(A VISITOR FROM SYDNEY TO THE SHRINE.)
Large Edition, Printed at the Propaganda Press, Rome, Imperial
8vo, nearly 700 pages, in fine type, beautifully bound in cloth.
(The ordinary edition (price 12s. 6d.) is all sold out.)
Ditto, fine paper edition in superior binding (only a few left) 16s.
Ditto, in Morocco, rich (suitable as presentation copies) 30s.
The large demand for the above has caused the author to prepare a New
Edition in a more popular form. This will be shortly published by M. H.
GILL & SON, Dublin, and will be sold, handsomely bound in cloth, at 5s.
LONDON: BURNS & OATES, ORCHARD STREET.
DUBLIN: M. H. GILL & SON, SACKVILLE STREET.
NEW YORK: BURNS & OATES.
_The whole profits arising from the sale of both these works, as well
as the profits from the present work on the War of Antichrist with
the Church, &c., have been given over by the Author to the Right Rev.
Monsignor Kirby, D.D., Bishop of Lita, Rector of the Irish College, Rome,
for the benefit of the suffering Nuns in Italy, now despoiled of all
their property by the existing Italian Government. For some account of
the sufferings of these afflicted servants of God, see end of present
notice, page 13._
The Author has been honoured with the following letters from His Holiness
Pope Leo XIII., and from Cardinal Simeoni, Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation of the Propaganda:—
Our Most Holy Lord Leo XIII. received the copy of the volume
presented by you, in which you give in the English language
the history of the ancient Sanctuary of the Virgin Mother of
God, situated in the town of Genazzano, in the diocese of
Palestrina, and which is venerated with the greatest piety by
the faithful and by the constant concourse of devout pilgrims.
As in this work the Holy Father perceives not only the evidence
of your filial duty but also the affection of religious piety
by which you study to advance the honour of God’s Mother, he
deems your counsel and service acceptable and pleasing, and
desires that by this my letter you should receive a pledge
of his paternal love and commendation. The Supreme Pontiff
moreover hopes that the salutary fruits which at this time
are so much to be desired, may respond to your wishes, and
that those who read your writings may be moved to implore the
protection of the Mother of God for the Church which, amidst
the many adversities by which it is oppressed, places the
utmost confidence in Her. Finally, granting your prayer, Our
Most Holy Lord, in testimony of his paternal benevolence and
in presage of all celestial graces, most lovingly in the Lord
imparts to you the Apostolic Benediction.
While I rejoice to convey to you these tidings I willingly take
the occasion offered me of professing to you the sincere esteem
by which from my heart I am
Your devoted Servant,
CHARLES NOCELLA,
Secretary for Latin Letters to
Our Most Holy Lord Leo XIII.
Rome, May 27th, 1884.
Rome, May 17th, 1884.
Office of the Sacred Congregation
of the Propaganda Fide.
I have received with particular satisfaction the book entitled,
THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOOD COUNSEL, etc., which you, while
constrained to repose for some time in order to re-establish
your health impaired by your missionary labours, have written
during your sojourn in Rome.
It is in every way worthy of a good ecclesiastic and of a
zealous missionary to cultivate love for Most Holy Mary and to
propagate devotion to Her, and as you have laboured for these
ends by writing the history of one of the most celebrated
Sanctuaries of Italy, I must rejoice with you in the result,
and I hope that I shall have the pleasure of seeing your holy
intentions happily crowned with success.
You have also added in an appendix to your work wise
observations upon the Roman education of the clergy, and have
referred opportunely to the institution of the Propaganda and
its salutary influence over the entire world. This also has
proved to me the excellent spirit with which you are animated,
and I feel assured that the sentiments which you manifest will
always serve to render yet closer the bonds which unite the
faithful of all countries to the Roman See, the Mother and
Mistress of all Churches.
Finally, I return you thanks for the gift which you have made
me of this your admirable work, and I pray the Lord, through
the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, whom you have desired
to honour by its means, to grant you His choicest benedictions.
Most affectionately yours,
JOHN CARDINAL SIMEONI,
Prefect of the S. C. of the Propaganda.
For Monsignor the Secretary, ANT. AGLIARDI, Minutante.
A large number of the Archbishops, Bishops, Dignitaries, and Superiors of
Religious Orders in England, Ireland, Scotland, America, and Australia,
have also, since the publication of the work, warmly congratulated the
Author on its appearance, and promised to extend its circulation.
Notices and Reviews of it appeared also in many newspapers, periodicals,
and reviews, amongst which were the following:—
_From “THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL,” January 16th, 1885._
This deeply interesting work, which we mentioned recently,
claims special attention by more than its utility as an aid
to one of the most important, consolatory, and beautiful of
Catholic devotions, and its authority as a learned and masterly
contribution to the history of the Church, sent forth with
the approval and the benediction of great prelates, and for
a purpose in which Ireland is destined to have a conspicuous
share. It is a delightful work from a purely literary point
of view. The author, whose whole heart and soul are in his
subject, has so studied it, so informed himself with the spirit
of the time and place, entered so thoroughly into the life
of the people whose great treasure is the miraculous picture
of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and whose richest endowment is
the ever-growing devotion of the ancient sanctuary that is so
eloquent a witness before men against the spirit of the world,
that the reader accompanies him as he might walk by the side
of an accomplished expositor through a picture-gallery, seeing
not only the works of art that clothe the walls, but the artist
spirit that inspired them.
