A source of water would come out of the rock!

In the north of Italy, near Vicenza, the Virgin Mary appeared to an old woman named Vincenza Parisi, on August 1, 1428, while the city, decimated by the plague, was on the verge of being depopulated. The Virgin promised Vicenza to obtain an end to the epidemic if the people would build her a church on Mount Berico.

The old woman went to the city to bring this message, and the people received it favorably. The City Council decided to build this church in a very short time. The Virgin had spoken to Vincenza of a spring of water that would flow from the living rock on the place where the church was to be built, and that’s exactly what happened. During construction, an incredible quantity of water flowed out, to the point of overflowing, like a river with a strong current!

In accordance with the second promise of the Virgin, money poured in for construction. Eventually, the great plague disappeared and, after the church was built in three months, the whole province was totally free from this calamity and did not suffer any more from the disease.

The church of the Madonna of Mount Berico has become one of the most important places of Marian devotion in Europe: "On the first Sunday of the month we hear an average of 22,000 thousand confessions," the Servites of Mary explain. Their order has overseen the site with its magnificent views, since 1435. 

From an article by Pina Baglioni, in the magazine “30 Days”