pious union of our mother of good counsel
Simply stated, the Pious Union is a union of prayer. It is an association of those devoted to Our Mother of Good Counsel who pray daily for their fellow members, living and dead. Its purpose is to form a spiritual bond among those who have a special devotion to the Blessed Mother, and to promote devotion to her under the title of Mother of Good Counsel.
On February 2, 1753, the Augustinian friars of Genazzano (Italy) established in their church an association of those who had a special devotion to the miraculous picture of Our Mother of Good Counsel. On July 2, 1753, Pope Benedict XIV formally approved the Pious Union, enriched it with many indulgences and was himself enrolled as a member. On March 29, 1924, Pope Pius XI raised the Pious Union of Genazzano to the grade of Primary Union with the faculty of aggregating to itself other Pious Unions of Our Mother of Good Counsel and of communicating to them the indulgences and privileges granted it by the Holy See. Other popes enrolled in the Pious Union were Pius VI, Pius VIII, Pius IX, and Leo XIII.
1. Members are asked to pray each day three Hail Marys for the benefit of all the members. Prayers from the Augustinian tradition may be substituted.
2. Each member is asked to display at home a copy of the picture of Our Mother of Good Counsel. Each member may also wear the white scapular or a scapular medal of Our Mother of Good Counsel. In this way Mary’s counsel can be kept present in our awareness.
3. Once a year each member should have celebrated and should participate at a Mass for the members of the Pious Union. If unable to do this, the member is asked to pray at one Mass during the year for the benefit of the members.
1. Each member will share in the prayers and good works of the Augustinian family: friars, sisters, and secular Augustinians, throughout the world. Each day members will be remembered at prayer by the Director and also by other Augustinian communities.
2. The name of each member will be inscribed in a book of membership. This book of membership will be kept in a place dedicated to Our Mother of Good Counsel so that all who venerate the image may also pray for the members of the Pious Union.
3. On April 26, the feast of Our Mother of Good Counsel, each member will be remembered at Mass in the Augustinian churches, and especially at the shrine at Genazzano, Italy.
4. On the following feasts of the Augustinian Order: Our Mother of Good Counsel (April 26), Our Mother of Consolation (September 4), Saint Augustine (August 28), Saint Monica (August 27), Saint Thomas of Villanova (September 22), Saint Nicholas of Tolentine (September 10), Saint Clare of Montefalco (August 17), Saint Rita of Cascia (May 22), Blessed Stephen Bellesini (February 3), all members will be prayed for in a special way.
5. During a triduum or a novena in honor of Our Mother of Good Counsel, all members will be remembered at prayer.
6. At the time of enrollment each member will receive a medal and a holy card of Our Mother of Good Counsel.
The following blessing is used to bless the Our Mother of Good Counsel medal:
Lord Jesus Christ, through your coming as man you became the guide and counselor of all humanity. Bless † this medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, and grant that all who wear it may be faithful to her counsels, for you live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
Those wishing to be enrolled in the Pious Union of Our Mother of Good Counsel are requested to send their names and contact information to:
Director
Pious Union of Our Mother of Good Counsel
P.O. Box 340
Villanova, PA 19085Email: omgc@augustinian.org
The picture of Our Mother of Good Counsel is familiar to all who frequent the churches of the Augustinian Friars. With them and their people it has a place of special honor. The original, the miraculous picture, has been in the reverent keeping of the members of the Order of Saint Augustine for over four hundred years. The church that enshrines the original fresco of Our Mother of Good Counsel is located in the small town of Genazzano about thirty miles southeast of Rome in the diocese of Palestrina.
Early Beginnings
Legend has it that this church stood unfinished and roofless when, on April 25, 1467, the image of the Madonna was miraculously transported there from its former home in Scutari, Albania. Coming to rest precariously on a narrow stone ledge in the wall inside the church, the legend continues, the pictures has remained in that position to the present day.
The name however, is much older that then picture. “Saint Mary of Good Counsel” was the name given to a beautiful church erected in the fifth century on the ruins of a temple of Venus in ancient Latium. But time took its toll on the church. It was almost a ruin in 1356, when the Augustinian Friars were charged with its care and restoration. The task might have been hopeless if Mary herself had not come with her heavenly image in 1467. She seemed determined to confirm and perpetuate her favorite title, “Mother of Good Counsel.”
Careful investigations undertaken between 1957 and 1959 for the purpose of restoration have revealed something of the true origin of the fresco. The image of the Madonna – about 12 inches wide and 17 inches high – that the viewer today sees encased in an elaborate glass, metal, and marble framework, is part of a larger fresco that once covered a portion of the wall now hidden by the baroque shrine altar. Art experts consulted during the restoration suggest that the fresco, including the image of the Madonna, is the work of the early 15th century artist Gentile da Fabriano. He probably painted his fresco on the wall around the time of Martin V (1417-1431). At some subsequent on the basis of the evidence, was covered over with plaster, and on the wall hung a terra-cotta image of the Madonna which was known as Our Mother of Good Counsel.
The Event
In 1467, the Augustinian Friars undertook to rebuild the church on the site, enclosing within the structure the wall on which the then covered fresco was painted. This work was sponsored by a widow named Petruccia, who exhausted her means on the project and was unable to continue the construction. At that point the image of the Madonna appeared and was taken to be a token of divine favor. The unexpected appearance was perhaps brought about in this way: when the stone ledge was being inserted into the wall, the plaster covering cracked and separated from the wall, revealing the fresco beneath. The image was initially hailed as the Madonna of Paradise, an allusion to its apparently heavenly origin, but soon it came to be known by the former title of the shrine, Madonna of Good Counsel.
