OUR LADY OF THE DOOR

Day 271: February 7

Our Lady of the Door, Guastalla, Reggio Emilia, Italy



In 1646 on the inner wall of the Porta di S. Francesco (Door of St Francis), near the guard post, the painter Damiano Padovani from Guastalla, commissioned by two officers and with the contribution of the same soldiers who were stationed there, painted a fresco depicting a Madonna and Child with St Francis and St Charles Borromeo at her feet.

In front of this image, fires were often lit to warm up during guard shifts. The smoke progressively blackened the fresco. In 1689-90 the walls were demolished, but the gate was spared. The neighborhood was abandoned and the painting over the decades was lost in oblivion and damaged by the neglect of time. However, not everyone lost memory of the fresco. Among them was an ex-soldier who had often served there, Giovanni Battista Zagni of about 60 years old and suffering from severe blindness. The first miracle consisted in the complete recovery of Zagni's sight which took place at the same time as an acquaintance, Fabio Ruina, lit a candle to the Madonna at his request. It was on February 7, 1693. A recent and accurate revision of the texts would anticipate the date of the 1st miracle by a week, that is, to January 31st. According to this revision, Zagni a few days after Christmas on leaving the city, due to his blindness, fell into a ditch near the gate. Invoking "his" Madonna he came out unscathed and even completely dry. Moving in front of the image, in thanking the Virgin, it seemed to him that he was recovering his sight a little. On January 28th, on his way to the city to light a candle to Our Lady as a thanksgiving, he mistakenly happened to be in Ruina's house and lent himself to light it for him the following Saturday, that is, January 31st. At the moment of ignition, the Zagni completely recovered his vision. The following Saturday the two sons of Ruina, seriously ill, completely recovered their health after their father lit a candle and a "lampadino" to Our Lady. It was February 7 and the news of the three miracles went around the city. The date is fixed in popular memory.

At the same time as the first miracles or, even earlier, according to some sources, we witness another miraculous phenomenon, unique in its kind. The image of the Madonna from black and smoked, gradually began to lighten spontaneously, not by the hand of man as repeatedly demonstrated. It was the Madonna who discovered herself, who brought the light of faith in those dark and tormented moments. Already on the morning of February 7, the face and hands of the Virgin were visible, the saints could be glimpsed, the Child was completely invisible.

On September 12, 1698, there were only a few spots on the face of the Madonna that constituted a peculiar feature for a long time. On July 1, 1701, before the image was moved inside the Sanctuary, the Madonna still had three small black spots, one on the forehead just above the nose, one above the left eye, the other on the left cheek. The Child's dress was white, but smoked. Since then there have been no further mentions of such stains.

In addition to the phenomenon of the recovery of the Virgin, people witnessed yet another prodigy. On the evening of February 6, while reciting the praises at the request of soldiers and devotees present there with numerous candles in front of the Madonna, Don Guastalla noticed the presence of a light bulb placed in front of the image and remained lit with only a quarter of oil for 28 hours. The devotion of the Oil of the Lamp of Our Lady of the Door was born, with which either one is anointed after the miracle or, even, the miracle is obtained even from a distance.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"The Lord increases in you the outpouring of His Goodness, He exalts you and introduces you to an ever-greater intimacy with him; He is delighted with your offering, constancy and adoration in His Temple, more than with any other sacrifice, O Mary!"

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

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