Walk with Mary throughout the Year

Day 324: April 01 Our Lady of Suasia in Civitella, Romagna, Forli', Italy The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Suasia is the most venerated place by the people of Civitella and is considered a center of meeting and Marian devotion of extraordinary importance for having managed over the centuries to involve and keep an entire community together. On June 4, the collection of offerings for the construction of the sanctuary began, of which the first stone was laid in July of the same year. The laying of the first stone took place on July 27, 1556 in the place where there was a cell called the "Majesty of Suasia" and where, in April of the same year, the Madonna had appeared five times to the little Pasquino da Vignale to whom she had delivered a double message: to build a church on the site of the apparition and to exhort all the faithful to penance, to prayer, to atonement for the salvation of the world. However, it took 39 years to see the construction completed, which was consecra...

Day 323: March 31 Mother of God Semistrelnaya (the Softening of Evil Hearts) Forty days after the birth of the God-Child, He was taken to the Temple of Jerusalem, the center of the nation's religious life. The mother went to the temple with the Child, to offer a young lamb or a dove to the Lord as a sacrifice of purification. The All-Holy Virgin, the Mother of God, was in no need of purification, since she had given birth to the source of purity and holiness without defilement. However, she humbly complied with the commands of the law. On this day, the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Semistrelnaya" known as "The Softening of the Evil Heart" or "The Prophecy of Simeon" is also commemorated. The Mother of God is depicted without her child, with seven swords piercing her heart: three from the left side, three from the right, and one from below. Among the copies of the famous and miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Softening of Evil Hearts", t...

Day 322: March 30 Our Lady of Rocca, Alessandria della Rocca, Agrigento, Sicily, Italy The story goes that in 1620, Our Lady appeared to a young blind woman from Alexandria, giving her back her sight in exchange for a church in the place of the discovery of a statue of her hidden in the rock of a hill. The citizens of Alessandria della Rocca, after seeing the miraculous healing of the blind woman, believed her words and dug in the spot indicated by Our Lady, finding a beautiful statue of 60 cm high, in Parian marble that seems to date back to the Byzantine era and depicts the Virgin Mary wrapped in a decorated and draped mantle with the baby Jesus in her arms, who has his gaze turned towards his mother. Probably the small statue was hidden on the "rocca ncravaccata" to preserve it from the destructive fury of the Saracens and then found there. The episode of the discovery is not attested by historical sources but is testified by oral tradition: " A poor widow, known to t...

Day 321: March 29 Our Lady of Aracoeli, Rome, Italy The Virgin Mary appeared with the Child in the arms of Octavian Augustus saying "This is the altar of the son of God". Hence the birth of this church that contained the famous wooden "Holy Child" of Gethsemane. The Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli is a church in Rome, Italy. It stands on the hill of the Capitoline Hill. The original name was Santa Maria in Capitolio; The church was part of the complex of buildings of the monastery that had settled on the Capitoline Hill while the rest of the ancient Roman buildings were in ruins. In this place stood one of the residences of the emperor who summoned the Tiburtine Sibyl to ask for advice since the Senate intended to pay him divine honors. The Sibyl responded to Augustus' appeal with these words:  "There are indications that soon the King of the ages to come will descend from the sun and true justice will be done" while this prophecy was being pronoun...

Day 320: March 28 Our Lady of Bocciola, Vacciago, Novara, Italy The origin of the Sanctuary of the Wild Hazel in the municipality of Ameno, a hamlet of Vacciago, in the province of Novara, can be traced back to an episode of the first half of the sixteenth century, in an era that also saw the rise of the Marian Sanctuaries of the Madonna di Re in Vigezzo (1494) and of the Boden near Ornavasso (1528), as well as of the vast Sacro Monte di Varallo in the nearby Val Sesia (1481). According to what we read in the diary of a notary from Ortensia, Elia Olina, on Monday, May 28 (or March according to tradition) of 1543, "the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a girl who guarded the beasts."  Subsequent news specifies the miraculous circumstances of the episode. Giulia Manfredi, as the girl was called, was mute from birth and lived in Vacciago, in a house that still stands along a path just before the Sanctuary.  That day she was grazing the cattle not far away, near a chapel where the ...

Day 319: March 27 Our Lady of Piratello (Madonna del Piratello), Imola, Bologna, Italy A pious pilgrim, named Stefano Mangelli, travelled alone along the "royal road", which led from Bologna to the cities of Romagna. He came from Cremona and was headed for Loreto, to venerate the Holy House of Nazareth, where the Word became flesh. As he advanced, the pilgrim did not fail to pay homage to the many images of the Madonna he met on the way and to light a candle in front of each of them. Holy Thursday of 1483, that year fell on March 27, and it was still a very cold winter day; the pilgrim arrived three miles from Imola, where he saw, at the intersection with a secondary road, a rough pillar, flanked by a small pear tree "un Piradel", which kept, in a small window, an image of Mary with the Child, sweet and maternal. The locality, because of that small pear tree "a Piradel", is called "il Piradello" or "Piratello." The pilgrim approached to...

