marian anniversaries september Second Saturday in SeptemberMadonna della Consolazione, Reggio Calabria, RC, Calabria, ItalyIn the highlands beyond the coastal city of Reggio Calabria stood a small chapel containing a tiny picture of the Madonna del Consolo. In 1533, a group of Capuchin Franciscans moved there and soon needed a larger building to accommodate the influx of spiritual seekers. In 1547, a gentleman of Reggio donated a larger painting of the Madonna della Consolazione by local artist Nicolň Andrea Capriolo, depicting the Madonna and child enthroned between the great Franciscan saints, Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua. The new church was dedicated April 18, 1569. In 1577, when the plague ravaged Reggio, the Madonna appeared to one of the friars, saying that if the people of Reggio would come there in procession, the epidemic would end. Fearing that a large gathering would further endanger public health, city officials themselves made a dawn pilgrimage to the Madonna's church. The plague ceased. In the 1600s, after prayers to the Madonna of Consolation had saved Reggio from two more epidemics and a Turkish invasion, the city made the procession an annual event. A hundred men together carry the painting in its vara, a heavy silver-plated baldachin used only for the occasion, from its home in the Basilica dell'Eremo to the cathedral near the sea, where the image remains until its return to the shrine November 21.Sources include:
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