Walk with Mary throughout the Year

Day 353: May 01 Our Lady of the Assumption, Lonigo, Venice, Italy In 1486 three shoemakers lived in Verona: Guglielmo, Gianantonio and Giampietro. They came from Novara and had found work in the veronese city, in via della Beverara.  Giampietro had managed to set aside 50 ducats, a considerable sum for those times. Envious and greedy, the other two friends agreed to invite him to the Lonigo market, with the secret intent of killing and robbing him. They left on April 30 (as historian Bertani says, but others report on April 29). In those times of violence, even the artisans went about carrying arms with them: Gianantonio armed himself with a double-edged knife ( pistolese ), Guglielmo with a sword and Giampietro with a dagger. They spent the night in Lonigo and on Monday morning they went to the market where they bought, among other things, white cloth. After lunch they were already on the way back. Just a few kilometers away from the town, near the church of St Peter in Lamentese,...

Day 352: April 30 Our Lady of Capocolonna, Crotone, Calabria, Italy On Capo Lacinio – or delle Colonne - stood a pagan temple dedicated to the Mother Goddess, Hera Lacinia, a nd reliable sources speak of a pilgrimage at that time, in spring, to celebrate "fertility" or "life". When "the fullness of time" (Gal. 4:4) came, with Christianity, venetation shifted to the "Mother of the Lord and of the Church", to Mary. Symbolically, it can be said that the collapse of the many pillars of that ancient temple and the permanence of "only one" of them is like an indication of the collapse of the many pagan divinities and the remaining, of "Mary", the only "Pillar" of the world who brought Christ, "the cornerstone of history" (I Pet 2:6). An ancient tradition has it that the Icon was brought to Crotone by St Dionysius himself, the convert from St Paul, remaining there as the first Bishop; and according to this traditi...

Day 351: April 29 Our Lady of the Kind's Blood, Vigezzo Valley, Verbania, Italy An hour before sunset a certain Giovanni Zucono (later nicknamed "Zuccone") together with his friend Comolo played the "piodella" on the square in front of the village church, dedicated to St Maurizio. The game consisted of placing a coin for each player on a wooden or stone compass (the "magician"). Conversely, whoever by hitting the "magician" with the piodella (a round stone splinter) "managed to scatter the coins around making those closest to the "piodella" his own, won. The Zuccone, already known for his furious character, was a loser that evening, "we don't know how much money, but enough to unleash in him the anger and irrationality that hides in each of us when we feel persecuted by bad luck." He took it out on the quiet image of Our Lady that was there a few steps under the portico of the church, painted on the façade, to the...

Day 350: April 28 Our Lady of the Chestnut, Bergamo, Italy The only account of the Apparition to which the historians of the Sanctuary drew until recently is the one that the notary Gerolamo Ceres Oli transcribed and, transcribing, summarized from an ancient "writing" about 1646, at the time of the dispute between Ossanesga and Fontana. Another recent document attesting to this apparition comes from a letter addressed to King Lodovico, a document dating back to April 1511. Tradition summarizes the account of the apparition as follows:  In the chestnut wood where the Sanctuary stands today, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to two men, probably father and son, intent on picking the leaf. Our Lady asked the two visionaries to tell all the population of the nearby villages about the exceptional event and to report that the Most Holy Mother of God expressly asked that a church be built in that isolated place in her honor. To give strength to her message and to dispel any doubt of ...

Day 349: April 27 Our Lady of Montserrat, Catalan region of Bages, Barcelona, Spain Our Lady of Montserrat, known as La Moreneta, refers to the wooden image depicting the Mother of Christ, carved by St Luke in Jerusalem, then it was entrusted to St Peter who in his long journey left it in Barcelona and following the Muslim invasion for security reasons it would have been taken to the mountain of Montserrat where it remained hidden in the Holy Cova until the year 880. It is also said that in this year, on a Saturday afternoon, some children who were looking after a flock saw a strong light descend from the sky accompanied by a melody. This was repeated several times. They looked for the place struck by the light, they found in a cave the statue of Our Lady that they called the Black Virgin, "La MORENETA." When the bishop heard of the discovery, he tried to have the small statue transported to Manresa, but it was not possible because the statue became too heavy. The bishop inte...

