Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after a painting said to be miraculous, now found in the thirteenth century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring 40 by 45cm, the image is a fresco executed on a thin layer of porcelain no thicker than an egg shell.

The image represent Mother Mary and Child Jesus after they had returned from the temple where Mary heard the prophesies of Simeon. Mary's eyes are half-veiled as though she were lost in contemplation, taking counsel with her God. The little Child does not return the gaze of the beholder, as happens in so many pictures, rather He draws our eyes upward to Mary as if to tell us to look for Counsel there, in the very Seat of Wisdom.

In the 5th century, during the reign of Pope Sixtus III, the town of Genazzano, about 48 km south of Rome, had contributed a large portion of its revenue for the Roman basilica now known as Santa Maria Maggiore. In appreciation, a church was built in Genazzano and was later entrusted to the Augustinian Order in 1356.

According to tradition, in the year 1467, in the midst of the festivities for the Feast of Saint Mark, at the close of a festival in Genazzano, Italy, a cloud descended upon an that church dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel. When the cloud disappeared, the festive crowd found a small, fragile image of the Blessed Virgin and Child on a thin sheet of plaster. The painting is said to have hung in mid-air, suspended without support, floating, on a small ledge.

Following this incident, Pope Paul II sent two bishops to investigate the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel and the numerous miracles that took place following its appearance at the church (by one account 171 alone in the period from April 27 to August 14, 1467)! It was Pope Paul II who first approved devotion to her.

The fresco is still there to this day, having survived earthquakes over the centuries and even aerial bombardment in World War II, which otherwise destroyed much of the church. Many popes have been great champions of Our Lady of Good Counsel and her image.

Prayer to Our Lady of Good Counsel (Composed by Pope Pius XII)

O Holy Virgin, to whose feet we are led by our anxious uncertainty in our search for and attainment of what is true and good, invoking you by the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel, we beseech you to come to our assistance, when, along the road of this life, the darkness of error and of evil conspires towards our ruin by leading our minds and our hearts astray. O Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the doubtful and the erring, that they be not seduced by the false appearances of good; render them steadfast in the face of the hostile and corrupting influences of passion and of sin. O Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us from your Divine Son a great love of virtue, and, in the hour of uncertainty and trial, the strength to embrace the way that leads to our salvation. If your hand sustains us, we shall walk unmolested along the path indicated to us by the life and words of Jesus, our Redeemer; and having followed freely and securely, even in the midst of this world's strife, the Sun of Truth and Justice under your maternal Star, we shall come to the enjoyment of full and eternal peace with you in the haven of salvation. Amen. 


Other Saints of the Day

1. St. Cletus

2. St. Aldo

3. St. Anacletus II

4. St. Basileus

5. St. Exuperantia