I am off work for the next few days so I thought I would pray for all on the Forum to Our Lady since I have much more time and offer up all my Masses. I thought it might be good as well to jot down a few thoughts. My home is like a little Holy Shop it has so many religious pictures and statues and pictures especially of Our Lady. This morning I saw two pictures of her in and from my bathroom and compared the two; they are so different. The first in my bathroom is really gorgeous and draws me to prayer every time I look: https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/madonna-del-granduca Madonna del Granduca Raphael (Urbino 1483 – Rome 1520) The Madonna del Granduca is one of Raphael’s most famous works and one of the images identified with the Palatine Gallery, the museum with the world’s highest number of canvases and panels by the artist. It is one of Raphael’s best-loved works, in which he shows all of his skill in representing holy subjects in an immediate, human manner. On this panel, the Virgin Mary is depicted standing, with the Child in her arms. Her melancholy gaze is directed downwards as she holds her child out towards the onlooker, inviting him or her to contemplate his sweet, serious face. The gestures of the two subjects are measured; in spite of its simplicity, the whole composition conveys the deep affection that binds them, as well as a painful awareness of Christ’s future sacrifice.This picture was painted by Raphael in 1506-7, during his stay in Florence (1504-1508), when Michelangelo, Leonardo and Fra Bartolomeo were producing their own masterpieces in the city. Raphael, who trained under Perugino, matured in this period and on several occasions, he used the Madonna and Child as a subject, together with the young St John or St Joseph, painting in a more monumental, volumetric style, obtained using Leonardo’s subtle, blended chiaroscuro, and stimulating his attention for expressions of affection towards a greater emotional intensity. To complete this small yet precious painting, Raphael was able to draw on a wealth of Florentine iconography: the countless Madonnas and Child in terracotta, stucco, wood, marble and even bronze, which the masters of the 15th century, such as Donatello, Ghiberti and Luca della Robbia had produced in large numbers to meet the needs of devotional images to place in the churches, chapels, street tabernacles and rooms inside the palaces of wealthy customers.The composition did not start out with a dark background: x-ray images taken by the Opificio delle Pietre Dura have revealed that under the black surrounding the figures, there was an interior with a pillar supporting arches and a glimpse of countryside to the right, as can be seen in the Madonna of the Pinks or the Madonna with Beardless St Joseph in the Hermitage (St Petersburg): a setting that accentuated the domestic tone of the painting. It is plausible that after completion, to bring the work into line with changing tastes, the painting’s background was eliminated to leave the central group in the magnificent isolation we see today. This famous painting, whose origins and customer are unknown, takes its name from Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1769-1824) who authorised its purchase between autumn 1799 and winter 1800, when it came to Pitti. It never moved from here, except during the period of Napoleonic rule, when Ferdinand took it with him in exile. The Grand Duke’s family was particularly fond of the painting and on the court’s return to Florence, it was displayed in the private rooms of Pitti Palace, and the Grand Duke only allowed it to be shown in public when he was absent from Florence. In 1882 the painting took its place where we see it today, in the Saturn Room. The Department of Prints and drawings preserves the compositional study of this panel
I love this because both Jesus and Mary are looking down as though earnestly listening to someone who is begging them for something in prayer. It gives great hope.
..and in my Kitchen I have a very large Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir, which was supposed to have been painted by St Luke and which is very famous and just drop dead gorgeous. Someone sent me this as a gift. I sometimes burn candles in front of it. https://aleteia.org/2017/10/18/4-icons-of-mary-attributed-to-st-luke-the-evangelist/ According to Russian sources the original Hodegetria was transferred from Constantinople to Vladimir in 1115 and remains one of the most popular images of the Virgin Mary in Russia.
