Madonna dello Splendore, Giulianova, Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy
One day around noon, a pious farmer named Bertolino stopped
gathering firewood to rest under an olive tree on a little hill outside
the walls of Giulianova, near the Adriatic Sea. He was about to get up
when he saw a light in the branches, and in its center the Virgin Mary,
who said, "Get up, Bertolino, rise and hurry to Giulianova, and
spread throughout the area the good news that the Great Mother of God has
made her home here. Tell the clergy to come with a solemn procession to
honor me and to build a sanctuary where you see me now." Bertolino
told the duke's governor, who laughed with his friends and thought the man
mad or drunk. The messenger went home dejected. The next day he returned
to the tree, where the Madonna reappeared and encouraged him to go back to
the governor, but his second attempt had the same result as the first. The
third day, he knelt under the tree, where the Virgin again urged him to
assure the governor of the truth of her request. Again he went back. One
of the governor's men struck him, to the amusement of those present. But
when the assailant fell mute and paralyzed, the governor believed, and
called the clergy and people to go in procession to the site. They all saw
the shining Virgin, and under the tree, a spring had welled up (still
there). Bertolino's attacker asked forgiveness and regained movement and
voice. News of the apparition coincided with the end of a plague that had
devastated the whole region except for Giulianova. In commemoration the
town holds an annual festa featuring a procession and horse race through
the streets every year on April 22—the date of the first apparition in 1557, according to local tradition.
There was a Celestine monastery dedicated to the Radiant Madonna in the
area since at least 1523. The 32" walnut statue is also older than
the apparition. Mons. Alessandro Zanecchi, Bishop of Teramo, solemnly
crowned it on August 15, 1914. Artist Umberto Degano, from the woodcarving
center of Urtijėi in the Dolomites, fashioned the present sunburst, tree,
and kneeling visionary in the 1950s. A second coronation under Vatican
auspices took place April 22, 1964. A newer statue is used for the April 22 procession.
Sources:
 | Giulianova sul Web, www.giulianova.it |
| Comune di Giulianova, accessibile.comune.giulianova.te.it (image) |
| The shrine's website, www.madonnadellosplendore.it |