OUR LADY OF BRUNA

Day 171: October 30

Our Lady of Bruna, Matera, Basilicata, Italy


Our Lady of Bruna is the Protector of the city of Matera. According to an ancient tradition, a young lady asked a farmer to let her get on his cart to accompany her to Matera. After accompanying her to the gates of the city, near the church of Piccianello, he saw her transform into a statue. The Virgin then greeted the incredulous peasant by whispering these words: "That's it, on a decorated wagon, I want to enter my city every year."

She asked the farmer to bring a message of her to the Bishop, in which she said that she was the Mother of Christ. The Bishop together with the clergy and the people immediately rushed to welcome the Virgin and they found the statue there; so the statue of the Madonna was brought into the city on a decorated triumphal chariot.

Several hypotheses are attributed to the name 'Bruna': the first is that it derives from the early medieval Lombard term "brùnja" which was the armor, the protection of the knights, so the name would have the meaning of Our Lady of Defense; others, instead, claim that it derives from a dialectal reduction of Hebron, a city in Judea where the Virgin went for the Visitation to St Elizabeth. The statue of the Madonna is located inside a shrine in the transept of the Cathedral dedicated to her.

In the same Cathedral a fresco depicting her, of the Byzantine school and dating back to the twelfth century, is located on the altar located at the entrance to the left aisle.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Hail O Mary, Mediatrix of all graces, Mother of Divine Love, Queen of all Angels and Saints! Holy Mary and all you Angels and Saints of the Lord, intercede for us, so that we may obtain the Lord's help and salvation. Amen."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, New Jersey, 1997, p. 385)

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