One of the Russian Icons, Our Lady of Kazan, appears mystically related to Our Lady of Fatima and the Conversion of Russia: https://taylormarshall.com/2011/11/our-lady-of-fatima-and-holy-icon-of.html Our Lady of Fatima and the Holy Icon of Kazan by Dr Taylor Marshall Our Lady of Kazan, Patroness of Russia In the 1200s, a holy icon of the Virgin and Child were brought from Constantinople to Kazan. When the Tartars seized Kazan in 1438, the miraculous icon was was hidden, but no one remember where it had been hidden. In July of 1579, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a little girl named Matrona and revealed to her a location in which she would find an ancient icon. The local bishop would not believe her. On July 8 1579 in the town of Kazan, little Matrona and her mother dug up the miraculous icon of Jesus and Mary. The bishop recognized it as the true icons and miracles began to occur in conjunction with it. Subsequently, a Russian Orthodox monastery was built to commemorate the location of Matrona’s discovery of the icon. The icon was enshrined inside until 1904. Copies of the famous icon were venerated in both Moscow and St Petersberg making it the most beloved image of Christ and Mary in Russia. Russians sought the intercession of Mary under this title “Our Lady of Kazan” during Napolean’s Russian invasion of 1812 and they credited her for their deliverance. But on June 29 (Feast of St Peter and St Paul) of 1904, the icon was stolen from the church for its precious golden frame. Russian authorities reclaimed the golden frame, but the icon was lost. The desecration and disappearance of Our Lady of Kazan was seen by some Russians as an ominous sign that Our Lady’s protection had been removed from Russia. The desecration of the icon were perceived as being related to the Russian revolution of 1905 and to their defeat in the Russo-Japenese War. After the Communist Revolution of 1917, there was an increased interest in finding the lost icon of Our Lady of Kazan. Notably, Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 asked that the Pope and all the world’s bishops with him would consecrate the nation of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. There is something mystical occurring during this time regarding the vocation of the Russian people. Our Lady warned that if her message were ignored, then Russia would spread her errors throughout the world: socialism, atheism, feminism, humanism, secularism, abortion, etc. In the 1970s, the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima acquired an icon reputed to be the original icon of Our Lady of Kazan. They enshrined it at Fatima. The icon was later given to Pope John Paul II in 1983. The Holy Father privately venerated the sacred image in his personal study. On August 26, 2004 Pope John Paul II had the icon delivered to the Russian Orthodox Church as a sign of good will. This icon is now venerated in Kazan near the site of the original church that housed it. By the way, that original church was destroyed by the communists. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
I am kinda hoping to travel to Russia in my camper when I retire. So many Holy Monasteries. I would love to visit the monastery of St Seraphim. I hope they don't shoot me. The bell ringing is to die for. I love the way everyone is dressed modestly. Such a change from the West...yuk...
Sister Lucia had a vision in 1944 that prophesies the future reunification of the churches, in this sense I think that everything that is characteristic of the orthodox faith and that does not go against the catholic faith can be incorporated into our churches such as orthodox iconography, architecture of churches, communion in two kinds, divine liturgies, and perhaps even the ancient form of the sign of the cross they still use. In My Opinion.
I discovered to my joy and surprise this morning at Mass that this is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. A Marian Feast; always a joy for a Child of Mary. My thoughts turned to this Queenship , this power of Mary and what Exorcists have reported concerning this. Firstly they report that God severely limits in the insult they might like to throw at the Queen of Heaven. They can curse and swear at who and what they like but that are very severely limited at what they can see about Our Queen and Mother. It is not permitted. When they do refer to Mary they cannot bear to say her name and so say, 'Her' or, 'That woman'. Pere Lamy reported that the angles address Mary as, 'Queen' and bow their heads as they do so. So sweet. Exorcists report that Mary has only to