"In the year of the Incarnation, 1467, on the feast of St. Mark, at the hour of Vespers, the image of the Mother of God, which you venerate in the marble chapel of this church, appeared from on high."This inscription hangs in a church dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel which was originally constructed in Genazzano, Italy in 1356. But over time, it became decrepit and ill-kempt. A widow named Petruccia de Geneo felt called to use whatever meager funds she had to repair it, but her money didn't go very far and she became the laughing stock of the town. People began to call the project "Petruccia's Folly."
However, during a celebration of St. Mark's Day on April 25, 1467, the festival was interrupted by the strange sound of exquisite music. Silence fell over the crowd as they watched a mysterious cloud descend out of a cloudless sky until it obscured an unfinished wall of the church. The cloud parted to reveal a portrait of Our Lady and the Christ Child which was left perched upon the wall. At the same time, all of the church bells in the city began to ring of their own accord. The whole town, including Petruccia, rushed forward and fell down in tears before the miraculous image.
So great and numerous were the healings that began to occur as a result of prayer before the image, which the villagers at first called the Madonna of Paradise, Pope Paul II initiated an investigation. During this time, two refugees testified that the exact same image had been kept in a church in their country of Albania. When a commission was sent to the church, the painting was indeed missing and the empty space on the wall where it hung was the exact dimension of the portrait that now graced the walls of "Petruccia's Folly."
The painting was renamed Our Lady of Good Counsel after the church where it had been miraculously relocated. Petruccia lived to see the church completed and was given the great honor of being buried beneath the chapel of the Madonna.
The church stood for 500 years until World War II when a bomb crashed through the roof of the building and exploded on the floor of the sanctuary. The main altar was completely obliterated but the altar of the Madonna, standing only a few yards away, remained intact. The image was miraculously unaffected.
For Reflection:
Because Our Lady was free from the stain of original sin, she never suffered from any of its effects. No corruption – exteriorly or interiorly – marred the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Ark of the New Covenant, who is the Blessed Virgin. Consider this in light of the miraculous preservation of Our Lady of Good Counsel during the Second World War. Consider it in light of the preservation of Our Lady of Guadalupe from fire and the tilma from the effects of time. Consider it in light of the mysterious transport of the House of Loreto. Journal your insights and reflections.
Read the rest
Our Lady has long been referred to as the "Seat of Wisdom" because she bore in her womb the Son of God, who St. Paul calls the "wisdom of God."
Read the rest
When Our Lady appeared outside St. John the Baptist Church in Knock, Ireland on August 21,1879, she uttered not a single word, but the way she chose to appear spoke volumes.
Read the rest
The year was 1531, only 12 years after the Conquistadors arrived in Mexico to find the native Aztec-Nahuatl people still sacrificing tens of thousands of people a year to the gods of Sun and Night who they believed had the power to keep the sun in the sky.
Read the rest
In the Japanese town of Yuzawadai located less than 90 miles from the city of Sendai, the site of the March 11, 2011, tsunami, is the site of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Akita and the apparitions of Our Lady that took place there.
Read the rest
Between May and October of 1917, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children on the 13th day of every month in Fatima, Portugal in a field called the Cova da Iria.
Read the rest
"I am the Virgin of the poor," Our Lady told 11 year-old Mariette Beco on the evening of January 19, 1933. It was the third of eight apparitions that Mariette would experience in the yard outside her home in Banneux, Belgium.
Read the rest
"How did Mary become the Rosa Mystica, the choice, delicate, perfect flower of God's spiritual creation? It was by being born, nurtured and sheltered in the mystical garden or Paradise of God," Blessed John Henry Newman once explained.
Read the rest
Mary's title "Star of the Sea" is thought to derive from the account in 1Kings 18:41-45 which refers to a little cloud appearing above the sea as a sign of hope that rain would soon come to water the parched earth.
Read the rest
The story behind this title of the Blessed Mother seems to prove true the maxim, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Jules Chevalier, an assistant priest at Issoudun, France, had a burden on his heart. He desired to start a new religious order of missionaries who would make known and inspire devotion to the loving compassion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by exhibiting that love through acts of compassion, understanding and respect toward others. John 13:34 was his inspiration. When Jules shared his dream with another priest, they prayed a novena asking God to give them a sign that they should move forward. The novena closed on December 8, 1854, and their prayer was soon answered. They received word that a person of good intention had donated twenty thousand francs for them to begin a charitable work. With this confirmation, Jules and his priest friend sought approval of the new Order from the Archbishop who denied their request. He told the priests he would withhold approval until the priests were able to show they would have a continuing income. Undaunted, the priests sought the intercession of the Blessed Mother whose feast of her Immaculate Heart was nine days away. They promised her they would dedicate the new Order to the Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and make them known throughout the world. Our Lady responded. At the end of the nine days, a charitable person pledged to give the priests one thousand francs per year for them to live on. Once again Jules and his priest friend approached the Archbishop. He was satisfied, but his Council was not. The Council said the two priests were too young to start such an Order and doubted they could make a go of it. Though he was told to drop the idea, Jules continued to seek the intercession of the Blessed Mother. And again, she responded. The Archbishop decided to reject the advice of his Council and authorized the two priests to begin the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. In gratitude to Our Lady, Father Jules developed a devotion tying together the Sacred Heart of Jesus and our Blessed Lady under the title of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
For Reflection:
How do I respond to disappointment? Do I demonstrate perseverance and hope or do I give in to discouragement and doubt? Why do you think God sometimes makes us wait for a desire to be fulfilled? Think of a time from your own history when something you felt you were called to do didn’t happen as quickly as you would have liked. What did you learn from the experience? How can this help you in the future?
Read the rest