Day 348: April 26 Our Lady of Grushew, Ukraine The Blessed Virgin appeared in 1806, warding off a cholera epidemic and gushing healthy waters at the foot of a willow tree. In memory of this apparition and the miracle, a chapel was built. But the Virgin had already appeared in this village in the sixteenth century at the time of the war of the Cossacks against the King of Poland and pilgrims went there three times a year to ask for forgiveness or healing. On May 12, 1914, on the eve of the outbreak of World War, the Virgin appeared to 22 peasants. The vision lasted until the next day. The visionaries received a prophetic message, which foretold painful times for the world and for Ukraine in particular. She predicted to them the loss of Ukraine's sovereignty for 80 years: for eight decades there would be suffering and persecution, at the end of which Christendom would triumph and Ukraine would be free again. In addition, she told them that the outbreak of world war was imminent and t...

Day 347: April 25 Our Lady of Good Counsel, Genazzano, Rome, Lazio, Italy "In the year 1467 of the Incarnation of the Son of God, on the feast of Mark, on Vespers, the image of the Mother of God that you venerate in the marble tribune of this shrine, appeared from on high."  This is what we read on the plaque (written in Latin) under the tympanum of the door of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano. According to scholars, it is contemporary with the facts narrated, that is, it dates back to the end of the fifteenth century. There are still other documents that date back to the time of the prodigy. The internal chapel, where the miraculous image of Mary is kept, is surmounted by a beautiful tribune of rare marbles, also dating back to the end of the fifteenth century. On the arch of the tribune you can read this very simple Latin inscription that could be translated as: "Divinely appeared this image in the year 1467 on April 25th." Father Ambrose of ...

Day 346: April 24 Our Lady of Bonaria, Cagliari, Italy A ship, probably coming from Spain, was heading towards Italy when, suddenly, it was caught by a terrible storm. The captain, in a last attempt to save at least the crew, ordered to throw all the ship's cargo into the sea. There was also a large chest, whose owner and contents were unknown. It was thrown last. Suddenly, almost by magic, the storm stopped. An attempt was made to resume the predetermined course but the ship, almost forced by mysterious forces, followed the box which, after some time, ran aground on the beach, at the foot of the hill of Bonaria. A large crowd, including religious and civil authorities, rushed to the beach to realize what had happened. Everyone contemplated the coffin, wondering what mysterious secret it contained. Attempts were made to open it, but no one succeeded. An attempt was made to lift it, but every attempt was in vain. The crate was too heavy. Suddenly a child's voice, a little boy in...

Day 345: April 23 Our Lady of Sveta Gora, Nova Gorica, Slovenia The Holy Mountain (in Slovenian Skalnica or Sveta Gora pri Gorici) [681 m] is the most eminent of the "holy mountains" of Slovenia, it is precisely this one that is located on Skalnica (681 m) above Solkan and from where you can enjoy the view of the Adriatic Sea, the Friulian plain and the Julian Alps with Mount Triglav.  It owes its name to the apparition of Our Lady to the shepherdess Uršula Ferligoj of Gargaro in the year 1539. Our Lady said to her:  "Tell the people to build me a church here and ask for thanks!" The political authority, suspecting some trick, imprisoned the shepherdess, with the intention of making a thorough investigation, but the visionary was found on the Mount in prayer. She was locked up again but twice she was freed again by Our Lady. The Sanctuary of Sveta Gora was built starting the following year; during the excavations a squared and polished stone was found with the first...

Day 344: April 22 Our Lady of Splendor, Giulianova, Teramo, Italy "On April 22, 1557, it pleased the Lord to give a sign of his divine goodness by making known to the people of Giulianova the Virgin of Splendor."  This is what we read in the first chronicle that the prior father of the Celestine Monks, Don Pietro Capullo, wrote in the years 1657-1674 and which served as a source for Don Niccola Palma for his Ecclesiastical and Civil History ... of the city of Teramo and the Diocese of Aprutina (Teramo, 1832-1836). "On a small hill, outside the walls of Giulianova, a pious peasant, tired from having collected firewood to take to his house in Cotogna, went to rest around noon in the shade of a leafy olive tree. Bertolino, as the farmer was called, was about to fall asleep when he saw a dazzling light among the branches of the tree and, in the center, the Virgin Mary who said to him:  "Come, Bertolino, get up and go quickly to Giulianova and spread throughout the count...

