Madonna delle Lacrime / Madonna of the Tears, Ponte Nossa, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy , 1511 – 2 June:

Madonna delle Lacrime / Madonna of the Tears, Ponte Nossa, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy , 1511 – 2 June:

In the territory of Ponte Nossa known as Campo Lungo there was a small Oratory dedicated to the Seven Martyr Brothers and the Madonna which had a fresco on the facade by Giacomo Borlone de Buschis depicting the Crucifixion with the Madonna and St John.

On 2 June 1511 , some shepherdesses of the town staring at the picture, saw Mary’s face change, open and close her left eye until tears of blood appeared o her cheek. Among them was a girl from the Bonelli de Ferrari family, who wiped away her tears with her apron. The Virgin said:

“To the first who will pass this way, you will make my apparition kown and you will report that the Blessed Virgin told you so, who she orders that a Church be built in her honour where she will give many graces.”

The young women made the miracle public and showed the blood left on the young woman’s apron as a testimony. Tradition tells of other miraculous facts, such as the story of a soldier who mocked the young girls by questioning what they had reported and who whe he remounted his horse, suddenly found himself blind and his horse too, struck by the ‘wrath of God.’ The punishment made him repent and asking forgiveness from God and the Madonna, he regained the gift of sight. The testimony of the miracle and what happened after, were then collected by the notary Guerinoni of Gorno and put in writing. The construction of the new Church had the authorisation to begin construction as early as 10 June of the same year.

The building was finished in 1533, was built in Lombard Romanesque style next to the existing Church. It was Consecrated with the rite of dedication to Santa Maria Annunziata on 19 April 1575 by the co-adjutor of theBbishop Federico Corner and elevated to Parish in 1583. The miraculous fresco was inserted as a side Altarpiece . The previous church was then demolished in 1716 in order to make room for the new sacristy of the complex.

Although  the exterior of the Sanctuary appears austere, the interior is full of treasures and frescoes. The frescoe below depicts the blinded soldier begging forgiveness. The Altar of the Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of Tears) was embellished in the seventeenth century with small twisted alabaster columns accompanied by a plague in memory of the graces received and a special prayer to the Virgin.

Hanging from the ceiling of the nave, on the right side, in front of the Altar of the Virgin there is a crocodile. There is no written documentation referring to the true reason for the presence of a crocodile inside the Church. The first citation of it presence is deducible from a document dated 24 January 1594 by Bishop Federico Corner who asked for its immediate removal: “In the Church of the Madonna’s oratory, remove that crocodile skin under the roof, for it is indecent .” This order, however, was eluded by the then Parish Priest, Don Celso Lotteri, who declared – “It would be a huge mistake to remove it because, if on one hand, the skin of a sea monster is indecent in a sacred place, on the other hand, it is a real display of a miracle and a very material votive proving a true miracle and grace obtained through the invocation of Santa Maria dei Campi by some villagers who were miraculously preserved from the jaws of that voracious monster.”

The testimony of this miracle remains only oral, handed down by the faithful. It would seem, that in Rimini a merchant who was travelling to sell his wares, found himself facing a ferocious crocodile. He entrusted his prayers to the Madonna di Campolungo and thus, managed to hit the monster in the throat, killing it (as shown in the third fresco on the right wall in the upper part.) However, it appears, that there are many legends about the crocodile and although they differ slightly in detail, the main focus always remains the same, the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary!

In the 19th century, the figure of Mary was solemnly crowned with a diadem of gold and precious jewels. An annual procssion is held each year in honour of Our Lady of Tears.

St Marcellinus Priest Martyr
St Peter the Exorcist Exorcist Martyr
(Martyred in 304)
Their Blessed Lives and Deaths:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/06/02/saints-of-the-day-sts-marcellinus-and-peter-the-exorcist/

St Ada of Ethiopia
St Adalgis of Thiérarche

Blessed Alexandru Rusu (1884-1963) Bishop and Martyr of the Soviet Regime, Professor, Activist.
His Life and Martyrdom:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/06/02/saint-of-the-day-2-june-blessed-alexandru-rusu-1884-1963-bishop-and-martyr-of-the-soviet-regime/

St Armin of Egypt
St Barbarinus
St Blandina the Slave
St Bodfan of Wales
St Daminh Ninh
Bl Demetrios of Philadelphia
St Dorotheus of Rome

St Erasmus (Died c 303) Martyr – also known as Saint Elmo – Bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy. St Erasmus or Elmo is also one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and the Saint from whom comes the famous miracle of “Saint Elmo’s fire.”
His Holy Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/06/02/saint-of-the-day-2-june-st-erasmus-died-c-303-martyr/

St Pope Eugene I,
St Evasius
Bl Giovanni de Barthulono
Bl Guy of Acqui
St Honorata
St Humatus
St John de Ortega
St Joseph Tien
St Nicholas Peregrinus the Pilgrim (1075-1094) Confessor
St Photinus of Lyons
St Rogate
Bl Sadoc of Sandomierz
St Stephen of Sweden
—
Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne: A group of 48 Christians from the areas of Vienne and Lyon, France, who were attacked by a pagan mob, arrested and tried for their faith, and murdered in the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius. A letter describing their fate, possibly written by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, was sent to the churches in the Middle East. Only a few names and details of their lives have survived; some of them have separate entries on this date –
• Alexander of Vienne
• Attalus of Pergamos
• Biblis of Lyons
• Blandina the Slave
• Cominus of Lugdunum
• Epagathus of Lugdunum
• Maturus the Novice
• Photinus of Lyons
• Ponticus of Lugdunum
• Sanctius of Vienne
• Vettius of Lugdunum
They were martyred in assorted ways on on various during 177.

Martyrs of Sandomierz: A group of 49 Dominicans, some of whom received the habit from Saint Dominic de Guzman himself. They worked separately and together to bring the faith and establish the Dominican Order in Poland, basing their operations in and around Sandomierz. In 1260 they were all martyred by the Tartars as they were singing the Salve Regina at Compline; the custom of singing the Salve Regina at the deathbed of Dominicans stems from this incident. We know a few details about a few of the martyrs, but most survive only as names –
• Zadok• Andrea, chaplain• James, novice master• Malachi, convent preacher
• Paul, vicar• Peter, guardian of the garden• Simone, penitentiaryfriars
• Abel, Barnabas, Bartholomew, Clemente, Elia, John, Luke, Matthew, Philip
deacons• Giuseppe, Joachim, Stefanosub-deacons• Abraham, Basil, Moses, Taddeoclerics• Aaron, Benedict, David, Dominico, Mattia, Mauro, Michele, Onofrio, Timothyprofessed students• Christopher, Donato, Feliciano, Gervasio, Gordian, John, Mark, Medardo, Valentinonovices• Daniele, Isaiah, Macario, Raffaele, Tobialay brothers• Cyril, tailor• Jeremiah, shoemaker
• Thomas, organist
They were martyred in 1260 at Sandomierz, Poland and Beatified on 18 October 1807 by Pope Pius VII (cultus confirmation).