17 APRIL - OUR MOTHER OF ARABIDA (PORTUGAL)

 During the 16th century an English merchant named Hildebrand was standing off the entrance to the Tague River when a great storm caught his ship and immediately plunged him 

   into the dangerous waters at the mouth of the river. The ship was in great danger and the merchant, being a pious Catholic, knelt before a picture of Our Mother which he always 

   kept on board his ship. Soon after he began praying a bright light was seen shining through the darkness and the ship came to rest in calm waters. 

   When daylight came, the vessel was safely anchored at the foot of a very steep wooded mountain. Hildebrand went back below decks to kneel before the illustration of Our Mother 

   in thanksgiving, when he found that the picture was no longer there. Since it had been from that direction of the mountain that he had seen the light the night before, 

   the merchant went on land and climbed the steep trail to the top. There, on the very top of the mountain, amid the dense woods, was his picture of Our Mother, 

   before which he had prayed in his hour of need. Greatly moved, the merchant finished his business as soon as possible in England and returned to Portugal. 

   He gave away his goods to the poor and settled down in a small hermitage at the top of the mountain, where the picture had indicated that Our Mother wished a shrine to be.




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