glance at them and they are silent and come out right away from people when she orders it. She has complete total control of them. It is not even a fight. There is a wonderful conversation between the devil and Our Lady recorded by Pere Lamy. http://spiritual-matters777.blogspot.com/2013/07/apparitions-to-pere-lamy-1855-1931.html Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Gray “This was the 9th September, 1909. I had come [to Gray] nearly every year, and the parish priest of Violot was with me. They gave me handsome vestments put out for a prelate who was to come and who didn't arrive. I began my Mass. The Abbé Lemoine was in the interior of the chapel to the right, on the kneeler which is still there. The Blessed Virgin appeared to me suddenly, and at the same time the devil. It caused me violent emotion. I was in great doubt but I did not dare to believe because of my unworthiness, that I was facing the Most Blessed. It was so much beyond me. The Blessed Virgin came down from the ceiling, throned in great glory, so gently, so gently. She was as if in a furnace of light. Her glory went through everything gradually. The candles, the chalice, the altar vestments and myself, like the sun going through water. How far did the glory reach? You need to know what the glory of God is, when you think of what He gives to the dearest of His creatures. It was just like a sun. I never saw the end of it. She came down from the ceiling like that, with Her hands joined. She wore a little smile before letting Her voice be heard. When She uncrossed Her hands, it seemed to make an eddy around Her.” “She first exchanged a word or two with the demon. During the descent, She said to Lucifer, who appeared behind Her, ‘Is that you?’ [Lucifer answered:] ‘I have leave from the Father.’ ‘So be it.’ replied the Blessed Virgin. Then, as if She were questioning him, ‘You know how to obey the Father?’ He gave no answer but I felt crushed. She extinguished Her glory. The lesser glory never left Her during all the Mass. I still stayed at the Dominus Vobiscum. Had I dared, I would have fled into the vestry, if I had not been at the altar. When I looked at the parish priest of Violot, he put his two hands over his face and his face in his book, and leaned his whole weight on the kneeler. I kept saying, ‘I shall be well defended.’ She talked. She asked me questions. I did not dare to answer. She stood upright. She was of middle height. With the movement that She made, there was like a little storm of glittering spangles. Her crown only appeared when She stood up. Her feet were just about the height of those chairs. She stayed a little above the ground. With the right hand, She signed to me very maternally, ‘Go on,’ to give me back my courage. I said within myself, ‘If you are the Blessed Virgin, show me.’ She said: ‘I am the Mother of God.’ When She said, ‘I am the Mother of God,’ very gently, I seemed to melt away within. I did not doubt the word of the Mother of God. I believed Her, but She came in poor company (the fiend).” “When I commemorated the martyrdom of St. Gorgonius She smiled gently. It was the prayer of Her Nativity. At the ut quibus beatae Virginis, I bowed to Her. She bowed to me, very graciously. What humility, even in Heaven. (And for me, a mountebank of the umpteenth class.) I saw Her reflection in the glass before me in the altar-card. The interview went on, and so as not to cause too long a break, She signed to me to read the Epistle.” “The little altar server said: ‘Is it the Blessed Virgin, Father?’ as he took the book from the Epistle side to the Gospel side. I said to him, low, ‘Don't talk, you will make Her go away,’ She looked on him with motherly tenderness. She stayed aside to let him pass and took Her place again at the middle of the altar. When I said the Munda cor meum, She left the middle of the altar and went to the Gospel side.” “After the Gospel, the priest comes back to say the Creed. She took her place again at the side of the priest, almost in front of the book. She let him begin the Creed; at the Incarnatus est, She bowed as if to say, ‘That is so.’ At the Sub Pontio Pilato, She put forward Her closed hands upon the altar, clenching Her fists in a gesture of mighty sorrow. Her arms were just beside me (and Pere Lamy showed a distance of five inches). I was so upset that I made a mistake. I muddled things. When She saw that I wasn't getting over it, She went on with the Creed as if She were saying the Mass. My mistake had given me such a shock. She put me back where I stopped, very gently. (And, smiling, he said): She knows Her prayers well.”
