Third Sunday after Easter

Schöne Madonna, Maria Saal, Klagenfurt-Land, Carinthia, Austria

In the 760s, the missionary Modestus brought Christianity to the Slavs of what is now southern Austria, where he dedicated a church to the Virgin Mary. The present Church of the Assumption in Maria Saal (Mary's Hall) was built in the mid-1400s in late Gothic style and surrounded with a fortress. In 1714 the interior was updated and the cast stone Beautiful Madonna of 1425 given a magnificent Baroque setting on the high altar. For both Austrians and Slovenes, who call it Gospa Sveta (Holy Lady), Maria Saal has long been place of pilgrimage, particularly on the third Sunday after Easter, as well as on the feast of the Assumption and the day after Pentecost. (Picture and information from "Maria Saal," Diözese Gurk, www.kath-kirche-kaernten.at/pages/pfarre.asp?id=35.)

Also commemorated this date:

	Onze Lieve Vrouw van Smarten, Buggenhout, East Flanders, Belgium (Our Lady of Sorrows). Novena begins.
	Onze Lieve Vrouw van Troost, Vilvoorde, Flemish Brabant, Belgium (Our Lady of Consolation). Feast day, festival.
	Notre-Dame de Cambron, Cambron-Casteau, Brugelette, Hainaut, Wallonia, Belgium. Procession.
	Notre-Dame, Maylis, Landes, Aquitaine, France. Fête des Champs (Feast of the Fields) at Benedictine abbey.
	Madonna della Quercia, Acquapendente, Viterbo, Latium, Italy (Our Lady of the Oak). Festa.
	Nossa Senhora de Lurdes, Freixial do Campo, Castelo Branco, Centro, Portugal (Our Lady of Lourdes). Romaria.
	Nossa Senhora da Graça, Idanha-a-Nova, Castelo Branco, Centro, Portugal. Romaria.
	Divina Pastora, Eljas, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain (Divine Shepherdess). Romería.

Where We Walked ~~~ Mary Ann Daly