Walk with Mary throughout the Year

Day 275: February 11 Our Lady of Lourdes, France In 1858, there lived in the village of Lourdes, a small peasant woman, Bernadette Soubirous, 14 years old, ignorant, simple, poor and good. On February 11, she was sent with two other girls to collect wood. They went to the Rock of Massabielle , where the two companions crossed a mountain stream; while Bernadette was taking off her shoes to follow them, she realized a beautiful, enchanting Lady, standing in the hollow of the rock, looking at her. Bernadette fell involuntarily on her knees, looking enchanted at the beautiful Lady, who smiled lovingly at Bernadette and then disappeared. The mysterious Lady of Heaven appeared in all, eighteen times to the little girl and among other things told her to drink water from a mysterious fountain that had not yet been discovered. Bernadette scratched the sand at a point indicated, and the water began to flow through the earth; After a few days, 27,000 gallons of pure, clear spring water was pourin...

Day 274: February 10 Our Lady of Gibilmanna, Cefal ù , Palermo, Italy The sanctuary stands in the middle of oak and chestnut woods, at 800 metres above sea level. The name itself indicates its position (Gebel, mountain) associated with the now disappeared production of manna. The image of Our Lady of oriental origin was venerated in an ancient monastery founded by St Gregory the Great. Feast of Our Lady of Gibilmanna , patron saint of the diocese of Cefalù (PA), is on the first Sunday of September. The celebrations take place at the beautiful Sanctuary of Gibilmanna , attracting pilgrims and devotees from all over the world. In this Sanctuary the Crucifix spoke to a monk saying, "Here my mother reigns... turn to her for graces." Inside the Sanctuary is kept the image of the Madonna under which a lamp burns incessantly. Every year, the oil that feeds the lamp is offered to Our Lady by one of the various municipalities of the Diocese. During the feast days, crowds of pilgrims ...

Day 273: February 9 Our Lady of the Castle, Fiorano, Modena, Italy The Sanctuary is located 18 kilometers from Modena, on the top of the Fiorano hill where, until 1510, there was an ancient and famous castle. The Sanctuary houses the prodigious image of the Madonna, which, painted on the external door of the castle since 1460, remained intact for many years, despite the bad weather and the vicissitudes of the times. In 1558, after the castle was destroyed, the image remained miraculously unscathed. Other miracles took place when, in 1630 and 1855, the people of Fiorano were unharmed first by the plague and then by cholera. In 1631, a first oratory was built, later a church. On October 12, 1659, the image of the Blessed Virgin of the Castle was transferred to the Sanctuary, built to a design by Bartolomeo Luigi Avanzino. The main façade of the Sanctuary is in Baroque style, inaugurated on September 8, 1889 and has details in common with the church of the Trinità dei Monti in Rome, w...

Day 272: February 8 Our Lady of Help, Minucciano, Lucca, Italy This shrine started as a small oratory at the end of the 1400's, dedicated to the Our Lady of Help (Madonna del Soccorso) , depicted by the Virgin who, with a serene face and a stick in her hand, defends a child who was about to be kidnapped by the devil. In 1550 the bishop of the diocese of Luni , to which Minucciano territorially belonged, approved a lay confraternity dedicated to the Madonna del Soccorso . The priors chose a suitable person to guard this oratory as a hermit. The hermits who have lived from then until today in the Hermitage of Soccorso amount to twelve: today three live there, one of whom is a priest. All of them have been buried there, with the exception of the last, Marco Cortesi . The Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin of Help in Minucciano is one of the sixteen hermitages that existed in the Garfagnana . It is about two kilometers from the village and, like many other Garfagnana hermitages, is lo...

Day 271: February 7 Our Lady of the Door, Guastalla, Reggio Emilia, Italy In 1646 on the inner wall of the Porta di S. Francesco (Door of St Francis), near the guard post, the painter Damiano Padovani from Guastalla , commissioned by two officers and with the contribution of the same soldiers who were stationed there, painted a fresco depicting a Madonna and Child with St Francis and St Charles Borromeo at her feet. In front of this image, fires were often lit to warm up during guard shifts. The smoke progressively blackened the fresco. In 1689-90 the walls were demolished, but the gate was spared. The neighborhood was abandoned and the painting over the decades was lost in oblivion and damaged by the neglect of time. However, not everyone lost memory of the fresco. Among them was an ex-soldier who had often served there, Giovanni Battista Zagni of about 60 years old and suffering from severe blindness. The first miracle consisted in the complete recovery of Zagni's sight which ...

Day 270: February 6 Mother of Mercy (Mater Pietatis, Oratory of Fr Caravita, Rome, Italy By 1631, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) had established itself next to the Roman College, and sought to expand nearby to accommodate the active Sodalites and lay congregations that met regularly in the College. The Jesuits bought the property from the Camaldolese in exchange for a site near Piazza Venezia. The Camaldolese moved to San Romualdo, and the Jesuits set about demolishing the old church and monastery in favor of a new oratory. The current oratory was built by the Jesuit Pietro Gravita SJ, from 1631 to 1633, with the financial support of a number of noble families who resided in the neighborhood near the Pantheon. The building was inaugurated on 8 September 1631 with the blessing of Bishop Emilio Altieri, a student of the Roman College and bishop of Camerino , in the Marche region, from 1627 to 1666. Created cardinal in 1669, Bishop Altieri was elected Pope Clement X in 1670. The orator...