We hear the word “plague” and immediately picture beak masks, smoke, devastation, and death everywhere.
This was, indeed, part of the reality for Venetians in 1630, when the plague visited the Floating City for the fourth time in four centuries. In two years, 700,000 Venetians succumbed to the disease—a crippling loss to an already hugely-reduced population.
The Venetians, however, knew they were not alone. They knew that this was not the end for them. They had hope.
Why?
Because the city placed itself in the hands of the Blessed Mother. When 12,000 people died in November alone, the Doge of the city declared that Venice would make a week of public prayer. Following this week, the citizens processed throughout the city every Saturday for 15 weeks, bearing before them an icon of the Blessed Mother.
This icon, purported to have been painted by St. Luke himself, was already beloved in the city. Imagine how much devotion to it grew when the plague ended soon afterward.
The city built a magnificent church—Santa Maria della Salute—to house the icon, and every year a huge feast is celebrated, thanking the Blessed Mother for restoring Venice to health.
This story of Venice reminds us that the Blessed Mother’s intercession has no limitations. Our Lady of Health has never been about asking Mary to remove every illness or difficulty from our lives. Rather, it is the confidence that, whatever we face, we have a Mother who continually brings our needs before her Son. And when healing doesn't come as we had hoped, we continue to place our trust in her care.
Every time we pray the Hail Mary, we ask her to pray for us "now and at the hour of our death." From the beginning of life to its final moments, Our Lady remains a faithful mother who gently leads us to her Son.
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