Tuesday after Easter
Madonna delle Grazie, Spezzano Albanese, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
Around 1470, Albanians settled this area in the toe of the Italian boot. The town of Spezzano with its Sanctuary of Our Lady of Graces overlooks the plain below. The story goes that one day, when the village was still young, two Albanian boys were pasturing pigs near a waterfall. When one of them went to fill his jug at the falls, he saw the Madonna and Child surrounded by light. He called to his buddy, and together they admired the beautiful, still Madonna, wondering if she were of plaster or flesh. To settle the question, one of them prodded her with a stick, producing an effusion of blood that hit his face, blinding him. When he begged her pardon, she healed him, asking him to tell the priest that she wanted a chapel there. Enlarged and renovated over the centuries, the church built at Our Lady's request became a Diocesan Sanctuary, an official place of pilgrimage, in 1951. Behind the altar is a statue made of lime, clay, straw, and stones—a seated Madonna with the Child on her right knee, probably of the 1300s. The festa of Our Lady of Graces begins on Easter. On Monday there is a blessing of tractors, a Byzantine mass, and a midnight mass. On Tuesday, the main feast day, the archbishop says the solemn mass, people carry the statue through the streets on their shoulders, and after a concluding mass, there is a display of fireworks. (Information and picture from the sanctuary's site, www.santuari.it/spezzano.)
Also commemorated this date:
 | All-Holy Lady of Assinou, Nikitari, Nicosia, Cyprus. Pilgrimage to medieval church of former monastery. |
| Vimarotissa, Vatopedi Monastery, Mt. Athos, Macedonia, Greece (Queen of the Altar). Bishop says divine liturgy. |
| Awesome Protection, Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mt. Athos, Macedonia, Greece. Icon processes to Church of the Prototon. |
| Panagia Kakaviotissa, Zemata, Thanos, Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece (All-Holy Lady of Mount Kakavos). Icon returns to mountaintop cave chapel. |
| L'Incoronata, Spello, Perugia, Umbria (Crowned Madonna). Festa. |
| Madonna di Montecamera, Gualdo Tadino, Perugia, Umbria, Italy, San Pellegrino district. Festa, four-mile walking pilgrimage from Pieve di Compresseto village, mass and picnic at shrine. |
| Madonna della Costa, Fontana Liri, Frosinone, Latium Italy. Masses, food fair, music, raffle. |
| Madonna d'Appari, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, Paganica district. Festa: mass and procession at mountain shrine. |
| Madonna della Vittoria, Termoli, Campobasso, Molise, Italy (Madonna of the Victory). Two-mile walking pilgrimage to shrine. |
| Madonna dei Miracoli, Nocera Inferiore, Salerno, Campania, Italy. Street procession, blessing of animals. |
| Madonna del Belvedere, Carovigno, Brindisi, Apulia, Italy. Procession, music, fireworks. |
| Madonna della Grotella, Copertino, Lecce, Apulia, Italy |
| Madonna di Loreto, Surbo, Lecce, Apulia, Italy |
| Madonna delle Grazie, Vernole, Lecce, Apulia, Italy, Strudà district. Festa: procession, fireworks. |
| Madonna della Consolazione, Dasà, Vibo Valentia, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy. 'Ncrinata, pageant of Mary meeting risen Jesus. |
| Madonna delle Grazie, Palazzo Adriano, Palermo, Sicily, Italy |
| Iveron Mother of God on the Pasture, Moscow, Russia |
| Nosa Señora dos Remedios de Lira, Carnota, La Coruña, Galicia, Spain |
| Virgen de la Barquera, San Vicente de la Barquera, Occidente, Cantabria, Spain. Sea & land processions. Feast Sept. 8. |
| Santa María la Real, Pamplona, Navarra, Spain (St. Mary the Royal). Fiesta commemorates cathedral dedication. |
| Nuestra Señora del Pueyo, Belchite, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora del Vilar, Blanes, Gerona, Catalonia, Spain |
| Nuestra Señora de Sequeros, Zarza la Mayor, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. Romería; mass, procession, blessing of fields. |
| Nuestra Señora del Campo, Aliseda, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady of the Field). Fiesta. Romería 1st Sun. Oct. |
| Nuestra Señora de Torrealba, Torremocha, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |