14th Jul - OUR MOTHER OF THE BUSH (PORTUGAL)

 During the years of the conquest, a shepherd was pasturing his flocks on the site of a camp where Christians had stayed in the earlier wars. He heard a sweet voice calling him and 

    was attracted to a burning bush where amid the flames he saw a statue of Our Mother. She gave him two messages, one for himself and one for the Bishop. The shepherd took the image 

    down into the town to tell the Bishop. Then he returned to the field and set up for himself a small hermitage. He sold everything he had and built a tiny shrine for the statue there 

    and began public prayers to Mary as she had told him to do. So many people joined in the devotions at the simple Chapel that it soon became necessary to build a larger Chapel. 

    Several miracles added to the impetus of the pilgrimages and the Bishop had a large Church and monastery built at the spot. The monks of Saint Jerome were called in to tend the 

    shrine. In 1458 King Alfonso V of Aragon, crusading against the Moors made a promise to Our Mother to enrich the shrine if he was victorious. 

    He won the battle and in gratitude popularized Our Mother of the Bush.





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