Our Lady of Montallegro

Our Lady of Montallegro: The Icon, the Spring, and Mary’s Call to Obedience

Cristy Murray and Father Perry Kenaston open the “Mary’s Message – Leading Hearts to Jesus Today” podcast with a prayer to Mary, Queen of Peace, then share the story of Our Lady of Montallegro in Rapallo, Italy (1557). A farmer, Giovanni Cioccavilla, reports Mary’s apparition and the discovery of an icon of her Dormition on the Hill of Joy; when villagers move the icon to town, it repeatedly returns to the hill, and a spring begins flowing where Mary stood, signaling her wish for a church there. A church is authorized in 1558, and later Greek sailors who claim the icon find it miraculously returned again. They discuss annual July processions, ex-votos, pilgrimage routes, other apparition sites (including Our Lady of Champion), and invite listeners to a 46-day “Mary’s Mantle of Grace” consecration from July 1 to August 15.

00:00 Welcome to Marys Message
00:44 Opening Prayer for Peace
01:22 Our Lady of Montallegro Story
03:00 Icon Returns and Church Built
04:26 Greek Sailors and the Storm
06:20 Pilgrimage and Feast Days
08:11 Lessons and Modern Apparitions
09:18 Approved US Apparitions Talk
11:53 Springs Icons and Wonder
13:29 Spread the Podcast
15:45 Join the Consecration
17:20 Time Flies Funny Banter
19:11 Closing Prayer and Farewell

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Transcript

Restream recording Jun 27, 2026 • 11:34:52 PM 0:00

Okay. Welcome to Mary's Message Leading Hearts to Jesus Today, the podcast where we listen to the voice of the Blessed Mother and allow her to guide us ever closer to her Son in our modern world. I'm Cristy Murray, along with Father Perry Kenaston, and each week we explore stories of faith, conversations with Catholic voices, and practical spiritual tools to help you encounter Christ more deeply. In a world longing for peace and clarity, Mary continues to speak to her children with love, hope, and a mother's gentle wisdom. Thank you for joining us as we open our hearts to Mary's message, and let her l- lead us into the loving embrace of Jesus, which is a good place to be. Today we are going to talk about Our Lady of Montallegro. Father, would you like us, Uh, let's get started with a prayer? Yes. In the name of the, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Mary, Queen of Peace, we turn to you, our mother. Into your hands we pray and place our prayers. For men and women serving in the military, protect them. For innocent victims of war and violence, sha- spare them. For those who mourn and are injured, comfort them. For people of all nations, unite them. In the love of the peace of your Son, the Prince of Peace, Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us. Amen. So welcome, my friends, to this, Our Lady of Montallegro. Rapallo, Italy, 1557. The magnificent sanctuary of Our Lady of Montallegro is nestled in a wooden hill called the Mount of... The Hill of Joy, overlooking the city of Rapallo. It was here that the Blessed Mother deigned to leave the precious icon depicting her Dormition as she passed from this world to the heavenly kingdom. Our, our mother is pictured lying on a bier where the Holy Trinity represents by the figures in the central part of the icon. Surrounding her in mournful attitude are several saints and two angels. The first vision- The di-discovery of the icon on the hill was made by a farmer, Giovanni Cioccavilla, on July second, where and while he was walking nearby a donkey trail. Suddenly, he had an apparition of Our Lady reassuring him, "Do not fear, Giovanni. I am the Mother of God. I have chosen you to be the messenger of my monthly will, will." With this ecclesiastic report and them knowing that the Mother of God had chosen this place as her perpetual dwelling place and would like A church to be erected and left there a pledge of my love. When the village disap-- when the virgin disappeared, the farmer discovered an icon on the rock and attempted to remove it, but could not. He notified the villagers of Ripollo, who journeyed to the hill, lifted it and brought it to the church there in Ripollo. The next morning, the icon had disappeared, only to be found where Giovanni had originally discovered it. Much to their surprise, this, a spring had started to flow at the very place above where the Mother, Blessed Mother stood during the apparition. The villagers once again brought the icon to the church, where it was displayed all day to the veneration of many who were impressed with the details of Giovanni's experience. In the evening, the icon was locked away for safekeeping. They were surprised the next morning when they discovered that it had disappeared again. The sec-- the icon was subsequently found on the rock on the hill. All agreed that the mysterious travels of the icon indicated the Blessed Mother's wish that it remained in a particular place to be protected by the church