Celebrations

Our Lady of Belle Fontaine (Notre-Dame de Bellefontaine): in the 1600’s a hunter was seriously wounded. He begged Our Lady’s help to save his life and, dipping his hand into the water at the fountain, he pulled it out completely restored. In gratitude, he gifted a statue of our Lady.
In 1620, the Battle of White Mountain, and devotion to Our Lady of Victory: according to legend, Fr. Dominic of Jesus and Mary blessed the soldiers with an image of Our Lady, and they won the decisive battle. This battle was important in the Thirty Years’ War, and marked the victory of the Catholic forces over the Protestants. Some accounts say that the image shed brilliant light during the battle, blinding the enemies.
In Uruguay, Our Lady of the Thirty-three. This celebrates Our Lady in the form of a wooden statue, about 36 centimeters high. In 1961 she was declared the Patroness of Uruguay by Pope Saint John XXIII. Why the odd name? On June 14th, 1825, thirty-three leaders of the movement for independence gathered to make plans for their next move and, entering the church with civil and military leaders, they sang the Te Deum and reverenced the image. Likewise, on August 25th, with the declaration of independence, the group gathered in the church and entrusted themselves and their work to Our Lady. From then on, the image was known as “of the 33.”
In Venezuela, Our Lady Help of the Pozuelos (Nuestra Señora del Amparo de Pozuelos): the name pozeulos refers to the great amount of underground water (pozos, meaning, wells). The story is told that a Spanish ship was carrying the image of Our Lady to deliver elsewhere, but a fierce storm so damaged their boat that they needed to pull ashore. As they brought the image ashore with them, no sooner had the image come ashore that the sailors found themselves miraculously on board the boat again, and natives would find the image. They so fell in love with it that they built a chapel, where it remains today.

​​​​​​​Meditation:

Today we can consider this passage from The Imitation of Mary. Kempis speaks of the angelic, or angelical, salutation, meaning greeting. He means the Hail Mary, because it is the greeting, or salutation, of the Archangel Gabriel, to Mary. He says: “Choose, O my son, before all things, Mary for mother, for advocate, and for model. Greet her every day with the Angelic Salutation. This salutation pleases her above all others. If sometimes the devil tempts you and turns you from your duties as a devout servant of Mary, do not permit that to stop you from invoking her always. Think always of Mary; repeat over and over the name of Mary. Honor Mary; glorify Mary in everything; prostrate yourself before Mary; give yourself again to Mary. Live with Mary; meditate with Mary; rejoice with Mary; weep with Mary; work with Mary; watch with Mary; act with Mary; rest with Mary. With Mary, bear Jesus in your arms; live at Nazareth with Mary. Go to Jerusalem, go with Mary; search, as Mary did, for Jesus. Remain near the cross with Mary, weep for Jesus; weep for Him with Mary; with Mary bury Jesus in the tomb; rise with Jesus and with Mary. Rise to heaven with Jesus and with Mary. Live always with Mary in life and in death.” Here Thomas à Kempis gives us two pieces of advice: first, to pray the Hail Mary often. Many saints recommend the pious practice of saying three Hail Marys as soon as we wake up. It’s a way to entrust the day, with all its cares, worries, and tasks, to Mary’s maternal intercession and protection. We can ask ourselves: do we take the time to pray, just three Hail Marys, every morning? Secondly, à Kempis gives us advice on how to “Marianze” our life: he says a lot of things, that might even seem overwhelming, but the point is to do everything with Mary, through Mary, and for Mary. We should think of her constantly, and think of what she would do. Do we try to imitate Mary in the way she cares for others, in our work, in our thoughts, our words, and our actions?

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