Walk with Mary throughout the Year

 Day 64: Jul 13 On November 24, 1946 Our Lady, with three large swords pierced in her chest, appeared for the first time to Pierina Gilli (1911-1991) while she was recollected in prayer in the hospital room saying: “Prayer, sacrifice, penance”. The seer, first among 9 siblings, had a very poor childhood. She attended school only until the fourth grade and then started working. She did various jobs until she was accepted as a hospital attendant. From a very young age she felt called to the religious life, but a serious illness always took place that forced her to postpone any decision in this regard. At the end of 1944 she fell into a coma due to a meningitis attack and remained in this state for 12 days when, after a dream in which a nun of the Handmaid of Charity had approached her, anointing her with a particular ointment and telling her that she would be healed but that she would have a naked cross to carry in the future. After she regained consciousness and she found herself he...

  Day 63: Jul 12 In the 12th century in the fields to the west of Stezzano, about 2 km from the town center, a shrine was built in honor of the Mother of God. Most of the population was in fact devoted to farming and often during the working days, they stopped in prayer in this shrine. In the following century, in front of this shrine, the first apparition took place: the Madonna holding the Child Jesus appeared to a pious woman of the village. Following this prodigious event, the population built the first little church called “Madonna dei Campi” (Our Lady of the Fields). The years of construction of the church were part of a historical period characterized by important changes of a political, economic, cultural and religious nature. On 12 July 1586, the Virgin again appeared to two peasants, Bartolomea Bucanelli of 10 years and Dorotea Battistoni of 11, to this small church located in the Stazzanese countryside. The small temple had risen above an ancient shrine of the 13th centu...

 Day 62: Jul 11 After his victories in Flanders, Philip the Fair, who had prospered under the protection of Mary, was struck with the concourse of the faithful who repaired to Our Lady of Clery. He increased the number of the canons, and resolved to rebuild the church; but death, who defeats so many projects, religious as well as others, left him, in this respect, no other merit than his good intention. The church, nevertheless, was begun in his reign, and continued, thanks to the munificence of his third son, Charles, Duke of Orleans. Philip of Valois, that noble prince, who said to his soldiers, in conquered countries, “Respect the churches!” caused that of Our Lady to be finished, which the English Salisbury pillaged during the celebrated siege of Orleans. King Louis XI, who would have new sleeves put to his old doublets, to wear them till they were threadbare, but who knew how to act his part as king, when he pleased, built the church of Clery. He donated to it 2,330 golden cro...

Day 61: Jul 10 Boulogne-sur-Mer is located in the Calais Pass, diocese of Arras. This shrine is one of the three cathedrals of the diocese, along with that of Arras and St Omer. Tts history has been through the centuries a testimony of faith, conversion, reconciliation, peace. Some manuscripts of the late Middle Ages tell the story of this Virgin, albeit with some variations: A very beautiful lady arrives by boat from the sea in a small boat without sails. To those who saw her and asked her for her name, She replied that she is the “help of sinners, a source of grace and a source of mercy.” After that she adds: “I want a divine light to come down on you and on your city…. Friends, build a church in my name” Another story tells that around the year 636, at the time of King Dagobert and St. Omer was bishop of this region. On a late afternoon the inhabitants were gathered in a chapel covered in reeds and branches, located at the top of the city, when the Mother of God appeared inviting th...

 Day 60: Jul 09 The feast of Our Lady of Coutances commemorates the dedication of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Coutances, by Bishop Geoffry de Mombray, in the year 1056. Coutances was once known as Cosedia. It was the capital city of the powerful Unelles tribe. It was conquered by one of Julius Caesar’s generals in the year 58 BC. The city’s name was changed to Coutances in honor of the Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus. Due to its strategic location, it quickly rose to a place of great significance in the Empire. Coutances was evangelize in the 5th century through St Ereptiolous. He built a church on the site where there had once been a pagan temple. After the destruction of the Western Roman Empire, Coutances suffered from invasions by the Scandinavians and Normans in the 9th century. The church was razed and the city abandoned, and the bishop forced to flee for safety to Rouen. They did not go back to Coutances until nearly one hundred and sixty years later, when they returned w...

 Day 59: Jul 08 After seizing Kazan in 1552 on the feast day of the Protection of the Mother of God, Tsar Ivan IV "the Terrible" ordered the construction of a cathedral in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos (Mother of God). He also indicated other locations for the construction of churches and established the Kazan diocese. After a horrible fire in 1579, it was here that the Most Holy Mother of God revealed her Miracle Working icon. Several times, the Mother of God appeared at night in a dream to a devout girl named Matrona, daughter of an archer, and instructed her to tell the archbishop and governor to unearth Her icon from a place that she indicated. In the beginning, no one would listen to the girl. However, when the Mother of God appeared to her a third time, the girl became afraid and on July 8 (old style) she and her mother took a spade and began to dig at the site of the burned down home of the archer. It was Matrona that found the cherished treasure...

Day 58: Jul 07 In the year 1380, when St John's Cathedral was being renovated, a statue of Our Lady was found. An apprentice stone mason was in search of some firewood and found out this statue in the rubble. The mason could not recognize it as that of Our Lady as it was in such bad shape. However, the head-mason in charge of the apprentice understood it as the that of the Mother of God. The statue was placed for veneration on the altar of St Martin in the cathedral church, but the people did not like it. Respecting the public opinion, one of the clergymen tried to remove the ugly statue from the Cathedral. The statue became too heavy for anyone to lift or move it. People also noticed that those who spoke ill about the statue started to have some sicknesses or even nightmares. A woman who mocked the statue became partially paralyzed. That night the lady had a vision of the Lord who asked her to repair the statue and pay due honor. The very next day she dragged herself to the Cathed...