she had requested. Church in, is built fifteen fifty-eight. The next year, fifteen fifty-eight, the Archbishop of Turin authorized the building of the church on the Hill of Joy, which began immediately. The following year, it was opened and dedicated to the Blessed Mother. For seventeen years, the precious icon was loved and venerated on the Hill of Joy until a group of Greek soldiers sailing from Ragusa experienced a storm while crossing the, the Gulf of Teugla. The ship's captain, Nicolaus de Agrusas Together with the crew, promised Our Lady that if they were saved, they would make a pilgrimage to the nearest sanctuary dedicated to her. Upon safely reaching the shore, they climbed to the sanctuary to fulfill their vow of thanksgiving. It was then that they noticed the precious sto- icon and declared that it was formerly venerated in Augusta and that it had mysteriously disappeared from there in 1557. They claimed ownership, which resulted in court proceedings before the magistrate of Genoma. Eventually, the li- icon was given over to them for safekeeping and delivered it to the location. The icon was taken to the port, boarded on the ship, and placed in a secure place. The ship was well out to sea when they found that it had disappeared. Eventually, the captain and his crew learned that the icon had been discovered in the church where all agreed that it meant to stay. See what she's doing. She's trying to teach these guys a lesson. Yep. They keep fighting each other. Yeah. You know, and, and it's just like everything else. There's... The common thread is, you know, like the guy with... the other one, you know, he was a poor peasant guy, and he had a cloak on. He came back, and there was our Our Lady of Guadalupe. When are they gonna learn? You gotta be obedient to mama. Geez. You know, I mean, this is an apparition day. Every year on the anniversary apparition day, the people of Rapolo travel to the hill in a grand procession, carrying an ancient wooden crucifix and a silver shrine with the mother's statue. Upon arra- reaching the sanctuary, the first time pilgrimage is amazed by the huge collection of voting offerings and ex voto- votes, some of them in silver, some decorated the walls, giving proof of prayers answered and miracles worked through the Virgin's intercession. In the chapel of St. Joseph can be found a spring that began flowing from the time of the apparition. It is said to originate from the rock where the icon was originally found. The pilgrim has two unique ways to reach the sanctuary of the Hill of Joy, by walking along the ancient mule track or by cable car from Rapolo, which was specifically constructed for the convenience of The pilgrims are well award- rewarded when reaching the sanctuary. They are intrigued with the, its beauty and can pray before the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Montelirio Now, I don't know about you, but now you see you got two choices. You go on the donkey trail, or you take the easy way out, you take the cable car. So the decision is yours. Joining in a celebration for the 450th year of apparition of Our Lady of Montelarco, 2007, was Torquato Cardinale Bertone, Secretary of State to the Vatican. The Feast of Our Lady is celebrated with great joy on the very first three days of July. So that's a history in a n- in a nutshell. As always, this is impressive just to see what she does, huh? She appears to the, the poorest of people the kids, you know, a- and, and this guy here. Nobody knows who he is, but at the same time, Mama chooses him. And someday we'll find out an answer to why she choses or chooses certain people, you know. But for right now, we can just be content that here's another one, another lesson from our Blessed Mother saying that, "Hey, I'm still alive. I'm still praying." I, um... We have currently Medjugorje, uh, which is still a, a very viable thing to do at the same time. And, uh, you know, you never can tell. It's... The Vatican has said, "Okay, we'll elevate you to number two." Basically, that means that it's okay, and, uh, it's okay to visit. I mean, it always has been, but we're working on officially, or like I said, officially recognizing it as an apparition site. I don't know. I'll turn it over to my sidekick here. So you said officially. There's reality, and then there's officially, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think I... If I remember correctly, Cristy, there's certain sites in the United States that are officially recognized. Yes. Our Lady of Champion is in Winne- Wisconsin. Here, let me look up- Do we have, do we have lit- can we get literature on that one? To do a segment- Yeah to do a segment? Yeah. I'm sure it's on... It's part of our book. Really? Yep. Hm. According to my cheat notes here. Who here? So yep, it's Ladies Wisconsin, and then- Oh, is it in the book? No, I'm just looking at it at a d- different place. And then there's one... Well, unapproved, Our