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OUR LADY OF STECCATA

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Day 288: February 24 Our Lady of Steccata, Parma, Italy On the site of the current church of the Steccata there was an oratory built since 1392 to house a venerated image of St John the Baptist painted in fresco on the external wall of a house in St Barnabas Street (today Via Garibaldi): the building then became the seat of a Confraternity dedicated to the Virgin Annunciation and aimed at distributing marriage dowries for poor, unmarried girls without paternal protection. Towards the end of the fourteenth century on the façade of the oratory was painted the picture of Our Lady, which soon became the object of particular devotion by the people of Parma; from the fact that the area of the building was protected by a fence, perhaps built precisely to regulate the influx of numerous pilgrims, that Virgin began to be invoked with the title of Our Lady of Steccata. To better preserve the precious image, in 1521 the members decided to have a grandiose sanctuary built. On 4 April 1521 the bish...
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OUR LADY OF GRACE

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Day 287: February 23 Our Lady of Grace or of St Christopher Pennabili, Pesaro, Marche, Italy The devotion to Our Lady of Grace, venerated in the ancient parish church of St Christopher, is linked to highly reported interventions in favor of the city. On February 23, 1517, the venerated Image appeared surrounded by light on the city walls, to put to flight the Florentine militias who wanted to devastate the city. The same prodigy was renewed on February 23, five years later, in 1522. It was March 20, the third Friday of the month, in 1489, when the image of Our Lady of Grace was seen shedding tears from her right eye, in the presence of all the people. Word of the prodigy spread in a flash. Everyone ran to see, everyone shouted a miracle. In memory of the fact, the Confraternity of Our Lady of Graces was established that same year, whose acts begin with the authentic account of the prodigy, drawn up by order of Monsignor Celso Mellini, bishop of Montefeltro, and signed by fourteen eyewi...
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MARIAN APPARITION AT POGGIO

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Day 286: February 22 Marian Apparition, Poggio di Castle of St Petre, Bologna Mary's maternal goodness has never failed in the moments of need of the Christian people, indeed precisely when the difficulties are greater, Mary's presence becomes more alive in many ways and in different circumstances, as the many Shrines scattered everywhere testify to us. The Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin in Poggio di Castel San Pietro, in the province of Bologna, stands on the site of the Marian apparition to a poor old woman, beggar and blind, on February 22, 1550. It stands in the Bolognese plain, halfway along the road that connects Castel San Pietro to Medicina, at an equal distance from the town of Castel Guelfo, to the east. The territory, in 1500, depended on the city of Bologna, and its numerous "castles" or "fortified villages" formed its defensive walls. The powerful families that dominate Bologna are in continuous revolt, for power, against the papal government o...
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OUR LADY OF GRACE

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Day 285: February 21 Our Lady of Grace of Anderlecht, Scheut area, Belgium In 1443, Pierre Van Assche, an old peasant planted a lime tree and two hawthorn on a hill in the Scheut area (now a district of Anderlecht) on the way to Brussels. In one of these trees (which tradition sometimes transforms into an oak) he inserted a wooden statuette of the Virgin and Child. In 1449, the night before Pentecost, some villagers saw a glow coming from the place where the statuette was located, so pilgrimages to Our Lady of Grace (the Madonna delle Grazie) began. On February 21, 1450, Charles the Bold, then Count of Charolais, laid the foundation stone for a chapel to celebrate the first Mass. The Gothic church of Our Lady of Graces was consecrated in 1531. Due to the Wars of Religion it was abandoned in 1578. Damaged and then rebuilt during the 1580's during the Reformation, the chapel was sold under the French Republic around 1795, while the monastery was moved to Brussels. The surrounding are...
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OUR LADY OF THE STAIRS

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Day 284: February 20 Our Lady of the Stairs of Massafra, Taranto, Puglia, Italy Our Lady of the Stairs (the Madonna della Scala) venerated in Massafra is the main protector of the Ionian town. St Mark and St Peter evangelized Puglia. They also went to Massafra, where they built a crypt dedicated to the Virgin Mother of Christ in the Rosarum Valley. In the year 102, the people of Massafra had an image of Our Lady painted in this crypt, which was called the Prisca. In the year 324 there was a strong earthquake that struck the villages of Massafra, Petruscio, Turio and Pasifo, and caused the crypts of the ravine to collapse. Among these, that of the Madonna Prisca was destroyed. About a century later, hunters came across a beautiful doe. They tried to capture it, but in vain. They chased it until the doe suddenly stopped and knelt on a large boulder. Those men cleaned the boulder and found the painting of the Madonna and Child there. After contemplating it, two of them went to the village...
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OUR LADY OF SORROWS OF CAMPIVERI

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Day 283: February 19 Our Lady of Sorrows of Campiveri (L'Addolorata dei Campiveri), Cividate al Piano, Bergamo, Italy Cividate al Piano is located on the edge of the right escarpment of the Oglio, 22 km from Bergamo. The ancient village preserves the remains of a medieval castle that dates back to the thirteenth century, now reduced to an imposing ruin, which however testifies to the struggles that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries also bloodied these localities. The parish church is ancient in origin, but as it is today, it dates back to the eighteenth century. The approximately 5,000 inhabitants, at the last census, are dedicated to work in industry and agriculture. In 1630, to commemorate the inhabitants of the town who died from the plague, a country oratory was built in Campiveri, where Our Lady of Sorrows is painted next to the Crucifix with Saints Rocco and Sebastian. There is no trace of this chapel because it is incorporated into the new sanctuary built between 189...
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OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY OF ROTA

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Day 282: February 18 Our Lady of the Rosary of Rota, Cadiz, Spain The city of Rota is a municipality of Almería province, located in the province of Cádiz, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It borders the towns of Chipiona, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María. It is located 36 kilometers from the provincial capital, Cadiz. Located near the Bay of Cádiz on the Atlantic coast, halfway between Portugal and Gibraltar, it is a tourist city par excellence. Although we are not able to document the origins of devotion to the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary in the city of Rota, we can say that the image dates back to the 1500's. The oldest document that refers to this devotion is dated 1671 and speaks of a Brotherhood established by Doña Juana for the devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary. The church was built under the patronage of Duke Rodrigo Ponce de Leon and Ponce de Leon, 1st Duke of Arcos and Mr Rota, in the first third of the sixteenth century in the Elizabet...
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