Mary's Feast Days November

Feast Days of Our Blessed Mother for Every Day of the Year

From

THE WOMAN IN ORBIT

Compiled by Sister Manetta Lamberty, S.C.C.

Click on today's date

NOVEMBER

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Nov. 1: OUR LADY OF THE PALM

The Church of Our Lady of the Palm preceded by some time the miracle which made it famous. There is no exact record of why it was named that way.

The miracle for which it is best known took place during an earthquake and a tidal wave on the first of November, 1755. Cadiz is a seaport of Spain exposed to the Atlantic Ocean and was directly in the path of the tidal wave said to be more than 90 feet high. The townspeople were in terror and were on the point of abandoning the town when two unidentified men – thought later to be the patron saints of the city – closed the water gates and urged the people to go to the Capuchin Church of Our Lady of the Palms. Here a Mass was in progress. The priest finished the Mass, seized a banner with a picture of Our Lady on it, and went out into the street where the wall of water was already advancing upon them. He planted the banner in the street and called out, “Thus far, my Mother”.

The water advanced as far as the banner, and stopped. Then, as he walked into it with the banner, the wall of water receded and returned to the ocean.

An anniversary procession was established, along with a confraternity of Our Lady of the Palm. With the exception of 1837, when there was a Civil War, the procession was held annually. The rosary was recited along the route of the tidal wave, and prayers of thanksgiving said.

Many years after the first miracle, another storm caused the people to remember Our Lady of the Palm. Ships were wrecked in the harbor of Cadiz, and the ocean was impassable. The people demanded a procession of Our Lady of the Palm, though it was out of season, and when the procession was finished, the storm abated.

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Nov. 2: OUR LADY OF EMMINONT

This shrine to Our Lady is near Abbeville France. It is much visited by pilgrims devoted to the Mother of God who at their prayers and petitions still performs for her people many miracles.

The relics of St. Wulfram of Sens who died in 656 were brought to the shrine in 1058. Fransiscan Brothers, well-versed in wood carving, care for the shrine. They were consulted in 1510 concerning work on the Cathedral of Amiens. In richness of detail, Abbeville surpasses many other cathedrals.

The list of favors granted by Our Lady of Emminont is innumerable. It includes miraculous cures, astounding spiritual and temporal favors and streams of graces and blessings.

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Nov. 3: OUR LADY OF RENNES

This shrine has been erected in Brittany to honor the Mother of God. During the war the English laid a mine to blow up the town of Rennes.

Mary sounded the alarm: The candles in the chapel were found miraculously lighted; the bells rang of themselves, and the image of the Blessed Virgin was seen stretching out its arms, pointing with a finger toward the middle of the church, where the bomb was. The people rushed to the spot, and so the plot was discovered, and the entire town saved through the intervention of Our Lady of Rennes. Great was the rejoicing and deep the gratitude of the people.

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Nov. 4: OUR LADY OF PORT LOUIS

Our Lady of Port Louis’ shrine is in Milan. Tradition reports that this image one day received the homage of two angels, whom several persons saw bending their knees before it. Devotion to the Mother of God was hereby inflamed and pilgrimages made to the shrine. Many miracles were and still are wrought through Mary’s intercession.

Legend relates that a pious monk, Herman, was praying in the choir of the church, when Our Lady appeared to him accompanied by two angels. One of the angels took the monk’s hand and joined it to that of the Blessed Virgin in token of a symbolic espousal. Some time afterward the Virgin again appeared to Herman, as she held the Christchild in her arms. “Carry my Child”, she said, “as He was carried by Joseph into Egypt; and as you bear the same burden, so bear from now on the same name.” From that day the monk was known as Herman-Joseph.

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Nov. 5: OUR LADY OF DAMIETTA

The shrine of Our Lady of Damietta is in Egypt. This church was consecrated to the Mother of God in 1220 by Pelagius, apostolic legate, to counteract lack of faith in her and to atone for some blasphemies hurled against her. The image is miraculous.

The city, situated at the mouth of one of the branches of the Nile, was treacherously taken by the Arabs in the eighth century. They successively defended it against the Greeks, trying to recover it.

The crusader St. Louis, St. Francis of Assisi, and other Marian devotees were vigorously active in the history of this miraculous shrine.

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Nov. 6: OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDIES

In 1519 Cortez brought with him a famous little statue to participate in the Conquest of Mexico. The statue was first set up in a temporary chapel in one of the rooms of Montezuma’s palace where the Spanish officers made their devotions. On the terrible night when the Indians rose against the Spanish invaders, one of the officers rescued the statue before fighting his way out of the palace. He did not get far out when he was cut down by Aztec arrows and died at the foot of the Maguey tree. The tiny statue was either pushed or it fell into the roots of the tree where it was overlooked by the Indians.

Some twenty years later, an Aztec convert prince, John the Eagle, was walking near the tree when he heard a sweet voice calling him; puzzled, he went to the nearby mission of the Franciscan Fathers and told them about it. They thought it was his imagination. Some days later John met with an accident, a large pillar of a church in building, fell on him; badly crushed, he was given the Last Sacraments. During the night when he was thought to be dying, the memory of the sweet voice kept returning to him. He prayed to Our Lady to help him; very early in the morning she gave him a sash to wear and cured him. A few days later he passed the tree again, and heard the sweet voice; curiously he looked carefully around the roots of the tree; half buried in the sand, he found the tiny statue of Our Lady. The Aztec convert thought he should do something about it. “Come home with me, gracious Lady,” he said, “I will see that you have a good home and are cared for.” He brought the little statue home wrapped in his cape and placed it on a rude altar.

Here Mary reigned as queen in the humble home for ten or twelve years; John kept the little shrine supplied with flowers, and occasionally with fruit and pretty stones. Gradually people came to pray at the shrine, their number increasing so that they were under foot day and night. John took up the local schoolmaster’s suggestion to build a little chapel. He set about building a shrine and enthroned Mary there. The next day to his horror, she was gone. Lonely and sorrowful, John went to the Maguey tree where he had first found her—and there she was! He returned the statue to the new shrine and decorated it carefully but she disappeared again – just when John became ill with fever, (which is often fatal in this land). John’s relatives hurried to carry him to Our Lady’s feet in Guadaloupe; as he lay gasping before the shrine he heard the same sweet voice say: “Why do you come to my house when you put me out of yours?” John apologized and she continues, “If you did not want me in your house, why not take me back to the Maguey tree and build me a chapel there?”