To make known as widely as possible the wonderful history of
the ancient sanctuary at Genazzano; to spread the efficacious
devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel, of which it is the
seat and centre; to make his fellow-Catholics in Ireland, in
England, and in the Australian Colonies, which are the scenes
of his own labours (Monsignor Dillon describes himself as “a
visitor from Sydney to the Shrine”), aware of the faith and
fervour that still survive in Italy, under a system which he
describes in a comprehensive sentence—such are the objects of
the author’s laborious and admirably executed task. He came
to Italy to find rest and recreation after twenty years of
missionary labour in Australia, and he was prepared “to see a
great decay of religion in a nation where the most formidable
atheism the world has ever seen was, with supreme political
power in its hands, astutely planning the eradication of
Christianity from the social, political, and even individual
life of the people.” What did he see? A nation, nine-tenths
of whom are earnest, practical Catholics, who “oppose to
all attempts upon their religion a passive but determined
resistance, which no effort of the infidels has been able to
shake. In general, family life amongst them equals the purity
and innocence of the farm homes of Ireland. They live, in
truth, by faith. But above all, that which, in the eyes of the
writer, most distinguishes them is their intense and universal
devotion to the Virgin Mother of God.”
The twenty-third chapter of this work, which is an exposition
of the devotion of the Italian people, is full of pathetic
interest and of edification, as well as being an eminently
picturesque sketch; but it is not upon this aspect of Monsignor
Dillon’s book, “_sympatico_” though it be, that we ought to
dwell in the brief space which we may claim wherein to direct
the attention of the reader to a great store of knowledge and
beauty. It is to his history of the famous Shrine of Our Lady
of Good Counsel at Genazzano, with its introductory chapters
upon the nature and origin of the devotion, the translation
of the Miraculous Image, and the “Pious Union,” in which the
Irish Augustinians in Rome are deeply interested; to his vivid
and pictorial sketch of Latium, whence tradition has it, that
from the summit of its mountain, where the church and village
of Castel San Pietro now stand, the Prince of the Apostles
took his first view of mighty Rome; to his marvellous account
of the change from paganism to Christianity, and the reasons
that exist for believing the modern Genazzano to be the actual
historic scene of the too-famous games annually carried on by
ordinance published in the “Calendar of Palestrina,” which may
now be inspected at the Vidoni Palace in Rome; of Christian
Genazzano, in 1467, and the miraculous translation of the Image
of Our Lady from Albania to the Shrine where it still remains
an object of the deepest veneration to the inhabitants, and of
incessant and innumerable pilgrimages from all parts of Italy.
Proofs of the apparition of the picture, and subsequently of
its translation, are largely supplied by Monsignor Dillon,
and although it is not “of faith” that the beautiful and
consolatory history is to be received unhesitatingly, we do not
think it can fail to convey assurance to the minds of all who
are inside the Church, who have “tasted of the graciousness of
God,” who being of the Household of Faith are accustomed to
its divine administration in all things, and in ways which,
however wonderful, are not “hard” to the “little children”
of the Kingdom, though to the wisest of outsiders they be
“foolishness,” as was Jesus Christ to the learned Greeks when
preached to them by St. Paul.
The author’s description of the picture—copied innumerable
times, yet never reproduced—is very beautiful, and deeply
affecting. We can but urge our readers to acquaint themselves
with it, and with the details of the active, vital, and
vitalising devotion of which the sacred Shrine at Genazzano
is the centre. The book which records these things is a rich
contribution to general knowledge of Italy and its people as
well, and we hope that the great desire of its author may be
realised by the spread throughout Catholic Ireland, tried,
tortured, persecuted, and tempted, even as Italy, but like her,
faithful still, of that same beautiful devotion. The Mother
of God reigns over the Island of Saints as over the Land of
the Popes; let the people of the one join with the people of
the other in giving her increased honour, and resorting to her
with fresh confidence in the communion of the “Pious Union,”
which invokes “Our Lady of Good Counsel,” at that marvellous
meeting-place of souls, the Shrine of the Miraculous Image of
Genazzano.
_From “THE TABLET,” August 30th, 1884._
This interesting and remarkable volume has already been
noticed in our Roman correspondence. Since then the Holy
Father has been pleased to approve of it in a special letter
to the author. Cardinal Simeoni, prefect of the Propaganda, by
whose permission the book was printed at the famous Polyglot
_Stamperia_ of that Sacred Congregation, calls the work in
another warmly commendatory letter “admirable.” It is moreover
dedicated by permission to Cardinal Martinelli, Prefect of the
Index; and, as we gather from the dedication itself, is the
only work which that saintly and learned Cardinal permitted
to be so dedicated. The theologians deputed to examine it on
behalf of the Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace, were Dr.
Martinelli, Regent of the Studies of the Irish Augustinians and
Consultor to the Congregation of Rites, and Monsignor Carbery,
at present Bishop of Hamilton in Canada, then Assistant General
of the Dominican Order in Rome. These learned theologians not
only gave it the usual _nihil obstat_, but speak in laudatory
terms of its contents. The work, therefore, comes before the
Catholic public well guaranteed as to the safety and soundness
of its doctrine. We believe the erudite author did well to have
it so fortified.