Day 318: March 26 Our Lady of the Floor (Madonna del Piano), Apparition of Bianzone, Sondrio The sanctuary, located in the middle of Valtellina, among apple orchards and terraced vineyards, can be reached by train, bus or private vehicle and is open on holidays for Holy Mass. It probably has medieval origins due to popular devotion, but it was built as a sanctuary in 1675 following the apparition of Our Lady (on March 26) to a local man. He reported that the Virgin asked to:  "to raise an altar and reduce to a more honorable state, my temple situated there on this floor." The work of reconstruction and embellishment lasted several years because it was not continuous and continued even into the eighteenth century. On the eve of the feast of the Assumption in 1870, the sanctuary, which had always been threatened by the Valle stream, was invaded by water and debris: the doors were broken down and mud, boulders and trees ended up outside and inside the church. The statue of Our L...

Day 317: March 25 The Annunciation of Our Lord The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the most important in the Church calendar. First, it celebrates the actual Incarnation of Our Savior -- the Word made flesh in the womb of His mother, Mary. Second, it is a principal Marian feast. Two other feasts honoring Our Lord's mother, the Assumption (August 15), and the Immaculate Conception (December 8), are celebrated as Holy Days of Obligation in the United States. New Year's Day, January 1, is observed as a Solemnity of Mary. Many Catholics who are deeply concerned with the defense of the life of unborn children believe that it would be most fitting if the Feast of the Annunciation were also to be accorded this status. Although it seems unlikely that the American bishops will add another obligatory feast to the Church calendar, we can certainly take on the 'obligation' ourselves to attend Mass, if at all possible. In any case, it is most appropriate that we encourage specia...

Day 316: March 24 Our Lady of the Thorn, Champagne-Ardenne, France The sanctuary of Our Lady of the Thorn (Madonna della Spina) is located on the poor plateau overlooking the Vesle river, which has always been a place of pilgrimage, thanks to the discovery of the famous stone statue of the Virgin in a bramble. On this uncultivated land, the herds grazed in the middle of the hawthorn bushes in the shade of a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist as early as 1230. According to the oral tradition handed down and then written in 1721 by Abbot Baugier, the origin of the construction of the sanctuary was due to the discovery of a miraculous statue of the Virgin, on the eve of the Annunciation in 1400. On March 24, 1400, some shepherds were attracted by a mysterious light that appeared on a bush of brambles, inside which they found a stone statue of the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus in her arms. It was a Gothic statue, probably dating back to 1300 and considering that there was alread...

Day 315: March 23 Our Lady of the Rain, Bologna A chronicle of 1851 speaks of the discovery of the Marian image that was at the origin of the construction of the church: the fire of a house along the walls had caused the fall of wood and rubble, which were not removed until 1367, when excavations were carried out in the area to create the new Reno Canal, now buried, and bring water to the mills. During the work, a painting of the Madonna and Child emerged intact from the rubble. The image was placed in the oratory of San Bartolomeo di Reno, built in 1204 and owned by the Compagnia dei Mercanti. Attached to this church there were rooms, initially used as a shelter for pilgrims heading to Rome, then in 1330 they were used as a hospital for the poor and in 1527 intended for the reception of orphans. The image also took the name of Madonna dei Putti di San Bartolomeo, and became the object of great veneration following the episode of the miraculous healing of a blind man. In 1561, a year o...

Day 314: March 22 The Apparition of Our Lady of Sorrows of Castelpetroso, Isernia, Molise On March 22, 1888, while she was looking for a missing lamb, Bibiana, attracted by the blaze that emanated from a cave, approached, and immediately found herself immersed in a heavenly vision: the most holy Virgin Mary half-kneeling, with her hands outstretched and her eyes turned to heaven was there, in the act of imploration and offering; at her feet lay Jesus dead covered with blood and wounds. The news of the apparition spread with the rapidity of a flash throughout Castelpetroso and spread in successive waves to all the neighboring towns and regions. Crowds of the faithful, as if swept by a tremble, felt impelled to make pilgrimages to the cave of Cesa among Saints and their number grew day by day: the mountain soon gave the impression of a human anthill. Already a few days after the apparitions, about 4000 pilgrims were counted in Cesa among Saints in a single day. Msgr Francesco Palmieri, B...

Day 313: March 21 Our Lady of the Sign, Kursk, Russia After the Mongol invasion, the devastated province of Kursk was emptied of people in the 13th century and the main city, Kursk, became a desert. Only a few hunters went there in search of wild animals. Men from Rylsk, about 75 miles southwest of the Kursk ruins, had driven into the area on a hunting trip when one of them noticed the icon lying face down at the root of a tree along the bank of the Skal River. When he tried to lift it, he immediately saw a spring gushing out. The hunter realized that it was an icon of the "sign" type venerated in the city of Novgorod. He decided to build a chapel capable of housing the extraordinary icon right in the precise spot where he had found it. Following the construction of the chapel, numerous pilgrims also arrived and thus the first graces and miracles were obtained. The Prince Vasily Shemyaka of Rylsk, intrigued by the fame of that image, ordered that the icon be brought to his ci...

