The fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel gives us a good idea of the relationship between her and her Divine Son. The very position of her face was carefully calculated so that nothing was hidden from the face of the Child. And that the Child should be in the foreground and She in the background. The Church celebrates Our Lady of Good Counsel every April 26.
Newsroom (13/05/2024 20:00, Gaudium Press) On April 25, 1467, the small town of Genazzano celebrated the feast of St. Mark. Divine Providence had reserved something special for him for that day. At around four o’clock in the afternoon, the people gathered in Piazza di Santa Maria saw a heavenly spectacle.
What is this silver cloud, speeding across the sky and emitting splendid rays? Where is it coming from and where is it going? And those angelic voices? What wonderful music! We’ve never heard of them before!
Such were the questions and exclamations of the inhabitants of Genazzano when they saw a luminous cloud in the sky that was slowly descending and coming to rest next to the unfinished wall of an ancient church that was being rebuilt.
This church, dedicated for centuries to Our Lady of Good Counsel, was under the care of the religious of St. Augustine.“Suddenly,” recounts a historian, “the bells of the tall tower in front of the people’s eyes began to ring, although everyone saw and knew that they weren’t rung by human hands. Then the other bells of the city’s churches began to echo them in unison, ringing with all their might. Fascinated and overwhelmed by holy feelings, the crowd soon filled the area of the chapel under renovation and gathered around the spot where the cloud had landed.
“Little by little, the rays of light stopped shining, the cloud slowly began to clear and a beautiful object appeared before their astonished eyes. It was an image of Our Lady, holding the Divine Child Jesus in her arms. She seemed to be smiling at them and saying: ‘Do not be afraid. I am your Mother, and you are and will remain my beloved children.
Where did the miraculous fresco come from? “From Paradise!“, some said without hesitation at the sight of such a miracle. However, as we shall see later, the enigma was soon cleared up by two Albanian soldiers who arrived in Rome looking for the painting of their beloved patron saint.
Our Lady of Good Offices
This fresco has been venerated in Albania since the 13th century, under the invocation of Our Lady of Good Offices. Its authorship is unknown, but to this day many do not hesitate to claim that it is the work of angels.
In 1467, when the Albanian prince Scanderbeg died, there was no one left to stop the enemy hordes that were ravaging Catholic Albania.
It is said that, on hearing the news of his death, Sultan Mohammed II exclaimed: “At last Europe and Asia are mine. Disgrace has fallen upon Christendom! She has lost her shield and her sword!”.
Little by little, Albania succumbed, and all those who wished to remain faithful to the Faith were forced to choose between abandoning the country or dying in the face of the invading horde.
In this distressing situation, when two Albanian soldiers were praying before Our Lady of Scútari, the fresco detached itself from the wall and undertook a miraculous journey towards the Adriatic Sea. Filled with awe, the two followed it, at first on dry land, then walking on water!
In this way, without losing sight of the venerated image, they arrived on the Italian Peninsula. But what was their bewilderment when, near Rome, they no longer saw their beloved Mother?
Where had she gone? While they were looking for the Lady of Scútari in the Eternal City, the miraculous fresco was on its way to Genazzano.
Promise to Blessed Petruccia
This town, 47 kilometers from Rome, was chosen by Divine Providence to serve as the setting for the precious image of the Mother of Good Counsel.
Several years before the arrival of the holy fresco, Mary Most Holy, in a dream, had revealed to a widow from Genoa, the Augustinian tertiary Petruccia of Nocera, her decision to leave Scutari and settle in that corner of Lazio.
For this reason, the spiritual daughter of Saint Augustine undertook the task of rebuilding the deteriorated and abandoned temple of Our Lady of Good Counsel, to make it ready to receive her.
Petruccia began by investing all of her inheritance in the reconstruction of the church; after that, as she lacked the means, she sold her belongings, reserving the bare minimum to live on.
However, despite her generosity, she had barely managed to put up a few walls… Laughter, mockery, and debauchery at the “crazy visionary” who had spent her possessions needlessly. But she remained confident in the promise of the Lady who would come and said:
“Don’t worry, my little children; before I die – she was then very advanced in age – the Blessed Virgin and St. Augustine will carry out the work of repairing this church.”
What joy Petruccia had when she witnessed the miraculous arrival of the fresco of Mary in Genazzano, remaining on one of the walls of the church. The fresco was not fixed to the wall, but remained in the air, detached from the floor, without any further support.
Read also Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genazzano: Heavenly Coexistence between Mother and Son
A gesture overflowing with love
In a very short time, the faithful were eager to help complete the reconstruction of the church, to dignify the dwelling of the Madonna del Paradiso, the Lady of Genazzano or Mother of Good Counsel, as she came to be called because she settled in a church with such an invocation.
