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Our Lady of Confidence
On June 25, 1697, a Catholic home in the Eternal
City celebrated the birth of a daughter! Little did the happy parents
know that Divine Providence had destined this little girl to be
a noble instrument in His hands to introduce into the Church one
of the most beautiful invocations to the Holy Mother of God: “Madonna
della Fiducia” -- Our Lady of Confidence.
While still a youth, Clare Isabella Forani became
a religious and eventually became the venerable abbess of the convent
of Poor Clares of Saint Francis in the city of Todi, Italy. She
courageously adopted a severe life of penance from the outset and
bore unspeakable trials for many years. Her sacrifices purified
her soul and prepared her to receive the highest of mystical graces,
and her visions and ecstasies were numerous. Such was the intensity
of her participation in the suffering of Our Lord Jesus Christ that
she received the Holy Stigmata of His Passion.
Sister Clare also nourished a very special devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a devotion represented in sacred pictures
which the talented servant of God painted with her own hand.
Many of Sister Clare’s pictures of the Madonna,
either copies or originals, circulated widely due especially to
her confessors who gave them to friends and acquaintances. The recipients
always found succor in their needs.
Until her death in the odor of sanctity in 1744,
Sister Clare always kept with her an oval picture portraying the
maternal figure of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in her
arms. Most extraordinary graces are attributed to this picture,
which remains in the city of Todi. Especially benefited were the
sick who had recourse to the intercession of the Blessed Mother
before it.
My Mother, My Confidence
A copy of the picture is venerated today in the Major Seminary next
to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. It gave rise to a devotion
to Our Lady under the title of Mother of Confidence. This renowned
reproduction of Our Lady of Confidence arrived at the capital of
Christendom accompanied by a copy of a document written by the Servant
of God with a promise to those who venerate the picture. The parchment
is conserved today in the archives of the Congregation for the Causes
of Saints, which is examining the case for Venerable Sister Clare
Isabella’s beatification.
The seminary has always held the picture in great
esteem. The students, having recourse to the miraculous image in
their most pressing needs, always had their prayers answered by
Our Lady. Noteworthy was the complete protection granted by Our
Lady of Confidence to the seminarians against the scourge of Asiatic
Cholera that claimed thousands of lives throughout Italy in 1837.
When a new outbreak devastated the south of the country thirty years
later and reached the City of the Pope, the protective mantle of
the Madonna was again felt, granting immunity to the students of
the seminary. During the First World War, the Blessed Virgin watched
over the more than 100 seminarians who had recourse to her with
redoubled confidence. Many seminarians were sent to the war and
there are numerous letters written from the battlefield recounting
the marvels worked by the Madonna for those who had sought her intercession.
The Promise
The greatest graces reserved for all those who have this devotion
are contained in the promise of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the venerable
Sister Clare Isabella. Below is a translation of this marvelous
promise taken from an old parchment containing the consoling words
of the Blessed Mother to Sister Clare:
“The divine Lady deigned to reveal to me
that every soul that confidently presents herself before this picture
will obtain from her Divine Son the general pardon for all her sins.
Moreover, my divine Lady assured me with the love of a true mother
that she would grant a special tenderness and devotion toward her
to everyone who contemplated this picture.”
With the ejaculatory prayer, “My Mother
my Confidence,” explains a pamphlet published by the Roman
seminary, Mary offers everything but asks for nothing. It is a most
ardent and efficacious expression of complete abandonment and confidence
in the hands of the Blessed Mother. Just as the Apostle Saint Thomas
at the feet of the resurrected Redeemer exclaimed with confidence,
“My Lord and my God!” so also should devotees of the
Virgin, before this miraculous picture, repeat with heartfelt confidence
those sweet words, “Mater mea Fiducia mea!” (My Mother,
my Confidence!).
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