The Virgin Mother of Good Counsel - the Catholic Kingdom!

2 THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOOD COUNSELThis devotion aims at obtaining all that the giftof Good Counsel gives through the intercession ofMary, the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, toWhom the Infallible Spouse of Christ attributes thevery words of the Holy Ghost U In me is Counsel. vWhile, therefore , the sincere believer instinctivelyrecognises the pregnancy of meaning and the promiseof assistance, involved in a title so expressiveas that of a Virgin Mother of Good Counsel, v itwill console him to know, that close by the city ofthe Successors of St. Peter, it has pleased DivineProvidence to cause a Sanctuary in honour of Maryto arise, whither thousands flock, as they have flockedfor ages, to receive the blessings of Good Counselat Her feet; and that this Sanctuary has beenenriched with supernatural favours of a nature soextraordinary, that, except perhaps in the case of theHoly House of Loreto, we can find no parallel forthem in the history of the shrines of the Church.2. Moreover, the devotion which is manifestedwith such extraordinary fervour at the Shrine itself,is not confined there, but spreads its blessings bymeans of a Pious Union wherever it finds adherents.It sprang up, as will be seen, almost at the same*time with the rise of Christianity upon the ruins ofpaganism in the Roman Empire. The very spot wherethe beautiful Image of Mary and Jesus now reposes,was once the scene of the foulest rites of idol worshipin honour of Venus. There, every April for centuries,came from far and near the men and the women ofLatium for the Robigal Games. There, year after yearthey abandoned themselves to all the abominationsPRIVATE USE ONLY