Our Lady of Abundance, Cursi, Italy and Memorials of the Saints – 5 January

The Vigil of the Epiphany of Our Lord +2020

Our Lady of Abundance, Cursi, Italy (1641) – 5 January:
The Blessed Virgin under the above title is venerated at Cursi, Italy. The story begins in the first half of the seventeenth century. At that time the Puglia region of Italy was suffering from a severe drought. For almost three years not a drop of rain had fallen. By the spring of 1641, matters were desperate. April had arrived and the heat was as in mid-summer. Thus prospects for relief and a good harvest that year appeared dim.
Then the people of Cursi and vicinity prayed fervently to the Blessed Mother, begging her to come to their aid and save them from the famine that drew ever nearer.
The Blessed Virgin heard their plea. She appeared to a shepherd, Baglio Orlando Natali on 5 January. Thoroughly frightened by the appearance of…