| Date | User | File |
|---|
Every year on August 17, a feast animates the village of Portovenere and has ancient origins. The birth of the Marian devotion in Portovenere dates back to a summer night in 1399 when a miracle occurred in the house of one Luciardo.
In his house, Luciardo was praying in front of a Madonna icon. In the same room, another effigy of the Madonna was older and blackened by time. Everyone said it had arrived in the fishing village from the sea, kept in a Lebanon cedar trunk. The Lebanon cedar trunk is still visible in the left aisle of the San Lorenzo church, which also houses the miraculous painting).
Engaged in prayer, Luciardo noticed that the old blackened picture was slowly gaining color. Amazed, he looked at the drawing’s changing shape. Finally, the hands of the Madonna clasped, and a cartouche appeared in the hands of the baby Jesus, a writing inviting everyone to pray and to convert.
