MADONNETTA OF GENOA

Day 267: February 3

Madonetta of Genoa, Italy



The church was built on a stretch of land above the religious house of St Nicholas, donated to the religious by the Senate of the Republic (1641). In that area there was an ancient chapel, dedicated to St James, which Fr Carlo Giacinto had restored in 1689, placing a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms, a gift from the noblewoman Isabella Moneglia, wife of Senator Paride Salvago. The Image, carved in finely decorated alabaster, is the work of Giovanni Romano (Trapani, XVII century); she was affectionately called the Madonnetta. She was crowned four times (14 August 1692, 14 August 1693, 25 December 1700 and 27 June 1920). Numerous faithful soon flocked to the modest chapel from the city and its surroundings, so the Founder decided to hasten the construction of the Sanctuary.

Many years earlier (1674-75), he had a surprising vision in the inner chapel of the novitiate: "One day, according to the meditation of the evening... I saw a temple in the aforementioned place consecrated to the Great Mother of God. It was more adorned with altars and sacred images, but above all with an image of Mary within a devout vault, as it is at present. In front of that image there was a great crowd of people, who seemed to me to have eyes like two streams of water, so many were the tears they shed. Moreover, it seemed to me that under the body of the church there was a devout representation of the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of Our Lady with her God and Son who died before."

"I saw in that small space great things: graces, privileges, helps, and favors that the divine Mother would grant or intercede with the faithful. However, I do not know how to explain them. Which is what is now decided to do, without building the church if it had the intention of doing so."


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"We unite ourselves to you, in glorifying the Lord, for the great things He has done for you; for the very special Redemption of your soul, by applying beforehand to you all the merits of our Redemption."

(Justin Russolillo, Spirit of Prayer, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, Newark, 1996, p. 156)

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