Our Lady of the Thirty-Three

                                         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_the_Thirty-Three

Our Lady of the Thirty-Three (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de los Treinta y Tres) is a title of the Virgin Mary in Uruguay.V
Virgen De Los Treinta Y Tres—The small image of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three is a wood carving originating in the missions that the Jesuits had in Paraguay during the eighteenth century. Around 1779 the image was placed in the chapel in the village of Pintado, and later it moved with the entire village to what is now the city of Florida. The image was crowned canonically in 1961 and during the following year was proclaimed officially "Patroness of Uruguay."
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/shrines/uruguaynp.html

The Cathedral of Florida is the shrine where this image is venerated. Ever since the country's independence, there have been pilgrimages to it, for instance, in times of pests. The first National Pilgrimage was in 1908. A very important pilgrimage was carried out by bishop Miguel Paternain in 1945, covering almost one half of the whole country.

A yearly pilgrimage is held every second Sunday of November.^[2]

The Cathedral Basilica of Florida,Uruguay, the National Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three .

Florida (Spanish pronunciation: [floˈɾiða]) is the capital of Florida Department of Uruguay. Having a population of over 33,000, it is home to almost half of the inhabitants of the department.

The oath of the Thirty-Three Orientals by Uruguayan painter Juan Manuel Blanes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay

Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in the southeastern region of South America. It is bordered by Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south and southeast. Wikipedia

The Treinta y Tres Orientales (English: thirty-three orientals or thirty-three easterners) was a militant revolutionary group led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja against the Empire of Brazil. Their actions culminated in the foundation of modern Uruguay. They became famous by the name of the Treinta y Tres Orientales when, in 1825, they began an insurrection for the independence of Oriental Province, a historical territory encompassing modern Uruguay and part of modern Brazilian Rio Grande do Sul State, from Brazilian control.

 April 15, 1825, Lavalleja and his men took ship from San Isidro, a Buenos Aires neighborhood on the banks of the Río de la Plata at the northwest outskirts of the city. They advanced carefully among the isles of the Paraná Delta, evading the vigil of the Brazilian flotilla. After nightfall they crossed theRío Uruguay in two boats and disembarked at Agraciada Beach in the dawn of April 19. There they planted what would become known as the Bandera de los Treinta y Tres Orientales (Flag of the Thirty-Three Easterners), a flag of blue, white, and red horizontal bars. These colors had been traditional since the times of Artigas, not only in Oriental Province but also in others of the Río de la Plata region.http://www.youngdayschool.edu.uy/webliceo/april191825.html

                                           
                                           http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/engseven.html
The small image of the Virgin of the Thirty Three is a wood carving originating in the missions that the Jesuits had in Paraguay in mid eighteenth century. The image was made in one of the Guarani workshops that flourished in these famous missions.
Around 1779 the image was placed in the chapel that the Jesuits looked after in the village of Pintado and later, when the entire village moved to what is now the city of Florida, the residents took with them the beloved image before which their ancestors had prayed.
On April 19, 1825, thirty-three orientals, Uruguayan patriots, landed on the beaches of the Agraciada to commence the liberation of their country. When they reached Florida, they went to the small church and placed the future of the new nation at the feet of the Virgin. National Independence is proclaimed on August 25, and the members of the Constitutional Court having signed the Act of Independence, presented themselves again before the image and placed their nascent country under her protection.

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/engseven.html

OUR LADY OF LOURDES by Sr. Marie Pierre Semler

Our Lady of Lourdes1933

This representation received inspiration from the sixth apparition of Bernadette in which the Lady, diverting her eyes from the child, had turned them afar with an expression of sadness, then returning again to Bernadette, she exclaimed, "Pray for sinners." We also see her counting her beads with Bernadette as given in another part of the narrative. Details of Bernadette's garments are taken from the clothing of a doll made by the Sisters of Nevers for our "Father Bernadette."

http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/semler7.html

Excerped from Lost in the Beauty of her God 
Sr. Marie Pierre Semler was a native of upstate New York. She was born Bertha Josephine Semler in Chili, New York in 1901. She entered the religious community of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic in 1925. During her sixty-eight years as a Maryknoll Sister she created 1,997 pieces of art work. Sr. Marie Pierre also wrote poetry, meditations, and descriptions for many of her art pieces. She worked in several mediums and made many reproductions of her work during her lifetime. She died at the Maryknoll Sisters Center on October 18, 1993, at the age of 92.When Sister Marie Pierre Semler looked at a piece of wood, stone or canvas, she saw stories, messages of inspiration and the achievements and short-comings of humankind.Her work is preserved and exhibited by her grand-nephew David Hoysic, and his wife Mary. Together they have sponsored more than fifty exhibitions in the Northeastern United States.Sister Marie Pierre’s collection numbers close to two thousand pieces, and has been viewed by more than fifteen thousand people in New York State and New England. Each of her works carries her characteristically meditative quality.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