Contemplating the figure of Mary with the Child Jesus, we see that He, “in a gesture of intense affection, overflowing with love, wraps his right hand around his Mother’s noble and delicate neck, while with his left he energetically grasps the upper part of her dress, as if to say: ‘You are all mine!
And the Mother, “in a very high act of adoration of her Son, trying as it were to guess what is going on inside him, considers at the same time the faithful who kneel at her feet and, as Mediatrix of all graces, welcomes their prayer and presents it to God Our Lord.”
Miracles
Since her miraculous arrival in Italy, the Madonna of Genazzano has never ceased to work miracles, both spiritual and physical, on behalf of those who devoutly entrust themselves to her protection.
Countless are the cases of crippled, paralyzed, and blind people who, upon entering the chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel, were entirely cured of their ailments. In the 110 days following Our Lady’s arrival, there are no more than 161 miracles recorded!
As well as impressive cures, there are stories of exorcisms, and apparitions of Our Lady to those who, even far from Genazzano, prayed confidently to the Mother of Good Counsel.
Freeing a criminal
As well as freeing from spiritual shackles, the Lady of Good Counsel did not fail to attend to death-row defendants who asked her for forgiveness and help.
Giovanni di Andrea di Sarzano, a criminal held in prison in Siena, had received the death penalty by verdict. A priest tried to convince him to receive the last Sacraments, but to no avail, as the condemned man didn’t believe he was going to die…
Having exhausted all his means of leading him to penance, the priest could only say: “If the miraculous Madonna who recently appeared in Genazzano doesn’t save you from death, you will undoubtedly be in eternity tomorrow“. And he left jail in disgust.
Shortly afterward, Giovanni threw himself on his face, began to weep incessantly, and exclaimed: “O Blessed Virgin, if you grant me this great grace, I will immediately prostrate myself at your feet to thank you for such a stupendous miracle“.
Having said this, he saw the shackles on his feet break, and, filled with astonishment and the desire to flee, he looked up at a small window in the prison. It was very high, but Giovanni approached it, attempted the feat, and climbed up with ease as if there were an invisible ladder.
Once at the top, he was startled to see a very deep precipice below. It was impossible to throw himself over there without tearing himself to pieces…
“Taking heart and full of great faith for having seen the shackles miraculously shattered and for having climbed up to that window without knowing how, he made the sign of the Cross, fervently recommended himself once again to Mary Most Holy of Genazzano and threw himself down without delay, saying repeatedly as he threw himself down and fell: ‘O Holy Mary of Genazzano, help me.
What a prodigy worthy of the Empress of Heaven! As if a little heavenly cloud had carried him down, he reached the ground intact, unharmed, without any damage”.
The municipal authorities, realizing what had happened and being aware of the supernatural intervention, released him. Repentant, exultant, and grateful, Giovanni went to Genazzano to meet his maternal liberator.
The fresco of the Mother of Good Counsel
The holy fresco of Our Lady is particularly striking in one respect: the Lady of Genazzano not only advises by making her messages felt to souls internally but very often also externally.
It is well known that the fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel behaves in different ways towards each believer, according to what she wants to say. Sometimes she changes color or shows different physiognomic features during a “conversation” with her devotee. She smiles if she wants to make her joy felt, but she looks serious when she wants to show her discontent with a situation. Some people claim to have seen her breathing! This is why photos taken on different occasions show the image with different looks and imponderables.
Admiration for the Lady of Good Counsel grows even more in our souls when we learn that, for almost 550 years, the fresco behind the silver altarpiece has been inexplicably suspended in the air, next to the wall of the chapel, according to numerous proofs.
But the Mother of Good Counsel works wonders similar to those of the original fresco in the copies scattered around the world, even showing similar physiognomic changes. Such is her desire to help afflicted souls that Mary, even in the ruins of her church in Scutari, performed stupendous wonders.
“Remember her in every difficulty”
Although devotion to the miraculous fresco is most widespread in Italy, the invocation has spread all over the world. Devotees of the Mother of Good Counsel can be found throughout Europe and in various nations of the American continent, including Brazil.
The Holy Mother of God, called the Universal Counselor by the Fathers of the Church, is certainly available to help everyone in the great battle of life, because “She is charitable, She is giving, She helps, She protects, She caresses, She forgives, She restores, She blesses, She calms storms, She solves the unsolvable, She helps in all dangers, She defends from all enemies. […] What does she ask to give you so many goods? Only one thing: remember her in every difficulty. I couldn’t ask for less…
Text taken, with adaptations, from Heralds of the Gospel Magazine no. 172, April 2016. By Fr. Felipe García López Ria, EP.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
