OUR LADY OF GRACE

Day 334: April 11

Our Lady of Grace of Mellea di Farigliano, Cuneo, Italy



A century after the first Apparition, on April 10, 1637, Our Lady appeared a second time to a young man, shortly thereafter the construction of the Sanctuary and Don Bosco was invited to found a school there.

The event that brought significance to the small village of Mellea, located on the state road that connects Carrù to Farigliano, in the province of Cuneo, took place on May 20, 1537. Mellea is a common name that can be found in other nearby places and that instinctively recalls honey; perhaps it means a place rich in plants with an intense scent and rich in nectar for bees, such as acacias, limes, cherry trees. Mellea lies right in the middle of the green of these plants, on one of the terraces formed in this place by the Tanaro river.

A certain Antonio da Momigliano, in the province of Chambéry, resident in Farigliano, very ill and so crippled that he was forced to walk on all fours, with the help of his hands, on May 20, 1537 decided to go, accompanied by a friend, to Carrù in search of some remedy for his long and desperate illness. It was Pentecost Sunday. After crossing the Tanaro, with great difficulty he managed to trudge up the wooded crags of the escarpment at the top of which the city of Carrù is located.

When he reached the second terrace, what is now called Pianmezzano, exhausted by fatigue, he stopped in the thick of the bush to rest, before facing the last climb. Suddenly, in a dazzling light, a Lady dressed in white appeared to him, sitting on a stone. Antonio, astonished and dazzled, did not know how to realize what was happening to him, but driven by an inspiration of the heart, he fixed his gaze on the white Lady who looked at him gently and asked him where he was going and why. Full of faith and trust, Antonio said that he went in search of someone who could give him some relief in his illness.

The Lady then manifested herself and said to him, "Stand up, for here is a Virgin who works miracles." At those words, Antonio stood up on the legs that had not supported him for a long time, and felt healed. It is easy to imagine his state of mind: he wept with joy and never tired of kissing the stone on which he saw Our Lady sitting. He sent his partner to bring the news of the incident to Farigliano, but he did not move from that place and continued to thank for the recovery obtained.

People flocked from Farigliano and neighboring villages, bringing sick people of all kinds, full of hope for recovery. Among these was the memory of a certain Marco Cornero di Fossano, a friend of Antonio and also shrunken in limbs, who could hardly move with crutches. When he got close to his friend, he begged him to show him Our Lady and to ask for healing for him. Antonio pointed to the boulder on which the Lady had appeared, and at a certain moment shouted: "Here she is!" Marco did not see her, but he felt healed of all his ills. Full of joy and gratitude, he hung his crutches, now useless, on the branches of a tree near that boulder.

The extraordinary events in that place followed one another and the influx of the faithful grew continuously, so much so that the authorities of Farigliano decided to appeal to the Bishop of Alba so that he recognized the truth of the facts, and granted authorization to build a chapel on the spot. The Bishop, Msgr Marco Girolamo Vida, already aware of the event, instituted a regular trial and sent one of his delegates to obtain the necessary information on the individual facts, so that some deception was not hidden. At the conclusion of the investigation, the Bishop declared the facts that occurred true and authentic and granted authorization for the construction of a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Bring us with you, O most holy Mary, in your perpetual visitation to all souls: to all families, parishes and dioceses; to all the religious houses and holy works and temple of God; make us as your instruments of your perpetual visitation."

(Justin Russolillo, Devotional, Vocationist Editions, Pianura, 2009, p. 123)

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