Our Lady of the Night

                                 http://www.pinterest.com/source/artofamaryknollsister.com/

                       Our Lady of the Night

                 Artist:  Sr. Marie Pierre Semler

Original created 1934

 http://www.sistermariepierre.com/oil.htm

Our Lady stands in the night upon our world. It is that night which brought in tangible form the dawn
of our salvation. In the cold, quiet, silence of the nights darkest hour Mary brought to us the Life that
is our Light. He rests, "The Ancient of Days", in the cradle of her arm with one tiny hand raised in
benediction between heaven and earth. The light of the star mingles with the light radiating from the
Infant Christ, and is guided within the folds of Mary's mantle to shine upon the earth.
The natural light that floods our earth and casts a shadow that we call night, is but a figure of that supernatural light which is Christ, penetrating all things, and casting no shadow for it is in our darkness  as well as in our light. It is He, the creator of light who mingles these two lights, who sent forth Epiphany's star to proclaim His coming and by it drew kings into His presence from the far reaches on the earth. It is He who in tender mercy created Mary, our Mother, and placed Himself in her hands that she might be a lamp to our feet as we journey through life's night. She who is filled with His light, wears a dark mantle; the mantle of the cross, the cross of humble everyday life, in poverty and service to others. Through the shadowing of this mantle could be seen, only here and there, a bit of light from within as we see the stars in the painting glow dimly through its outer surface. It is only when Mary draws aside her mantle and the hand of the "Light of the World" is raised in benediction that we may hehold something of the exalted glory in Mary's hidden life. It reaches "from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly." Wis. 8-1.
"She is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness." Wis. 7-26.

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

Postage Stamps of Marian year 1954

Here are some beautiful postage stamps  commemorating the  Marian year 1954 images from the web.

Italy #664—60 lire Madonna of the Pieta
by Michelangelo Black & cream Issued Dec. 31, 1954
to mark the endof Marian Year Set of 2 values
(Scott #663-664) http://www.wisdomportal.com/Numbers/60-Stamps.html

Monaco issued this attractively-designed mint set of three stamps on June 7, 1955, to commemorate the Marian Year that was ordered for 1954 by Pope Pius XII. The stamps feature "Virgin" by Francois Brea, "Pieta" by Louis Brea, and "Blessed Rainier." 
http://www.collectiblestampsgallery.com/proddetail.asp?prod=RL19

These stamps were issued December 16, 1954, near Christmastime, to celebrate the upcoming Marian Year.  Each of the stamps show a 14th Century wood carving of an enthroned Madonna.
http://www.stamp-collecting-world.com/liechtensteinstamps_1953.html

A stamp issued in 1957 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Irish Franciscan theologian and historian Luke Wadding (see also Pius XII’s letter on same):
http://lxoa.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/the-changing-face-of-irish-stamps/

Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

Mary's Dormition- claims for two cities

Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary, also Tomb of the Virgin Mary, is a Christian tomb in the Kidron Valley – at the foot of Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem – believed by Eastern Christians to be the burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_the_Virgin_Mary

Claims made for two cities http://www.seetheholyland.net/church-of-the-dormition/
Two cities, Jerusalem and Ephesus (in present-day Turkey), claim to be the place where the Virgin Mary died. The Ephesus claim rests in part on the Gospel account that Christ on his cross entrusted the care of Mary to St John (who later went to Ephesus).

But the earliest traditions all locate the end of Mary’s life in Jerusalem, where the Tomb of Mary is venerated at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

 Early writers favour Jerusalem.

“The apocryphal works of the second to the fourth century are all favourable to the Jerusalem tradition. According to the Acts of St John by Prochurus, written (160-70) by Lencius, the Evangelist went to Ephesus accompanied by Prochurus alone and at a very advanced age, i.e. after Mary’s death.
Life-size statue of Mary in death


Lifesize image of Mary in death, in the Church of the Dormition
If the upper floor of the Church of the Dormition is luminous, the circular crypt seems totally shrouded when first entered.
In the centre, under a rotunda, is a simple bier on which rests a life-size statue of Mary, fallen asleep in death. The statue is made of cherry wood and ivory.

