Our Lady of Good Counsel


Our Mother of Good Counsel formerly known as Our Lady of Paradise is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a purported miraculous painting of the Madonna and Child enshrined within the namesake Minor Basilica at Genazzano, Italy.
Pope Innocent XI granted a Pontifical decree of coronation to the image on 17 November 1682. The fresco image was reputedly painted by the Roman artisan Gentile da Fabriano and measures on a thin layer of plaster.
Over the centuries, devotions to this Marian title became widespread among Roman Pontiffs and Catholic saints, later added to the Litany of Loreto via the Pontifical decree Ex Quo Beatissima in 1903. The Rosary Pope raised her shrine to the status of Minor Basilica in the same year whilst the feast day is of the image is on 25—26 April.

Historicity

During the reign of Pope Sixtus III in the fifth century, the town of Genazzano, about south of Rome, had contributed a large portion of its revenue for the Roman basilica now known as Saint Mary the Great. In appreciation, a church, called Santa Maria, was built in Genazzano and was later entrusted by the Royal House of Colonna to the Augustinian Order in 27 December 1356 via notarized decree.
The Genazzano church became a popular place of pilgrimage. Numerous cures were said to take place there. The Augustinian friars were invited to minister to the spiritual needs of the pilgrims. They continue to serve there to this day.

Cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary

According to pious tradition documented by the Prior General of the Augustinian Order, Ambrogio Massari, published in his culminated work, Defensorium Ordinis Fratrum Heremitarum Sancti Augustini Responsivium ad Maledicta Canonicorum Assertorum Regularium Congregationnis Frisonariæ, that the miraculous event had occurred in the year 1467.
The local convent was in dire need of repair and a local widow without any children, Petruccia da Genazzano sold her house and material possessions. She was known for piety and was dedicated to the restoration project, but ran out of construction funds before the task was completed.
File:Pedro Berruguete - Portrait of Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere - 1916.815 - Cleveland Museum of ArtFXD.jpg|thumb|Pope Sixtus IV who led a Holy Inquisition into the growing miraculous claims at the site in 1482. Oil on Canvas by Pedro Berruguete. The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Due to this failure, Petruccia was greatly mocked by the local townspeople for which she requested a miracle from Heaven. In the midst of the festivities for the feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, the townsfolk suddenly heard "heavenly music." A mysterious cloud was then said to have descended on the unfinished wall of the parish church. In front of the people, the cloud dissipated and a beautiful fresco, no thicker than a carte-de-visite and no more than eighteen inches square, of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child was revealed. It was widely believed that it had been miraculously transported by angelic beings from a church in Shkodër, Albania just prior to its invasion by the Ottomans. This work was presented to Pope Sixtus IV who led a scrutinized investigation to the miraculous claims.
Petruccia da Genazzano died in 1470 and her mortal remains were interred in the capped niche above the Marian image until 1734. Because the Marian image was already considered "low" at the eye—level of the faithful, it would be impious to place anything above the venerated image. Therefore, the Augustian Order elected to transfer her mortal remains to the backside of the altar in 1882, where they remain for public veneration today. She also has the localized title of Blessed due to her association to the site.
The image was originally called "La Madonna del Paradiso" and now known as "Madonna del Buon Consiglio". Among her noted devotees have been Saints Aloysius Gonzaga, Alphonsus Liguori, Don Bosco, and Blessed Stephen Bellesini.
Medieval art experts consulted during a restoration conducted between 1957 and 1959 suggest that the image of the Madonna was once part of a larger fresco that covered the wall and was subsequently covered over with plaster. They believe the fresco is likely the work of the early fifteenth century artist Gentile da Fabriano, probably painted around the time of Pope Martin V.

Pontifical approbations

Several Pontiffs have venerated the namesake Madonna under this title:
File:Torre Giovanni Giardini Vaticani 20110705.jpg|thumb|The mosaic image of the namesake title installed at the Vatican Gardens in 2009 at the decree of Pope Benedict XVI.

The White Scapular

A religious sacramental called the "small Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel" was presented by the Hermits of Saint Augustine to Pope Leo XIII on 19 December 1893, approved it on 21 December and endowed it with indulgences in a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. The sacramental was previously restricted to the Augustinian Order by special privilege, but now democratized for all Catholic priests regardless of Order affiliation since the Second Vatican Council.
On the front panel of the sacramental is the image of the fresco of Our Lady of Good Counsel, with the inscription, "Mater boni consilii ." On the second segment is found the papal coat-of-arms, which includes the Triple Tiara and the Keys of Heaven, with the words of Leo XIII: "Fili acquisce consiliis ejus".

Patronage

Our Lady of Good Counsel is the Patroness of the following: