OUR LADY OF PIRATELLO

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 perform the customary rite of reciting a prayer and lighting a candle, when a marvelous event happened: his candle overturned and went out, but immediately afterwards, as if by the hand of an angel, it rose and relighted by itself. The pilgrim's amazement increased, when he distinctly heard a very sweet voice, telling him to go to the neighboring city to tell the people that she, "the Immaculate Mary, Queen of eternal life", wanted to be venerated in that place. "Don't be afraid, Stefano, I am just Our Lady, the Mother of God. If they don't believe you, show these."

While Our Lady was talking to him, Stefano felt that his tunic was filled with roses, despite the still cold season. With joy in his heart and the certainty that Mary had really spoken to him, the pilgrim travelled in one breath the three miles that separated him from the city and presented himself to the Magistrate, to whom he told what had happened. The bundle of fresh roses, which he found in his lap, despite the very cold winter, served to dispel any doubt about the veracity of the message he brought.

The bells rang in expanse, even if on that day their ringing was forbidden by liturgical laws. The people flocked to the main square, not knowing whether that sound indicated a fact of war or a fact of peace. The joy of all was indescribable when the pilgrim, waving the bundle of roses, proclaimed aloud Mary's Message.

An immense crowd set out for the miraculous pillar, preceded by the pilgrim, the Magistrate and the Vicar of the Bishop. Miracles followed one another and the enthusiasm of the faithful grew irrepressible; a canopy was immediately built to protect the Pillar and in front, an altar for the celebration of Mass.

The pilgrim left almost immediately, to fulfill his vow at the Sanctuary of Loreto, and then returned to Cremona, where he had his family and his business.

The Lords of Imola and Forlì, Girolamo Riario and Caterina Sforza, who were in Rome, informed of the fact, provided for a better custody of the pillar and the ever-increasing devotion of the people, inviting to Piratello the "Romiti di Valverde", that is, the Friars of the Third Order of Penance of St Francis, whom they knew well. because in Forlì the Friars had the hermitage right near their castle.

Among the first friars to arrive at the Piratello was Blessed Geremia Lambertenghi da Como, a truly holy man, dedicated to contemplation and penance; the arrival of the Friars marked an incessant increase in the development of the Sanctuary, where miracles were no longer counted.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"O Mary, be present at all our practices of piety, at all our vocal and mental prayers, in every form of ministry of the Word! O Mary, be present in us who speak and in those who hear us."

(Justin Russolillo, Devotional, Vocationist Editions, Pianura, 2009, p. 94)