Icon of Mary’s death at the Tomb of Mary (Seetheholyland.net)
http://www.seetheholyland.net/tag/ephesus/

I

Panaya Kapulu / Meryem Ana Evi- House of Mother Mary

 Panaya Kapulu ("Doorway to the Virgin") aka Meryem Ana Evi (House of Mother Mary)

Atop a distant mountain in southwest Turkey, overlooking the ancient city of Ephesus, lies a shrine shrouded in mystery. Called Meryem Ana Evi (House of Mother Mary) by the native Turks, it is believed to be the last earthly home of the Virgin Mary. Unlike the Marian shrines of Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and Knock, which are held to be the locations of apparitions of Mary, Our Lady of Ephesus is a shrine connected to Mary’s physical historical presence. Pilgrims who journey to Nightingale Mountain to visit the shrine believe it to be the site of her last earthly residence, the place of her death, and, for some, the location from which she was bodily assumed into heaven. Although sought out by more than a million Christian and Muslim pilgrims annually, Our Lady of Ephesus has received little attention from the academic world.http://religionnerd.com/2013/02/19/the-house-of-mary-the-discovery-at-ephesus/

 

                              

http://www.sistermariefiles.com/MARYSHOUSEBLOG.pdf 

In 1880 a book was published that captured the hearts and imaginations of
many devotees of Mary, Mother of God. A German seer by the name of
Anne Catherine Emmerich (1771-1824) shared with the world her private
revelations in a book entitled The Life of the Blessed Virgin recorded by
Clemens von Brentano. In this intriguing book Mary’s House is described
in great detail including its exact whereabouts with descriptions of various
landmarks in the surrounding location. The House of the Virgin is first
discovered in 1881 by Father Julien Gouyet, of Paris, through the diligent
use of this book. Archbishop Timoni of Izmir (then Smyrne) did support
Gouyet’s work and sent him a helper. The report made to Rome and Paris
by Father Gouyet proved unpopular, however, and was disregarded.


http://www.kusadasi.biz/virgin-mary/

Emmerich had seen in her visions the Virgin Mary leaving Jerusalem with St.John before the persecution of Christians had become worse and their coming to Ephesus; she had also seen that the house in Ephesus was on a mountain nearby and that the Christians who had settled there before lived in tents and caves. She said furthermore that the house of the Virgin Mary, a stone house, was built by St.John, that it was rectangular in plan with a round back wall and had an apse and a hearth. The room next to the apse was her bedroom and there was a stream of water running it. Emmerich went on as follows:

"After completing her third year here she had a great desire to go to Jerusalem. John and Peter took her there. She was taken so ill and lost so much weight in Jerusalem that everybody thought she was going to die and they began preparing a grave for her. When the grave was finished the Virgin Mary recovered. She was feeling strong enough to return to Ephesus.

After returning to Ephesus the Virgin Mary became very weak and at 64 years of age she died. The saints around her performed a funeral ceremony for her and put the coffin they had specially prepared into a cave about two kilometers away from the house".

Emmerich narrated that at this point in her vision St.Thomas coming there after the death of the Virgin Mary cried with sorrow because he had not been able to arrive in time. Whereupon his friends not wanting to hurt his feelings took him to the cave. And she went on:

" When they came to the cave they prostrated themselves. Thomas and his friends walked impatiently to the door. St.John followed them. Two of them went inside after removing the bushes at the entrance of the cave and they kneeled down in front of the grave. John neared the coffin of which a part was protruding from the grave and unlacing its ties he opened the lid. When they all approached the coffin they were stunned in amazement: Mary's corpse was not in the shroud. But the shroud had remained intact. After this event the mouth of the cave containing the grave was closed and the house was turned into a chapel."
Also check this site for a virtual tour!

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Turkey/Izmir_Ili/Ephesus-1844014/Things_To_Do-Ephesus-Virgin_Mary_House-BR-1.html

Our Mother of Perpetual Help

                                