“If you cure me, I most certainly will,” promised the sick man. He was as good as his word. He built a chapel into a hermitage and spent the rest of his life there. After John’s death it fell into ruins. In 1574 the Spanish governor happened to see the ruins and was told the story. He ordered the building of a beautiful church to house the statue. At one time during an Indian uprising the Indians determined to exile Mary as dangerous to their tribe. After the danger was passed, Mary was reinstated in the church. She was called Our Lady of Good Remedies and also “The Little Lady of the Rain,” because she brought relief to the dry areas there. Other cities sometimes borrowed her for a procession around their parched fields, begging her to help them—which they say she always does.

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Nov. 7: OUR LADY OF SUFFRAGE (Poor Souls)

Mary loves the Poor Souls in Purgatory because she has also gone through a kind of Purgatory, a fire of tribulation—not indeed, in punishment for her sins, for she had none—but that she might have more compassion on us, and be more fully entitled to the name by which she is so well known; “Comforter of the Afflicted.” For this reason she descended into a sea of sorrow, into the depths of tribulation, into the furnace of poverty, exile, persecution. For this reason she suffered those pains of mind and soul, which were caused by the loss of her Son, and by His absence during the years she lived after His death. All those sufferings were a real Purgatory to her. Its flames but increased her love for the poor souls, and made her more truly the Mother of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

While we still sojourn in this valley of tears, let us beg Mary to increase daily our ardor, and give us perseverance in good works, to obtain for us a happy death and assure us of her advocacy at the judgment-seat of God. St. Aphonsus tells us that if we truly venerate Mary and faithfully serve her during life, we can certainly hope, when we die, to be led by her at once into Heaven without having to undergo the pains of Purgatory.

The best means to obtain this is to imitate Mary’s love for the Poor Souls. Pray often to the Mother of Mercy for these suffering souls; those of parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances gone before. Above all, say the Rosary for these holy souls. Our compassion will be most pleasing to the Mother of Mercy, and when our hour shall come, she will remember us and show herself a true mother.

That which was but vain conceit among the ancients, is truth and reality among Christians; for the spiritual roses of the Rosary can and do help the souls of the departed.

In the Revelations of St. Brigid we read that Mary said, “I am the Mother of all those who are in the place of expiation…My prayers wipe away the punishments inflicted on them for their faults.”

St. Peter Damien tells us that each year, on the day of the Assumption, Mary delivers several thousand souls from Purgatory. The more we place ourselves in Mary’s care, the more quickly will she lead us to God. Let us call on Mary Constantly for our suffering ones; we can feel confident that her tender, loving heart will reach out to those poor, afflicted, helpless ones, free them from their place of exile and lead them to their eternal destiny, the face to face vision of Heaven.

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Nov. 8: OUR LADY OF FAIR MOUNTAIN

Men called them the “shining hills”. Their white tops glistened against the western sky like some lovely mirage that beckoned to the land beyond. One man, the giant Pere DeSmet, had put into words the exhilaration that others felt in beholding these tremendous rocky hills: “You think you have before you the ruins of a whole world, covered with the eternal snows as with a shroud…” Other men later called them the Rockies.

By these barriers the tribes west of the mountains were isolated from the certain corruption that followed the white man’s coming. The Indians here had somehow got a bare inkling of the Truth and sent three delegations to Saint Louis begging for priests. Their hearts were ready. So, on Christmas Eve of 1841, Father DeSmet was jubilant. On the coming feast he would baptize 150 neophytes; he had regularized 32 marriages in the past weeks. Here in the wilderness was another Bethlehem, where the congregation of St. Mary’s of the Bitterroot would sing hymns in honor of Christ’s nativity and join in the Rosary. It was fitting that Our Lady should come to Bitterroot to smile approval; and she DID come that Christmas night to a little Indian boy named Paul.

He was an orphan and trying to learn his prayers, which he did not know. A few hours before midnight mass he had gone to the hut of an aged woman, and in his own words, he saw “Someone very beautiful. Her feet did not touch the earth; her garments were white as snow; she had a star over her head, a serpent under her feet and a fruit which I could not recognize. I could see her heart from which rays of light burnt forth and shone upon me. When I first beheld all this, I was frightened, afterward my fear left me, my heart was warmed, my mind was clear, and—I do not know how it happened—but all at once, I knew my prayers”. He ended by saying that she had appeared several times in his dream and told him she was pleased that the first village of the Flatheads should be called St. Mary’s.

Father DeSmet wrote his accounts in French and just lately have they been translated. When the Oregon country was opened, some writers dismissed this casually with, “Some of the Indians even fancied they had visions of the Virgin Mary.” Was this perhaps the first modern version of the Immaculate Heart: We would like to know more; because more than a century ago, Father DeSmet began his work at Bitterroot by consecrating the Indians to the Immaculate Heart. He adds in his records that he did not doubt the child’s words, since he was good. Next year, 1842, the month of Mary was kept. At the end a statue of the Virgin was borne in triumph to the place of the apparition, since that day he continues, “A sort of pilgrimage was established under the name of Our Lady of Prayer.”

Little Paul died from eating some poisonous herbs. His death occurred on the eve of disaster for the Indians, when the white men moved into the valley. For a land so blessed by Our Lady we have been strangely unresponsive to her. How badly we today need Our Lady of Prayer—if she came to us now, would she smile on America?

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Nov. 9: OUR LADY OF ALMUDENA

According to legend this statue was carved out of cedar and juniper by St. Necodemus to propagate devotion to Mary. It was polychromed by St. Luke. The apostle St. James gave it to St. Calocero who built a small chapel on the height of Cuesta de la Vega in present day Madrid. This sanctuary was free of the profanations during the persecutions suffered by the Christians in Gothic Spain. It became a large church during the fourth century under the Emperor Constantine.

During the Arab invasion of the 8th century, the Christians of old Madrid hid the image of Mary to avoid its being profaned or destroyed. It was sealed in a niche formed in one of the dados of the ramparts in a section close to the shrine. Once the statue was placed there in the year 714, they covered the place over so that it looked like a plain mending of the ramparts.

For three centuries and a half the Mohammedans were in Madrid. The shrine was turned into a Mosque. In 1083 Alfonso VI conquered Madrid and after the old shrine was purified and converted into a church dedicated to Mary, he ordered that on the wall of the major chapel a picture of the Blessed Virgin be painted to take the place of the lost image. In the course of centuries knowledge of the whereabouts of the statue had been hidden and lost.

After many efforts, the king determined to celebrate a novena of prayers, fasts, and penances as well as almsgiving, asking Heaven to grant that it be found. At the end of the novena, a procession took place on November 9, 1085. It was supposed to leave the church of Our Lady and march around the walls of the city. When the procession, in which the king himself and many other notables marched, came opposite to where the statue was hidden, the stones of the wall fell away and the statue appeared in the niche. The next day the statue was taken to the church. All Madrid celebrated a festival of great jubilation. The statue was borne by four prelates and carried to the church of Our Lady. It was given the name of Nuestra Senora de la Almudena.

