Madre del Buon Consiglio
Encyclopedia
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, southern Italy. It is located on the hillside leading up to the Capodimonte
Museo di Capodimonte
The National Museum of Capodimonte is located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian schools of painting, and some important Ancient Roman...
palace and art museum and is visible from many quarters of the city.
History
The church has its roots in two miracles observed by local girl Maria di Gesù Landi (21 January 1861 – 26 March 1931). Known for her devotion to Our Lady of Good CounselOur Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Good Counsel is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, after an allegedly miraculous painting now found in the thirteenth century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, Italy. Measuring 40 by 45 centimeters the image is a fresco executed on a thin layer of porcelain no thicker...
(Madonna del Buon Consiglio), she created a painting of the saint in 1884, which apparently stopped an outbreak of cholera in the city in that year. 22 years later, the same painting appeared to clear the ash clouds from the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...
.
Vincenzo Vecchio designed the church in imitation of St. Peter's
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
in Rome. The church was constructed between 1920 and 1940, on top of the ancient Catacombs of San Gennaro
Catacombs of San Gennaro
The Catacombs of San Gennaro are underground paleo-Christian burial sites in Naples, Italy. They are situated in the northern part of the city, on the slope leading up to Capodimonte...
. It has become the destination of pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
s in the name of Maria di Gesù Landi. The church houses a number of works of art rescued from closed, damaged, or abandoned houses of worship in the city.
Legend has already attached itself to the church: the earthquake of 1980 toppled the head of the statue of the Madonna from the top of the church to the ground, where it crashed and lay inexplicably undamaged.