It treats largely, not merely of the supernatural, but of
the supernatural with which English-speaking Catholics are
not generally acquainted, and, therefore, in many instances
not inclined to receive without considerable preparation. A
history of Loreto, or of any sanctuary which circumstances
have rendered familiar, would meet with less difficulty. But
miraculous events, which, however well known to others, are new
to us, require to be told with care. Living in an atmosphere
unfriendly to the miraculous because it is Protestant, and
hostile to all that concerns the supernatural, since it has
become impregnated with modern naturalism, we become cautious,
if not suspicious of everything new to us. We laugh, indeed,
at the philosophy which, while disdainfully rejecting all
miraculous occurrences as absurd, ends in accepting with
childish credulity the ludicrous absurdities of mediums and
spirit rappers. But we go often into the extreme of caution in
receiving such supernatural facts as are continually repeated
in the inward life of the Church. Where the atmosphere is
wholly Catholic, belief in the existence of miracles is not so
difficult. They are tested, like other facts, and if favourably
recognised by ecclesiastical authority are admitted. In this
way our forefathers received without hesitation the statement
of St. Simon Stock, their countryman, regarding his reception
of the scapular as from the hands of the Mother of God; and,
in the hope of obtaining miraculous favours, millions of them
made pilgrimages, not only to the shrine of St. Thomas and
other national sanctuaries, but passed beyond the seas to visit
the tombs of the apostles in Rome, and the great sanctuaries
of Mary there and elsewhere. They were, perhaps, the most
remarkable people for pilgrimages during the ages of faith. It
is a very beautiful manifestation of the kind of devotion they
so much loved, that Mgr. Dillon brings now under the notice of
English-speaking Catholics everywhere. The sanctuary of which
he writes is, as Cardinal Simeoni terms it, “one of the most
celebrated in Italy.” It is, as the Holy Father states in his
letter to the author, “venerated with the greatest piety by the
faithful and by the constant concourse of devout pilgrims.”
Moreover, the peculiar and beautiful devotion to the Mother of
God, of which it is the source, may be spread everywhere. The
wonders worked at the shrine are even surpassed by those which
have been wrought through copies of the original in Italy and
other countries. It was a copy of it that was so loved and so
tenaciously held to old age by St. Liguori. It was a copy from
which Our Lady spoke so frequently and fondly to St. Aloysius
at Madrid. It was a copy which saved Genoa and restored
Calabria to fervour. The image, whether in the original or in
well executed copies, has certainly great devotional power over
all beholders. It increases fervour, and powerfully excites
the petitioner to confidence in seeking graces through Mary,
especially the gift which may be said to contain all others,
and which is so much needed in our days, the gift of good
counsel.
The history before us is a very exhaustive one, both of the
shrine and the devotion. In his Introduction the author says of
the latter:
“It sprang up, as will be seen, almost at the same time with
the rise of Christianity upon the ruins of Paganism in the
Roman Empire. The very spot where the beautiful Image of Mary
and Jesus now reposes, was once the scene of the foulest
rites of idol worship in honour of Venus. There, every April
for centuries, came from far and near the men and the women
of Latium for the Robigal Games. There, year after year
they abandoned themselves to all the abominations not only
tolerated, but prescribed, by the Pagan _Jus Pontificium_ of
the Romans. No civilised nation of antiquity that we know of,
had rites more demoralising than these proud masters of the
world; and nowhere, not even in the Flavian Amphitheatre, do
the same rites seem to have been carried to greater excess,
than near the site of the present temple of the Madonna in
the borough of Genazzano, where, when the worship of idols
had given place to that of the one true God, the statue of
the foulest Goddess of heathendom fell to make way for the
Shrine and the sway of the Purest of God’s creatures, His
Virgin Mother. It was meet and, no doubt, was so arranged by
a merciful and wise Providence, that the mother and synonyme
of a vice which, with other dark and sorrowful characters, has
folly emphatically stamped upon it, should be succeeded, when
faith shed its light upon Latium, by the Mother and Synonyme of
purity and supernal wisdom, the Mother ‘of fair love’ and of
‘holy hope,’ of consolation and of Counsel.”
He continues:
“To make the contrast here indicated more clear, the writer has
thought it of use to give a sketch of the history and locality
of Genazzano. This cannot fail from its classical as well
as Christian recollections to interest the English-speaking
visitor to Rome, who can get but scant, and, in a Catholic
sense, almost no reliable information from the guide-books
published in his language; and, to enable the reader at a
distance to realise the full meaning of the devotion, it
is necessary. It will serve to show to all, that, though
confined to one locality, the devotion existed from a very
early period. When God willed its extension it was by means
of a most striking and significant miracle. A beautiful image
of His Mother holding the Divine infant in her sacred arms,
passed from a land just taken by the Turks to the very spot
where the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel had been honoured
for over a thousand years. The translation of this image was
effected without human interference and amidst many prodigies.
It naturally created a wide-spread and deep impression at the
time. On a festival, it appeared amidst a multitude in the
public square, and rested near the wall of the church where it
still remains. The fervour it created amongst the people of
God, the graces, the consolations, and the miraculous favours
obtained at its shrine, continue to this day. It has thus
become the fountain of devotion to the Mother of Good Counsel
for all the faithful of Christ, in all the lands which own the
sway of His Vicar on earth.”