Alfonso VI ordered the building of the larger church which was given over to the Augustinians. In 1664 the municipal government of Madrid decided to participate in the feast and the procession celebrated in honor of the Holy Patroness.

When the church was torn down in 1868, the statue was taken to the church in the Calle del Sacramento.

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Nov. 10: OUR LADY OF LAST AGONY

Mary, to whom we owe, next to God, our restoration in the spiritual life, who gave us new birth so to say on Calvary, while her Divine Son agonized on the Cross, deserves the above title in full measure. Her title is a translation of that of Co-redemptress of the Human Race, since the work of Salvation has for all of us its full consummation only in the decisive moment of death. Besides, the Church invites us to ask God for the grace of a Happy Death through the merits and the intercession of the Queen of Martyrs.

How gratefully, therefore, ought we to thank God for having secured for us, by the assistance of His Mother, at the moment of our death, the palm of victory!

Whence did Mary obtain the extraordinary privilege of procuring for those who are faithful in invoking her, the grace of a happy death and the assurance of eternal salvation? Without doubt, devotion to the Mother of God faithfully practiced during life, is a sign of predestination and, as such, assures for us at the hour of death the assistance of this divine Mother. How could Mary abandon at this supreme moment anyone who has faithfully called upon her during life?

Because Mary has merited by her own death the power of succoring her faithful servants at the moment of the great passage from life to eternity; having assisted her Divine Son during His agony and death on the Cross, she received from Him the mission of assisting us equally during our agony and at the hour of our death.

It is through Mary that Jesus was given to us, when He came a tiny Babe in the infirmity of human flesh, wrapped up in swaddling clothes, in order to save us; it is equally through Mary that on the last day we hope to see face to face this same Jesus surrounded by the glory of the Father—the source of eternal happiness for us: “And after this our exile, show unto us the Blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

A true servant of Mary cannot perish because devotion to this divine Mother, in keeping us virtuous, gives us a certain pledge that Heaven will be ours. Death is the crown of life: a good life cannot end in eternal loss. If we prove ourselves worthy of Mary’s assistance, she is bound to procure for us the special grace of a holy death.

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Nov. 11: OUR LADY OF THE PORTUGUESE

In 1946, the three hundredth anniversary of the declaration of Mary Immaculate, as Queen of the country of Portugal was commemorated.

In 1641, Kind John IV in a solemn ceremony had taken the crown from his head and had placed it at the foot of a statue of the Blessed Virgin. He declared her to be Queen of Portugal under the title of the Immaculate Conception. By oath he bound himself and his successors to defend the dogma that Mary was conceived free of original sin. He ordered the event inscribed on stone tablets in every town and city of the land. The monarchs of Portugal never wore a crown after that. They regarded it as belonging to Our Lady. Portugal had become “The Land of Our Lady.”

For most of the three centuries that have passed since then, Portugal remained the Land of Our Lady. There was a short lapse at the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of this one, but by 1946, it was plain that Our Lady’s rule was unquestioned. Civil and religious leaders paid homage to her. On May 13, 1946, a personal legate of Pope Pius XII placed a crown on the head of Our Lady of Fatima. The jewels of this crown were donated by the women of Portugal. Seven hundred thousand pilgrims were present when Our Lady’s rule over Portugal was thus renewed.

The culminating event in the series of celebrations was the journey of Our Lady of Fatima to the capital city. A stop was made at Lisbon and the statue remained in the church there for two days. When the statue was being removed from the church, it had been raining hard, but when it was being carried out of the church, the rain ceased abruptly, the clouds rolled back and the moon shone brightly. Half a million people lined the streets of Lisbon, shouting, “Hosanna to the Queen of Portugal”, flower petals showered down from the buildings.

In the afternoon of the following day the Cardinal, the hierarchy of Portugal, the president of the country, the Premier, the members of the diplomatic corps were in the cathedral to renew the act of consecration of Portugal to their Queen.

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Nov. 12: OUR LADY OF THE TOWER SECRET

Don Bosco, the amiable saint of the nineteenth century built a major shrine to Our Lady Help of Christians, tying it in with the past and with the future.

The church was begun in 1863 with the sum of 8 cents. Don Bosco never revealed all that Our Lady had told him in the several visions that preceded this, but he did reveal that she asked him to build a great shrine and that it would be a source of grace to all who came there to pray. The saints do not ask as many questions as other people do; he simply got the permission, hunted up an architect who was willing, in the coldly realistic nineteenth century, to begin a church on 8 cents, and said when the work was finished that he had been paid every cent owing to him; but, that he had been confronted in the beginning by a man who many people said was completely mad. The architect must have had real faith even to listen to Don Bosco.

Like everything else accomplished by the greatest Saint of Turin, the building was beset with difficulties. No one could understand why he insisted on naming it for Our Lady; even his own fellow priests. The money to pay for the project did not come in by the thousands of dollars, or even by the hundreds, but by the penny. Every stone in the building, every bit of decorations, was a gift of love, and sacrifice from some grateful person who had benefitted from Our Lady’s help. The completed building is a testimonial of miracles and a shrine of beauty fit to stand with the world’s finest.

The curious thing about Don Bosco’s shrine to Our Lady, and the one that should cause us thought, is the story of the right-hand tower. There is a large central dome, and on each side of it, a smaller one. On top of the left-hand one is an angel holding a banner. The right-hand dome is built the same, but its decoration is an angel offering a crown to Our Lady. One who saw the original sketches of the Church, drawn out of Don Bosco’s own hand, saw on the right-hand tower, a date 19…, indicating that at some time in this warring century there would be a victory over evil to correspond with Lepanto. Our Lady often tells her secrets to the saints, and apparently Don Bosco knew the name and the place, and thought it better not to reveal what he knew. Our Lady of the Tower would take of it in time; and the left-hand angel bearing a banner labeled LEPANTO would have a counterpart, if mankind proves worthy.

Don Bosco’s church with Our Lady of the Tower was raised to the rank of a basilica by Pope Pius X, Saint Pope Pius X.

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Nov. 13: OUR LADY OF NANTEUIL

This shrine dates from late in the 1st Century, making it one of the oldest in France. According to legend, some of the first Christians in the area discovered the statue residing on the branch of an oak tree. They placed it on a nearby wall near a fountain and went to summon the neighbors. On returning they found that the statue was gone. Since this was an isolated spot, they wondered who had taken it. Later the statue was found once more where they had first seen it, on the branch of the oak tree. The first chapel was, accordingly, built around the tree, the branches with the statue, being on the upper floor.

A parish church, later built next door, shows late 12th century architecture, but the shrine was already very old at this time.

