Virgin Mother of Good Counsel (1884)

A Book by Mons. George Dillon

Our Lady's title Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title that most of us will have heard about but very few of us will be aware that there is a very interesting history associated with it since 25th April 1467. The origin of the title itself goes back much further than that date; in fact, it was certainly in use in the period immediately after the end of the pagan Roman Empire. Central to our story is a church from the Roman period named after Our Lady of Good Counsel in the town of Genazzano in Italy. Genazzano is about 30 miles north of Rome. Also central to the story is a small image of Our Lady and Jesus found/discovered at the church on 25th April 1467.

It is said that, in the presence of hundreds of witnesses who were celebrating the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, a small fresco style painting appeared from the sky in a cloud and settled near an inner wall of the church in Genazzano. The date of this occurence was 25th April 1467. Some weeks later two Albanian men (along with other Albanians) arrived in Genazzano. They said that, while praying in a church in Scutari in Albania prior to fleeing from invading Turks, they had witnessed an image of Our Lady separating from a wall in that church; this they said happened a number of weeks before the image appeared in the church in Genazzano. They also said that the one in Genazzano is the one that they saw going from the church in Albania.

That small image still exists in the church of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano and it is the focus for devotion and for many pilgrimages.

Monsignor George Francis Dillon was an Irish secular priest who lived from 1836 to 29th January 1893. He spent about 22 years as a missionary priest in Australia before leaving there on health grounds in 1883. He was subsequently housed with the Augustinians in Genazzano where he took an intense interest in the history of the Sacred Image of Our Lady and Jesus. While there, he wrote a definitive English language book about the Image and about devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel. It is a very extensive work. He acknowledges his sources, which were mainly written in Italian. The book also gives interesting insights into the history of Albania.

The book is entitled Virgin Mother of Good Counsel. It was first published in 1884. Although my own copy is also dated 1884, it does not appear to be a First Edition as it includes a small number of additional Letters which are not included in the First Edition. These Letters are the only differences between the First Edition and my copy. You can now download a copy of the version of the the book that I own as a PDF file at the link below. I have put a lot of time and effort into producing the PDF version from scanned images, so I  hope that many will take the time to read it.

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Download Link -

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This is quite a large book. Imagine 1884. No radio or television; no CD Players or Internet. Literate people would read a lot; hence, long books. I have NOT prepared a Kindle version of the book; I think that not too many people would read it on their Kindle because of the book's large size.

Mons. Dillon has included a lot of material in his book; essentially, he has included everything that there is to know about the devotion to Our Lady of Good Counsel including, especially, its association with the famous Sacred Image that appeared in Genazzano on 25th April 1467.

If you feel that you might flag too soon after you start reading the book, then I suggest that you start by reading Chapter V to Chapter XI first and then go back to Chapter I and work your way through the book by degrees over a period of time.

• Chapter V - THE WONDERFUL APPARITION
• Chapter VI - THE SACRED IMAGE
• Chapter VII - THE MIRACULOUS TRANSLATION
• Chapter VIII (Part 1 of 2) - SCANDERBEG AND ALBANIA
• Chapter VIII (Part 2 of 2) - OVERTHROW OF ISLAM
• Chapter IX - PROOFS OF THE APPARITION (to Genazzano)
• Chapter X - PROOFS OF THE TRANSLATION (from Scutari)
• Chapter XI - THE ALBANIAN TRADITION

These Chapters consist of only 93 Pages.
Give it a try..!

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