The Virgin Mother of Good Counsel - the Catholic Kingdom!

XPREFACEof the writer most distinguishes them, and in whichthey are unsurpassed by any other people he hasever seen, is their intense and universal devotionto the Virgin Mother of God.Every practice of this devotion, common to themost fervent Catholics, is general amongst them,while they have besides a hundred beautiful ways ofmanifesting it, peculiar to themselves alone. It isshown in public, on the entrance gates, and streets,and squares of cities; on the fronts of houses andvineyards; on the road-sides; and to an unusualextent, in the churches and public edifices of thecountry. Then over the whole land, special sanctuariesof the Madonna are scattered with great profusion.To some of these, millions flock annually ;and to the least frequented, thousands come. Pilgrimages,chantings, silent prayer, alms-deeds, an'dfervent reception of the sacraments, are everywherecalled forth by these wonderful shrines. No one isashamed to confess and to honour Mary. Her presencefills every home and is constantly before theminds of the inmates. In a word, devotion to OurLady, so to speak, saturates the land. And it isnot too much to say - indeed it is what the Catholicsof Italy themselves thankfully proclaim - thatPRIVATE USE ONLY