“At the Memento, She recommended the priest to ask more. There is great store, and still greater to be given.” “The Blessed Virgin foretold the War. She spoke to me very maternally, about my childhood, founded the pilgrimage of Our Lady of the Woodland; told me She wanted a new congregation. With great energy She condemned Modernism, treated of several different matters, defending me from Lucifer.” “She was dressed in a deep blue gown, with Her white veil, the sleeves gathered in at the wrists, and bare feet. The neckline of Her dress is just below the chin. The gown is ample and quite simple. But anything She wore would be equally becoming. Her proportions are perfect. Everything in Her is perfect. Her eyes are very changeable; they can take all the colors, but there is one settled color all the same. When She lived on earth they were neither brown nor altogether blue. Rather periwinkle. Her ears are visible. So is the start of the hair on the forehead. In the same way you can see the plaits of hair at the side. The only statue resembling her in the least is the one (Rue du Bac, above the entrance door of the Ladies of Charity), where She is giving an audience to Catherine Labouré, That has the face, just as long, but She has not that forehead. She looks too young in that statue, and yet you cannot make Her old. I have never been able to tell Her age. The Virgin is very dark. (‘I am black, but comely.’) Her demeanour is very simple. She seldom inclines Her head but looks you straight in the face, just like Her Divine Son, but you feel that beyond, how Their gaze pierces into the entire world.” “When the Blessed Virgin speaks as a mother, She wears a crown made from a spray of roses, of lilies, and of daisies, with a silver band, quite narrow, at a third of the height. These flowery sprays are arranged like the fingers; a white rose, almost open, a single lily, almost open, and a daisy. Naturally, these flowers often repeated, form a circle. As for the green branches at the base of the crown, they are very sober in color. It is a bell-shaped crown. You could pass your hand between Her crown and the veil on Her head. But when She condemned Modernism, She wore a crown of matchless beauty. If the crown of flowers can be copied, the other one, the great one, cannot be even dreamed. It is made up of clusters of jewels and light. The jewels are very fine, small for the most part and a few large. They are harmoniously arranged like the grains in an ear of corn, with sparkling lights inset between the stones and throwing them into relief. There are blue stones, some red, some violet but less numerous than the blue. Amongst the most beautiful are the pale blue stones. I am almost sorry I didn't ask Her for one. Of those stones, some hang and others cluster. There is quite a play of lights, some outside and some inside the crown. It is like a diadem, rising in the middle. All that I have seen in the museum look like cobble work beside a finely finished shoe. There is no crown on earth like that. She wears it when She speaks as a sovereign Lady. She is majestic. She wore it without the glory, or else She would be frightening and She does not come to frighten.” “After the Creed, She spoke of the War in very sorrowful tones. ‘It will be slow to kindle. It will set all Europe on fire. It will set the world on fire. There will be about five millions killed, but (turning towards Lucifer) I shall save many in spite of you.’ The fiend said, ‘They'll pass through the gorge of the Vosges.’ The Blessed Virgin, ‘No, no, they will pass through Belgium.’ Satan said, ‘They are just as guilty on one side as the other.’ Satan understands guilt very well. The Blessed Virgin half turned towards me and the bottom half of the church filled with a white cloud which opened. The wall disappeared and then I saw there a town with a mighty river. I think it is Belgrade. I saw the pictures of the War. I had a curious sensation. I felt quite well that I was in the church, but I was also transported far away. I cannot exactly reckon the thing up. I have perfectly reckoned up the favor the Blessed Virgin was doing me by showing me those countries. She brought me through an immense landscape. I am giving you very incomplete explanations but I cannot find words for these things. I saw ships of war with enormous funnels. I saw the landscapes, but later on I took awful trouble to place them and that wasn't possible at all. You see the great rivers, mountains, sea. How place them on the maps? All is not over. There are scenes which I did not see unfold. The best for you just now is to keep quiet.”
I read the biography of Pere Lamey many years ago. I remember Our Lady showing him the seminaries. He was appalled at how corrupt they were. So sad to think this has been going on for more than 100 years. I would love to reread it.
I think you can get a copy from Amazon I must check. I see a second hand hard copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pere-Lamy-Comte-Paul-Biver/dp/B00HQMWK8K Goodness this one is very expensive! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Père-Lamy-Paul-Biver/dp/B0006WRI52 and here: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Père-Lamy-Comte-Paul-Biver-Clonmore/31009521430/bd
I LOVED Pere Lamy 's description of the Holy Angels in Golden scale armour. I also loved his description of Our Blessed Lady at Mass. How our Lady behaved at Mass is a Great Teacher on how to pray from the heart. For instance during the Creed when it says , 'Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified , died and was buried', Our Lady looked stricken , the words clearly hit her to the very heart. That's the way we should pray; putting out heart right into it. Attending fully to the words.
I started of the day happily this early morning reading the Visionaries of Medugorje reports of visions of and actual visits to Heaven. Such a mystery. St Paul reports, 'Eye has not seen nor tongue told....' So wonderful to get a glimpse. When tow of them got to heaven they reported a large heavy wooden door which Our Lady opened for them. This reminds me of this wonderful musical scene from the film , 'Gladiator'. The song, 'Now we are Free'. We often speak of death as, 'Passing through the doorway'.
