HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF THE LORD

Day 181: November 09

Santa Maria Materdomini, Nocera Superiore, Salerno, Italy


In 1041 the Blessed Mother is said to have appeared to a poor peasant woman who was resting under an oak tree. Maria allegedly told the woman to invite people to dig under the oak tree, where she would find an image of her. But the woman was afraid to face the public opinion and did not speak.

Sometime later the woman had a vision: the oak tree where the Madonna had appeared to her was enveloped in three tongues of fire and a fragrant cloud rose on the tree. At the same time, a soldier saw a monstrous snake near this oak tree that terrorized the area; having invoked Mary, he confronted the reptile and killed it.

The peasant woman then decided to speak and convinced the inhabitants of the area to dig under the oak, where they found only the remains of an ancient cistern. The woman's fellow villagers, disappointed, mocked her, ironically nicknamed her Caramari (dear to Maria). A few years later, Caramari saw the Virgin again, who ordered the inhabitants of the area to insist that they dig under the cistern, dropping a precious stone that she had detached from her ring as proof of her presence. When Mary disappeared, the woman found herself blind. The inhabitants of the village took pity on her and were convinced to resume the excavation: they found the precious stone and, sheltered by two marble slabs, an ancient Byzantine-style icon depicting the Virgin and Child. Meanwhile Caramari regained her sight.

The icon, dated between the fourth and sixth centuries, was kept in a chapel specially built and consecrated in 1061 by Pope Nicholas II. At the time of its discovery, the icon had no name, only later was it given the title of Mater Domini (Mother of the Lord). Devotion to the sacred image, fueled by numerous miracles (resurrection of the dead, healing of the blind, obsessed, paralytic, etc.), grew rapidly.

Currently the icon is preserved in a harmonious temple of polychrome marble and porphyry, the work of a Neapolitan artist (1641). The temple remains enclosed in a splendid neoclassical basilica, rich in paintings, gilded stuccoes, marbles, works by artists of the '700 and subsequent centuries: A. Solimena, G. Diano, F. Guarino, L. Grimaldi and anonymous. Two bright windows are the work of Tarcisio Manta. The custodians of the Sanctuary and the image were initially the Humiliated Friars, called White Priests; from 1631 to 1829 the Basilian monks, who came from Grottaferrata; later the Friars Minor of St. Francis of Assisi ran the Sanctuary. Pius XI conferred the title of Minor Basilica on the Sanctuary in 1923. In 1931 it was declared a National Monument.

The events of history, wars, revolutions, Napoleonic and Neapolitan suppression, natural cataclysms such as the eruptions of Vesuvius, earthquakes, the last one in 1980, have profoundly marked the path of the Sanctuary, which remains a beacon of religious and civil light for the entire Nocera and Campania territory. The devotion of the faithful has never failed, the people flock to Materdomini to praise Mary and obtain from her graces and help on the journey of faith.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Glory to the Most Blessed Trinity in you, O Mary! Glory to you, O Mary, in the Blessed Trinity, for your vow of virginity, for your marriage, for your holy spouse St Joseph, for your annunciation and visitation, for the revelation of the Incarnation to St Joseph, for the life of Jesus in your womb, for your expectation of the birth of Jesus, for your ascension to Bethlehem, for your giving birth to Jesus."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, New Jersey, 1997, pp. 393-394)

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