In fulfilment of the promise made in this extract, the author
has given some very interesting chapters on Latium, Genazzano,
Pagan and Christian, and upon Albania, the land from which the
miraculous image was miraculously translated, and its last
great King, George Castriota, or, as he is better known by his
Turkish appellation, Scanderbeg. The following description
of the physical features of Latium will give an idea of the
author’s style in treating of these subjects:
“All this expanse of country may be seen on a clear day from
the Tiber’s bank outside Rome, or better, from the dome of
St. Peter’s. Thrilling memories of the past are connected
with almost every spot of it. Taking a central stand, say, on
the summit of Mount Artimisio, a hundred scenes of world-wide
celebrity at once come under view. In Velletri at your feet,
Augustus the first Roman Emperor was born. Near it is Civita
Lavinia, the ancient Lanuvium, the site of the great temple
of Juno, the birthplace of Milo, of Antoninus Pius, of Marcus
Aurelius, of Commodus, and, in more modern times, of Mark
Antony Colonna, the hero of Lepanto. Far in the opposite
direction is seen Anagni, the ancient capital of the Ernici,
which gave to the Christian world four Popes, amongst whom
towers the majestic figure of Innocent the Third. Between these
two points, the eye passes over Cori, Segni, Sacro Porto, the
valley of the Sacco—the Latin Valley—Artena, and other places
famous in the early warfare of the Latin tribes. In front the
long sea coast is visible, from the Circaean Promontory still
protecting Antium, at present _Porto d’Anzio_, from the miasma
of the Pontine Marshes, to Ostia at the Tiber’s mouth. Dotting
the dark bosom of the hills beneath, are seen Genzano, Ariccia,
Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, and other celebrated
suburban retreats of the Rome of to-day as well as of the Rome
of antiquity.
“Turning to the Sabines, Palestrina, the ancient Praeneste, is
seen standing out upon the mid-declivity of its mountain. Near
it are Zagarolo, Gallicano, and then a wide plain encircling
the hills which run towards Tivoli. Higher up than Artemisio,
is the summit of the Alban range, Monte Cavo, where stood that
great altar of Jupiter to which all Latium yearly repaired
for sacrifice and prayer. A monastery in the keeping of the
Passionate Fathers now takes the place of the Pagan temple and
altar. It was built, strange to say, by the Cardinal of York,
the last of the Stuart Princes, who had much love for the fine
scenery of these hills upon which his bishopric was situated.
“The memories connected with almost every mile of this
territory makes it one of the most interesting in the world.
But there is much more to be said of it. There is not on the
earth a country of the same extent more beautiful to look upon.
“The traveller leaving Rome does not first realise this. The
flat campagna which expands before him on leaving any of the
southern gates of the city, looks dreary and uninviting enough
when not diversified by some interesting ruin. This dreariness
becomes all the more intense when the imagination travels back
to the period when the vast plain bloomed like a garden under
the assiduous care of the husbandman.”
After giving a history of the miraculous apparition and
translation of the sacred image, the author gives several
chapters in proof of the facts he brings forward. He speaks
of the miracles recorded and witnessed by himself, of the
devotion of the Popes and distinguished persons noting the
pilgrimages to the shrine made by Urban VIII. and Pius IX.,
and the continuous popular pilgrimages; of the indulgences
granted; of the Pious Union established by Benedict XIV., and
of which that celebrated Pontiff was the first member; of the
proper mass and office granted in 1779; of the Church of Santa
Maria; and, in order to dispel certain illusions not always
confined to Protestants, regarding Italy and the devotion
to Our Lady, he has added two very valuable chapters on the
faith of the Italian people and on the Catholic worship and
invocation of Mary. An Appendix treats of several important
matters, amongst which is a chapter on the “Value of a Roman
Ecclesiastical Education,” written evidently with the view to
aid the establishment of an Australian college in Rome; and as
Cardinal Simeoni expresses it, he has here also opportunely
touched upon the recent spoliation of the Propaganda by the
Italian Government.
We but follow the example of the Holy Father and the Cardinal
Prefect of the Propaganda in congratulating the author upon the
production of this useful and interesting work. It establishes
on a solid basis the beautiful devotion to Our Lady which
it aims at extending. It is well printed, and considering
the difficulties of correcting the press when dealing with
compositors not acquainted with the language they put in type,
unusually free from errors. We are glad to learn that the
author means to bring out a more concise and popular work on
the same subject. But no such work could well appear in our
language unless the documentary evidence given in this volume
had preceded it. The book is well bound, and on the whole a
pleasing and valuable addition to our Catholic literature.
_From “THE NEW YORK FREEMAN’S JOURNAL AND CATHOLIC REGISTER,” December
20, 1884._
We live in a time when an historical or scientific “fact”
will be received with interest, provided that nothing of the
supernatural is claimed for it. It may rest on slight human
authority, but so long as no divine authority is quoted, it
is taken for granted. But let the word “miraculous” occur in
the recital of it, and the supercilious reader turns away from
the subject in disgust. The evidence of trustworthy witnesses,
unbroken traditions, voluminous records, are as nothing. The
man thoroughly impregnated with the miasma of the century would
rather doubt the testimony of his own senses than believe in a
miracle.
Henri Lasserre’s wonderful records of the miracles at Lourdes,
well supported as they are by the testimony of experts in the
case of Louise Lateau, are simply ignored by adepts in “modern
thought,” who distrust their favorite methods when they tend to
prove a miracle.