• Just a few blocks west of St. Mary Major Basilica stands the lofty Victorian-gothic church of San Alfonso.   The sacred picture of “Our Mother of Perpetual Help” is fittingly venerated in this church named after the Marian Doctor of the church St. Alphonsus Liguori.  It was he who wrote that great spiritual classic, The Glories of Mary.  It is his sons, the Redemptorists, who are the custodians of the shrine and picture.  They are forever associated with this miraculous image through their apostolic zeal in fostering reverence and devotion to our Lady of Perpetual Help throughout the world.
• The story of this Icon is one of the most unusual and involved stories of the many Marian shrines and miraculous images throughout the world.  The painting originally came from the island of Crete where it had been venerated for a number of years.  The earliest written account is from an old document-plaque written in Latin and Italian which was placed before the Icon in the church of St. Matthew where it was first venerated in Rome in March of 1499.
•  Miracles: On January 19, 1866, Fathers Marchi and Bresciani brought the miraculous picture to St. Alphonsus’ church.  Preparations were now made to inaugurate the new public reign of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  On April 26^th, a great procession was staged in which the picture was carried throughout the Esquiline region of Rome.  Upon returning to the church, the picture was enthroned over the high altar, in a resplendent shrine-niche especially constructed for it.All along the route of the procession the people of Rome decorated their houses with bunting and flowers.  Clergy and religious were proud to march in the procession.  Our Lady, as is to be expected, showed her pleasure at this outpouring of her children’s love in several authenticated miracles.  The procession passed a house where a little boy of four lay dying.  He had been given up as a hopeless case by the doctors.  Hearing the singing, the child’s grieving mother snatched him in her arms and hastened to the open window.  Looking out at Our Lady’s picture passing by she called out: “Dear blessed Mother, either cure my boy or take him to paradise!”Our Lady chose the first, and the boy was cured at once.  The next day he toddled along with his mother to St. Alphonsus’ church and stood before the picture.  He waved his little hands to the Madonna and cried “Grazie, grazie” and threw her some kisses in the loving Italian style.  As the procession was passing another house, another mother called upon Our Lady of Perpetual Help to aid her eight-year-old daughter who was completely paralyzed.  At once the girl regained partial use of her limbs and was able to move about a bit.  The next day the mother brought the child to St. Alphonsus’ church to thank Our Lady and ask if she would not complete the cure.  At once the child was restored to full health and vigor.
• As to be expected, the report of those marvelous healings spread rapidly throughout the city and people came by the hundreds to visit the shrine.  Soon the whole area around the altar was filled with abandoned crutches and canes and several whole glass-covered cabinets were filled with gold and silver thanksgiving offerings in the shapes of miniature hearts, arms, legs and other votive offerings.  
• Scarcely two weeks after the solemn exposition of the picture, Pope Pius IX himself came to visit the shrine.  He stood quietly before it for a long time and then exclaimed: “How beautiful she is!”  He was given and had enshrined a copy of the original in his own private chapel and was often seen kneeling before it in fervent prayer.  Later on, when the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was formed, he blessed the project and insisted that his name head the list of the worldwide membership.
• Pope Leo XIII, the next pontiff, had a copy of the picture on his desk so that he might see it constantly during his working day.  St. Pius X sent a copy of the icon to the Empress of Ethiopia and granted an indulgence of 100 days to anyone who repeated the phrase: “Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.”  Pope Benedict XV had the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help placed immediately over his chair of state in the throne room.  Here it could be seen by all just over his head, as if to say: “Here is your true Queen!”  Many famous cardinals (Like Mercier of Belgium) and bishops (like von Keppler of Germany) declared the Mother of Perpetual Help their own special patroness.  Rapidly the Madonna became known outside of Rome.  
• Pope Pius IX told the Redemptorists, in speaking to them of the treasure he had committed to their care: “Make her known!”  It seems as though they hardly needed the exhortation.  In the United States, they built the first Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in the Roxbury section of Boston, and it was eventually raised to the honor of a “Papal Basilica” by Pope Pius XII.

Excerpted from:

http://www.marys-touch.com/history/olhelp.htm

The icon damaged by incense smoke and timely discoloration, prior to its restoration.

Pope Pius IX finally gave his Apostolic Blessing and titled the icon Mater de Perpetuo Succursu (Mother of Perpetual Help). On June 23, 1867, the image was canonically crowned by the Dean of the Vatican Chapter in a solemn and official recognition of the Marian icon under that title.^[14]
On April 21, 1866, the Redemptorist Superior General gave one of the first copies of the icon to Pope Pius XI. This copy is preserved in the chapel of the Redemptorists' Generalate in Rome. The original icon remains under the care of the Redemptorist Fathers at the Church of St. Alphonsus with the latest restoration of the icon having taken place in 1990.^[13]
In 1990, the icon was taken down from its altar for new photography and image restoration commissioned by the General Government of Redemptorists. The Redemptorist Order entered into contract with the Technical Department at the Vatican Museum to restore the icon and prevent further fungal damage into the icon. The restoration process involved X-ray, infra-red scanning, technical analysis of the paint and ultra-violettesting along with a Carbon-14-test which placed the icon between the year 1325-1480. Artistic analysis of the icon revealed that the facial structure of the icon was altered due previous overpainting, resulting in a combination of "oriental and occidental" features of the image.^{[15]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Help}

Detail of the hands of the virgin.