Day 343: April 21 Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag, Manaoag, Pangasinan, Philippines The shrine of Manaoag, built as a result of an apparition, is located about 200 km north of Manila. Here we find an ivory image of Our Lady of the Rosary from the 16th century, particularly venerated by the Filipino faithful. Pope Pius XI crowned the image on April 21, 1926, while Benedict XVI canonically approved the granting of a "special bond of spiritual affinity in perpetuity," through which pilgrims will have the guarantee of the same blessings and the right to a plenary indulgence equal to that received when visiting Rome's papal basilica of St Mary Major. Tradition has it that the name given to the city of Manaoag derives from the verb mantaoag , which means "to call". And indeed here the Blessed Virgin appeared calling a peasant. The statue of Our Lady of Manaoag is a 17th-century ivory image of the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus placed on the main altar of the Basil...

Day 342: April 20 Our Lady of the Slap, Vercelli, Italy The ancient statue of Our Lady of the thirteenth century is made from a single piece of white marble. On the left cheek she has a large livid spot, as if she had received a blow. A tradition tells that in 1200 a certain scandalous drinker and blasphemer, for having remained without the possibility of satisfying his passion, with a sacrilegious gesture hit the statue with a strong slap right on the left cheek. The mark would remain indelible in the holy Image. Another legend of the foundation of the sanctuary tells that a player, in the first half of the sixteenth century, angry at having lost, would have hit the statue of Our Lady kept in the cathedral of Vercelli, which would have started to bleed. The player, unable to leave the church, would later be executed. Since then it has become a destination of devotion especially on the occasion of epidemics and calamities. The statue of the Virgin, after the miracle of the slap, was ke...

Day 342: April 19 Our Lady of Lyons, France St Pothinus, the Apostle of Gaul, is said to have kept a painting of Our Lady in an underground chapel that now sits beneath the church of St Nazaire in Lyons, where many Christians suffered death in the Ancient Forum on the hill called "Hill of Blood." In 1186 the Canons of the Cathedral began to build a larger church above the sanctuary. In thanksgiving for the care of his son by Saint Pothinus, King Louis VII of France made a pilgrimage to Lyon, where he had a votive tablet made in front of the sanctuary of Our Lady. In 1466, King Louis XI founded a daily Mass in perpetuity, always followed by the solemnly sung Salve Regina . Vast pilgrimages had come to seek Mary's help, especially in times of famine and pestilence. During the plague of 1643, it was decided to dedicate the city to Our Lady. Immediately all traces of the plague vanished and, until 1792, twenty-five Masses were celebrated every day in thanksgiving. During the ...

Day 341: April 18 Our Lady of Good Health, Monteortone, Padua, Italy On the Euganean Hills, on the outskirts of Abano Terme, there is a famous Marian shrine, which for over five centuries, following an apparition of the Virgin, is a place of convergence of the Christian faith of the neighboring Venetian-Euganean peoples: it is the sanctuary of the Madonna della Salute (Our Lady of Good Health) of Monteortone. It is an artistic monument of faith, which consecrates to the Mother of God this very fortunate stretch of Venetian land, miraculously visited and miraculously blessed by Mary’s maternal assistance. After many battles and following serious injuries that made the articulation of his lower limbs difficult, Pietro Falco went to Monteortone (Padua) on the advice of friends and doctors to search for healing or, at least, some relief from the injuries. He was a God-fearing man and had experienced the special protection, during his actions in warfare, by miraculously escaping death many ...

Day 340: April 17 Our Lady of the Miracles in Corbetta, Milan, Italy This sensational news could be considered the result of pure fantasy, if it did not have the support of historical data. The three boys who played in the square were: Cesare dello Stampino, Antonio della Torre and his brother Giovanni Angelo, ten years old, deaf and dumb from birth, familiarly called Navello. On the façade of the church of St Nicolas there was a beautiful image of Our Lady, seated on a throne, with the Child Jesus in her lap. That day, as every day, three boys were playing on the square in front, when suddenly a cry was heard, in an articulate voice: The Child! Our Lady! It interrupted the game and attracted everyone's attention. It was Giovanni himself who first noticed that the Child Jesus had come down to the square to play with them. His wonder flowed into a scream of joy and at the same time he regained the use of speech. The Child Jesus, having left the painting, had taken to the square, obs...