Devotion to the great Mondays of the Madonna dell'Arco
Monday marks the history of the sanctuary of the Madonna dell'Arco. It is Easter Monday April 6, 1450, when the first miracle occurred, from which popular veneration of the sacred image began; it was on Easter Monday April 21, 1590 that the blasphemer Aurelia del Prete lost her feet, an episode that deeply affected the public opinion of the time as to cause such an influx of pilgrims, to induce S. Giovanni Leonardi, in 1593, to start the foundation of the new grandiose sanctuary.
Easter Monday has thus become, from the beginning, a privileged day, the day of the great popular pilgrimage of the Madonna dell'Arco: crowds of faithful flock, on this day, from everywhere, by any means, to the Virgin's feet to venerate her, implore thanks and implore, through her powerful intercession, the mercy of God. Hence the custom of dedicating her on Monday, as a special day of prayer and supplications in the sanctuary.
In 1968 the Dominican Fathers promoted the practice of 15 Mondays in preparation for the day of the Great Pilgrimage, inspired by the 15 mysteries of the rosary, the Marian prayer par excellence and closely linked to the Dominican tradition.
Over time, the initiative has become established and rooted among the devotees of the Madonna dell'Arco, also as an opportunity for evangelization and deepening of the faith, with significant and fruitful spiritual benefits for the faithful. This practice is now spreading more and more in the churches where devotion to the Madonna dell'Arco is alive. It has now become part of the tradition and identity itself of this Marian sanctuary.
In 1998 it was deemed necessary to make a change: in order not to interfere with the liturgical spirituality of the Christmas holidays, this practice begins on the first Monday after Epiphany, and goes under the new name: The Great Mondays of the Madonna dell'Arco.
Novena to the Madonna dell'Arco
1. Good virgin, who wanted to call you the Arch, as if to remind the afflicted hearts, the repentant and needy souls that You are the Arch of peace that announces forgiveness and divine promises, look benign to me who invoke you , to me who beg you with remorse in my heart for so many sins committed, with my forehead mortified for so many of my miseries and ingratitudes. Obtain for me from your Son the grace to understand the state of my soul, to mourn my sins and deplore them. May he grant me, through your maternal intercession, a firm purpose, a constant will for good. May this serene moment passed at your feet be the beginning of a life without sin and full of all Christian virtues. Ave Maria…
2. Holy Virgin, who chose the Sanctuary of the Arch to the throne of your mercies and wanted your Image surrounded by the countless certificates of gratitude of the faithful, benefited and rescued by you with a thousand wonders, animated by trust for so much your love for the miserable and for so many gifts that you have scattered in the world, gripped by sorrows, I resort to your protection, because You grant me ... (Ask for the grace you want) You obtain this from your Son and as one day you made the newlyweds happy to who lacked the wine by asking Jesus for their first miracle, he also gives me, who await the joy above all from your goodness, to be able to add my poor voice of gratitude to the voice of the many and many who invoked you and were fulfilled. I am not worthy, it is true, to obtain this grace: my soul is poor, my prayer is not animated by a sufficient spirit of faith necessary to open the doors of heaven; but You are rich in all grace, but You are good, and you will accept everything, maternally compassionate for my deficiencies and my needs. Ave Maria…
3. Glorious Virgin, who one day wished to appear surrounded by bright stars, I beg you to want to be the star that guides my path at all times. You in the storms of life, amid the thousand dangers for the soul and the body, shines in my gaze so that I can always find the way that leads to the port of eternal life. And when, after the days of my fragile existence, I will wait for the eternal Judge, You will help me; You support the life that is missing; make my faith more alive and stronger; repeat to the soul words of hope and protection, give me a more ardent charity.
From you I want to be presented to my Judge as your devotee, miserable but faithful and grateful. In that hour you must appear to the soul as you are, the beautiful aurora of the heavens, where I will come to praise you with the Saints and the Angels for all centuries. Amen.