Our Lady of Good Counsel is one of the titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary, named after a painting miraculously rescued from Albania to Italy during the Turkish invasion.
Read the full Our Lady of Good Counsel novena on the novena page. You can also learn more about novenas here.
Who Was Our Lady of Good Counsel?
Our Lady of Good Counsel is one of the titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary, named after a painting miraculously rescued from Albania during the Turkish invasion.
In 1467 in a small Albanian church there was a painting of Our Lady with the child Jesus, the origins of which no one remembered.
Albanians were fleeing the Turkish invasion, and two men, Giorgio and De Scalvis, both strongly devoted to Mary, were given a dream where Our Lady told them to flee the country and follow the painting.
When the woke, the painting was enveloped in a white cloud and began floating of its own accord toward the Adriatic Sea. The two young men followed it and walked across the water all the way to the Italian coast.
Some days later both the white cloud and the painting disappeared. Giorgio and De Scalvis began a search and discovered the Augustinian church of Santa Maria in Genazzano. Concurrently, the people of Genazzano heard exquisite music and saw a cloud hover over the unfinished wall of their church.
When the cloud dissolved, the beautiful painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel, with the Child Jesus, was revealed.
Pope Urban VIII made a pilgrimage there in 1630, as did Pope Pius IX in 1864.
On November 17th, 1682, Pope Innocent XI had the picture solemnly crowned.
Many saints venerated Our Lady of Good Counsel, including St Aloysius Gonzaga, St Alphonsus Liguori, St John Bosco, and Blessed Stephen Bellesini.
Her feast day is April 26.
Our Lady of Good Counsel is the patroness of Albania, Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver, Augustinian Province of Midwest US, ParaƱaque City, Philippines.