and faithful photograph. The Madonna, seated on a throne, holds the Child in her lap, wrapped in a flap of the Mother's cloak, holding a round object, perhaps an apple, as in the delicate Madonnas of the Roses by Luca della Robbia , or a ...
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