Salus Populi Romani (English: Protectress of the Roman People)
(Protectress translates literally as 'salvation' or 'health')
Salus Populi Romani is a title given in the 19th century to the Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child holding a handkerchief and Gospel book respectively, and the icon is reputed to date to the Early Christian era, where it was enthrowned in the Borghese or Pauline Chapel of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome. It has historically been the most important Marian icon in Rome. Pope Francis also made this icon one of his first places of pilgrimage the day after his election to the Papacy.
Salus Populi Romani is one of the so-called "Luke images" of which there are many throughout the world. These were believed to have been painted from the life by Saint Luke himself. According to the legend: "after the Crucifixion, when Our Lady moved to the home of St. John, she took with her a few personal belongings--among which was a table built by the Redeemer in the workshop of St. Joseph. When pious virgins of Jerusalem prevailed upon St. Luke to paint a portrait of the Mother of God, it was the top of this table that was used to memorialize her image. While applying his brush and paints, St. Luke listened carefully as the Mother of Jesus spoke of the life of her son, facts which the Evangelist later recorded in his Gospel. Legend also tells us that the painting remained in and around Jerusalem until it was discovered by St. Helena in the 4th century. Together with other sacred relics, the painting was transported to Constantinople where her son, Emperor Constantine the Great, erected a church for its enthronement."
"One can imagine the immensity of graces she received during the gestation of Our Lord Jesus Christ as she formed Him, carrying Him in her womb for nine months. He lived in her as in a Tabernacle. One may only envisage the boons Our Lady received in her spiritual life coming from this contact of souls.
It was a kind of mutual gift: while she was forming His body, He was forming her soul and making her still more perfect, bestowing unheard-of graces. I don’t know if even the highest Angels are able to understand those graces. Now then, she corresponded perfectly to all those graces with an astonishing fidelity."
Professor Plino Correa de Olivera - commenting on a text by St. Louis Grignion de Montfort - True Devotion to Mary which can be read here
It was not my intention to blog about Salus Populi Romani or the Feast of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces. But, you know how it goes, or maybe you don't, one thing led to another and Our Lady not only fell into place but became, rightly I believe, "enthroned" above all that follows.
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This morning I received the following email:
From: "Kaili Lambe, BarackObama.com"
To: ____________________________________________
Sent: Friday, November 8, 2013 9:07:13 AM
Subject: Something scary is happening in Albuquerque
Leo --
Something pretty scary is happening in Albuquerque right now. Voters will cast ballots on November 19th on an initiative that would ban abortions after 20 weeks with virtually zero exceptions.
This is a serious attack on women -- and it's a deliberate attempt by extreme interest groups to test their latest anti-women strategy. We can't let this initiative succeed in Albuquerque -- add your name right now and fight back against this attack on women's health.
The groups behind the ballot initiative are extremely well funded and -- if they win in Albuquerque -- you can bet they're going to take this approach to cities and states across the country. OFA is working with a strong coalition of organizations that are dedicated to fighting back on the ground in New Mexico. But we need anyone who cares about this fight to stand in solidarity no matter where they live.
Join in and stand up for women in Albuquerque and anywhere else their rights are threatened:
http://my.barackobama.com/Stand-with-Albuquerque-Women-Today
Thanks,
Kaili
Kaili Lambe
Women's Issues Campaign Manager
Organizing for Action
This was my reply:
"Something pretty scary is happening in Albuquerque right now"Scary for whom? Certainly not the innocent life/fetuses/babies inside the wombs of their mothers.
"Voters will cast ballots on November 19th on an initiative that would ban abortions after 20 weeks with virtually zero exceptions."I hope and pray the bill passes in Albuquerque. In my opinion, all abortion is a heinous attack on humanity. It's murder and nothing less. In mass - nationwide, worldwide - it's genocide, population control. The further along the pregnancy the more despicable abortion becomes. I am currently awaiting two new grandchildren and their ultra-sound pictures are proof that these sweet, beautiful innocents need a voice to speak out against the ultimate crime of abortion. I am outraged and physically sick by the thought that a 5 month old (and older) baby inside the womb of its mother can so heartlessly and hideously have its life exterminated. And for what? Women's' rights? STOP using Women's rights as an excuse for infanticide. And STOP assuming that all Democrats or Liberals are of the same mind on the issue of abortion.
This is a serious attack on women -- and it's a deliberate attempt by extreme interest groups to test their latest anti-women strategy.Stop peddling your propaganda and don't send me any more of your filthy emails.
