January of 1467 saw the death of the last great Albanian leader,
George Castriota, better known as Scanderbeg. Raised by an Albanian
chief, he placed himself at the head of his own people.
Subsequently, Scanderbeg inflicted stunning defeats on the Turkish army and occupied fortresses all over Albania.
With Scanderbeg’s death, the Turkish army, finally free from the
Fulminating Lion of War, poured into Albania, occupying all its
fortresses, cities and provinces with the exception of Scutari, in the
north of the country.
However, the city’s capacity to resist was limited, and its capture
was expected at any moment. With its fall, Christian Albania would be
defeated. Faced with this prospect, those who wished to practice their
faith in Christian lands began a sad exodus. Giorgio and De Sclavis also
studied the possibility of fleeing, but something kept them in Scutari,
where there was a small church, considered the shrine of the whole
Albanian kingdom. In this church the faithful venerated a picture of Our
Lady which had mysteriously descended from the heavens two hundred
years before.
According to tradition, it had come from the east. Having poured out
innumerable graces over the whole population, its church became the
principal center of pilgrimage in Albania. Scanderbeg himself had
visited this shrine more than once to ardently ask for victory in
battle. Now the shrine was threatened with imminent destruction and
profanation.
The two Albanians were torn by the idea of leaving the great treasure
of Albania in the hands of the enemy in order to flee the Turkish
terror. In their perplexity, they went to the old church to ask their
Blessed Mother for the good counsel they needed.
That night, the Consoler of the Afflicted inspired both of them in
their sleep. She commanded them to prepare to leave their country, which
they would never see again. She added that the miraculous fresco was
also going to leave Scutari for another country to escape profanation at
the hands of the Turks. Finally, she ordered them to follow the
painting wherever it went.
The next morning, the two friends went to the shrine. At a certain
moment they saw the picture detach itself from the wall on which it had
hung for two centuries. Leaving its niche, it hovered for a moment and
was then suddenly wrapped in a white cloud through which the image
continued to be visible.
The pilgrim painting left the church and the environs of Scutari. It
traveled slowly through the air at a considerable altitude and advanced
in the direction of the Adriatic Sea at a speed that allowed the two
walkers to follow; after covering some twenty-four miles, they reached
the coast.
With unbounded confidence, Giorgio and De Sclavis walk on the waves of the Adriatic Sea.
Without stopping, the picture left the land and advanced over the
waters while the faithful Giorgio and De Sclavis continued to follow,
walking on the waves much like their Divine Master had done on Lake
Genesareth. When night would fall, the mysterious cloud, which had
protected them with its shade from the heat of the sun during the day,
guided them by night with light, like the column of fire in the desert
that guided the Jews in their exodus from Egypt. They traveled day and
night until they reached the Italian coast. There, they continued
following the miraculous picture, climbing mountains, fording rivers and
passing through valleys. Finally, they reached the vast plain of Lazio
from where they could see the towers and domes of Rome. Upon reaching
the gates of the city, the cloud suddenly disappeared before their
disappointed eyes. Giorgio and De Sclavis began to search the city,
going from church to church asking if the painting had descended there.
All their attempts to find the painting failed, and the Romans
incredulously regarded the two foreigners and their strange tale.Shortly
thereafter, amazing news came to Rome: a picture of Our Lady had
appeared in the skies of Genazzano to the sound of beautiful music and
had come to rest over the wall of a church that was being rebuilt. The
two Albanians rushed to find their country’s beloved treasure
miraculously suspended in the air next to the wall of the chapel where
it remains to this day.Although some inhabitants found the strangers’
story difficult to believe, careful investigation later proved that the
two were telling the truth and that the image was indeed the same one
that graced the shrine in Scutari.
***
A few miles from the city of Rome lies Genazzano—a city rich in
history and blessed with the presence of a miraculous painting of the
Blessed Virgin that has an amazing story.In 1356, about a century before
the appearance of the miraculous painting that would introduce
Genazzano into the annals of marvels in the Church, Prince Pietro
Giordan Colonna, whose family had acquired lordship of the city,
assigned the most ancient church of the city and its parish to the care
of the Hermits of St. Augustine. The faithful would thereby have the
necessary pastoral assistance, and repairs could be made on the old
church.Although the prayers of the faithful intensified, financial
difficulties prevented the necessary and urgent restoration of the
ancient temple. But the Mother who gives wise counsel in every
circumstance and attentively provides for the necessities of men chose a
Third Order Augustinian, Petruccia de Nocera, to carry out a
supernatural prodigy that would bring about the much-desired
restoration.
The city of Genazzano
Petruccia had been left a modest fortune following the death of her
husband in 1436. Living alone, she dedicated most of her time to prayer
and services in the church of the Mother of Good Counsel. It grieved her
to see the deplorable state of the sacred premises, and she prayed
fervently that they would be restored. Finally, she resolved to take the
initiative. After obtaining permission from the friars, she donated her
goods to initiate the restoration in the hope that others would help
complete it once it was commenced. A plan was drawn up for the building
of a magnificent church. However, once that arduous undertaking had
begun, Petruccia, who was already eighty years old, found that her
generous offering was scarcely enough to complete the first phase of the
new construction. To make matters worse, no one came forth to help.To
her dismay, the building had hardly risen three feet when construction
came to a halt due to lack of resources. Her friends and neighbors began
to ridicule her, and detractors accused her of imprudence. Others
severely reprimanded her in public. To all of them she would say: “My
dear children, do not put too much importance on this apparent
misfortune. I assure you that before my death the Blessed Virgin and our
holy father Augustine will finish the church begun by me.”
The miraculous image of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genazzano.
On April 25, 1467, the feast day of the city’s patron, Saint Mark, a
solemn celebration began with Mass. It was Saturday, and the crowd began
to gather in front of the church of the Mother of Good Counsel. The
only discrepant note in the celebration was the unfinished work of
Petruccia. At about four in the afternoon, everyone heard the chords of a
beautiful melody that seemed to come from heaven. The people looked up
toward the towers of the churches and saw a white cloud that shone with a
thousand luminous rays; it gradually neared the stupefied crowd to the
sound of an exceptionally beautiful melody. The cloud descended on the
church of the Mother of Good Counsel and poised over the wall of the
unfinished chapel of Saint Biagio, which Petruccia had started.
Suddenly, the bells of the old tower began to ring by themselves, and
the other bells of the town rang miraculously in unison. The rays that
emanated from the little cloud faded away, and the cloud itself
gradually vanished, revealing a beautiful object to the enchanted gaze
of the spectators. It was a painting that represented Our Lady tenderly
holding her Divine Son in her arms. Almost immediately, the Virgin Mary
began to cure the sick and grant countless consolations, the memory of
which was recorded for posterity by the local ecclesiastical authority.
The news of the painting and its miracles spread throughout the province
and beyond, attracting multitudes. Some cities formed enthusiastic
processions to see the picture that the people called the Madonna of
Paradise because of its celestial entrance into the city. Numerous alms
were donated as an answer to the unwavering confidence that Our Lady had
inspired in Petruccia. Amidst the general enthusiasm caused by the
painting, Our Lady wished to divulge the true origin of the marvelous
fresco to her devotees. Two foreigners named Giorgio and De Sclavis
entered the city among a group of pilgrims that had come from Rome. They
wore strange clothes and spoke a foreign tongue, saying they had
arrived in Rome earlier that year from Albania. While most people had
refused to believe their story, it had a special significance for the
inhabitants of Genazzano.
Sermon Padre Hewko Miracle of Our Lady of Good Counsel
