Mary is our protector in the present life

1. We are in this world as in a stormy sea, as in an exile, in a valley of tears. Mary is the star of the sea, the comfort in our exile, the light that points us to the way of heaven drying our tears. And this makes this tender mother obtain continuous spiritual and temporal help. We cannot enter some cities, into. any country, where there is no monument of the graces Mary obtained from her devotees. Leaving aside many famous sanctuaries of Christianity, where thousands of testimonies of graces received hang from the walls, I only mention} that of the Consolata, which fortunately we have in Turin. Go, O reader, and with faith of a good Christian enter those sacred walls, and look at the signs of gratitude towards Mary for the benefits received. Here you see an infirm sent by doctors, who regains health. There grace received, and it is one who has been freed from fevers; another one healed from gangrene. Here grace received, and it is one who was freed through the intercession of Mary from the hands of the murderers; there another who was not crushed under a huge falling boulder; there for the rain or serenity obtained. If you then take a look on the square of the sanctuary, you will see a monument that the city of Turin raised to Maria in the year 1835, when it was freed from the deadly cholera-morbus, which horribly infested the nearby districts.

2. The favors mentioned only concern temporal needs, what will we say about the spiritual graces that Mary has obtained and obtains from her devotees? It would be necessary to write large volumes to enumerate the spiritual graces, which his devotees have received and receive every day at the hands of this great benefactor of mankind. How many virgins owe the preservation of this state to your protection! how many comforts for the afflicted! how many passions fought! how many fortified martyrs! how many snares of the devil you overcome! St. Bernard after having enumerated a long series of favors that Maria obtains every day to his devotees, ends up saying that all the good that comes to us from God comes to us through Mary: Totum nos Deus habere voluit per Mariam.

3. Nor is it only the help of Christians, but also the support of the universal church. All the titles we give to you remember a favor; all the solemnities that are celebrated in the church originated from some great miracle, from some extraordinary grace that Mary obtained in favor of the church.

How many confused heretics, how many uprooted heresies, as a sign that the church expresses its gratitude by saying to Mary: You alone, O great Virgin, were you, who uprooted all heresies: cunctas haereses sola interemisti in universo mundo.
Examples.
We will report some examples, which confirm the great favors that Maria obtained for her devotees. Let's start with the Ave Maria. The angelic salutation, or Ave Maria, is composed of the words spoken by the angel to the holy Virgin, and of those added by St. Elizabeth when she went to visit her. Santa Maria was added by the Church in the 431th century. In this century a heretic named Nestorius lived in Constantinople, a man full of pride. He came to the wickedness of publicly denying the august name of Mother of God to the Blessed Virgin. This was a heresy that aimed to break down all the principles of our holy religion. The people of Constantinople trembled with indignation at this blasphemy; and to clarify the truth, supplications were sent to the Supreme Pontiff who was then called Celestine, requesting instant reparation for the scandal. In 200 the pontiff brought together a general council in Ephesus, the city of Asia Minor on the banks of the Archipelago. Bishops from all parts of the Catholic world intervened at this council. S Cyril patriarch of Alexandria presided over it on behalf of the Pope. All the people from morning to evening stood at the doors of the Church where the bishops were gathered; when he saw the door open, and s appeared. Cyril at the head of XNUMX and more bishops, and heard the sentence of the wicked Nestorius pronounced, the words of jubilation rang in every corner of the city. In everyone's mouth the following words were repeated: the enemy of Mary is conquered! Long live Maria! Long live the great, the exalted, the glorious mother of God. It was on this occasion that the Church added those other words to the Hail Mary: Saint Mary mother of God pray for us sinners. So be it. The other words now and at the hour of our death were introduced by the Church in later times. The solemn declaration of the Ephesian Council, the august title of mother of God given to Mary was also confirmed in other councils, until the Church instituted the feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin, which is celebrated every year on the second Sunday of October. Nestorius who dared to rebel against the Church, and blaspheme against the Great Mother of God, was severely punished even in the present life.

Another example. In the time of s. Gregory the Great was raging in many parts of Europe and especially in Rome a great plague. To stop this scourge, St. Gregory invoked the protection of the great mother of God. Among the public works of penance he ordered a solemn procession to the miraculous image of Mary who was venerated in the Basilica of Liberius, today S. Maria Maggiore. As the procession progressed, the contagious disease moved away from those districts, until it reached the place where the monument of Emperor Hadrian was (which was therefore called Castel Sant'Angelo), an angel in shape appeared above it Human. He placed the bloody sword in its scabbard as a sign that divine anger had subsided, and that by the intercession of Mary it was about to cease the terrible scourge. At the same time a chorus of angels was heard singing the hymn: Regina coeli laetare alleluia. The S. Pope added two more verses to this hymn with the prayer, and from that time it began to be used by the faithful to honor the Virgin in Easter time, a time of all joy for the resurrection of the Savior. Benedict XIV granted the same indulgences of the Angelus Domini to the faithful who recite it in Easter time.

The use of reciting the Angelus is very ancient in the Church. Not knowing the precise time when the Virgin was announced, whether in the morning or in the evening, the faithful primitives greeted her in these two times with the Ave Maria. From this came the use of ringing the bells in the morning and evening, to remind Christians of this pious custom. It is believed that this was introduced by Pope Urban II in the year 1088. He had something ordered to excite Christians to appeal to Mary to implore her protection in the morning in the war, which then burned between the Christians and the Turks, the evening to implore happiness and harmony among Christian princes. Gregory IX in 1221 also added the sound of bells at midday. The popes enriched this exercise of devotion of many indulgences. Benedict XIII in 1724 granted the indulgence of 100 days for each time he recited, and to those who had recited it for a full month plenary indulgence, provided that on a day of the month he had made the sacramental confession and communion.