Especially Catholics in English-speaking countries start
back distrustfully at the line that materialistic teaching
draws between the natural and the supernatural. People who
say “Credo” with all their hearts are unworthy of the gift of
Faith if they need a miracle to keep them firm; but it is no
proof of the firmness of their Faith to decline to consider any
corroboration of it, and while accepting the miracles recorded
in Sacred Scripture in a perfunctory manner, to look with
distrust on all modern miracles. This distrust is not always so
much incredulity as it is the revolt of a falsely-formed state
of mind against any widening of the bounds of Faith. It is an
illogical, a prejudiced state of mind, brought about by the
modern sophistry which has contrived to associate Faith with
ignorance.
A remarkable exhaustive and erudite work by the Rev. Dr. George
F. Dillon, of Sydney, Australia, on the ancient sanctuary of
Our Lady of Good Counsel, in Genazzano, has been recently
issued from the press of the Propaganda Fide at Rome. We have
favourably alluded to it before. It is the record of a miracle,
incrusted with a most valuable mass of historical learning,
carefully wrought out and arranged by a loving hand, entirely
devoted to the service of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Dr. Dillon
has produced, writing in the very shadow of the sanctuary of
Genazzano, a volume which includes the whole history, sacred
and profane, of the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, besides
a hundred details, the fruit of untiring research, which leave
nothing to be said. Dr. Dillon’s volume of nearly seven hundred
pages covers the ground fully.
Dr. Dillon hopes to assist in spreading devotion to Our Lady
of Good Counsel, which is so fervently kept up in Italy. “This
devotion,” Dr. Dillon says, “aims at obtaining all that the
gift of Good Counsel gives through the intercession of Mary,
the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, to Whom the Infallible
Spouse of Christ attributes the very words of the Holy Ghost,
‘In Me is Counsel.’” This devotion is now beginning to be made
known in English-speaking countries. And in no time has the
gift of the Holy Ghost been more needed in all countries than
in the present.
Near the city of Rome, in ancient Latium, on a spot where the
lascivious rites of the Roman worship of Venus were performed,
where the masters of the world indulged in nameless excesses in
honour of their goddess, a shrine to the Immaculate Virgin has
risen. Dr. Dillon gives an interesting history of Genazzano.
The famous Prænestine roses that once bloomed in honour of
Venus now deck the shrine of the Purest of God’s creatures. Dr.
Dillon sharply points out this contrast.
To Genazzano, whose inhabitants, having been delirious in their
worship of the devil, but who were now fervent worshippers
of God, there passed one day a lovely image of the Mother of
God holding the Saviour of the world in her arms. Scutari
in Albania had just been taken by the Turks, in 1467. From
thence to Genazzano in broad daylight passed the fresco, to
be welcomed by a population which for nearly ten centuries
had honoured the Mother of God. Its appearance on the public
square was witnessed by crowds of people, for it came on a
festival. Heavenly singing and wonderful light followed it. “In
its passage from Scutari to Genazzano,” writes Dr. Dillon, “it
was followed over land and sea by two trustworthy witnesses,
who afterwards lived and died and left families in Latium.”
Italy made itself into a huge pilgrimage to visit it. Pope Paul
II. instituted an inquiry not more than two months after its
appearance. Sixtus IV., who succeeded him, was ardently devoted
to the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel. Miracle after miracle was
wrought at her shrine. Copies and pictures of the Sacred Image
have wrought miracles. St. Alphonsus was devoted to the Virgin
Mother of Good Counsel, and her picture is usually reproduced
in his portraits. Dr. Dillon tell us “that picture of Our Lady,
which spoke so lovingly to the angelic youth, St. Aloysius
Gonzaga, was a copy.” Other copies have worked wonderful
prodigies in Rome, Naples, Genoa, Lucca, Frosinone, San
Benedetto Ullano, and numbers of cities in Italy and Germany.
When the Sacred Image fled from Scutari to Genazzano, the
cross seemed to be flying from the crescent in the East.
Scanderbeg—King George Castriota, of Albania, protector of
the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel—had heroically driven
back the invading and unspeakable host. At his death, the
Turks broke in like the ocean through a frail dyke. Italy
was threatened. The Pope kept the Moslems at bay; but Europe
seemed lost when St. Pius V., intensely devoted to the Virgin
Mother of Good Counsel, called Colonna, Lord of Genazzano, to
command his fleet. The Turk was all-powerful; but then came
the crushing victory of Lepanto, gained by the Mother of God
for her clients. Later, Sobieski triumphed at Vienna, and
the baleful fire of the crescent paled before the halo that
surrounded the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel.
Dr. Dillon points out the more subtle Islam that now threatens,
not only Europe, but the world. The new enemy cannot be met
with material weapons; a Scanderbeg, a Colonna, a Don John of
Austria, a Sobieski, would be powerless against the new enemy.
It does not come, barbaric and blood-stained, but pleasant to
the sense, gentle, refined, æsthetic. It is modern culture,
Liberal Catholicism, unbelief—all those forms of modern thought
and sensuousness so subtly opposed to Christianity. Surely we
need the help of the Virgin Mother of Good Counsel now more
than ever!
