OUR MOTHER OF SASAPOLI (ITALY)

 The sanctuary of this Madonna, Our Mother of Sasapoli, is some 1700 feet above sea level on the hills and 12 miles northwest of Florence, Italy. 

    A small shrine stood on a hill and it contained a tablet depicting the Blessed Virgin and the Child. Many people come to pray at the shrine and among these were two young

    shepherdesses of the Ricovera family. On July 2, 1490, the two girls were praying at the shrine. As their father was gravely ill, they were imploring the Virgin to restore him 

    to health. They heard a sound and looking around, they saw sitting on a nearby stone a lovely mother with a child in her arms. Before they recovered from their surprise the mother 

    spoke to them not to be afraid and not to worry, that she was the one to whom they had been praying so fervently, and that She wished to have a Church built on that spot in her honor.

    She asked them to go and bring their father as she wished to speak to him. She told the father of her wish that a Church be built on that spot.  

    Since the Virgin had appeared on the stone and insisted that the Church be erected on that very spot and the image be called Our Mother of the Stone.





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