OUR LADY OF CAPOCOLONNA

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, and 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 tradition the painting is the work of St Luke the Evangelist.

On June 1, 1519, the Turks landed at Capocolonna. The already existing picture of the Virgin fell into their hands; they made a pyre to burn the canvas, but the fire, despite being lit for three hours, did not scratch the image radiating with light.

The Turks decided to take away the Quadro by heading for the mouth of the Neto, but the galley remained stationary despite the efforts of the rowers. The Turks threw the canvas into the sea and the galley moved easily, while the Quadro landed on a farm near the Irto di Capo Nao. A peasant fisherman, Agazio Lo Morello, found it and hid it in a chest. On his deathbed, he revealed the secret to his confessor.

In 1638 the Turks besieged the city; the people gathered around the Holy Icon and displayed it on the city walls. The Turks at the sight of the Virgin, terrified, retreated and fled away. Crotone was saved! In 1749 Monsignor Costa, Bishop of Crotone, very devoted to Our Lady to give greater prominence to the Sacred Image, laminated the canvas in silver.

On March 8, 1832, the earthquake sowed destruction throughout Calabria. In Crotone there were no victims despite a great ruin of buildings. The people of Crotone, in their faith, ascribed this to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Capocolonna and then built the small shrine that still remains, in Largo Umberto, place where the people of Crotone had camped for several days. In 1851 the Virgin saved Crotone from a great cholera epidemic. In 1877 the pious practice of the "Sabatina" began, which is still continued on Saturdays of each week.

On May 7, 1893, the Blessed Virgin Mary in her Icon was crowned by the Decree of the Vatican Chapter. In 1908 Crotone was spared from the great earthquake. In 1928 the painting was decorated with an artistic silver frame. On the night between 13 and 14 October 1983, a sacrilegious theft deprived the Image of Our Lady of its jewels.

The Marian feasts in honor of Our Lady of Capocolonna are celebrated in the month of May and every seven years with particular solemnity. On April 30 the painting is placed from the particular altar of the cathedral of Crotone and placed next to the altar near the central nave, on Thursday of the second week of the month the faithful meet for the rite of the "kiss", in which, after the Mass, the image is kissed; on Saturday of the second week of the month it is carried in procession through the streets of the city until it reaches the civil hospital "San Giovanni di Dio" (St John of God), where the archbishop of Crotone or the parish priest of the hospital chapel hold a short prayer of thanksgiving, and then accompanied back to the Cathedral, which for the occasion remains open until late at night.

On Wednesday of the third week of the month, the fair opens along Viale Regina Margherita, at the castle of Charles V, along the commercial port, and at the Ezio Scida stadium. On the third Saturday of the month there is the great pilgrimage to Capocolonna, a promontory about 15 km from the city, which takes place throughout the night, after the painting leaves the basilica around one in the morning, greeted by the faithful.

Every seven years the feast is greater, the painting carried in procession is not the modern miniature, but the original painting: the celebrations are prolonged and the painting, on its return, is not embarked and taken by sea, but placed on a cart pulled by oxen and travels the opposite route to the one made the night before; In this case, pilgrims also follow the picture on their return. On fixed days, at dawn, concerts are held at the promontory of Capocolonna.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"May all souls be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to know your dignity as Virgin Mother of God, to properly receive your mission as our mother and to unite themselves fully to you in magnifying the Lord."

(Justin Russolillo, Devotional, Vocationist Editions, Pianura, 2009, p. 196)

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