Our Lady of Port Louis

November 4: Our Lady of Port Louis, Milan, Italy

According to the Abbot Mathieu Orsini: “Tradition reports that this image received one day the homage of two angels, whom several persons saw bending the knee before it.” Devotion to the Mother of God was hereby inflamed and pilgrimages made to the shrine. Many miracles were and still are wrought through Mary’s intercession."

The ancient city of Milan, Italy, has had three completely different systems of walls defending the city throughout the ages. The oldest walls were Roman, built in the Republican and Imperial eras. The second wall was built in the 12th century, shortly after the city was razed by Frederick Barbarossa. The third, and final  wall system was built in the 16th century by the Spanish rules of Milan. Even though in most places there is little left of the walls, the gates, or "ports" contributed to the layout of the city as the streets passed through the gates from a central hub. The Roman gates were Porta Romana, Porta Ticinese, Porta Vercellina, and so on, with each wall having gates with a variety of names. None of them, however, has had the name of Porta Louis. There is no church in Milan to St. Louis, and I can find no reference to this feast of Mary that was once famous enough to have a date on the calendar. If you are aware of the meaning of this feast, please forward the information to me for inclusion in this site. Thank you.

Our Lady of Port Louis

The Blessed Virgin Mary spoke to the Ven. Mary of Agreda thus:

“My daughter, although in the present life thou canst not penetrate into the mystery of the love which I had and still have for men; yet, in addition to that which thou hast understood, I wish, for they better information, that thou consider again, how the lord has given me the title of Mother and Teacher of the church. With it He infused into my soul an ineffable participation of charity and mercy for the children of Adam. As I was a mere creature and since this blessing was so immense, its effects would have deprived me many times of life, if the divine power had not miraculously sustained me. These effects I felt frequently in my thanksgiving, when souls were received into the Church or were made partakers of the eternal glory; for I alone could know and estimate this happiness in its entirety, and since I realized it, I gave thanks for it to the Almighty with intense fervor and deepest humility.

But the occasions in which I was affected most deeply, was when I asked for the conversion of sinners and when any of the faithful fell into eternal perdition. At such and other times, experiencing the extreme opposite of my joys, I suffered much more than the martyrs in all their torments. I exerted myself for each soul with an eminent and supernatural force. For all this the children of Adam stand in debt to me, since I offered up for them so many times my own life. Though at present I am not any more in a condition to offer it for them, yet my love, which seeks their eternal salvation, is not diminished, but is more exalted and perfect.”

*from The City of God by Ven. Mary of Agreda

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