Mater Boni Consili P. Sarullo

The church that enshrines the original painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel is located in the small town of Genazzano , about thirty miles southeast of Rome. As early as the fifth century, the people of Genazzano were greatly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. When Pope Sixtus III (432- 440) asked for donations to restore the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, the faithful were generous in their support. Shortly thereafter, they built a church dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano. The church was entrusted to the care of the Augustinian Fathers in 1356. With the passage of time, it was necessary to repair the church and it appeared that only a local widow, Petruccia de Geneo, was willing to aid with the financing of the restoration. She was criticized by some of her neighbors but her efforts were rewarded by the miraculous event of April 25, 1467.

Within weeks, two refugees from Albania arrived in Genazzano. They testified before the papal delegation that the same image was in a church in the Albanian town of Scutari only a few weeks earlier. When the town was on the verge of being invaded, the portrait was miraculously relocated for its own protection. The commission verified that there was indeed an empty space in the plaster wall of the church at Scutari, the exact size of the portrait. The unfinished church was soon completed after the miraculous event of April 1467 and became a place of pilgrimage. Within the first six months alone, over 170 healings and miracles were recorded.

The miraculous image, at first called the Madonna of Paradise, has always been regarded with special favor by the Apostolic See. Pope Paul II (1464-1471) called for an investigation and gave initial approval to devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel. Pope St. Pius V (1565-1572) attributed the victory in the Battle of Lepanto to the help of Our Lady of Good Counsel. In 1753, Pope Benedict XIV approved the placing of a gold crown over the image and in 1779 Pope Pius VI granted the Augustinian Order the special privilege of celebrating the feast day each year on April 26. Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) had special devotion to Our Lady under this title and made a pilgrimage to Genazzano in 1864.