The Madonna protected her from assault

On the evening of December 29, 1336, a young expecting mother was walking through the town of Bra in Italy. As she passed by an image of the Madonna painted on a column on the outskirts of the town, she was attacked by two men hiding in bushes, waiting for a victim.

Her name was Egidia Mathis. When she realized that these men intended to sexually assault her despite her advanced condition, she threw herself under the protection of the Madonna depicted on the column, clinging desperately to it and crying out to her for help. Then a flash of light came out from the image, blinding the two men who fled, terrified. The Madonna herself appeared to Egida to talk to her and comfort her, assuring her that she was now safe.

Because of the fright and shock she had experienced, immediately after the vision of the Madonna, Egidia gave birth to her child at the foot of the column. Wrapping up the newborn baby in her shawl, the young mother managed to reach the nearest house. The news of the prodigious event spread quickly throughout the city, and despite the late hour, people rushed in crowds to the place of the attack and the apparition.

The thick blackthorn bushes surrounding the column unexpectedly bloomed with white flowers in spite of the harsh December weather. And since then, the flowering of the bushes has always been repeated on the same date!

Vittorio Messori, Italian journalist and prolific Catholic writer.

Excerpt from Hypothèses sur Marie