Today is the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, one of the most recent titles bestowed on the Virgin Mary. May 8 also commemorates the anniversary of the laying of the foundational stone in 1876 for a church in Pompeii, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, that would become a famous pilgrimage site.
On 8 May and the first Sunday of October, which is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, tens of thousands of pilgrims come to the city of Pompeii, to witness the devotions to the Madonna of Pompeii.
Unlike so many of Our Lady’s titles, which go back centuries for their origin, this one connected to Pompeii is quite recent. The events which gave rise to this title and the devotion to Our Lady of Pompeii took place just over 150 years ago.
