marian anniversaries     july

July 30

Mother of God of Perpetual Help, Shemetava, Myadzel, Minsk, Belarus

Part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until partitioned to Russia in the 1800s, Northwestern Belarus is a crossroads of faiths and ethnicities. Under Russian rule, the Catholic church in the village of Shemetava was closed and then disassembled. In 1902, Balaslau Skirmunt began rebuilding it, and on July 30, 1904 the church was consecrated to the Mother of God of Perpetual Help, then a new and popular devotion. Now the main icon on the altar is the Black Madonna of Vilnius, Lithuania, Our Lady of Ostra Brama. This small reproduction of the Roman icon of Perpetual Help hangs far above it. The parish celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004. 

Sources: 

Roman Catholic Church in Belarus, catholic.by
www.narach.org/en/history/religion/szemietava.html (photo) 

Also celebrated this date:

Notre Dame des 3 Ave, Blois, Loir-Cher, Centre, France. Benedict XV approved the archconfraternity, 1921; church of Notre-Dame de la Trinité opened, 1949.
Our Lady of Snow, Pallipuram, Vypeen Island, Kochi, Kerala, India. Start of festival.
Madonna di Lourdes, Nevegal, Belluno, Veneto, Italy. Church opened, 1994.
Santo Anello, Perugia, Umbria, Italy. Mary's ring exposed for annual veneration.
Nuestra Señora de la Estrella, Los Santos de Maimona, Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain (Our Lady of the Star). Statue crowned, 1994; fiesta Sept. 8.
Mother of God, Sviatohirsk, Volodarskyi, Donetsk, Ukraine (July 17 Julian)

 

Where We Walked ~~~ Mary Ann Daly