22nd June : Our Lady Of Narni
22nd June
Our Lady Of Narni
Country : Italy
Year :
At Narni in Italy, there is a shrine to our Blessed Mother. It is said the image spoke to Blessed Lucy, to whom Mary gave the Infant to hold, while Lucy venerated the Mother and Child.
Blessed Lucy lived at Narni in the fifteenth century. As a small child she preferred religious articles to toys, sharing the former as well as the latter with her playmates. When she was seven years old, she visited an uncle in whose home a picture of angels was painted on the ceiling. Lucy secretly went there to pray. She was favored by a heavenly vision of Our Lady, her Divine Son and some of the saints.
As she grew older, her family wished her to marry; at Lucy’s objection, the Blessed Mother appeared to her and bade her be wedded and imitate her in the life at Nazareth. Although she led a saintly married life, her desire to become a religious persisted. She finally influenced her husband to take the habit of St. Francis, while she established, at the Pope’s request, a convent in Ferrara. Lucy was marked with the stigmata of Christ and suffered much physically as well as spiritually. The members of her community for thirty-eight years were prejudiced against the saint, but Our Lady frequently consoled and strengthened her with visions. She died in 1544 and was beatified by Pope Benedict XIII.
A shrine to Our Lady was erected in memory of Blessed Lucy. Our Heavenly Mother granted many miracles after the death of Lucy showing how pleasing she was to her and her Divine Son.
