Today we celebrate the liturgical memorial of Mary Help of Christians. The sanctuary of the Madonna della Stella in Montefalco, dedicated to Mary Auxilium Christianorum, help of Christians, was built upon an abandoned chapel where there was an image of Mary with the Child Jesus in her arms. This image is now enclosed and venerated on the main altar of the sanctuary. It was here that little Righetto saw the Madonna on several occasions at the end of 1861 and the beginning of 1862. The title Mary Help of Christians was later spread throughout the Church by St. John Bosco, who in 1864 began building the shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Turin and placed the Salesian Congregation under her protection, thus binding it inseparably to Mary venerated under this title.
I was struck by the testimony cited by our Father General at the start of our conference. It was given by Fr. Bortolo Stefani, who for many years (1941–1965) served as pastor at Madonna Granda in Treviso, where Br. Righetto carried out his ministry as sacristan for about forty years (1884–1923). Upon Righetto’s death in 1923, Fr. Stefani was in Umbria at our college in Spello and recounted an episode mentioned by the Fathers of that community as they commented on his passing. One day, while the young Righetto was staying at the Roman orphanage “Tata Giovanni,” Don Giovanni Bosco met with our General Father Secondo Sandrini at that location. Looking at Righetto, the saint said, “This boy is right for me!” Immediately Fr. Sandrini replied, “No, Don Bosco, he’s already destined for us in the house of St. Mary in Aquiro.” And the saint concluded, “Then so be it.”
We are celebrating the Eucharist in the Chapel of the Holy Family of the Sisters of Spoleto. In the apse you can see the beautiful mosaic depicting the Holy Family—Jesus, Joseph, and Mary—between two churches: the splendid cathedral of Spoleto at the top left, and another church at the bottom right (I believe it is the parish-sanctuary of Blessed Pietro Bonilli). On the wall next to the ambo is the mosaic of Blessed Pietro Bonilli, depicted between an elderly poor man and two children.
Just before the celebration, a sister told me that Blessed Pietro Bonilli is particularly connected to the Servant of God Br. Righetto because he was the parish priest of Cannaiola, where Righetto’s mother moved after the death of her husband in 1866. It was he who wrote a profile of Righetto when he was eleven years old and sent a petition in 1868 to Pope Pius IX requesting that Federico Cionchi be accepted into the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome. It is beautiful to discover here in this chapel the bond that Providence wove between these two individuals.
Let us now turn our thoughts and filial affection to Mary Help of Christians. I will not offer a theological reflection, but rather illustrate this devotion—so dear to the Christian people—through the testimony of three poets.
Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) in the Divine Comedy states that his journey from the dark forest of sin to the vision of Christ in Paradise was only possible through the help and intercession of the Virgin Mary:
Lady, you are so great and so powerful
that whoever seeks grace and does not turn to you
desires to fly without wings.
(Paradiso XXXIII, 13–15)
Without Mary’s help and intercession, it is impossible—like trying to fly without wings—to obtain any grace.
Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374), toward the end of his life, feels like a sinner, fears for his eternal salvation, and turns to the Virgin Mary for help. She always aids those who invoke her with faith.
Beautiful Virgin, clothed in the sun,
crowned with stars, you pleased the highest Sun
so much, that He hid His light in you,
love compels me to speak of you:
but I cannot begin without your aid
and of Him who placed His love in you.
I invoke her who always kindly answered
those who called upon her with faith:
Virgin, if ever the extreme misery
of human things moved you to mercy,
incline to my prayer,
come to my aid in this battle,
though I am dust, and you the Queen of Heaven.
(Canzone to the Virgin, vv. 1–13)
The poet asks Mary that Jesus—true man and true God—through her intercession may receive his final breath and grant him eternal salvation in the peace of Paradise.
Commend me to your Son, true
man and true God,
that He may receive my final spirit in peace.
(Canzone to the Virgin, vv. 135–138)
Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873) is even more categorical. Mary’s prayer is law for Jesus; He Himself ordained it:
Pray for us. He ordained
that your prayer be law.
(Hymn: The Resurrection, vv. 83–84)
With these sentiments, looking to Br. Righetto—so devoted to Mary Help of Christians—let us invoke the Virgin to accompany each of us and our Congregation in the encounter with Jesus.
By Father Giuseppe Oddone, CRS