OUR LADY OF SORROWS

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, Bishop of Bojano, at the first manifestation of these extraordinary events, immediately put Cesa among Saints under control and called a preliminary process to carry out investigations into the apparitions. Subsequently, the Holy Father Leo XIII himself, albeit orally, appointed him Apostolic Delegate, giving him the task of carrying out an inspection of the grotto of the Apparitions on behalf of the Holy See.

On the morning of September 26, 1888, the Bishop went to the cave of Cesa among Saints, and he too had the grace of seeing the Sorrowful Mother, in the same attitude described by the first two visionaries. These are his exact words: "With a happy heart I can say that the portents of Castelpetroso are the last stretches of the Divine Mercy, to call the wayward to the right path. I too can testify that, when I went to the sacred place, reconcentrating on prayer, I had the apparition of the Virgin."

Bishop Palmieri speoke in terms of full acceptance of the phenomena of Castelpetroso that were configured in a divine plan and not in the framework of hysteria and illusion.

The press immediately echoed the events of Castelpetroso: "Il Servo di Maria", a bimonthly Marian magazine published in Bologna by the Servants of Mary and some lay people, was one of the first to publish and spread the news of the Apparitions, continuing even later, with punctual fidelity, to keep readers updated on the news that was recorded there from time to time.

The director of the magazine, Carlo Acquaderni, in November 1888 went to the blessed cliff together with his son Augusto: in the father's heart there was the great hope of obtaining the recovery of his son, condemned to die from the tragic consequences of an incurable disease, bone tuberculosis. Faith, when it is firm, true and sincere, can only obtain miracles: Augustus was miraculously healed!

In the explosion of his enthusiasm for the health recovered by his son, Carlo Acquaderni, through the Marian magazine directed an appeal to all the devotees of the Sorrowful Virgin for the collection of offerings to be used for the construction of "an oratory, a chapel" in that place blessed by the special presence of Mary.

His desire was in tune with that of Bishop Palmieri: the construction of a sacred building in honor of Our Lady was one of the central points of the development program that Msgr Palmieri was sketching for Cesa among Saints. The Holy Father, informed by the Bishop of the initiative, approved and blessed it. Acquaderni, after making agreements with the Bishop, began the work for the construction of the Sanctuary. The movement spread like a wildfire. At the beginning of February 1890 Ing Francesco Gualandi of Bologna, in charge of the design of the temple, had already delivered the project and the drawings.

Preliminary work began for the laying of the first stone and on September 28, 1890, in the presence of about thirty thousand people, in an atmosphere of joy, intense prayer, faith and fervent expectation. Bishop Palmieri, during a solemn celebration, laid the first stone that marked the start of the work.

The work of building the Shrine was carried out through the generous offerings of the faithful and saw alternating moments of intense and solicitous work with moments of interruptions and crises.

The fact that such a demanding work was completed, albeit over many years, with few means and few financial resources, demonstrated the essential role of Providence.

On 6 December 1973, at the request of the Bishops of Molise, the Holy Father Paul VI issued a decree proclaiming the Blessed Virgin Mary of Sorrows, venerated in the Shrine of Castelpetroso, Patroness of Molise.

St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Around you we want to gather in prayer, as Jesus wishes to send us His holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit wishes to find us filled of His gifts and be transformed into apostles of Jesus, into Seraphs of the Trinity."

(Justin Russolillo, Devotional, Vocationist Editions, Pianura, 2009, p. 93)