(LifeSiteNews) — During the month of September, the Catholic Church celebrates several great Marian feasts. We just celebrated the great feasts of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Most Holy Name and will commemorate the Seven Sorrows of Mary on September 15.
During this time, and indeed throughout the year, it’s good to reflect on the many popular titles that Our Lady enjoys across the globe. These include Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Our Lady of Sorrows, and Our Lady of Pompei, to name just a few.
But there’s one lesser-known title Our Blessed Mother holds from the tiny town of Patti, located on the northern coast of the small but mighty Italian island of Sicily (which is of course the superior part of Italy) whose legends and devotions deserve to be better known, especially in our modern times: La Madonna del Tindari (Our Lady of Tindari).
A mysterious statue’s arrival on the coast of Tindari
The story of La Madonna del Tindari begins sometime in the eighth or ninth century during the first iconoclastic persecution when Emperor Leo III banned the veneration of religious images or icons, falsely labeling this practice as idolatry. According to local legend, a ship sailed from the East carrying, among other things, a smuggled wooden black Byzantine statue of Our Lady holding the baby Jesus hidden in a crate, to save it from destruction.
By divine intervention, a storm erupted during the voyage, forcing the sailors to dock on the coast of Tindari, a district in the town of Patti. Once the storm passed, the sailors attempted to set sail, but the ship would not move. Only after they removed the crate containing the statue was the ship finally able to set sail.
READ: Today we celebrate the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Locals soon found the statue, and as the Sicilians had long opposed the iconoclast heresy, they had no problem placing the statue on the summit of Mount Tindari overlooking the ocean for veneration. A sanctuary would soon be built to house the statue.
The legend of the fallen child
Devotion to La Madonna del Tindari quickly spread, and pilgrims from Sicily and beyond began flocking to Tindari to venerate and implore the intercession of the Blessed Mother. According to another legend, one of these pilgrims was a woman who had pleaded with Our Lady of Tindari for her young daughter’s recovery from a serious illness through her intercession. The girl made a full recovery, prompting the mother to make the pilgrimage to the sanctuary to thank Our Lady.
But, upon seeing the statue and thinking La Madonna’s statue (some versions suggest it was because the statue of Our Lady was black) was ugly and therefore couldn’t possibly be the Mother of God, whose intercession had cured her sick daughter, she declared: “I traveled from afar to see someone uglier than me!” At that moment, the child flew from her mother’s arms and dropped out of the sanctuary’s window (which sat atop Mount Tindari), dropping nearly 1,000 feet toward the ocean.
The woman then pleaded with La Madonna to save her child once again. “If you are the miraculous Virgin who saved my daughter for the first time, save her for the second time,” she prayed.
READ: When the Blessed Mother was asked to leave the marriage feast at Cana
Miraculously, a beach was created out of nothing, saving the child from her fall. Sailors quickly found the girl playing in the sand and returned her to her mother, prompting the woman to proclaim her thanks to Our Lady of Tindari. “Truly, you are the great miraculous virgin!” she declared.
The beach miraculously created is now known as the Marinello Nature Reserve, and still sits below Mount Tindari today, and is said to be in the shape of a mother holding a child.
Devotion to Our Lady of Tindari grows
The cult of La Madonna del Tindari has grown considerably over the centuries, with Sicilians and Sicilian-Americans typically having at least one image or statue of her adorned in their homes. The current sanctuary, the Basilica Sanctuary of Madonna del Tindari, elevated to a minor basilica by Pope Francis in 2018, hosts thousands of pilgrims from around the world each year. In 1988, Pope John Paul II even made a pilgrimage to the sanctuary to venerate La Madonna
One of the most popular times of year for pilgrims to visit is September for the local solemnity of Our Lady of Tindari on September 8 (To coincide with the Nativity of Mary), marked by a massive festival September 7-8, which includes several Masses, Eucharistic adoration, and a procession of a large statue of Our Lady.
La Madonna del Tindari is the patroness of Patti, and her intercession is often invoked against sickness, natural disasters, and invasion.
