A homily given on Oct. 25, 2025 at a votive Mass in honor of Mary, Mother of Divine Providence, by a monk/priest of New Melleray Abbey.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is called the Mother of Divine Providence. By her care for us Mary helps us with many graces. There’s one grace that Mary uses to capture our attention throughout the centuries. That is her apparitions and messages through very ordinary and humble people.
One of those apparitions was to a poor shepherd who herded cattle in Italy. Bartolomeo was born deaf and dumb. People avoided him because of his repulsive looks and handicaps. Then one day in the year 1521 he saw a beautiful lady dressed all in white approaching him. He was stunned by the love and kindness radiating from her. Mary smiled and when she blessed him Bartolomeo was cured of all his disabilities. She asked him to begin preaching penance, because many were falling into sin. He did, but people ignored him, some even mocked and ridiculed him. They paid no attention to the miraculous healings he had received.
Six months later a horrible plague broke out. Thousands died. Recalling Bartolomeo’s warnings to turn away from their sins, people repented and the plague subsided. In gratitude they built a chapel on the site of Mary’s apparitions to the humble shepherd and called it Our Lady of Divine Providence. Since then the chapel has become a church and a site of pilgrimages today. Truly, Mary is a Mother who cares for us.
Does this bit of Church history about Bartolomeo and the Mother of Divine Providence have any relevance for us today? I think it does, because when the rich take funds intended for the care of the poor and needy and use them for their own care that is seriously wrong and calls for repentance. What should we do? Never respond with ongoing indifference to the grave physical and moral evils of our times.1
- Robert McAfee Brown, Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All Humanity, University of Notre Dame Press, 1983 & 2017.