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marian
anniversaries december
 December 17
Andocsi Szuz Mária, Andocs, Somogy, Southern Transdanubia, Hungary
The story goes that before the Turkish invasion of 1526,
angels saved the statue of the Virgin and Child in the church of Andocs,
now in southwestern Hungary. In any case, by midcentury the southern
Transdanubian region was under Ottoman rule, and many surviving Catholics
emigrated or became Protestant. In the 1640s, the Catholic bishop sent
Jesuit priests to re-evangelize the area. In an abandoned Gothic church in
Andocs, Fr. János Horváth found the Virgin's statue. By 1700, the
village had become a place of pilgrimages and miracles. In 1721 the
Franciscans built a friary beside the church, which they began rebuilding
in Baroque style in 1725. On December 17, 1747, when the bishop consecrated
the new church of St. Mary, Countess Katalin Széchényi donated a
magnificent robe for the statue. This began a continuing tradition of
dressing the statue on the second Friday of every month. Many of the
embroidered garments donated over the centuries are on display in the
Museum of the Cloaks. The biggest pilgrimage days are August 15
(Assumption), September 8 (Mary's birth), and October 8 (Our Lady of
Hungary). (Information from "Andocs, Franciscan Friary," Aerial
photography, aerialphotography.blogter.hu/149333/andocs_franciscan_friary;
and other sources; picture from "Andocs," A búcsújárás
honlapja, www.bucsujaras.hu/andocs/index.html.)
Also celebrated this date:
 | Nossa Senhora de Belem, Chandor, Goa, India (Our Lady of Bethlehem). Rebuilt church blessed,
1950. |
| Santa Maria, Grottaferrata, Roma, Latium, Italy. Abbey church
consecrated, 1024. |
| Madonna del Terremoto, Paterno, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy (Madonna
of the Earthquake). Statue
wept
blood, 1857. |
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