In 1130, in Hainault, Belgium, Our Lady of Chieves: Here, “in the year 1130, the lady of the place, named Ida, had a chapel built near a fountain where an image of Our Lady had been found, which has since wrought many miracles.”[1]In Lithuania, Our Lady of Ostra Brama (“Sharp Gate”) or “Aušros Vartai” (“Gate of Dawn”) that is, the Black Madonna of Vilnius: in 1363, the icon of Our Lady was brought to Vilnius, Lithuania. After an attack in 1503, the citizens of Vilnius surrounded the city with walls. In one of the gates, that facing Russia and the Mongols, there was an icon of the Savior looking out at the enemy, and our Lady facing inside, looking over the people. The image has always been a source of protection for the Lithuanians; in the war with Russia in 1655-1661, many claimed to see the image of Our Lady in the sky above the city. Finally, in 1927, the image was crowned as the “Mother of Mercy.”[2]Let’s consider today about Mary’s great mercy, especially that name, Mother of Mercy: “In Saint Faustina’s diary, at 300, we read: “Once, the confessor told me to pray for his intention, and I began a novena to the Mother of God. This novena consisted in the prayer ‘Hail, Holy Queen’ recited nine times. Toward the end of the novena I saw the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus in her arms. ... I could not stop wondering at His beauty. ... I heard a few of the words that the Mother of God spoke. ... The words were: ‘I am not only the Queen of Heaven, but also the Mother of Mercy, and your Mother’”. This calls to mind Our Lady's words to St. Brigid of Sweden (Rev. 1.6, c.10): "I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the door through which sinners are brought to God.”[3] At the end of Veritatis Splendor, Pope Saint John Paul II explains this title: “Mary is Mother of Mercy because her Son, Jesus Christ, was sent by the Father as the revelation of God's mercy (cf. Jn 3:16-18). Christ came not to condemn but to forgive, to show mercy (cf. Mt 9:13). And the greatest mercy of all is found in his being in our midst and calling us to meet him and to confess, with Peter, that he is "the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16). No human sin can erase the mercy of God, or prevent him from unleashing all his triumphant power, if we only call upon him. Indeed, sin itself makes even more radiant the love of the Father who, in order to ransom a slave, sacrificed his Son:181 his mercy towards us is Redemption” (118).[1] http://www.marylinks.com/Mary-Calendar.htm#November
[2] https://immaculate.one/la-madonna-del-giorno-16-novembre-madre-di-misericordia-della-porta-dellaurora-ausros-vartu-gailestingumo-motinos-vilnius-lithuania/
[3] https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/why-do-we-call-mary-mother-mercy
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