Chapter 12 : The Eleventh Star or Splendour of the Crown of Excellence of the Mother of God
Continuing our translation of the 1845 reprint of Fr François Poiré's Triple Crown of the Mother of God (1643 French edition).
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| Notre Dame des Grâces, Cotignac.(Poggi, 2020) |
She has been and is still recognized and called blessed by all generations in the world
§ 5. She was recognized and honoured by all Nations everywhere in the world
Italy
OUR LADY OF LORETO, OUR LADY OF THE MARTYRS, OUR LADY OF PATIRO, OUR LADY OF GENESTA, OUR LADY OF MILAN, OUR LADY OF PORTA LUISA, OUR LADY OF BASILLE & OUR LADY OF THE MOUNT
110 We now come to the March[1] of Ancona and I pray, dear reader, that you will now purify your heart and mind because we are about to enter the holiest and noblest place we know of on earth. It is the little house from Nazareth, where the Holy Virgin was brought up, where the divine Word was known and where he lived for several years with His holy Mother and the blessed St Joseph, giving the world the example of his hidden life in which He knew hardship, to the astonishment of men and Angels. This little house, which today is known as the Chapel of Our Lady of Loreto, is surrounded by a beautiful and magnificent Church like the one which was built thanks to the more than royal generosity of the incomparable St Helena.
Heaven, seeing that this holy house was no longer being honoured as it was before because the Turks seized Judea, issued an order in 1291 for it to be transferred by Angels into the province of Esclavonia[2], keeping it just as it was. This province did not, however, sufficiently appreciate the treasure it had received and it stayed there for only three years and nine months before the Angels moved it to the March of Ancona where it stayed firstly for eight months in Recanati. From there it moved to a hill in the possession of two brothers who exploited the devotion for their own miserly motives, causing the Holy Virgin to leave them very quickly. This happened in 1295 when the house came into the possession of a saintly widow called Loretta from which it took the name name of Loreto and where it is still located to this day.
The history of the house has been written by Horace Turselin, of the Society of Jesus, and there you will a detailed account of what I have explained here in but a few words. The miracles performed are as remarkable as those you will find reported anywhere. The common belief in Italy is that when the holy chapel passed, trees bowed before it and stayed like that until they died of old age or were blown down by the wind. On the night the house was transported by the Angels, shepherds in the fields saw it passing over the sea surrounded by such extraordinary brightness that it seemed like daylight.
Footnotes
[1] A boundary or frontier of a country, district, or region. Also: a tract of land on or constituting a border, or a disputed tract of land separating one country or region from another.
[2] "Esclavonia" stands for Slavonia. Croatians were known in the West as Sclavons, Esclavon and Slavonian for over 1000 years.
111 Our Lady of the Martyrs is a Church close to Molfetta in the district of Bari which is in the region of Apulia. It is crowded with pilgrims all year round.
Gabriel de Barry tells how the Saracens had planned a surprise attack on the town of Rossano in Calabria and had placed their ladders against the walls when they were repulsed by a Lady clad in purple and wielding a flaming torch. They were so terrified that they fled in haste, abandoning their ladders against the walls.
Near the Rossano I just mentioned, there is a very famous Church called Our Lady of Patiro. Our Lady’s image is one of those which the Greeks call Hodegetria which we translate as “Indicator of the Way.” Albert Léandre refers to it in his description of Italy.
On the Genoese coast there is a little town called Genesta[1] where the memory has been kept alive of a virtuous old lady called Petruccia.
This woman was more richly endowed with faith and trust in God than with money and possessions. She had undertaken to rebuild the Hermits’ Monastery of Saint Augustine which was falling into ruins. All those who heard her talk about this made fun of her saying this undertaking had no existence other than in the empty imaginings of an old lady who was raving. She continued to insist, however that she did not wish to see death before the blessed Virgin and Saint Augustine had completed this work. She did not let up in her courageous efforts and she remained firm in her determination. A year had not actually passed since the day she laid the first stone when a miraculous image of Our Lady appeared on one of the walls of the Church. This so encouraged the good Patricia and prompted so much love towards this building on the part of countless numbers of people who went to see the miracle which God had performed, that before very long both the church and the monastery were completed.
Footnotes
[1] Signin., in Chronico Ordinis. [Transl. I have been unable to trace Genesta. The story of Petruccia, an image of Our Lady and the miraculous completion of the church are in fact associated with Our Lady of Good Counsel which is in Genazzano.]
112 If we now travel to Lombardy, we shall find in the noble city of Milan as many Churches as there are days in the year, and the majority are dedicated to the glorious MOTHER OF GOD. You would have to be quite ignorant of Italy not to have heard of the Duomo di Milano, dedicated and consecrated to Our Lady by Pope Martin V on his return from the Council of Constance and built by Gian Galeazzo, Duke of Milan in 1388. In the same city of Milan, near to the gate called Luisa, there was a little Oratory at the place where the blessed St Ambrose found the remains of Sts Nazarius and Celsius. Inside the Oratory[1] was a small pillar on which an image of Our Lady was fixed in a niche, behind an iron trellis.
One day as Peter du Port (one of the first priests in Milan) was saying Mass, people noticed two Angels near the pillar and saw how they genuflected and raised the veil which covered the image of the Holy Virgin. Her face at that moment looked so venerable and beautiful that all present were enraptured at the sight. Twenty-eight people were found willing to sign as witnesses to this miracle, as it had been decided to authenticate the miracle with proofs. There came forth from the niche, moreover, a certain fragrance that was so sweet and pleasant that it seemed to savour more of Paradise than of earth. This was in fact just the beginning of the miracles that the Holy Virgin had determined to perform in this place. These were so numerous that, with the alms received, it was possible in a short while to build a truly beautiful Church.
In the same region of Lombardy but on the other side of the Po river we are now on our way to visit Our Lady of Basille. The origin of this name is explained by Albert Léandre in his description of Italy.
The Holy Virgin appeared to a village girl while she was in the fields. She told the girl to take a spade and dig in the earth near the roots of a certain oak tree, explaining that she would find a beautiful crucifix and she was to kiss it; she was to get people to build a church on the spot and ensure the crucifix was set in a place of honour. The girl told her father and mother, persuading them to dig at the place indicated by Our Lady. After a little while, they unearthed the crucifix promised by the Virgin. The result of this was that soon a Church was built and the devotion of the those who came to visit it was accompanied by countless miracles. The Church was called Our Lady of Basille because the girl had kept on repeating in her local dialect from Bergamo what the Virgin had told her to do: Kiss it.
Near Gallarate which is also in Lombardy there is a Monastery called Santa Maria del Monte which has seen and continues to see miracles as well. The pilgrims who flock there can attest to this fact.
Footnotes
[1] Felix Astolphus, in Historia universali imaginum B. Virg.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
© Peter Bloor 2024
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