The unfinished church was completed soon after this occurrence and became the center of continuous pilgrimage. A place was also built for the Augustinian Friars, who to this day still minister to the spiritual wants of the thousands that come to venerate the picture of the Mother of Good Counsel. The story of the picture spread far and wide; many came to pray at this shrine. The numerous cures recorded as having occurred since then have caused the picture of the Madonna to be called miraculous.
One striking aspect of the fresco which has lent a certain credence to the legends surrounding it, is that the upper portion of the image is separated from the wall so that much of the fresco is just a thin sheet of plaster. Yet the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel has survived for centuries in this precarious state, through the rebuilding of the main walls of the church, through a number of earthquakes, and even through the aerial bombardment of Genazzano during World War II. Because of this condition, the restoration undertaken in 1957 was a delicate task.
A Legend Concerning Its Origin
There arose a legend that the picture had come from Albania, many miles across the Atlantic Sea. Among the first pilgrims who came to Genazzano were two men with a very remarkable story to tell. While praying at a shrine of Our Lady in the Albanian town of Scutari, they saw the picture which they were venerating remove itself from the wall of the church. They watched in amazement as it rose into the air. High in the sky it was wrapped in a cloud and vanished from their sight in the direction of the Adriatic and Italy. They tried to follow the image. They searched everywhere for it, in all the famous shrines and churches of Rome and other cities. Finally they heard rumors of a new picture at Genazzano.
They hurried there at last found the object of their quest, their own beloved holy picture. At Scutari it had been loved and revered for many centuries; then the ardor of the people toward it had cooled.
Petruccia di Nocera
In their very early endeavors the good friars were ably assisted in their efforts by the gracious aid of a holy widow, Petruccia di Nocera. Since her husband’s death, this saintly woman, a tertiary of the Order of Saint Augustine, had devoted herself to the service of the little church, and great was her distress over the neglected condition in which the sanctuary of Our Mother of Good Counsel was permitted to remain. To restore it was the ambition of her life, and so strongly was she drawn to the undertaking that she felt inspired to sacrifice her home and moderate income to further this cause. While other might have felt daunted, Petruccia never once failed in her hopes. She constantly reiterated her assurance that the work would be completed because Almighty God, through the intercession of Saint Augustine and the Blessed Virgin, would see fit to crown her feeble efforts with unforeseen success.
Petruccia, having lived to see her fondest hopes abundantly realize, died in 1470, honored by all. The Augustinians who owed so much to this good tertiary laid her body to rest at the feet of the beloved Madonna, with an inscription above which told of her share in the great work accomplished by God at Genazzano.
The Popes and the Shrine
Our Mother of Good Counsel has been called the Madonna of the popes. In truth, since the arrival of the picture, there is scarcely a pope who has not in some way given evidence of great devotion to her. The initial approval of the devotion to Our Mother of Good Counsel was given by Pope Paul II. Later popes ratified this initial approval: Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, Pius V, Gregory XIII, and Urban VIII. In 1682 Pope Innocent XI approved the placing of a golden crown over the image, and in 1753 Pope Bendict XIV established the Pious Union of Our Lady of Good Counsel, a spiritual society to which many granted to the Augustinian Order a proper Mass and Office for the feast day. Pope Pius IX had a personal devotion to Our Mother of Good Counsel; he made a pilgrimage to Genazzano in 1864.
More than any other pope, Pope Leo XIII, himself a member of the Pious Union, was deeply attached to this devotion, which has associations with his childhood in Carpineto, a town not far from Genazzano. He instituted the white scapular of Good Counsel into the Litany of Loreto, declared the shrine a minor basilica, and installed a copy of the image over the altar in the Pauling chapel in the Vatican. It was he who coined the phrase: “Children, follow her counsels.” Pope Pius XII dedicated his reign to Our Mother of Good Counsel, and Pope John XXIII made a visit to her shrine in 1959.
Augustinians and Devotion to the Image
The Augustinians have been at all times the outstanding promoters of the devotion to Our Mother of Good Counsel. Within the last century there have been two holy men of the Order who were particularly notable for their zeal in spreading this devotion. Blessed Stephen Bellesini was pastor at the shrine and is buried in a side chapel of the church, and Venerable Joseph Menochio was papal sacristan to Pope Pius VII.
Conclusion
Thus, for five hundred years, the devotion to Our Mother of Good Counsel has flourished and grown. Great artists have fashioned rich copies of the Madonna in canvas, stone, and mosaic. One will find the picture of Our Mother of Good Counsel in beautiful shrines and in great cathedrals and churches. Missionaries have carried it to the ends of the earth, and it has fond its way into the humblest of homes throughout the world.
The feast of Our Mother of Good Counsel is celebrated on April 26.
We turn to you for guidance,
Mother of Good Counsel.
Listen to our prayers
And help us in our needs.
Save us from every danger,
Glorious and blessed Virgin.
Good Counsel Hymn (1.6 mg)
By Fr. Joe Genito, O.S.A."Good Counsel Hymn" is featured on Fr. Joe Genito's album Coming Home: Reflections on Faith and Scripture (2001). To order this album, call the Augustinian Press at 888.275.0571.