“In addition,” writes Dr. Dillon, “to the millions of Catholics
who live in comparative spiritual security in faithful Ireland,
and the millions of Catholics now in Great Britain, the writer
has special reasons to think, most of all, of those other
millions who leave Catholic homes for a life among strangers,
the majority of whom differ from them in religion, in distant
lands such as America and the principal English-speaking
colonies. Twenty years’ experience in Australia has convinced
him that a greater and more constant devotion is now more than
ever needed to keep the faith alive in themselves and in their
children. They have to encounter all the perils which come
from the infidel movements now supreme over the vital question
of primary education in the United States, in Australia, and
almost everywhere in English-speaking countries. In England,
and even in Ireland, a strong effort is made to go with the
universal current against religion upon this and other most
important subjects. Then in new countries, more than in old
ones, the tendency is very great to contract mixed marriages,
to frequent dangerous associations and reunions, and to lose
the ring and vigour of sound faith by concession to the
prevailing spirit of a worldliness invariably anti-Catholic.”
_From “THE CATHOLIC TIMES AND CATHOLIC OPINION,” September 26th, 1884._
English-speaking Catholics, as a rule, know little of the
devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel and amongst them it will
probably be a matter of surprise that a book of importance
could be written on the subject. But if, to use the well-known
phrase addressed to Augustine, they “take and read,” we feel
assured all will be convinced that the subject was eminently
worthy of being treated for the benefit of English-speaking
Catholics, and that, in point of fact, the author is a writer
who can invest any subject with paramount interest. Mgr. Dillon
first visited Italy in the Spring of last year, with the view
of recruiting his health which was impaired after twenty years
of missionary labours in Australia. That he derived great
pleasure from his visit to the Ansonian land, that fertile
nurse of great men, we have testimony sufficient in what
he has written; but if the labour of writing an elaborate
work such as this since the spring of last year, was, in
his case, consistent with the spending of holidays for the
benefit of health, we must conclude that he is endowed with
ability far above the ordinary kind, and a wonderful facility
of composition. He travelled much through Italy, and ever
with the resolution to judge fairly and to treasure all the
information he could gather concerning men and manners in the
Peninsula. His observations prove that in the course of his
short experience he laid up a great store of information. What
he did see he describes in graphic language; it taught him that
at least nine-tenths of the Italians are practical Catholics,
that they are far from being in sympathy with the opponents
of Catholicism, and that they not only recognise the Pope as
their spiritual ruler, but that they would hail with joy the
restitution of his temporal sovereignty. They do not exert
their power in political affairs, but to all attempts upon
their religion they offer a determined and passive resistance.
Mgr. Dillon pays a tribute to the purity of their domestic
life. He assures us that, in general, family life amongst them
equals the purity and innocence of the farm-houses of Ireland.
From their intense and universal devotion to the Blessed Virgin
he derived much edification, and his knowledge of the many
favours conferred upon them in consequence of their devotion
to Our Lady of Good Counsel induced him to compare the present
work giving an account of her shrine at Genazzano, and the
miraculous translation of her Sacred image from Scutari in
Albania to Genazzano. When this extraordinary event occurred,
the Crescent had supplanted the Cross in the East, and the
heroic Scanderbeg, who had received help and counsel at the
shrine of this very image in Albania, had passed away. Then
“Mary caused the miraculous image to break away from the
walls of her temple in Scutari and to pass to Latium.” The
writer examines critically the proofs of the translation of
the image and of its apparition amongst a multitude of people
on the occasion of a public festival; and the preservation of
Europe from the hordes of Turks who poured down upon it and
were crushed at Lepanto at the walls of Vienna, he sees the
influence of the Mother of Good Counsel. Of the supernatural
results of devotion at the shrine at Genazzano he has had
the most reliable and convincing testimony. No one ever, he
informs us, went to that shrine less credulous than he was;
but in the sight of the miracles wrought before his eyes and
carefully examined and proved, he could only say that the hand
of God is not shortened, and that miracles wrought through
the intercession of His Mother will never cease. There is in
Mgr. Dillon’s work an immense amount of what may be called
collateral information. Interesting historical incidents are
brought to mind, customs are carefully noted, and landscapes
are depicted with a master hand. A chapter is devoted to
an explanation, intended for non-Catholics, of the worship
which Catholics pay to the Blessed Virgin.... Mgr. Dillon,
by making known to English-speaking Catholics a devotion so
largely practised and so fruitful in Italy, has done a service
which will, it is to be hoped, prove of permanent utility;
and he has, at the same time, brought together a store of
most important information respecting Rome, the centre of the
Catholic world, and the Italian people, whose character is the
subject of so many contradictory statements. There is great
beauty in his style; throughout the book is to be found ample
proof that in narrative and descriptions he has a facile pen,
and that he has at command a rich vocabulary. Every sentence is
vigorous and graceful.
_From the “WEEKLY REGISTER,” January 3rd, 1885._
Monsignor Dillon, who describes himself simply as a visitor
from Sydney to the shrine of Our Lady at Genazzano, has devoted
a goodly volume to an account of his experiences in Italy, and
especially to a description of that famous place of pilgrimage.
Not the history of the miraculous image only, but of almost
everything that has any possible connection with it is painted
by his pen. The book thus covers a very wide field; but
Monsignor Dillon writes mainly with the object of introducing
to English-speaking Catholics a devotion which is very popular
on some parts of the Continent.