The religious upheavals of the 16th Century left Our Lady of Nanteuil undisturbed, but before the French Revolution, a change came over the statue. The smiling face became sad, and many pilgrims testified to seeing tears on the cheeks. The revolution indeed brought sorrow to the shrine. One of the pilgrims threw a rope around the neck of the statue and pulled it to the ground, breaking all but the head. A woman who carelessly tossed the head aside and looked for better loot was punished by almost instant death. Another woman took up the mutilated head and hid it until the destruction was over and a new body could be made to go with it.

One of the many miracles recorded of our Lady of Nanteuil is the cure of a little boy who was completely crippled. His mother carried him on her back for three pilgrimages, and the third time he returned home entirely cured. The shrine was famous for the cures of sick children.

This shrine had a privileged altar, highly indulgenced. It was a favorite of the Venerable Olier and of that saintly vagabond, Benedict Joseph Labre.

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Nov. 14: OUR LADY OF THE GROTTO

In a hillside cave or grotto in the Tre Fontaine district of Rome, there stands a statue of Our Lady which commemorates her victory over an ardent communist in 1947. His name is Bruno Cornachiola. Although baptized, Bruno knew little about the faith he was supposed to profess.

Seeking adventure after his marriage, he enlisted in Franco’s army in Spain in 1937, where he became a victim of the communist creed. Returning to Italy full of hatred toward the Church he attempted to destroy the Faith of his wife and children and propagated communism eagerly. On September 8, 1947 he decided to assassinate the Pope. He attacked Mary’s Immaculate Conception by preparing a speech against her. To find leisure for this, he took his children for an outing to Ostia to enjoy the seaside, while he worked over his talk. Missing the train to Ostia he took the children to Tre Fontaine instead, to a hillside grove near a Cistercian Abbey. While helping the children recover their lost ball, he was astonished to find his youngest child, Gianfranco on his knees before a cave grotto, hands joined as if in prayer, and exclaiming, “The beautiful Lady”. Angrily sneering, he turned to the two other children and said, “Aren’t you two going to kneel down?” Carlo replied, “Not I,” and instantly fell on his knees. Seeing his three children rigid in rapture gazing toward the grotto, Bruno thoroughly frightened, cried out, “God have mercy on me.” An indescribable sensation of light seemed to envelop him and gazing toward the cave, he beheld the object of the children’s vision, an apparition of the Lady whose Immaculate Conception he was preparing to denounce. (The lady was dark of hair with an olive complexion. She wore a white dress bound by a sash of pink; over it and her head was a mantle of green. In her hand she carried a book; on her bare feet he saw a black cloth and a crucifix broken in pieces.) He heard a voice say, “I am the Virgin of the Revelation”. Our Lady spoke to them more than an hour, stressing the need of prayer, especially of the Rosary for the conversion of sinners and unbelievers and for Christian unity, giving Bruno a secret message for the Pope. As a sign that she was from Heaven she told him to go through the streets and to say to the first priest he met, “Father, I wish to speak to you.” When one replies, “Hail Mary, my son, what do you want?”, say what words come to your lips; this priest will direct you to another who will help you make your abjuration.

Two weeks later what she had predicted was fulfilled in the Church of All Saints. The priest to whom he was directed gave him a course of instructions. Later Gianfranco was baptized and Isola received her First Holy Communion. Not long afterward Bruno was received in audience by Pope Pius XII to whom he confessed his murderous intention and conveyed the message given him by the Mother of God.

Ever since, Bruno’s life has been that of a model Christian governed by love of his fellowman. In the cave or grotto where mercy and grace came to him, stands a statue of Our Lady surrounded by tablets. To this shrine come pilgrims every day, where many miracles have come to people through the intercession of Mary Immaculate.

The Church, however, though giving its sanction to these devotional doings, has yet made no public pronouncement about the apparition.

The black cloth on Mary’s foot, with a crucifix broken into pieces, was a reminder to Bruno of the home crucifix he flung to the ground and broke into fragments on his return from Spain.

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Nov. 15: OUR LADY OF PIGNEROL

Adelaide, Countess of Savoy, built this shrine in honor of Our Lady’s Assumption about the year 1098. It is the national shrine of Savoy.

The pious and far-seeing countess anticipated by almost one thousand years the dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady. Mary publicly honored under this beloved title repaid the generosity of her devout Adelaide by answering the pleas of her children, crying to her for help in every need, and answering their prayer, curing their ills and obtaining miracles where human aid was despaired of, but faith conquered. When the Assumption of Our Lady was proclaimed a dogma, the rejoicing at the Pignerol shrine was indescribable.

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Nov. 16: OUR LADY HELP OF THE SICK

There are times when a framework is built over a patient’s bed. Hanging down from it, among other things, is a strap or a horizontal bar. The patient can grasp this bar and help himself around. He isn’t helpless any longer!

All patients have within reach of their hands a means of pulling themselves up—a means of help. It is called the Rosary. By placing one’s hand on the rosary and fingering the beads, one is brought closer to Our Lady. The meditation on each mystery brings comfort and relief.

In South India about four hundred years ago, a Shrine to Our Lady of Health was founded because of alleged apparitions which took place at Vailankanni in Tanjoy. Our Lady is said to have appeared three times, the only place in India so honored. She was first seen by a poor crippled boy selling buttermilk; she paid the price of this produce, cured him and asked him to go to Nagapatam, six miles away to tell a particular individual of the vision. The person himself saw our Lady in his sleep the day before. A church was built in fulfillment of Mary’s command and called Our Lady of Health. Another appearance was made to a vendor selling milk. Mary asked him for some milk for the Infant Jesus she carried in her arms. The vendor gave, and reported the incident to his master, but when the lid was lifted from the clay pot, it was still full of milk. Some sailors threatened with shipwreck, begged Mary’s help and were anchored safely on Mary’s Birthday in the harbor of Vailankanni.

Numberless miraculous cures are registered at the shrine. Each year hundreds of thousands gather at this shrine to honor Our Lady of Health. During nine days Our Lady’s flag is flown.

On festival days at dusk the statue is taken in procession through the streets and is enthroned in a chariot which is drawn by 200 men. At the close of the ten day ceremonies, Mary’s flag is hauled down and laid on the altar of the church, to be kissed in veneration by the thousands of pilgrims before they disperse.

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Nov. 17: OUR LADY OF SION – (Queen of the Jews)

When the last word is said and the final picture of Mary painted, she will still have been a Jewess in all her black-haired beauty. Mary summarizes the glory of a long line of Hebrew heroines.

