Cursi, Puglia, Italy (1641)

Summary

In spring 1641, the Virgin Mary appeared to a unreligious young shepherd, Biagio Orlando Natali. The boy was afraid and tried to escape, but the Virgin called and reassured him: "I am the Queen of Heaven, and suffer for the miserable condition of men. " She asked him to them build a chapel and tell the village priest because he rallies people and lead them in procession. Biagio converts and many believers go there. The first chapel was destroyed by fire, but the sanctuary currently hosts hundreds of pilgrims.

1638-41

The Puglia region of Italy was suffering from a severe drought for almost three years. By the spring of 1641, things were indeed desperate. With unbearable heat in April, the people prayed fervently to the Blessed Virgin begging her to save them from impending famine.

April 1641

She appeared to a shepherd named Biagio Orlando Natali who was so frightened him that he started to run away. But she called him back, reassuring him that she was the Queen of Heaven and that she felt sorrow over the misfortune
which had fallen on him and his fellow citizens. She told Biagio to go to the pastor of the parish and to tell him in her name to assemble all the people of Cursi here on this spot she wished a temple to be erected.

When the temple would be completed , as a token of her deep appreciation,she promised that very year there would be a harvest of such abundance as none had ever seen before. Finally she told Biagio that he was to change his way of life, for she had selected him to be her true follower, and that he was to serve in the new temple when it had been
completed. After she said these words, she vanished as suddenly as she had appeared.

Biagio quickly went to tell the pastor of this miraculous event. The good priest gathered the people together and led by Biagio they processed to the spot where the Virgin had appeared. There they fell to their knees and prayed to the Most Holy Virgin. After some time they reassembled and started the return procession to town. They had gone only a little way when a rain cloud appeared overhead- joined by others until the entire sky was dark. Rain fell and a downpour drenched the whole crowd which celebrated in the downpour which lasted for three days. The news of the miraculous rainfall spread rapidly and great crowds hurried to that place of the apparition to offer their thanks to the Madonna. And when the time of harvest arrived, the crops in the whole area were so abundant that every barn was filled to overflowing.

Soon thereafter the grateful people erected a church in honor of their Santa Maria dell Abbondanza. Biagio left his worldly life behind him and became a devoted servant of Our Lady, donning the garb of a hermit and vowing to spend the rest of his life in prayer and looking after the new shrine.

Some years later the shrine church was destroyed by fire caused by lightning. The people, recalling the goodness of the Virgin, immediately set to work to build the present beautiful sanctuary. On the high altar of the sanctuary there is a Greco- Byzantine fresco of the Madonna of Abundance. It depicts the Virgin with the Divine Infant. In their hands both hold sprigs of olives and ears of corn. This Madonna is famous also for an abundance of another kind. It is said that mothers who lack milk to nurse their babies have it in copious supply after visiting the sanctuary and praying to Our Lady.