Day 312: March 20 Our Lady of the Pillar, Turin, Italy It was built in 1645 at the behest of Madama Reale Cristina of France in memory of the miraculous rescue of a little girl from the river, which took place in 1644 by the image of Our Lady of Annunciation affixed to a votive pillar. The painting became the object of widespread devotion and the church, with a façade crowned by a high semicircular tympanum, was enlarged in 1779 and equipped with a baptistery in 1807. Repeated renovations have almost completely transformed the interior, with a single nave with two side chapels, and of the primitive decoration only the important stuccoes attributed to Giovanni Andrea Casella and the frescoes of the dome by Bartolomeo Guidobono are preserved. On the high altar is the miraculous image of the Annunciation of 1587, almost completely repainted in twentieth-century restorations. In 1640 on the banks of the longest river in Italy, at a time when Italy did not yet exist politically. Many mi...

Day 311: March 19 Apparition of Our Lady and St Joseph in Knock, Ireland On August 21, 1879, Mary McLoughlin, a 45-year-old caretaker of the church headed by Archdeacon Bartholomew Kavanagh, went to Mary Byrne's nearby cottage at about seven o'clock in the afternoon. On the way, on the south side of the church, she saw, mistaking them for statues, the figures of the Virgin Mary, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist, dressed as a bishop, and also an altar with a cross and a lamb, a traditional image of Jesus, with angels in adoration. McLoughlin thought that the archdeacon had obtained the images in Dublin. After half an hour Mary returned to the church with Mary Byrne to lock the door, and there they saw the figures again, and realized that it was an apparition instead. Mary then called her brother Dominick, her mother and her sister, both named Margaret, and also alerted the people in the surrounding area. Her cousin, Dominick senior, his son Patrick, the servant John Durkan a...

Day 310: March 18 The Apparition of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph in Cotignac, France On August 10, 1519, Jean de la Baume climbed Mount Verdaille to chop wood. Pio the woodcutter, began his working day while praying. When he got up, to his surprise he saw in the cloud, the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus in her arms. At their side were the Archangel St Michael and St Bernard of Clairvaux. Our Lady gave this message to Jean:  "I am the Virgin Mary. Go and tell the clergy and councilors of Cotignac to build a church for me here, under the name of Our Lady of Grace, and that we come in procession to receive the gifts I want to spread there.” Jean thought that it was a hallucination because of the summer heat. He kept the message to himself. The next day, he arrived at the same place to finish cutting the tree. Once again, the same apparition occurred. Jean then rushed to the village to convey the message to the authorities of Cotignac. On September 14, just a month after the ...

Day 309: March 17 Our Lady of Ireland, Cathedral of Gyer (Győr) – Hungary During the difficult times of Oliver Cromwell's persecution in Ireland, one of the bishops forced to leave Ireland was Dr Lynch, Bishop of Clonfert. He traveled around Europe and finally arrived in Hungary in 1654. He was graciously received by John Pusky, bishop of Gyer, and eventually became auxiliary bishop of the diocese. Ten years later, Bishop Lynch planned to return to his homeland. Almighty God prevented this; during his last hours of life he gave the Bishop of Gyer his only material treasure: the image of Our Lady of Ireland.  As a reminder of the Irish bishop, the image of Our Lady hung on the wall of Gyer Cathedral. The years passed. During the feast of St Patrick (March 17, 1697), while a large number of faithful were present in the cathedral, an event of great wonder took place. From the eyes of the Blessed Virgin from the painting, tears of blood rolled from six in the morning until nine (3 hour...

Day 307: March 15 Our Lady of Civitavecchia, Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy The Madonnina of Civitavecchia is a 42 cm high plaster statuette, depicting the Queen of Peace, made by the Croatian craftsman Sthepan Vlaho; it was purchased in a shop in Medjugorje, on September 16, 1994, by Fr. Pablo Martìn, parish priest of the church of Sant'Agostino in Civitavecchia; the priest donated it to the Gregori family, belonging to his parish and living in Via Pantano, consisting of the head of the family Fabio, his wife Anna Maria Accorsi and their children Jessica and Davide. The statuette had been placed in a niche, built by Fabio in the garden of his home. One day, little Jessica, five years old, who occasionally caressed and kissed her, caused the statue fall and created that splinter above the right side of the forehead, on the veil, which then - together with other scratches and small marks on the bust - would lead the police to affirm the impossibility that the statue was replaced after t...

Day 306: March 14 Our Lady of the Column, Savona, Italy The story concerning the image of Our Lady of the Column dates back to the time when the construction of the current Cathedral began.  In the church of San Francesco (where the Cathedral had taken place by virtue of the papal bull of Pope Paul IV of 9 September 1556) there was an image of the Virgin Mary painted on the curved surface of a column: an image very dear to the people of Savona, in front of which they loved to stop in prayer, with great devotion.  The image was known by the people as the "Virgin of the Column." When it was decided to demolish the church of San Francesco to make room for the new Cathedral (the current one), the big problem arose of not mortifying the devotional sensitivity of the people by destroying that frescoed image; various ways were studied to remove it without damaging it but the solutions proposed by craftsmen and technicians of the time were not able to guarantee the success of the ope...