Lady of America, Indiana, Ohio reported series of visions given to Sister Mary Ephrem beginning 1956. And then Our Lady of the Roses in New York, that's in 1970. A Brooklyn mother named Veronica Lueken claims to have received apparitions of Mary and Jesus. So those are the two right now. They're unofficial. The only official one that I'm finding is Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin. Well, maybe you could shoot that to me and we could, uh, maybe do that for next week or something like that to help with that. Works out too. Yeah. Okay. Let me see if it's on our list. It's not on our... But yeah, I can find something and we can talk about it. Oh, no. One, you know, one Wisconsin and the allegedly the other two or something of that sort. You know what? I think it'd be good for our readers to, to do that. Yes. To... Just, "Hey, listen, there's stuff local right here." So... Yeah. And I think there's, there's a lot to be said, too like that we have a lot of beautiful basilicas and, and cathedrals here in the US, so maybe make a pilgrimage lo- just locally, right? Yeah. Well, you know, there's a tour, um, that's avail- available, well, in a sense. It's all the missions in California. There's a, there's an actual tour that starts at one place, and within 10 days or whatever, or two weeks, they do the, they, they, they do all the missions that are... In the early days, they founded and everything else, and it's- it's an actual tour of that, we've got a few options out there, you know. Let me... I'll, uh, now that I mentioned that, let me, uh, check that one out. It, uh, it's just a matter of PR, but- Yeah Our Lady, I'm sure is- as, uh, she's got something to do with that one, too. I'm sure she does. You know, with regards to that, you know. But anyway. Hill of Joy. Wow. But I think it's almost in Medjugorje you, you go up to a hill. Mm-hmm. And, and then sim- similarly with, um, Our Lady of Lourdes there's a spring, right? That- Mm-hmm that started everywhere she appears. Why do you think there's a spring? Like she gives us water 'cause we're all thirsty. We need- Yeah, well- not only that. Maybe, you know, and the thing is, you know, this is over 100 years. The water never runs out. Mm. It's always there. Yeah. So that's definitely gotta be a... You know, and the story goes that, you know, she started digging and then it started a little bit then it, it's perpetual. But it's amazing what, uh... they're kind of in charge, Mama Mary and Jesus. When you're chosen, then you gotta say, "Okay, I'm... you chose me, I haven't chose you, so..." And that's what he says in the scripture, "I have chosen you." That's it. With that first on-site of, um, of what's going on, I just, oh, what a tremendous happening that is, you know? So it's interesting. So when they, when you say icon or like when they say icon, it's a picture, right? Yeah. So a picture of her started appearing and then they moved in, they kept moving in. Just like here. Yeah, just like here in the graphic, now if it, if it appeared that way, et cetera, and they had to reproduce that or however they would do that I don't know. That's... Well, it's just like the Guadalupe, you know? It's all in color and everything, you know. Mm-hmm. Nothing... You can't mess with it, you know, so to speak, you know. I don't know, you know, people, my friends, if you've ever gone out at nighttime, and it's summer and you got a few clouds in the air up in the sky, and you just open yourself up and you say, "Thank you, Lord, for using your paintbrush today-" Mm "to paint a picture for us." We gotta get... I, the whole process of this, my friends, is I know we, you know, we're, we're continuing on here, but spread the word for us at the same time. And, uh, we're, we're doing, we're expanding as, as quickly as we can, but, you know, this is Mama's work. It's not ours. She's chosen us to, through this podcast here, to, to bring others to Jesus and everything else through this. So we're trying our best. The only thing we ask you to do is to, is whenever it, whenever you go onto this just tell your friends about us and go from there. And just let them just spread. You know, that's what we're supposed to do. We're helping. We just spread Mama's Mary, Mama's, uh, podcast and everything else. 