After Eve, Mary’s prototype, came Sara, “the princess”, whose ravishing beauty saved Abraham, who is the great-great grandfather of Jacob/Israel; even as Mary later shielded the Head of the Mystical Body. The daughters of Laban, Lia the lovely, and Rachel the renowned were “foundresses” of the House of Israel as Mary “mothered” the Infant Church. Then Miriam, the virgin, was a dim foreshadow of her virgin namesake as she protected her baby brother on the banks of the Nile, Deborah followed, “a mother in Israel” – the Jewish Maid of Orleans, whose song like Mary’s Magnificat, was Israel’s battle song of freedom. But the sweetheart of ancient Judaism was Ruth whose loyalty lead to royalty and who, through David fulfilled a Marian role. Then beauty and bravery joined wisdom and wit to make Judith “the Jewess” a national heroine from whom we borrow our song to Mary: “Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou art the joy of Israel.” Fair and feminine, came Esther, the shining star, whose trust in God redeemed her people and made her a type of our co-redemptrix. Susanna means lily of innocence. From the days of Daniel to Mary Goretti many lilies have grown, but none bloomed fairer than the Virgin most chaste. Salome, heroic mother of the Machabees, watching her offspring go to a cruel death, was Mary at the foot of the Cross.

Thus standing between two covenants, Mary fulfilled the hopes of the one and inflamed the hearts of the other. More beautiful than Sara, chaster than Susanna, stronger than Judith, more loyal than Ruth and more popular than Rachel, Mary was the chosen one of all the chosen many. She was and is truly Our Lady of Sion, the Queen of the Jews.

One of the chief pilgrimages of France, Notre Dame de Sion, at Saxe-Sion, is dedicated to Our Lady under the above mentioned title. It dates from the Episcopate of St. Gerard, whose Madonna, broken during the Revolution, was replaced in 1802 by another miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin.

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Nov. 18: THE ROSARY VIRGIN OF CHIQUINQUIRA

Way up on the Andean Plateau, 150 kilometers to the north of Bogota, Colombia, is the city of Chiquinquira, founded in 1856, and where at the country house of the Spaniard Don Antonio de Santana, a wondrous miracle occurred.

Don Antonio, in 1555, being a devout Christian had an oratory built in his home and requested the Dominican Brother, Fray Andrews Jadraque, to have the image of the Holy Virgin painted. The silversmith and painter, Alonzo de Narvaez did the work. The brother demanded that the Virgin bear a rosary, the official emblem of his order. The cloth had room for two other images at the side, and it was decided to put St. Anthony of Padua at the right and St. Andrew the Apostle at the left. The painting was done in tempora, but since the chapel was of straw, the paint faded under the action of the sun, the air and the rain.

The damage was such that the town priest had it removed from the altar as unworthy for the celebration of Holy Mass. The canvas was taken to Chiquinquira and was used for a rag to dry the wheat under the sun. Seven years later Dona Maria Ramos arrived from Spain and grieved to find the chapel used for animals. Day after day she prayed there that Mary comfort her soul, hopeful that her prayers would be heard. On Friday, December 26, 1586, at 9:00 o’clock in the morning, the canvas was suddenly brightened by the Holy Virgin. Maria was in pious astonishment, almost in a trance and soon the miracle drew crowds of people.

This wonderful happening was followed by miraculous cures. The Church authorities ordered an investigation to be made to verify the truth of the miracle and in the year 1630, the Dominican Brotherhood authorized by the archbishop of Bogota, took charge of the sancturary, and built a church which was replaced by the present Basilica in 1801. The Holy See, after discussion of the wonderful miracle, granted a liturgical feastday that is celebrated with special services also in some sections of Venezuela and Ecuador as well.

In 1919, by order of the Holy See, the Holy Image was crowned with splendor in Bogota, and in 1944 it was granted the gold scepter and precious jewels as the mother queen of Colombia. The Virgin of Chiquinquira is the comforting heart of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador; prelates, magistrates, and other leaders of the nation have knelt down at Mary’s feet and throngs of people, rich and poor, continuously flow to this place to pray for consolation and guidance through this earthly life.

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Nov. 19: OUR LADY OF GOOD NEWS OR GLAD TIDING

To the holy maid of Nazareth God sent his glorious messenger, Gabriel, to convey to her that supremest of consoling messages of the coming of the Redeemer; this was the greatest secret, the best piece of Good News ever whispered to a human heart. We know the joy of conveying Good News, just as we know how heavy a task it is to impart news that causes sorrow. So, for this joyful errand God chose His great angel. How willingly Gabriel leaped forth to accomplish the divine behest. And then, how gently and courteously he broke the glad tidings to Mary. It was the most delicate as well as the most wonderful message that one created intellect ever conveyed to another.

Mary was after all but human, although buoyed up by a strong sea of grace. Might not the strain of this divine message be too great even for her? To accept it demanded extraordinary faith as well as marvelous trust and a love that would flinch from nothing.

To be the Mother of the Messiah, the Mother of God! To be the Mother of Christ was offered her. Her faith stood forth for the conflict—how would this impossibility be arranged in God’s providence? How will He reconcile motherhood and virginity? Then softly, like stealing music, from the angel’s peace-giving lips the undreamt of solution came. The Infinitely Wise and all-Powerful has ways we know not. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon Thee”; this motherhood tied Mary to Divinity in an inexpressibly wonderful way. The Person of God became her Son.

And then Mary’s simple, penetrating word was spoken, under the stress of this great visitation: “Behold the servant of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.” She annihilated herself in God’s presence; she could only breathe the prayer: “Thy will be done!” All heaven bended to listen to the Good News which her answer brought by her simple “Fiat”.

I, too, must be the bearer of Good News, of Glad Tidings wherever I go, by accepting whatever the good God ordains for me as His Holy Will. The angels must hasten to the throne of God for me, too (whenever He asks something of me), with the Good News that I will do what He wants.

Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,

The world will bid Him flee,

Too busy to heed His gentle voice,

Too blind His charms to see.

Then, Mother of Christ, Mother of Christ,

Come with Thy Child to me;

Tho’ the world be cold, my heart shall hold

A shelter for Him and thee.

Let me in this way be a fountain of joy to God the Father, to His Son, Jesus, to the Holy Spirit and to Mother Mary, by the Good Tidings I spread far and wide.

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Nov. 20: OUR LADY OF GUARD

Father Aegedius, tall, blond; newly ordained priest had come from Holland to give missions in the wild-wooded northlands of Michigan before Detroit was a city. The young men crowded around his horse and led the priest to the little log cabin about 100 yards from the lake. The women had a blazing fire ready, as the wind whisked and rustled through the young Redemptorest’s black habit, and he was glad to step indoors.

