OUR LADY OF MIRACLES

Day 301: March 09

Our Lady of Miracles, Apparition of Motta di Livenza, Venice, Italy

On the evening of Friday, March 8, 1510, Cigana was preparing the tools to plough, the following day at dawn, a small field he owned, when the Administrator of Mr Girolamo Moro, to whom he served, arrived, who ordered him on behalf of the master to go the following day, with two other workers, to Porto Buffolè, about 15 kilometers away from Motta, to take certain boards. Cigana pointed out his work already scheduled for the following day, but to no avail; he had to obey and change every project reluctantly. However, thinking to himself how to put together the master's order with the desire to plow his small field, he thought of a certain Luigi Facchini, a skilled and generous man, who lived right near the field, not far from the Capital of the Madonna. Certainly, the friend would agree to help him!

The following day (March 9), early in the morning, he set out and when he arrived in front of the Capital, despite his haste, he stopped to recite some Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Be as if to implore the intercession of Our Lady. When he got up to continue his journey, he cast his gaze to the right, on a field sown with wheat, and saw sitting on the ground, in front of him, a girl with her hands crossed on her knees and her head tilted to the left: her clothes were as white as snow, sparkling with light, her cheeks rosy, and her head covered by a veil. Thinking she was a local girl, he addressed her in dialect, the usual greeting of those parts "God give you good morning", to which the girl replied "Good morning and Happy New Year" and continued "Good man, where do you intend to go?" Naturally, the man replied, "I want to go and talk to someone so that he can come and plow a small tract of land for me." The young woman continued, "Oh, he will come willingly and will serve you willingly, for you too are accustomed to help him; and I repeat to you that he will come willingly and serve you willingly."

Cigana was surprised that the girl had said to him twice, "I repeat that she will come willingly and serve you willingly," but full of a joy that cannot be explained, he exclaimed with devotion: "Thanks be to God and the Virgin, for she will come so willingly!"

As he pronounced these words, his eyes opened and his heart told him that the girl was really Our Lady, the Virgin Mary. Indescribable was the emotion of the poor man who, confused, threw himself on his knees, while the Apparition stood up and spoke to him, leaving him three orders: for three consecutive Saturdays, fast with his family; for nine days in a row he should invite the villagers to join in his fasting, to obtain God's mercy and forgiveness; speak in her name and communicate that it was her desire that a wooden church be erected in her honor in that place, which would later be transformed into a permanent stone church.

If the apparition of Our Lady filled Cigana's heart with emotion, the commitments he was given frightened and, with great humility, he exclaimed: "My Mother, no one will want to believe me or believe me." But Our Lady assured him: "This very evening I will give an extraordinary sign in the sun that will serve to authenticate your words."

Having recovered somewhat from his daze, the good man remained uncertain whether to continue his journey or immediately begin to announce what Our Lady had ordered him; it was decided to reach Facchini's house, not far away, and ask him the favor of plowing the field. Hearing the request, Facchini immediately replied 'yes', repeating his availability twice with the same words used by the Virgin.

Back in the house, Cigana announced to his family and acquaintances the vision he had, the requests of the Madonna and above all the promised sign to confirm the apparition that took place. Towards sunset on that same day, March 9, 1510, the sun, after being almost hidden for an hour by clouds, appeared so bright red that it seemed to come out of a bloodbath.

The devotion to Our Lady, already great in Cigana's heart, exploded and spread: he spoke to everyone of the vision he had, but above all of the Virgin's requests regarding the fast of three consecutive Saturdays, to obtain forgiveness of sins and mercy from God, and the construction of the small church. The inhabitants of Motta and the neighboring villages, already frightened by the specter of the plague epidemic that had been raging in the area for several years, reaping numerous victims, and by the threat of continuous wars always looming, enthusiastically welcome Cigana's words and carry out the requests of Our Lady. The enthusiasm grew beyond all measure, the graces multiplied; in a few days the small church was built in wood.

The growing concurrence of the faithful and their ardent devotion to Our Lady immediately convinced the civil authorities to build a church more worthy of the Great Mother of God. The Observant Franciscans were called to animate the Sanctuary, and the construction of the Temple was entrusted to Jacopo Tatti, Sansovino, who created a grandiose work of art, which, in the opinion of the experts, is one of his best works for the harmonious simplicity of the parts, for the purity and sobriety of the lines.

The heart of the Sanctuary is the Crypt, the place where the Madonna appeared and where pilgrims from all over venerate the ancient Image of the Virgin and Child, crowned in 1859 by the Pope, Blessed Pius IX.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"O Mother, through your Glorious Assumption, lead us to continuous progress in virtue, following in the footsteps of Jesus, through a life of consecrations, inspirations and Divine Union until we celebrate in our Heavenly Homeland."

(Justin Russolillo, Spirit of Prayer, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Fathers, Newark, 1996, p. 159)