Miraculous Icons (1200 - 1299 A.D.)

1226

Trafoi (South Tyroi)

Visionary: Moritz, a shepherd
Title: Three Fountains of Health

Tradition tells a legend about a miraculous discovery. A poor woodcutter wanted to chop down a tree near where he his father had lived. For the first blows of an ax, a voice came from the plant: "Cut well, but do not cut me." The man was frightened, and, feeling close to heaven, he fell to his knees. When he dared raise his eyes, he saw the sweet face of the Madonna. Between the branches on the tree, there was the image of the Virgin, which is still venerated at the shrine. In this place right after this event a small wooden chapel was built. Later many devotees came to admire the miraculously recovered Madonna . The record speaks of a procession of 1526 and the decision to build a chapel in masonry. But this was only a hundred years later, when he built the chapel of Loreto (1645), which still stands today in front of the church.

Source: Holy Shrine of the Tre Fotnane leaflet, the first Italian edition of Thoni Matthias.

1250

Lluch, Escorca, Mallorca (Spain)

Visionary: A boy named Lucas (Lluc in Catalan)
Title: Santa María de Lluc
Feast: April 27

According to legend, a boy named Lucas (Lluc in Catalan) found the original image of the Virgin around the year 1250. He was the son of a Muslim married couple who converted to Catholicism after the Catalan conquest of the Balearic Islands, and he was in charge of bringing his father's herds of sheep and goats to the mountains to graze. One day, after seeing a light on the mountain, the boy found the statue on a rock and decided to give it to the local pastor, who placed the valuable find in a place of honor in the little church. However, the next day, the statue was back where little Lluc had found it. This fact was interpreted as the Virgin's desire to stay in the place where the statue had been found so Lluc built a small hermitage, home to the present monastery.

Source: http://mallorca.on-map.net

Sept 26, 1256

Rome (Italy)

Witness: Cardinal Pietro Capocci
Title: Our Lady of the Well (miraculous image)
Feast Day: September 26

On the site there was the house of Cardinal Pietro Capocci, with a well in the stables. On the night of 26 September 1256, the well overflowed. A picture of Our Lady in stone was floating on the waters, which disappeared as soon as the picture was taken. Pope Alexander IV declared it a miracle, and ordered the construction of a chapel on its place; in the chapel (the first on the right of the current church) there is still the well of the miracle.

Source: Marian Shrines of Italy

1268

AVEZZANO (Italy)

Visionary: A deaf-mute shepherd
Title: Our Lady of Pietraquaria

According to tradition, the chapel and the entire estate was destroyed in 1268 by order of Charles of Anjou. The icon remained under the rubble for a long time and was found intact by a revelation of the Virgin Mary to a deaf and dumb shepherd boy. He miraculously healed. For this reason, the parish priest, with the collaboration of the faithful of Avezzano, saw to repair the church where he placed the sacred effigy with dignity. Subsequently, at different periods of time, work was carried out in the Church on its extension and transformation which have radically improved as a whole both in terms of its functionality and architectural appearance.

Sources: http://www.mariadinazareth.it; http://santuariceam.it ; http://www.guidabruzzo.it ; magazine "Madre di Dio", May 2005