Second Saturday in September
Madonna della Consolazione, Reggio Calabria, RC, Calabria, Italy
In 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. (Picture from "Reggio Calabria FOTO GALLERY,"
Cittŕ di Reggio Calabria, www3.comune.reggio-calabria.it/fotogallery.)
Also celebrated this date:
 | Bolestné Matce Boží, Vresová Studánka, Olomouc, Czech Republic (Sorrowful Mother of God). Mountain pilgrimage to healing spring, Sat. before Sept. 15. |
| Madonna della Rocca, Jenne, Roma, Lazio, Italy. Mass, festival of ndremmappi (pasta with tomato-anchovy sauce), music. |
| Madonna del Buoncammino, Altamura, Bari, Apulia, Italy (Our Lady of the Good Way). Town's patronal festa: mass, procession, concert. |
| Virgen de Bellaescusa, Orusco de Tajuńa, Madrid, Spain. Town's patronal fiesta: mass and procession. |
| Virgen de la Carrasca, Villahermosa, Ciudad Real, Castilla La Mancha, Spain (Our Lady of the Holm Oak). Romería begins Sat. after 1st Sun. with pilgrimage to shrine nine miles from town, bull ring events; continues Sunday with mass and procession, and Monday with bullfight, torchlight rosary, dancing. |