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Show OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL By a decree of the sacred congregation congre-gation of Rites, dated April 22, of this year, the faithful are commanded to add the invocation, "Mother of Good Counsel, pray for us." (Mater Boni Consilii, ora pro nobis") after the invocation, "Mother Most Admirable" ("Mater Admirabilis"), when reciting the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, commonly com-monly called the Litany of our Lady of Loretto." Quite recently the famous shrine of Our Blessed Lady, under the beautiful title of Virgin Mother of Good Counsel, Coun-sel, was raised to the rank and dignity dig-nity of a basilica. This shrine is at Genazzano, and only one other church outside of the Eternal City, that of Our Lady of Lourdes, shares with Genazzano this privilege. During the whole course of his pontificate, pon-tificate, Leo XIII has interested himself him-self in the efforts which have been made to extend the devotion to Our Blessed Lady, under the title of Mother of Good Counsel. Year after year, during the last quarter of a century, cen-tury, when the cares of the church pressed heavily on him, it has been his wont to recommend himself to the Mother of Good Counsel, whose picture is invariably before him. A brief account of the origin of this devotion de-votion will be gratefully appreciated by the readers of this paper. Genazzano. This little town is situated in the hill country of Latium, about thirty miles south of Rome. At a time when the Roman empire had sunk to the lowest depths of moral degradation, tnis district witnessed some of the foulest rites practiced in honor of the goddess Venus. When the locality had been won to the practice of the Christian Chris-tian religion we find the emperor Constantine conferring it upon Pope St. Sylvester I (A. D. 314), Pope St. Mark, the successor oT Pope St. Sylvester, Syl-vester, did much towards eradicating all traces of paganism from Genazzano, Genaz-zano, and built a church to the Virgin Mother of God under the ttle of Lady of Good Counsel, close to the site of what had formerly been a temple of Venus. This church continued to exist ex-ist in Genazzano down to the fifteenth century. Then the historic family of the Colonnas were the feudal lords of the place, and in the year 1336 Prince Pier Liordan Colonna, by the exercise of his jus patronatus, made over the church to the community of Augustin-ian Augustin-ian Hermits, who had settled in Genazzano. Gen-azzano. It was in a most dilapidated condition, and years elapsed before they succeeded in restoring it to a state befitting such a venerable institution. in-stitution. Early in the fifteenth cen tury a pious widow in Genazzano, named Petruccia, an Augustinian tertiary, ter-tiary, undertook to rebuild one of the chapels attached to the church. Her worldly means were not sufficient to accomplish this, 'and the walls of the chapel were scarcely six feet above the ground when the work had to be abandoned. Petruccia; however, never doubted but that the good work would sooner or later be brought to its completion. Day and night she besought the intercession of Our Lady and St. Augustine for this purpose, and it pleased Almighty God to answer an-swer her prayers in the following miraculous mi-raculous manner: The Picture. On April 25, 1467, the people of Genazzano Gen-azzano were celebrating what, from the beginning of Christianity, had always al-ways been their principal feast day. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when the piazza outside the church of Our Lady of Good Counsel was filled with people, the bells of the various churches in the town were suddenlv heard ringing in unison, although no human hand had touched them. A white cloud was also noticed moving rapidly through the clear blue sky, when suddenly it descended and seemed to rest on the unfinished wall of the chapel. The -people rushed to the spot, anxious to discover the meaning of this portent, when they saw the cloud gradually disappearing, disclosing the while to their astonished aston-ished gaze a beautiful fresco of the Immaculate Mother holding her Divine Di-vine Child in her arms. The clergy of the town and the civil authorities were soon on the spot, and all were filled with amazement at this sudden sud-den and unexpected aparition. The expression on the faces of the fresco touched all hearts, so full was it of sweetness and tenderness. A few days passed by and the people of Genazzano Genaz-zano were informed by two strangers who arrived hurriedly in their midst, cf the antecedents of the miraculous' picture. These men described themselves them-selves as natives of Scutari, in Albania, Al-bania, which was at this time (1467) on the point of being subjugated by the Moslems. The noble king. George Castriota, better known as Scander-berg, Scander-berg, had resisted the onslaught of the Turks until God called him to hi3 reward. There was a church in Scutari dedicated ded-icated to the Blessed Virgin, in which a painting of herself and Divine Child had existed for a long time, and which was the object of the deepest veneration venera-tion on the part of the inhabitants. The painting was known as Our Lady of Scutari; and many were the favors granted, and miracles wrought at that shrine. Rather than, permit this picture pic-ture to fall into the hands of the Turks, it pleased Almighty God to transfer it to another land, where it should be honored as it deserved. On a certain day in April, 1467, a3 two devout clients were praying before be-fore this picture, they were astonish ed to see it becoming detached from the wall on which it had been painted. paint-ed. Enveloped in' a white cloud, the fresco was borne by some Invisible power out of the church or Scutari, and westwards towards the sea. Impelled Im-pelled by a sudden impulse," the two worshipers followed the picture, and by the power of God were carried over the Adriatic Sea. Never for one moment mo-ment did they lose sight of their beloved be-loved treasure until they had arrived outside the walls of Rome, when it suddenly disappeared from their view. A few days after news reached Rome of the wonderful apparition of Genazzano. Genaz-zano. The two Albanians immediately immediate-ly went thither, when, to their great joy, they immediately recognized the features of their beloved Madonna, and told the authorities the facts in connection with its translation. These r two Albanians afterwards settled In Genazzano with heir families. The news of this miraculous occurrence occur-rence spread rapidly all over Italy. From every direction pilgrims rushed to Genazzano. The blind, the lame, the deaf and the dumb obtained the ! the cure of their bodily ailments before be-fore the shrine of the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel, for by this title it j came to be known. In time the t church, through the offerings of the ' faithful, was enlarged and decorated. A large convent was built close by for the accommodation of the Augustinian Augustin-ian Friars who, until the present hour, ! have filled the office of guardians of j the shrine of the Virgin Mother of ! Good Counsel. j After two centuries, in the year 1 1779, by a decree of the Sacred Congregation Con-gregation of Rites, the use of a proper mass and office was granted. And finally, in 1884, a new andstill more beautiful mass and office were composed com-posed and authorized by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. At the re- quest of many of the Bishops,' the I l east of Our Lady of Good Counsel, with mass and office, was extended to many countries of the world. The feast occurs on the 26th of April. |