Our Lady ofGood Counsel is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after a painting said to be miraculous, now found in the thirteenth centuryAugustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring 40 by 45 centimeters the image is a fresco executed on a thin layer of plaster no thicker than an egg shell. Over the centuries, devotions to Our Lady of the Good Counsel grew among saints and Popes, to the extent that a reference to it was added to the Litany of Loreto and the devotion spread throughout the world. Her feast day is April 26.
Background
In the 5th century, during the reign of Pope Sixtus III, the town of Genazzano, about south of Rome, had contributed a large portion of its revenue for the Roman basilica now known as Santa Maria Maggiore. In appreciation, a church, called Santa Maria, was built in Genazzano and was later entrusted to the Augustinian Order in 1356. The Genazzano church became a popular place of pilgrimage. Numerous cures were said took place there. The Augustinian friars were invited to minister to the spiritual needs of the pilgrims. They continue to serve there to this day.
Legend
According to tradition, the story is said to have begun in 1467 in a small church in Albania. In this church there was the old painting of Our Lady with the child Jesus and no one in the village knew where it had came from. Due to the Turks invading Albania, many villagers were fleeing. Two young men, Giorgio and De Scalvis, often visited the church to pray. They had had a particular devotion to Mary as depicted in the painting of Mary and regretted that it would be left behind. One night as they prayed in the church, they both fell asleep and dreamt that Mary had commanded them to leave the country. She also said that the painting would also depart to escape from the Turks and that they must follow the painting wherever it went. In the morning the painting had detached itself from the wall and hovered, wrapped white cloud. They followed after as the painting led them to the coast. Then they followed it out across the water until they reached the Italian coast. After a few days the cloud and the painting disappeared. Giorgio and De Scalvis began searching the city until they found the old Augustinian church of Santa Maria in Genazzano. In the year 1467, in the midst of the festivities for the Feast of Saint Mark, the townfolk suddenly heard "exquisite music." A mysterious cloud was then said to have descended on the unfinished wall of the parish church. In front of the people, the cloud dissipated and a beautiful fresco, no thicker than a carte-de-visite and no more than eighteen inches square, of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child was revealed. It was widely believed that it had been miraculously transported from a church in Scutari, Albania. The picture of Our Lady was at first called "La Madonna del Paradiso" and now better known as "Madonna del Buon Consiglio". Such was the holy image's reputation that Pope Urban VIII made a "glittering" pilgrimage there in 1630, invoking the protection of the Queen of Heaven, as did Pope Pius IX in 1864. On November 17, 1682, Pope Innocent XI had the picture solemnly crowned. Among her noted clients have been St Aloysius Gonzaga, St Alphonsus Liguori, St John Bosco, and Blessed Stephen Bellesini.
History
Art experts consulted during a restoration conducted between 1957 and 1959 suggest that the image of the Madonna was once part of a larger fresco that covered the wall and was subsequently covered over with plaster. They believe the fresco is likely the work of the early fifteenth century artist Gentile da Fabriano, probably painted around the time of Pope Martin V.
Veneration
The Augustinian Order contributed to the spread of this devotion internationally. In 1753, Pope Benedict XIV established the Pious Union of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Leo XIII, who was himself a member of the pious union, was deeply attached to this devotion. On April 22, 1903, Pope Leo XIII included the invocation "Mater boni consilii" in the Litany of Loreto. In 1939, Venerable Pope Pius XII placed his pontificate under the maternal care of Our Lady of Good Counsel and composed a prayer to her. Through the years, various institutions have been named in honor of Mary under the title of Our Lady of Good Counsel. These institutions include a college, high schools, and churches. Her Feast is celebrated on April 26 so as not to conflict with that of St. Mark.
The small Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel was presented by the Hermits of St Augustine to Pope Leo XIII, who, on December 19-21, 1893, approved it and endowed it with indulgences in a Decree of the Congregation of Rites. On the front panel of the sacramental is the image of the fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel, with the inscription, “Mater boni consilii .” On the second segment is found the papal coat-of-arms, which includes the Triple Tiara and the Keys of Heaven, with the words of Leo XIII: “Fili acquisce consiliis ejus”.
Patronage
Our Lady of Good Counsel is the Patroness of the Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver, the National Council of Catholic Women, and of the . The headquartered in Chicago have also adopted Our Lady of Good Counsel as their patroness, having named their Augustinian jurisdiction as the "Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel." The town Essen in the German Ruhr- Area is under the patronage of the Lady. The High church the Münster of Essen as it is called was given to her after the Ruhrbistum was established.