He inquired whether all the families were on this side of the lake. “Sixteen on the other side”, was the answer. “Tell them to come, too”. The men informed him that it would not be safe to do so, since the ice might thaw, and the people would not get back to their side of the lake safely. After being informed that the priest would not be back for another year, word was sent to the other side of the lake. The mission started, baptism was administered, confessions heard, Holy Communion given, and marriages performed. One night during the services in the crowded cabin, a burly, unshaven man burst in with the news that the lake had begun to thaw and the lives of the people would be in danger trying to get home. They would have to remain in the cabin-chapel all night. How could 30 families be cared for here? – was the priest’s worried thought, of the freezing children and distraught mothers.

Facing the picture of Our Lady on the wall, Father Smulder said, “We’re going to pray to Our Holy Mother of Guard, and she will freeze the lake over for us.” He whispered frantically under his breath… “Mary, you must…you will! I know you will!” Then he began in a strong confident voice: “Hail Mary, full of grace…” The urgent voices of the people answered, “Holy Mary, Mother of God…” Again and again; after the third Hail Mary, the priest turned to the people and smiled. His lips were filled with a dry tremor and his eyes with cold sweat which looked like tears. “All right, home with you now. Mass at 8:00 tomorrow.” They were motionless. “I said Go! Our Lady has frozen the lake.”

Slowly one or two edged out of the door; then ten, twenty…he could hear them walking on the sand; now trotting, now racing for the shore. He held his breath, and prayed to Mary. No, he couldn’t pray. He just thought of Mary, and said nothing. Minutes passed—surely, they reached the shoreline. Not a sound! Another minute. The priest clutched his rosary. “ O Mary”, he prayed, “guard the people safely across; make the lake freeze again. Then it came! A wild lusty shout: “It’s frozen! It’s frozen!”

The mission went on for two more weeks. Every day the 16 families crossed and recrossed the lake. Durand, the lusty, burly man leading the way.

On the tenth day the thaw came again—the people quietly this time mentioned it to the priest. He turned to the picture of Our Lady, and led them in another three Aves to Our Lady of Guard. Once again the lake was frozen, and remained so until the two weeks of the mission were happily and blessedly ended.

The young priest and the thirty families recounted over and over again how Our Lady had guarded the families safely to and fro so they could make a complete mission in those early days of Detroit, then known as Otter Creek.

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Nov. 21: PRESENTATION OF OUR LADY

Mary’s presentation, offering in the Temple was the greatest a creature ever made to God; at the age of three, she offered Him not spices, nor animals, nor precious metals, but herself as a perpetual victim to His honor. She well understood the voice of God calling her to devote herself entirely to his love.

God willed that from that time on she should forget all, and think only of loving and pleasing Him. Promptly and immediately, she obeyed the Divine Call.

Mary’s offering began really in her mother’s womb, her sanctification at the instant of her Immaculate Conception. At that moment she received the use of reason and began to merit—the general opinion of theologians. (The Angels and our first parents had this blessing also.) In the first moment of her existence she offered herself entirely to God, and devoted herself without reserve to His love and glory, subjecting her will thereto.

The Immaculate child understood that her holy parents, Joachim and Anne, had promised God by a vow to consecrate their child to Him for His service. Mary was reminded that it was the ancient Jewish custom to take daughters to the temple for education.

So, when Mary was three years old, Joachim and Anne set out with her from Nazareth, eighty miles from Jerusalem, accompanied by choirs of unseen angels. When they reached the temple, Mary fell upon her knee, kissing the hands of her parents, and implored their blessing. Then she ascended the fifteen steps of the temple and presented herself to the priest, St. Zachary, for the service of her Creator.

Mary well knew that God does not accept a divided heart; so she vowed virginity, desiring to remain in the temple service her whole life. Our Lady revealed to St. Elizabeth of Hungary, that she kept one special commandment before her eyes constantly: “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God,” and she implored of God the grace to keep all the laws and to live to see the Mother of the Redeemer; and that even she had to pray for grace and virtue always. On learning from Scripture that God was to be born of a virgin, her soul was inflamed with such love, and she begged to be the servant of that happy virgin.

St. John Chrysostom tells us God found on earth no other virgin more holy and more perfect than Mary; nor a dwelling more worthy than her sacred womb, and so He chose her for His Mother—surpassing in perfection and virtue all other creatures.

As Mary did, offer yourself promptly and completely to God through her, without delay, without reserve, entreat her to offer you to God. He will not reject a creature offered to Him through His Mother, the living temple of the Holy Ghost, the delight of the Lord and the chosen Mother of the Eternal Word.

Have unbounded confidence in Mary, who rewards the homage of her clients with the greatest love.

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Nov. 22: OUR LADY OF LAVANG

The fact that the Blessed Virgin visited a small group of Catholics in the little jungle village of Lavang, in Viet Nam, in 1798, is not surprising to anyone who knows the ways of the Mother of God. She has always been faithful to her children by grace.

It was as a result of one period of persecution that a number of Vietnamese Catholics found refuge about 1785 in a jungle that hardy foresters would hesitate to penetrate. Here they stayed hidden, suffering privations, dangers and illnesses, in order to practice their religion. One of the few comforts they had was reciting the rosary every day at dusk.

On one such evening, they were first frightened and then enchanted to behold a Woman and Child standing nearby in a mysterious glow of light. Simple as these people were, some among them recognized the Virgin Mother and Her Child. All listened entranced while Mary told them softly that she was fully aware of their hardships and of their chronic sickness due to contaminated water. She told them to gather certain leaves that grew near and make a strong tea of them; this would keep them healthy. Solemnly she added, “From this day on, prayers said on this spot will be heard—and answered.” The year was 1798.

Not long after the Virgin’s visit, the people heard that the persecution they escaped had ended. Most went back to their original homes; they could talk about little but the apparition they had seen, and word of this miracle spread.

By 1820 even the Buddhists believed in Our Lady’s promise and built the first little shrine, a pagoda, on the spot where Mary had been seen. Within a short time these Buddhists became Christians; and their small shrine became the first Church of Our Lady of Lavang. The faithful found solace and courage in this devotion in times of oppression and general misery that have come again and again to the Vietnamese.

In 1885 during a period of rabid anti-Christianity, the Lavang chapel was burned; a priest, Father Philip Minh, now Blessed Philip, was beheaded. There was another lull between attacks and work was begun on a building to replace the burnt chapel.

There were great difficulties in transporting supplies plus lack of adequate funds, but the great church of Our Lady of Lavang somehow evolved and was dedicated in 1901 in the name of the Protecting Mother of the faithful. A congress of all dioceses of Viet Nam was called and Lavang became a place of pilgrimage for countless devout people of Southeast Asia.