'Cause that's what that is. I mean, come on, guys. That's a podcast. Yeah, and there's a lot of apparition sites that, um, Mama Mary appeared that we don't even know about. Yeah. So this will be a good, way for people to learn. And then as we go on our either group pilgrimages or separate pilgrimages, we'll share our stories. So yeah, I mean, just look at the picture that it's pulled up and everything else like that, you know, and all the colors and everything else like that. How can you go wrong with that? And I, like I said a couple seconds ago, just during the summertime, whatever, or even in wintertime sometimes- Just look up at the sky, and you see the, as the sun sets, there you have it. You got the paintbrush, he's got his paintbrush out, and there's some, there's some light pinks and dark pinks and things of that sort. And we just, uh, we just say, "Thank you, Lord, for doing that for us." For how many of us just take it for granted, huh? Yeah. Don't take it for granted. Look at what God is doing for us. Go from there. Like I said- Yeah help us, you know? And I'm, and then another thing too, Father, um, I wanted to share for our listeners to d- invite them to join us for our consecration. It's 46-day consecration. Mm. It's... So the website is marysmantleofgrace.com, and it'll be in the show notes as well. So what it is, is we do our daily rosaries on our own, and then there's a book that we, we follow daily. It, each day there's a virtue, and as a group consecration, each person will be assigned a specific day. So you're the star for that day, which we need, and 46 stars meaning, like, because there's 46 stars on Our Mary's mantle, Our Lady of Guadalupe. And on that day is you're fasting. So while you're fasting, the rest of the group is praying for you. We have our specific intentions that we had agreed on before we started. Of course, you have your own personal intention that you're welcome to, you know, for us to pray with you and for you. Yeah it's really This is the second time I'm doing it, and it's really amazing when you're, like, part of a group, and you're praying together, and you're fasting, and you know that, praying for the same intention. And w- you get to know people and, um, I mean, you just learn a lot either about yourself, about Mama Mary. You start with new habits, or good habits I should say. Mm-hmm. But yeah, it's called Mary's Mantle of Grace. We start July 1st, and we end on August 15. That would be, um, the Feast of the Assumption. So that's next Wednesday. Yes, July 1st. Yep. Now, a, a question I have for you is this to everybody. What happened to June? Where's it going? It's going too fast, guys. Come on. Yes, it is. You know, you know, it's, it's... You know, I don't know about you all, 'cause I'm, I'm of a certain vintage, and you know, you, when you first start out, "Oh, I can't wait to get 16 so I can get a driver's license." Oh, my goodness. Ah, those days. When you can't wait till you get old and be independent, and then you're independent- Yeah you gotta pay bills. Yeah, you don't wanna be a loaner. You, you don't... You know. Oh, my God. Yeah, and then you go 20, and then you go 30, and that's not too bad, but they bring out that turkey, it's called a 40- it's called a 40th birthday birthday cake. And then you, reality hits. Oh, God, I'm getting old. Then you reach a certain age, and you reach that magical age of, that age, and you go, "Oh, God, what happened?" And then I, then I ha- my brother is five years older than I am, and I tell you what, guys, he's old. My God, he's old. Even though he's only five years old, five years older than me, but he... Oh, my God, he's so old. No, never mind. So gonna clean all that up real likely. But- but no, it, uh- Is your brother listening to this podcast? Maybe we send him. You know what? We should. Gotta shoot him. You sh- send it to him. Yeah, we should. Yeah, I can give you the- I can give you the email address to it. Yeah. 'Cause I know. I know Hillary would. Hillary would. Hillary's a, is a nerd, so. Your sister-in-law? No, no, my, that's my niece. Oh, your niece. Yeah. Yeah, 'cause she's a nerd nerd. There you go. Then they have special mention from you on this episode. Well, that's what I'm saying I am. I just might text her and see what she- Okay Tabitha, too. Tabitha, too. She's her- Uh-huh friend. Yeah. All right, Father, that will do it for our episode today. Okay would you like to say our closing prayer? Sure. In the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit, amen. Which one did I use? Oh, my God. Let's just do a, an Our Father together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Thank you for joining us today on Mary's Message, Leading Hearts to Jesus. If this conversation brought you closer to Jesus, I invite you to subscribe, leave us a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who needs a little hope. And every time you do, you help Mary's Message reach more hearts, which is our goal. And for links, resources, and ways to stay connected, be sure to check the show notes below. And if you'd like to go deeper, we now have a newsletter for you. Head to our subscription landing page in the show notes to join our community and receive, um, reflections, resources, and Marian inspiration delivered straight to your inbox. And you get to ask Father Perry questions or, um, guidance, spiritual direction. And until next time, may Mary's message echo in your heart and lead you closer to the loving embrace of Christ. Oh, excuse me. Sorry, hold on. I gotta figure out how to... Ah.