The representation of Our Lady at this shrine is a fresco,
painted long ages ago, but when and in what country none can
tell. It has remained in the place where it now is for four
hundred and sixteen years; and how many centuries it existed
before is unknown. It first came into public notice during
that great struggle between the Crescent and the Cross, when
the eastern empire was overthrown. The heroic Scanderbeg,
King of Albania, in whose country Scutari with its shrine and
image lay, was enabled to resist the advancing arms of Islam
and drive back Mahomet II., the captor of Constantinople, from
the walls of his little capital. For twenty years he saved his
country and Christendom; and, when he died, his ashes were not
cold before the Turks swept over the land and passed to the
Adriatic. It was then that the miraculous translation of the
image from Scutari to Genazzano took place; and from that date
Italy presented an impregnable barrier to the infidel. A second
Scanderbeg arose in the person of Colonna, Lord of Genazzano
whom Pius V., in an hour of supreme danger, called to the
defence of Christendom. At Lepanto, Colonna, as Admiral of the
Pope’s fleet, and Don John of Austria, together representing
the two outposts of Christian Europe, struck such a decisive
blow that the Turks were driven from the waters, which they
have never since regained. From that day to the present time
the shrine has had varied fortunes. Many miraculous cures
took place, and pilgrimages were attracted from all parts
of Italy and the Continent. In course of time a new church
was built, and was enriched by the devotion of pilgrims with
precious gifts of gold, silver, and gems. The wealth of the
shrine before long excited the cupidity of spoilers, and it
was stripped to feed the ambition of Napoleon. But it was
left to the agents of Victor Emmanuel to drive the inmates of
the convent from their home and to confiscate the monastic
revenues; and though afterwards the religious were permitted,
through fear of popular disaffection, to occupy part of the
old conventual buildings, they were allowed to do so only as
tenants paying rent. The Church of Genazzano has lately been
restored to somewhat of its ancient glory, and now glows with
beautiful marbles and frescoes.
Monsignor Dillon had abundant opportunities of mixing with
the people of the country, and studying their feelings and
convictions. He tells us that he thinks no people could be more
devoted to their religion than they. His impression was that
the bulk of the people in the Roman States would gladly receive
back the temporal government of the Pontiff. Heavy burdens of
taxation and conscription have followed in the steps of the new
régime. It is, he thinks, by means of hired mobs and newspaper
correspondents that public opinion in England and France is
misled. The Italian people have obtained the reputation of
being formal in their religion, but Monsignor Dillon shows that
though they are fond of the beautiful ceremonies of the Church
their religion is far from being confined to externals.
“Long hours before the English visitors leave their hotel
beds the Italian population in cities and villages are up and
stirring, and up and stirring, too, simply because of religion.
As early as half-past four, even on winter mornings, the Church
of Santa Maria in Genazzano is crowded by a congregation of
people who desire to hear Mass before going to their daily
labour. With thousands in every city Mass is not confined to
the Sunday. The devout attend it every day. The works of St.
Liguori, which are very common, lead some millions in Italy to
practice without ostentation meditation, visits to the Most
Holy Sacrament, and works even of the highest perfection.”
The volume, which was printed at the Propaganda in Rome, and
contains four illustrations, will doubtless become a classic on
the subject which Monsignor Dillon has so happily taken in hand.
_From “THE AVE MARIA,” Indiana, U. S., November 1, 1884._
A most attractive volume. The learned author begins at the very
origin of the town of Genazzano, traces its history through the
times when it was the scene of the infamous orgies of heathen
worship, to the blessed dawn of Christianity, which purified
and consecrated its polluted walls and groves; and then through
the vicissitudes which followed the decline of the Roman Empire
in Italy, interesting alike to the archæologist, the historian,
and the poet. But most interesting among all events that have
occurred in that favoured spot is the coming of the miraculous
painting from Scutari to the church rebuilt by the devotion of
a poor widow, who lacked the means to complete the good work
she had begun, but whose faith and piety were rewarded by this
signal assistance from Heaven. Full particulars of the miracle
are given, and a detailed narrative of the event, illustrated
by drawings, of the ruined church in Scutari whence the
picture—a fresco painted on the wall—was conveyed by angelic
hands, after the final capture of Albania by the Turks. The
sworn testimony of witnesses, copied from the records, follows,
and a family tree of the principal Albanian witness, whose
descendants now reside in Genazzano, is given. Then follows
as perfect an account as could be found of the miracles since
wrought at the shrine, the records of which were imperfectly
kept, both on account of their great frequency and the expense
of the formalities which ecclesiastical law requires for the
verification of supernatural events, and also on account of
the troubled state of the country, and the frequent robberies
committed in the name of secular authority. These miracles
are extremely interesting, especially one that occurred under
the very eye of the author of the present work—the cure of
blindness and epileptic fits in a young girl who had been
given up by the physicians. They extend from the middle of
the fifteenth century to the present time—over four hundred
years of constant divine interposition. Following, we find
accounts of various miraculous copies of the original picture
of Our Lady of Good Counsel, piously venerated in different
localities. The volume itself is enriched with engraved copies
of the painting, the beauty of whose execution is what might
be expected from the Italian artists. Succeeding chapters give
an account of the devotion of many distinguished Popes and
many learned and pious men to this remarkable shrine; of the
pilgrimages that are constantly made to it; of the apostles of
this devotion, and in particular of Canon Bacci and Don Stephen
Andrea Rodotà; of the Proper Mass and Office granted as the
most distinguished mark of ecclesiastical approbation; of the
indulgences attached to the devotion; of the rise, progress,
and present prosperity of the confraternity known as the Pious
Union; of the present state of the church and sanctuary itself
of Our Lady of Good Counsel; and of the devotion of the Italian
people. A concluding chapter gives a full and dogmatic account
of the veneration due and paid by the Catholic Church to the
Blessed Virgin, with the blessings that have attended its
practice.