During the Marian Congress of 1961 a new basilica of Our Lady of Lavang was dedicated by Archbishop Peter Ngo-Dinh Thue of Hue. At that time he told Catholics of South Viet Nam that he receives messages still from Catholics in North Communist Viet Nam who say they never fail to believe that the Holy Virgin of Lavang will one day deliver their country from Communist oppressors.

Viet Nam is a land of many martyrs. Across the centuries, devoted religious, scholars, leaders and the poor have paid homage to Mary.

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Nov. 23: OUR LADY OF THE TEUTONIC HOUSE

Devotion to Mary, pacifying the cities, inspiring knights with courage, was the mainspring of military orders, those ever triumphant orders of armies of the Middle Ages.

Here the devotion to woman was represented by a particular devotedness to the Blessed Virgin; thus the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem invoked Mary on receiving their swords, an invocation still made by the Knights of Malta, the last transformation of the celebrated order.

The Teutonic Knights were styled “Knights of the Blessed Virgin.” The Pope approved them in the 12th century as “Hospitalers of the Blessed Virgin” and put them under the rule of St. Augustine. The lands they wrested from the heathens were called “Mary Lands”.

The age of chivalry, nobler and better than ours, when religion was respected and its holy laws obeyed from the palace to the hovel, was the epoch when devotion to the Mother of God reached its zenith; all was then done for her and through her. The Blessed Virgin, blending all conditions of beauty, gentleness, and angelic purity befitting the model lady, was the object of a devotion superior to that rendered to any saint. Tourneys were proclaimed, feats of arms accomplished, in honor of Mary. Kings and knights watched their arms on vigils in her chapels; her name was a war-cry in the various languages of Europe.

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Nov. 24: OUR LADY OF MONTSERRAT

Montserrat, or “saw-tooth mountain”, which Our Lady chose for her shrine is believed to have an intrinsic holiness. Its highest peak bears the name “Tibi Dauo Mountain” because it is believed that there, tradition says, is where the devil took Christ after His forty-day fast to show Him the cities of the world. Legend also has it that Montserrat was the site of the Holy Grail.

Montserrat is the mecca of pilgrims and the “Niagara Falls” of most Spanish newlyweds. What better spot for a honeymoon than under the shadow of the Queen of all wives and mothers.

The one and only “Lady of Spain: reigns from the lofty heights of Montserrat. We find the magnetic image of the Virgin smiling down from her place of honor above the main altar of the basilica. She seems to whisper, “I’ve been waiting a long time for you.” The statue is four feet high, wooden, blackened from the smoke of innumerable candles which have burned before her through the ages. She is seated on a chair and holds her Divine Son who has a fir apple in His hand. Mary is clothed in a golden mantle a tunic and a veil of diverse colors. The infant wears a simple tunic, and He and His Mother wear matching wooden crowns.

The origin of the statue and the manner in which it came to a lowly grotto in the mountain side is not supported by any written statement or document, but is based exclusively upon an uninterpreted folklore describing its miraculous descent from heaven.

The legends date from the 9th century when it is believed that hermits who dwelt in caves kept watch over a tiny chapel known as Santa Maria de Montserrat. Reliable documents prove that a great monastic center was founded among the same cliffs in the 11th century and that a small dark statue like the Madonna, drew the kings of Aragon, the monarchs of Spain, the emperor Charles V, as well as saints, celebrities, and common folk to the difficult mountain, where arduous pilgrimages terminated and wondrous miracles were wrought. The original chapel underwent many changes until the 16th century when the basilica was constructed.

Cable cars and railroads to the various heights are available, but most pilgrims prefer to make the monumental Way of the Cross on foot, following a steep and narrow path through the mountains. Besides the “Via Crucis”, a three-mile trek from the path to Monistrol up to the Holy Grotto, is punctuated with sculptured representations of the Mysteries of the Rosary. These inspire one to real meditation while reciting the fifteen mysteries of the fifteen decades of the Rosary. The powerful charm of this shrine eludes cold print.

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Nov. 25: OUR LADY OF THE ROCK OF FIESOLA

According to local legend, the Gospel was first preached at Fiesola (in the province of Tuscany, Italy) by St. Romulus, a disciple of St. Peter during the days of the Christian persecutions. Proof of that is the fact that the ancient cathedral stands outside the city walls.

The cathedral of St. Romulus was built in 1028 with materials taken from several other edifices—hence, the shrine took the name Our Lady of the Rock, The little church in the cathedral square—called the shrine of the Primerana—is the one dedicated to Our Lady. Among other apparitions, too numerous to mention, is the one in which Mary warned St. Andrew Corsini of his approaching death.

During his lifetime, our Blessed Mother obtained from her Divine Son for Andrew the gifts of prophecy, miracles of healing, the conquest of hardened souls and many other conversions.

The cathedral of Fiesola is the resting place of a long list of saints and illustrious churchmen, all of whom were devout clients of Our Lady.

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Nov. 26: OUR LADY OF THE MOUNTAINS

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire, at the foot of Mount Washington, there is a new shrine of our Lady which is becoming better known year by year. It is called the Shrine of Our Lady of the Mountains.

The church itself was built in 1904 and dedicated to our Lady under this beautiful title. It is situated on Route 302 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, across the highway from Mount Washington Hotel. During the early part of the twentieth century there were many summer hotels in this area; and the church accommodated the guests and the employees who were very numerous in those days during the summer. As many as nine scheduled Masses were offered up in the church on Sundays.

When Father John Feeney was appointed pastor in 1949, of this church, as well as those in Whitefield and Twin Mountain, the church had only one Mass on Sundays and was deserted on weekdays; because all the hotels and Mount Washington Hotel, were gone. But why should it not become the Shrine of Our Lady of the Mountains? That was Father Feeney’s happy thought and ardent desire. If only he could obtain a suitable painting of Our Lady! Then Our Lady of the Mountains would be loved and honored by the thousands of motorists who passed by in their cars.

The priest’s dream was realized in 1952, when doctor Eugene Markush, president of the Pharma-Chemical Corporation of New York City, donated a precious modern painting of Our Lady and her Divine Child, as a memorial for his wife, Stella Maria, who had died the year before. The artist who painted the picture was Stella Maria’s brother, the famous Hungarian painter Bella Szemerel. Born in 1904, he had graduated from the Vienna Royal Academy and won a fellowship for further study of the masters of Rome. He had done many excellent portraits of members of royal families and other dignitaries in Europe; and now he was living in the United States, a refugee from the Communists. This image of Mary was a thank-offering to the Mother of God.

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Nov. 27: OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

It was almost midnight, when Sister Laboure was awakened by someone calling her. She saw at the foot of her bed a beautiful child, beckoning her to follow; arriving at the chapel, she beheld Our Lady, who spoke to her for two hours.

