Presentation - Atlas of Good Counsel

In the place where the Basilica of the Mother of Good Counsel stands today, there was an ancient church dedicated to the Virgin Mary 

since the 11th century. In 1356 the church was entrusted by the Colonna family, lords of Genazzano, to the Augustinian friars who lived i

n a small convent outside the walls around the year 1270. The notarial deed drawn upon delivery informs us that the church was a parish 

and was formerly called S. Maria del Buon Consiglio.
In the second half of the 15th century, an Augustinian widow and tertiary named Petruccia, who has always been venerated as a Blessed, 

made all her possessions available to rebuild the old, small and dilapidated church. However, the resources were not sufficient and the work 

was suspended. Petruccia's fellow citizens began to mock her, but the pious woman replied to them: "My children, don't worry, 

because before I die (and she was already very old) the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Augustine will complete this Church".
According to an ancient tradition, it did not take long after Petruccia's prediction that on April 25, 1467, the feast of San Marco, 

around the time of vespers, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary miraculously appeared on a wall of the church in construction. 

The population was amazed not only by the prodigious event, but also and above all by the numerous miracles performed 

by the Blessed Virgin Mary, manifested in her beautiful Image. The graces and miracles received by the citizens of Genazzano 

and many other cities of Lazio were registered by a notary and then transcribed in a special register which was kept until the 19th century 

(the so-called Bombacino Code, i.e. on paper, or Code of Miracles). Between 27 April and 14 August 1467 alone, 161 miracles were recorded.

The miraculous event attracted crowds of devotees to Genazzano from nearby towns and then from every part of Italy (tota Italia commota est)

 and even Pope Paul II Barbo (1464-1471) sent two bishops to Genazzano as his observers: Gaucerio de Forcalquier bishop of Gap and 

Nicola de Crucibus bishop of Lesina. Not long after the miraculous event, two Albanian pilgrims recognized in the features of the Madonna of 

Genazzano the image venerated in Scutari in Albania which, in a no less miraculous way, had detached itself from the place where it was 

venerated and had abandoned those lands which would have fallen into the hands of the sultan. This tradition is still alive today, 

both in Genazzano which celebrates the "Coming" of the Holy Image on April 25 of each year, but also among the Catholic Albanians 

who invoke the Mother of Good Counsel with the ancient title of "Lady of Albania ”.
Uninterruptedly, from the fifteenth century to today, the mystical and maternal presence of Mary has never ceased to attract pilgrims 

from everywhere and the sanctuary of Genazzano, considered a small "Loreto" of Lazio, is visited by thousands of pilgrims every year 

Italians and foreigners who bear witness to a grateful sonship to the Mother of the Lord.
Congregations of Our Lady of Good Counsel.
The Mother of Good Counsel is the titular of numerous religious institutes: the Sisters of Charity of Santa Maria (called of Good Counsel) 

of Turin, the Sisters of Our Lady of Good Counsel of Chicoutimi, the Franciscan Sisters of Recife and Madrid, 

the rural Madonna del Buon Consiglio of Pontremoli (later called "of the happy message"), the Mater Boni Consilii Institute of Verrua Savoia.