Saint of the Day – 9 July – Our Lady, Queen of Peace / Notre Dame de Paix (1500s)
Also known as – Our Lady of Peace, Mother of Peace, Queen of Peace.
In the early 1500s in France, a certain Jean de Joyeuse presented the Statue as a wedding gift to his young bride, Françoise e Voisins. The Statue was known as the “Virgin of Joyeuse” and became a cherished family heirloom.
Around the year 1588, Jean’s grandson, Henri Joyeuse, joined the Capuchin Franciscans in Paris and brought the Statue with him, where it remained for many years. With the olive branch in her hand and the Prince of Peace on her arm, the Statue was called Our Lady, Queen of Peace. In 1657 the Capuchin community erected a larger chapel to accommodate the growing number of faithful who sought her intercession. On 9 July that year, 1657,, before a large crowd which included King Louis XIV, the Papal Nuncio to France, blessed and solemnly enthroned the Virgin’s Statue. Pope Alexander VII would later designate this date for the Capuchin community to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Peace.
During the French Revolution, which erupted in 1789, the Capuchins were driven from their Monastery. They took the image with them to prevent its destruction by the atheistic rebels. When peace was restored in the land, the Statue was brought out of hiding and entrusted to Peter Coudrin, a Priest in Paris. In 1800, Coudrin and Henriette became Co-founders of a community of Sisters, Brothers and Priests — the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Congregation was particularly successful in the Kingdom of Hawaii. They Consecrated the Hawaiian Islands under the protection of Our Lady, Queen of Peace
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, is the Patron Saint of El Salvador. In the Parish Church of St Michael, in the City of San Salvador, there is an ancient Statue of the Virgin Mary holding an olive branch, which, according to some accounts, was brought there from a shipwreck. In September 1787 the inhabitants of the City attributed, to the Statue their safety when threatened by a volcanic eruption. The Virgin was also reveredp as a model of peace, among warring factions in the country, at the time of the war of independence. The Statue was solemnly crowned in November 1921, in the presence of the Country’s President.
The original Statue of Our Lady of Peace in France, was ceremonially crowned on 9 July 1906 by the Archbishop of Paris, in the name of Pope Pius X. Every 9 July since then, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Peace. 24 January is the feast day in Hawaii and in some Diocese of the United States. During the troubled years of World War I, Pope Benedict XV added Our Lady, Queen of Peace to the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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