Leo - mother of 6, grandmother of 18
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Kimmy and Me
Mary, the beloved Mother of chosen souls, shelters them under her protecting wings as a hen does her chicks. She speaks to them, coming down to their level and accommodating herself to all their weaknesses. To ensure their safety from the hawk and vulture, she becomes their escort, surrounding them as an army in battle array. Could anyone surrounded by a well-ordered army of say a hundred thousand men fear his enemies? No, and still less would a faithful servant of Mary, protected on all sides by her imperial forces, fear his enemy. This powerful Queen of heaven would sooner dispatch millions of angels to help one of her servants than have it said that a single faithful and trusting servant of hers had fallen victim to the malice, number and power of his enemies.On this day, November 8th, 54 years ago, at the age of 17, I became mother to a beautiful baby girl, 5 lbs, 13 ounces. I was going to name her "Amber" but my mother pleaded with me not to, because she had already told all the women in the bowling alley that her name was "Kimberly". Kimberly was my second choice, and because I hated seeing the anguished look on my mother's face, I complied to her wishes and Kimberly it was. My first choice of Amber came from a romantic novel that enthralled me, "Forever Amber" by Kathleen Winsor.
St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716)
I don't know where the book came from or who it belonged to; it was simply there in our house on a bookshelf and I decided to read it. I remember once, at about the age of 15, I was in my room reading Forever Amber when I heard my father and mother asking "Where's Leo?" My favorite aunt, a nurse who lived and worked in Brooklyn and came to visit every weekend told them where I was, "She's in her room reading that dirty book again." Dirty book? What was she talking about? At 15, I was not able to read between the lines, I had little to no knowledge of things sexual. Hugging and kissing a boy here and there was as far as my experience and imagination took me. Many years later, the reason for my mother's anguished expression over my naming my baby Amber finally became clear. I still have the book, it's mine now and a very precious possession.
I will have to finish this later. My husband and I are going to visit Kim and give her a birthday gift in a few hours and I have many things to do around the house before we leave. He is sitting in a chair across from me, glaring. I know what he's thinking - that I am wasting time. He doesn't understand blogging.
Now, for the hard part. I am reluctant to reveal what is about to follow, but the intention of this blog and the tying together of its parts will not be realized if I omit this very personal account of the months and days that preceded the birth of our first born child.
I met my husband in the fall of 1958 on my way home from a high school foot ball game. I was 16 yrs old and in the 11th grade. He was 17, and had dropped out of Catholic parochial school at the age of 15 in order to work full time as an apprentice in a printing company. We fell madly in love and by February of 1959 I was pregnant. I put off telling my parents for as long as I could and went to great lengths to hide my condition because I knew if I told them my life would be turned upside down and I would never be able to finish my junior year. Finally, late in April we decided it was time to "face the music". Actually, it was my husband who broke the news to my mother. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. We were in his little blue Plymouth and had just picked up my mother from her job at the local delicatessen. When we pulled up in front of my parent's house he turned off the engine, turned to face her, and very calmly blurted it out: "Leo's pregnant".
She looked as if she was about to faint. "Oh no," she said, "I trusted you two." And then, turning to me she said, "What am I going to tell your father?" She was thoroughly devastated. I don't know exactly what transpired immediately after that, but from what I can surmise, she didn't tell my father, instead she called my aunt, his sister, the nurse in Brooklyn, and together they devised a plan. The plan, according to what my mother told me, was for she and I to take a trip to visit my aunt in Brooklyn, a brief weekend get-away, some time to think.
My aunt lived on 64th Street. I'm not certain of the exact address, but 1274 E. 64th Street seems to stick in my head, perhaps from letters we exchanged in later years. She lived in that same apartment until her death in 1968. From her kitchen window I could see young women coming and going from what my aunt told me was a Catholic home for unwed mothers. At the time, I thought nothing of it, I made no connection between the home and myself. In retrospect it probably was the Angel Guardian Home on 12th Avenue and 64th Street run by the Sisters of Mercy.
I was never approached by my mother or my aunt on the subject of giving my baby up for adoption. I would have been horrified by such a prospect. But, I was approached by my aunt on the possibility of doing something far worse and more horrific. She told me she had a friend who could put a needle in my belly, and pop, just like that, make all my troubles go away. I couldn't believe my ears. The word abortion was never used. I was aghast, protested vehemently, told her no, I would never, could never, do a thing like that. She asked me why I was so against her suggestion. I told her I loved Johnny, I wanted to marry him and have my baby. That was the end of our little "get-away". There was no more thinking to be done.
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