OUR LADY OF MONTE SENARIO

 Day 40: June 19



Before the Servites ever existed as an official religious Order, seven prosperous men came together in the city of Florence, Italy. As a reflection of the penitential spirit of the times, it had been the custom of these men to meet regularly as members of a religious society established in honor of Mary, the Mother of God. Eventually, the seven left their comfortable homes, put aside their finery and went to live together in a ramshackle building outside the city walls. The holiness and penitential lifestyle of the seven quickly attracted attention and people seeking prayers and spiritual direction became frequent visitors. To avoid these distractions that they considered a hindrance to the contemplative life they sought, the entire group moved to more peaceful surroundings and established a hermitage on the summit of a nearby mountain, Monte Senario, sometimes known as the “sounding mountain.” Uncertain of what way of life to follow, they turned to Our Lady in prayer and supplication, and she appeared to them on the Feast of the Assumption in the year 1240.

The Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Monte Senario, presented the Seven Holy Founders with the habit of their new order, and an angel stood nearby bearing a scroll that was marked, “Servants of Mary.” He read to the Seven Holy Founders the following words: “You will found a new order, and you will be my witnesses throughout the world. This is your name: Servants of Mary. This is your rule: that of Saint Augustine. And here is your distinctive sign: the black scapular, in memory of my sufferings.”

From that day in 1240, the seven were known as the Servants of Mary, the Order of Servants of Mary, or the Servites. Members of the order take solemn vows to especially honor the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The sorrows are, in order, the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the Holy Child at Jerusalem, meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary, standing at the foot of the Cross, Jesus taken down from the Cross, and the burial of Christ.

According to an ancient document called the “Legenda de Origin ordini,” “Our Lady wanted to begin her Order with seven men to show everyone, with absolute clarity, that she wanted to adorn her Order, endowing it with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.” The Order gained official recognition in 1249, but was not officially approved until Pope Benedict IX issued a Bull in 1304. Their church on Monte Senario, rebuilt in 1700, is a favorite resort of pilgrims from Florence and further places. Mary, here as Our Lady of Monte Senario, as well as elsewhere, proves herself the miraculous Mother of God.

The names of the Seven Holy Founders are Saint Alexis Falconieri, Saint Bartholomew degli Amidei, Saint Benedict dell’Antella, Saint Buonfiglio Monaldi, Saint Gherardino Sostegni, Saint Hugh dei Lippi-Uguccioni, and Saint John Buonagiunta Monetti.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Let us pray, and pray with the whole world in our hands, in our heart, in our mind as in the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St Catherine Laboure."

(Opera Omnia, vol. X, no. 134, quoted in: Louis Caputo, Justinian Anthology, Vocationist Editions, Palisades Park, 2013, p. 71)


Prayer to Our Lady

Queen of Martyrs,

your heart suffered so much.

I beg you,

by the merits of the tears you shed

in these terrible and sorrowful times,

to obtain for me and all the sinners of the world

the grace of complete sincerity and repentance.

Amen.

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