_From “THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD,” October, 1884._
Devotion to our “Mother of Good Counsel” is not without being
cultivated in these countries, but it is cultivated to a far
less extent than it ought to be. “Good Counsel” is one of the
attributes that strikes us as specially becoming in her whom we
salute as the “Virgo Sapiens,” and to whom the Church applies
the words of the Holy Ghost “in me is Counsel.” Besides, we
feel assured that it is an attribute that is calculated to call
forth in a very special way the devotion of the faithful, who
are so trustful in the protection and guidance of the Mother
of God, particularly in times of doubt and difficulty. Yet
the picture of the “Virgin Mother of Good Counsel”—and it is
indeed a very distinctive and devotional picture—is not often
met with in our churches or oratories, nor is the invocation
of the Blessed Virgin under this sweet title so frequently on
our lips as the many other ejaculations that are so familiar
to us from childhood onwards. The real cause, however, of this
omission is to be traced to the fact that the people generally
had no knowledge of the devotion to the Mother of God under
this special form: at least we had no full history of its
origin and wonderful development in other countries. This want,
we are happy to say, is now admirably met by Monsignor Dillon’s
beautiful book.
Among the shrines of the Blessed Virgin, there is none,
perhaps, so ancient, and few more famous for its miracles, the
number of its pilgrims, and the extraordinary manifestation
of piety to be witnessed there from year to year, than the
shrine of the “Virgin Mother of Good Counsel.” This famous
shrine is at Genazzano, a picturesquely situated little town,
in the Sabine Ranges, some thirty miles from Rome, near
Palestrina, the old Praeneste capital of Latium. Here our
Mother of Good Counsel has been honoured under this beautiful
title from the earliest times, indeed from those far-off times
when the deserted pagan temples round Rome were taken up by
the Christians, and the abominations of idolatry replaced by
the pure worship of the true God. We are told that the first
sanctuary of our Lady of Good Counsel at Genazzano had been a
temple of Venus.
In course of time God manifested His pleasure at the great
honour paid to His Mother at Genazzano by a miracle of a kind
which reminds us forcibly of that other renowned sanctuary, the
holy House of Loretto. In the year 1467, a beautiful picture
of the Virgin, holding in her arms the Divine Infant, passed
miraculously from Albania when seized by the Turks, to the
shrine at Genazzano. This picture is preserved with jealous
care, and we have been told by friends, who were present on the
occasion of the annual Feast when the picture is uncovered,
that the piety of the people was such as to make even one who
had witnessed the enthusiasm of the pilgrims at Lourdes, to
marvel.
But we must send our readers to Monsignor Dillon’s highly
interesting book for a full history of our Lady’s Shrine at
Genazzano. The work is so complete and of so useful a character
as to merit the high commendation of Cardinal Simeoni; and even
the Pope himself has sent to the Right Rev. author, with his
blessing, a letter of praise and thanks.
If we may venture to make a suggestion to the Right Rev.
author, we would say to him to complete his splendid service
in spreading devoting to our Virgin Mother of Good Counsel by
publishing in due course a small popular Manual, embodying in a
concise form the history of this venerable and famous shrine,
with prayers and suitable devotions. Thus he will establish a
very strong claim to the reward he speaks of so earnestly and
lovingly, “Qui elucidant me, vitam aeternam habebunt.”
_From “THE DUBLIN REVIEW,” October, 1884._
In a very handsome volume of over 600 pages, printed with
extreme clearness and wonderful correctness at the Propaganda
Press in Rome, Monsignor Dillon, of Sydney, sets forth
with great detail and with pious warmth the history of the
miraculous image of Our Lady at Genezzano. Many of our readers
will know that this widely venerated effigy is said to have
appeared suddenly on the wall of an unfinished church at
Genezzano, now more than four centuries ago. A short time
afterwards there came to the sanctuary two strangers from
Albania, who declared that the image was no other than one
which had been venerated from time immemorial in Scutari (not
Scutari on the Bosphorus, but the Albanian town), and which
had disappeared precisely at the time they left their native
land. This double tradition Monsignor Dillon undertakes to
substantiate. That there is a celebrated Madonna at Genezzano,
and that many graces and miraculous favours have been received
there, no Catholic would think of disputing. And whoever goes
carefully through this elaborate work, will easily convince
himself that there was a miraculous apparition in 1467.... As
to the sacred image itself, as now venerated, it is a fresco,
painted (if it be painted) on thin hard mortar, as if it had
been detached from the surface of the wall. It is stated by
those who have seen it to be still altogether detached from any
wall or backing. Its existence in this state for upwards of 400
years is by itself a wonderful fact. Representations of the
sacred image are not uncommon, and there are probably few who
have not looked on the most characteristic face of Mary, and
on the Divine Infant, lovingly leaning His cheek against hers,
with one little arm round her neck and the hand of the other
grasping her robe at the throat.... Genezzano is not far from
Rome, in a land rich with Christian shrines and memories of the
past. We cannot doubt that this charming book, written with the
leisure of an antiquarian and the piety of a true Catholic,
will not only send many pilgrims to Our Lady of Good Counsel,
but will increase her glory and promote devotion to her in all
English-speaking lands.