As the most caring of mothers and a true Heavenly Doctor, Mary Most Holy always accompanies us with her tender and compassionate gaze, and is ready to help us at any moment.
Newsdesk (25/02/2025 13:22, Gaudium Press) Under the beautiful invocation of Mother of Good Remedy, the Blessed Virgin presents herself to us as the dispenser of the supernatural and material aids that we need in the midst of our insufficiencies and misfortunes in this vale of tears.
But why “good remedy”?
To be precise, the term remedy – which derives from the Latin noun remedium, as well as from the verb remediare – denotes a solution or relief for any kind of need. In fact, although it is most often used to designate a substance employed in curing a physical ailment, this word can also refer to all that may serve to prevent, alleviate or eliminate some ill, even moral or spiritual.
It is reasonable, moreover, for remedies to be dispensed to a sick person in proportion to the ailment that afflict them, since no one seeks to cure a serious illness with the use of mere painkillers, and much less would one use strong and restricted medications to treat minor discomforts.
That said, we ask ourselves: what is the “good remedy” that Our Lady offers us? And what kind of evil does it aim to combat?
Jesus Christ, the Cure for the real illness
Due to the transgression of our first parents, the human race was stricken with the worst of diseases: sin. As a beautiful Gregorian hymn dedicated to the Mother of God says, the universe was entirely immersed “in bitterness, in pain and in danger,” because “the enemy completely dominated everything”; however, through the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, “the dying world was given a remedy that was not human, but divine.” Fr. Jourdain also states that the Virgin Mary brought to earth the One who can completely cure the worst of ills: “She engendered the Author of salvation. The omnipotent remedy, the only one capable of restoring health and life to humanity, came from Mary.”1
Accordingly, if Mary gave us this supreme remedy, why should we not expect her to give us all the other “remedies” we may need? As a loving Mother, She would not give us great supernatural gifts without also being attentive to our lesser material needs. These very needs, moreover, are closely related to the origin and development of devotion to Our Lady of Good Remedy.
A solution to a cruel impasse
Europe in the 12th century was witnessing an endless and fierce struggle between Catholics and Mohammedans, which began in the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century and continued indefinitely. During centuries of warfare, many Christians from Spain, southern France and Sicily were taken prisoner and deported to North Africa and the Middle East.
These children of the Church, destined for the most terrible slavery, were beyond all hope of rescue. However, Divine Providence was not long in sending them a solution to their cruel impasse through a chosen soul.
As prisoners of the Mohammedans, Christians were shipped to North Africa or the Middle East and destined to the most terrible slavery
Trinitarian religious negotiate the ransom of Christians – St. Walburga Church, Oudenaarde (Belgium)
A Religious Order for the aid of captives
Of Franco-Spanish descent, John of Matha was probably born in 1160. Although his biographical details have been lost in the night of time and are therefore uncertain, it is believed that as a young man he witnessed the mistreatment of Christians by Muslims in the harbour of the French city of Marseilles and, from then on, his spirit was seized with a strong desire to work in favour of these unfortunate captives, leading him to consecrate himself to God. After studying theology in Paris, he was ordained a priest at the age of thirty-three.
An old tradition tells us that during the elevation of the Sacred Host at his first Mass, the saint had an impressive vision: the Saviour appeared to him, dressed in a white tunic upon which could be seen a beautiful blue and red cross, holding two Christian prisoners by the hand. He expressed His desire for them to be rescued and, to this end, asked the newly ordained priest to found a Religious Order for the redemption of the captives.2
After receiving this grace, John of Matha decided to dedicate his life to carrying out the divine request. With the help of a French monk, St. Felix of Valois, he founded the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, which was approved by Pope Innocent III on December 17, 1198.