On November 27, while the community was assembled for prayer, Mary came for a second visit. Her head was covered with a soft white veil; she stood on a ball on which was a serpent with crushed head. In her hands Our Lady held a small ball, the globe, with a tiny cross at its tip, and offered it to God as she prayed. Upon her fingers were many rings, filled with precious stones of varied beauty and brilliancy. As rays of light shot forth from these stones, Our Lady lowered her eyes and spoke to Catherine Laboure: “This ball which you see is the world; I am praying for it and for everyone in the world. The rays are the graces which I give to everyone who asks for them. But there are no rays for some of these stones; many people do not receive graces because they do not ask for them.” Then Mary’s arms were lowered and she became brighter and lovelier; a group of words encircled her head; “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” And a voice said, “Have a medal made according to this picture. All who wear it when it is blessed will receive many graces especially if they wear it suspended from their necks.” The picture turned and showed the letter “M” surmounted by a cross with a crossbar beneath it; under the initial of the name Mary were the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary: the first encircled by a crown of thorns; the second transfixed by a sword. Encircling the entire picture were 12 stars with a golden frame.

In December 1831, the third apparition repeated the request for the making of the medal. Sister Catherine told her superior and her confessor about Mary’s request. When Father Aladel told the archbishop, his Excellency said, “Have a medal made at once and send me some of the first made.” In June, 1832 the first 2,000 medals appeared. So many miracles were wrought by the use of the medal, that it was called “The Miraculous Medal”.

Six years later another desire of Our Blessed Mother’s was answered when an altar was constructed on the very spot where she appeared, in the Chapel of the Apparitions.

Sister Catherine Laboure died in 1876, December 31, and all felt she had gone directly to Heaven. On July 27, 1947, she was canonized by Pope Pius XII. When her casket was opened shortly before, her body looked as lovely as it did when she died fifty-six years before.

The Miraculous medal is a badge stating that the wearer has one ideal: the Blessed Virgin, and one ambition: to retain purity of soul throughout life by keeping that soul in the state of grace always. Are there any wrinkles in your brows: Well, they don’t belong there. Erase them with the elasticity of Mary’s influence. If you wear Mary’s Miraculous Medal and live for what it represents, you should be one of the happiest persons in the world.

“O Mary, conceived without sin,

Pray for us who have recourse to thee!”

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Nov. 28: OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM

Before the sad days of the so-called Reformation, devotion to Our Blessed Lady was a remarkable trait in the lives of the English people; so England gained the remarkable privilege of the title of “Our Lady’s Dowry”.

Among the many shrines, Walsingham was pre-eminent as a place of pilgrimage. The “Slipper Chapel” was thronged with pilgrims of high and low degree—amongst them Kings, Queens, Princes, Courtiers and Commoners all bent on being shriven, and making their peace with God. In humility they went barefoot for a mile to the Nazareth House, leaving their shoes behind—hence the name “Slipper Chapel”; thus fortified they made their way to the Abbey to beg the powerful intercession of Our Blessed Lady.

The High Church of England is reviving devotion to Our Lady and having processions to Walsingham, while Catholic hymns are sung in honor of Mary. Today the Franciscan Fathers, Capuchins, have a room which is used as a chapel; there, daily Mass is said and evening devotions held. During the summer session or season, hundreds of pilgrims come to Walsingham, where Holy Mass is offered at the Slipper Chapel and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is given in the Abbey Grounds.

Records reveal that King Henry VIII hung a golden chain round the neck of the Lady Statue at Walsingham. He donated that a candle burn always at the shrine, and he walked barefoot once to the shrine. However, several years later he had the shrine savagely treated and leveled to the ground. The youth of England who took the least part in the desecration of the shrine, today take the lead in its restoration.

Walsingham was founded to be the shrine par excellence of the Mystery of the Incarnation. Mary is portrayed there holding her Divine Son, Who extends his right arm in blessing, clasping in His left hand a book, Symbol of the Word made Flesh. The Walsingham seal shows the iconography of the oldest type of Madonnas. It bears a great resemblance to the theokratical ikons venerated in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Today the people of England are coming back to Walsingham; England pays tribute to the Eucharistic Christ, and Our Lady of Walsingham blessed England with Her Son.

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Nov. 29: APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF BEAURAING

On the evening of November 29, 1932, five children, fun-loving, mischievous playmates, ranging from fifteen to nine years of age, were walking toward the railway viaduct in the Vallon part of Belgium, in the simple and quiet village of Beauraing. Suddenly one of them exclaimed that there was a bright light moving at the viaduct. First they thought these the lights of a moving car. Very soon, however, they discovered the figure of a lady, and they instantly recognized that this could be nothing less than the Blessed Virgin.

Nobody wished to believe what the children related. But the next evening they came home with the same story. The village laughed at them and their parents were angry. The next time the children related with more details that they had seen a lady who was more beautiful than her statues, dressed in pure white, with a crown of golden rays on her head.

On December 2nd the children asked the lady some questions; she, smiling, confirmed that she was the Immaculate Virgin and demanded that they “always be good”. As the vision continues, more people came to Beauraing, including police officials, doctors and psychologists.

There were thirty-three apparitions in all. On December 29th the children related, the Blessed Virgin revealed on her breast a heart of gold. The next evening she asked for more prayers. On January 1, 1933, she reiterated this request and told Fernande, the fifteen year old girl: “If you love my son and love me, then sacrifice yourself for me.”

The Belgian bishops at the beginning, forbade any processions or cults and started an investigation that was to last for ten years, during which serious objections were brought against the children. Finally, in 1943, a decree was issued by the Bishop of Namur authorizing the cult of Our Lady of Beauraing.

On July 18, 1947, Msgr. Charue personally received papal blessings for the Sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Beauraing—the Virgin of the Golden Heart. This devotion has since taken on new and ever increasing proportions.

The final approbation was given on July 2, 1949. The cures of Miss Van Laer and Mrs. Acar were declared miraculous by a decree given by Msgr. Charue. Many conversions and graces have been obtained through the intercession of Our Lady of Beauraing. The editor of the Belgian Communist paper, “Le Drapeau Rouge” (The Red Flag), was one of the first to become Catholic at the shrine of Our Lady of Beauraing.

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Nov. 30: OUR LADY OF GENESTA

The shrine of Our Lady of Genesta is on the coast of Genoa, Italy. A poor woman, named Petruccia, undertook to build the church in Mary’s honor, a task which to everybody seemed impossible. The woman, however, proceeded to lay the cornerstone, and assured everybody that she would not die until the Blessed Virgin and St. Augustine finished this work.

Had not Mary said, “Let scoffers be”? Petruccia believed without doubt that the Madonna would keep her promise as she had said in the vision. Petruccia’s faith was rewarded.

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