A Marian title to invoke in our times
Going back to the legend of the fallen child, regardless of whether it is true, the story is a good reflection of our spiritual lives, especially during the wicked times in which we live. As an aside, we Catholics ought to return to tradition and believe some of our Church’s legends like our ancestors did, such as Saint George slaying a (literal) dragon or the existence of giants (See Genesis 6:4). Remember the words of St. Gabriel to Our Lady, “No word shall be impossible with God!” (Luke 1:37)
Besides, these legends require far less faith to believe than, say, evolution, man-made “climate change,” or any of the other myths our atheist and leftist brethren believe in religiously.
Anyway, the mother in this story acts very similarly to many of us faithful today, right after our prayers are answered. Perhaps we wouldn’t go so far as to call the Blessed Mother “ugly” after our prayers were literally answered by her intercession, but like the woman, we often repay God and His saints who pleaded with Him on our behalf by returning to our sins.
And yet, as with the woman who had blasphemed her, Our Blessed Mother is always ready to lead us back to God, if only we (sincerely) ask.
We can also reflect on the woman’s daughter falling nearly 1,000 feet off a cliff, seemingly to her death, but still was saved through the prayers of Our Lady of Tindari. Today, both the Church and the world around us seem to be falling fast off a cliff.
In the secular realm, abortion is legal to some degree almost globally, as is same-sex “marriage.” We also seem to be constantly on the brink of war, regardless of which political party is elected.
And just this week, we saw young conservative influencer Charlie Kirk assassinated seemingly for his years-long (peaceful) advocacy against woke ideology. I could go on.
READ: Charlie Kirk’s assassination is an attack on all of us who defend life and family
In the Church, we’ve recently seen female lesbian “priests,” “concelebrating” the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and blatantly heterodox prelates who break with the Church’s teaching on gay “marriage” being allowed to hold a pilgrimage inside the Vatican, apparently with Pope Leo’s blessing. Meanwhile, the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) is heavily restricted, and faithful clergy are canceled, for daring to uphold the Church’s teachings, etc., etc.
WATCH: Thousands of ‘LGBT Catholics’ process into St. Peter’s Basilica for Jubilee Year pilgrimage
Remember, dear reader, just as the woman on top of Mount Tindari was rightly punished for her blasphemy despite her daughter’s miraculous healing, so too is the current chastisement in both the Church and world a just punishment for our sins. Our society has collectively turned away from our Lord and His Blessed Mother despite the abundance of graces He has bestowed on us over the centuries through her intercession.
So, as we’re watching our society fall quickly down a cliff, with no reasonable hope that it will survive, let us take after the woman’s example and not despair or double down in our sin, but instead fall on our knees and beg Our Lady to intercede for us at this 11th hour.
Prayer to La Madonna del Tindari
Most merciful Virgin of Tindari, our Mother and our Trust, your blessed Sanctuary, already so beautiful in its lines and so rich in its decorations, is embellished by your presence, which is almost sensibly felt, it is smiled by your maternal gaze, it is perfumed from the sweet memories of the countless graces obtained for your children.
The gazes and hearts of your children, near and far, are pinned on this Sanctuary; in this sacred enclosure, before your throne of mercy, your devotees prostrate themselves, anxious for comfort, help and thanks.
O brunette Madonna del Tindari, who for many centuries have given countless graces to those who have invoked you under this sweet title, from this sacred hill also spread the beneficial rain of your mystical roses on us: obtain for us the forgiveness of sins, strengthen us in temptations, grant us detachment from earthly pleasures and the ineffable flavor of celestial things, pour on our saddened heart a drop of that copious comfort that overflows from your maternal heart. Defend us in dangers, heal our illnesses, give us resignation in adversity, grant peace to our spirit and our family.
May we reach Heaven, to be enraptured and recreated by the celestial vision of your maternal face.
O brunette Madonna del Tindari, we ask you for these graces on behalf of many innocent children, of many chosen souls, of those who suffer in body and spirit.
Listen to our groans, console our hearts, and among the many graces, grant us those that are closest to our hearts and that we need most … (Mention your intentions here)
Hail Holy Queen …
