BLESSED VIRGIN OF PATRONAGE

Day 216: December 14

Blessed Virgin of Patronage, Faenza, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy



The sacred image of Our Lady of the Patronage, currently venerated in the Church of the Monastery of St Caterina, in Faenza, was first honored in the house of the Baldi family, in Forti, who gave the Camaldolese Community a daughter, with the name of Sr Francesca. Upon her death, the Bishop of Forti wanted the sacred image to be transferred to the Church of the Camaldolese Sisters.

This happened in the year 1614, with great solemnity and concurrence of the people. The Sisters, amazed by the faith and fervor shown by the people of Forlì on that occasion, decided to place the image of the Virgin in a marble chapel, erected in her honor.

On the last Sunday of September 1650, with the intervention of Cardinal Del Bagno, the sacred image was placed in its new location. This second translation marks the date of the annual feast in honor of the Blessed Virgin of the Patronage. A new happening contributed to increasing devotion to the Virgin.

On the night of November 20, 1685, a fire broke out in the monastery's laundry, spread to the parlor, then to the sacristy, and was about to invade the chapel of the venerated image, when the flames suddenly stopped.

Only in the morning did the Nuns realize it, and seeing with their own eyes the escape from danger, they recognized in the fact almost a prodigy. That event was enough to excite the devotees and to shake the skeptics: prayers and supplications multiplied in front of the sacred image.

On August 9, 1721, the Sacred Congregation of Liturgy approved with its rescript the devotion of the Sisters of Saint Catherine to the Blessed Virgin of Patronage. In 1862, following the suppression of religious communities and the confiscation of their assets, the Camaldolese Nuns of Forti migrated to Faenza, where they were initially hosted in the Monastery of San Maglorio.

In 1888, with the help of benefactors, they purchased Palazzo Brunelli on Via Bondiole and settled there, reorganizing the life of their monastic family. In 1914, the third centenary of public veneration of the sacred image was celebrated. On December 14, 1954, at the close of the Marian Year, the sacred image was solemnly crowned by the Bishop of Faenza, Msgr. Giuseppe Battaglia, and the crown, at the nuns' request, was made with votive offerings and the rings of their profession.

In 1964, the anniversary of the entrustment of the sacred image to the Sisters of Saint Catherine was celebrated. The entire religious community desired these events both to show their devotion and gratitude to their Heavenly Mother for the constant protection they had received, and to increase the knowledge and love of this sacred image of the Mother of God and Mother of the Church among the people of Faenza.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Devotion to Mary is a fast-tracked course of perfection. It is the perfect compendium of all means of salvation, corresponding to the fact that Mary is full of grace and the synthesis of sanctification."

(365 Days with St Justin Russolillo, comp. Shiju Chittattukara & Anil Akkara, Blessed Justin Vocationary, Florham Park, 2021, p. 18)

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