However, at the very outset of his missionary labours, he had to face a major material challenge: where could he find the financial means to ransom the captives? The infidels only agreed to release the prisoners in exchange for large sums of money and, as the saying goes, “money doesn’t grow on trees”…
In affliction, the necessary means
It is said that in the year 1202, in Valencia, the holy founder was deeply distressed by the scarcity of resources and begged Heaven for an intervention. It was then that the Blessed Virgin herself appeared to him and gave him a bag full of coins, with which he was able to rescue many prisoners. The event was repeated eight years later in the city of Tunis.
The founder was not the only one to receive a visit from the Virgin. At dawn on September 8, 1212, the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, while the first rays of the sunrise were slowly and majestically penetrating the stained glass windows of the monastery chapel and the religious were singing the Divine Office, Mary Most Holy appeared to St. Felix of Valois clad in the Trinitarian habit and surrounded by angelic legions. She gave him the Order’s scapular, expressing her wish that it be imposed on the ransomed captives.3
Raised up by Providence to free Christian captives, the Trinitarian Order would always enjoy the spiritual and even material help of the Blessed Virgin
Our Lady gives a little sack of coins to St. John of Matha, and the Trinitarian scapular to St. Felix of Valois
Because of these apparitions, Our Lady of Good Remedy is depicted with two main emblems: the bag of coins and the scapular with a cross, its colours symbolizing the Holy Trinity: white, the foundation and principle of all colours, represents the Father, who is unbegotten; blue, the colour of bruised human flesh, alludes to the Son, wounded in His humanity during the Passion; and red, the figure of the all-consuming divine fire, refers to the Holy Spirit.4
In 1688, the Order of the Most Holy Trinity proclaimed Our Lady, Mother of Good Remedy, as its official Patroness. Almost three centuries later, She was given official status in the Church by Pope John XXIII’s apostolic letter Sacrarium Trinitatis.
Outside the walls of the monastery in Marseille where the Virgin was first venerated under this title, representations soon multiplied. One of the most widespread is the one found today in the Basilica of St. Chrysogonus in Rome, a shrine entrusted to the care of the Trinitarians by Pope Pius IX in 1847. The author of the fresco, Giovanni Battista Conti, completed the Neo-Byzantine-style painting in 1944, in gratitude to the Blessed Virgin Mary for preserving Rome from the scourges of the Second World War.
We must call upon her with filial confidence!
Spiritual crises, family problems, illnesses, financial difficulties… Who is exempt from the evils of this life?
As the most attentive of mothers and a true Heavenly Doctor, Mary Most Holy always accompanies us with her tender and compassionate gaze, ready to come to our aid at any moment. If it has never been known that anyone who has turned to her has been left unaided, we will not be the first!
This is the lesson that Our Lady of Good Remedy gives us. So when Divine Providence visits us with sufferings, let us remember that all we have to do is invoke her with filial confidence and we will obtain everything we need.
And if She cannot deliver us from that suffering, She will assuredly be by our side consoling us and giving us abundant graces to carry our cross faithfully.
By Santiago Ignacio Ramírez.
Text extracted, with adaptations, from Heralds of the Gospel Magazine n. 204, October 2024.
The post Mother of Good Remedy – Solution for Every Affliction appeared first on Gaudium Press.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
1 JOURDAIN, Zéphyr-Clément. Somme des grandeurs de Marie. 2.ed. Paris: Hippolyte Walzer, 1900, t.III, p.568.
2 Cf. RICARD, Robert. San Juan de Mata. In: ECHEVERRÍA, Lamberto de; LLORCA, SJ, Bernardino; REPETTO BETES, José Luis (Org.). Año Cristiano. Madrid: BAC, 2006, v.XII, p.452.
3 Cf. LLABRÉS Y MARTORELL, Pere-Joan. San Félix de Valois. In: ECHEVERRÍA, Lamberto de; LLORCA, SJ, Bernardino; REPETTO BETES, José Luis (Org.). Año Cristiano. Madrid: BAC, 2006, v.XI, p.94.
4 Cf. CALIXTE DE LA PROVIDENCE, OSsT. Vie de Saint Jean de Matha. Paris: F. Wattelier, 1867, p.100; RICARD, op. cit., p.453.
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