DECEMBER

1.
Our Lady of Ratisbonne, in Bavaria, founded by Duke Theodon, after receiving baptism from St. Rupert, Bishop of Salzburg and apostle of Bavaria, who afterwards consecrated this church.— (Canisins, lib. v. de Beata Virgine. cap. 25.)

2.
Our Lady of Didinia, in Cappadocia, before which St. Basil besought the Blessed Virgin to remedy the disorders caused by Julian the Apostate ; he was there favored with an apparition which presaged the death of the emperor.—(Baronius, ad ann. 303.)

3.
Our Lady of Filerma, near Malta. This image having remained in the midst of the ruins of the Church of St. Mark of Rhodes, was removed into the Church of St. Catharine, and finally, the knights having quitted Rhodes, it was placed in the Church of St. Lawrence, and this having been entirely burnt down, the image remained entire.— (Triple Couronne, n. 91.)

4.
Our Lady of La Chapelle, at Abbeville. This church was built about the year 1400, on a small hill, where formerly they worshipped idols.—(Antiquites d'Abbeville, liv. i.)

5.
In the year 1584 was instituted the first sodality of Our Lady at the Jesuits' college, at Rome, whence is derived their custom of establishing it in all their houses.— Balingham on the Calendar.)

6.
Our Lady of Fourviere, at Lyons, on the mountain, famous for miracles, and for the extraordinary concourse of the people of that great city, particularly on Saturdays.

7.
On this day, a Sunday, in the year 1550, the canonesses of Our Lady of Paris being in procession before the image of the Blessed Virgin, which is near the door of the choir, a heretic from Lorraine, breaking through the crowd, sword in hand, sought to strike that image, bat he was prevented by those present, and on the Thursday following, he was executed before the porch of Our Lady.— (Da Breuil, Antiq. de Paris, liv. i.)

8.
The Conception of the Blessed Virgin. This festival began in the East, more than nine hundred years ago, since mention, is made of it by St. John Damascene, who lived in 721. It was instituted in England in the year 1100 by St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury; afterwards in the diocese of Lyons, in the year 1145 ; and finally, Sixtus IV. commanded, in the year 1570, the celebration of it throughout Christendom. — (Slolanus, Xotea te Usuard.)

9.
Our Lady of the Conception, at Naples, so called because, in the year 1618, the viceroy, with all his court, and the soldiery of Naples, made a vow; in the church of Our Lady the Great, to believe and defend the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin.—(Triple Couronne, n. 43.)

10.
Institution of nuns of the Conception of Our Lady, by Beatrice de Sylva, to whom it is said that Our Lady appeared in the year 1484, clothed with a white robe and a scapular of the same color, with a blue mantle. Beatrice, sister of Blessed Amadeus; adopted this habit for her order, which was approved by Innocent VIII., under the rule of Citeaux. —(Vasconcellius, in Descnptione regni Lusitaniae.)

11.
Our Lady of the Angles, in the forest Livry, four leagues from Paris. Three merchants of Anjou having been ill-treated in 1212 in this forest, by robbers who tied them to trees, intending to leave them there to die, had recourse to the Blessed Virgin, who immediately sent to them three angels to restore them to liberty. After this miracle, several more were wrought, which made this chapel very celebrated.—(Registers of the Abbey of Livry.)

12.
Our Lady of Good Tidings, at Abbeville. This little chapel, which is in St. Peter's priory, has always been much frequented.—(Antiquites d'Abbeville. liv. i.)

13.
Our Lady of the Holy Chapel, at Paris. This image, which is under the portal of the lower Holy Chapel has wrought many miracles.

14.
Our Lady of Alba Regia, in Hungary, was built by St. Stephen, King of Hungary, who had given. his kingdom to the Blessed Virgin.—(John Bonifacius, Historia Virginis, lib. ii., c. i.)

15.
Octave of the Conception, of Our Lady, instituted by Pope Sixtus IV.—(Bullarium.)

16.
Institution of the celebrated confraternity of Our Lady of Good Deliverance, in the Church of St. Stephen des Gres, at Paris, about the year 1533, to which Gregory XIII. granted ample indulgences in the year 1538.

17.
Our Lady of Amiens, the cathedral. This church had for its first bishop St. Firmin, who received the crown of martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian. A part of the head of St. John the Baptist is seen in this church, which a traveller, named Galo, brought thither on his return from Constantinople, in the year 1205.—(Locrius, Mariae Augustsae, lib. iv, c. 59.)

18.
Dedication of Our Lady of Marseilles, by St. Lazarus, in presence of his, two sisters. Mary Magdalen and Martha, and of three holy prelates— Maximus, Trophimus, and Entropius.—(Cunisius, lib. v., Moral.)

19.
In the year 657, St. Ildofonsus, Archbishop of Toledo, was saying matins; Our Lady, it is said, appeared to him, accompanied by a great number of the blessed, and holding in her hand the book which he had composed in her honor, she thanked him for it, and out of gratitude gave him a white chasuble. This celestial present is still preserved at Oviedo, Alphonsus the Chaste., King of Castile, having solemnly transferred it to the Church of St. Savior, which he had built.— (Baronius, ad ann. 657, n. 42.)

20.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Moleme, of the order of St. Benedict, in the diocese of Langres, was founded on this day, in the year 1075, by St. Robert, who was its abbot. — (Gallia Christiana, t. iv.)

21.
Foundation of St. Acheul, near Amiens, under the title of Our Lady, by St. Firmin, first bishop of that city.—(Archives of St. Acheul.)

22.
Our Lady of Chartres in Beauce. This church, built in the time of the apostles, after being several times demolished, was rebuilt in its present form by St. Fulbert, fifty-fifth bishop of Chartres.— (Sebastien Rouillard, Parthen., c. 5.)

23.
Our Lady of the Ardilliers, at Saumur, in Anjou. Its name is illustrious throughout France, as well on account of the crowds of people who were attracted thither, as from a fountain which cured manymaladies. This reperesents Our Lady of Pity holding in her arms her lifeless Son, whose head is supported by an angel.—(Locrius, Mariae Augnstae, lib. iv., c. GO.)

24.
Celebration of the virginal marriage of Our Lady and St. Joseph, kept as a festival for a long time at Sens and in several churches of France.—(Saussey, Martyrologium Gallicum.)

25.
On this day, at the hour of midnight, the Blessed Virgin brought forth the Saviour of the world, in the stable of Bethlehem, where a fountain sprung up miraculously on the same day.—(Baronius, Apparat. ad Annal.)

26.
Institution of the confraternity of the Conception of Our Lady, at the Great Augustinian Convent, at Paris, in the year 1443, where there have been ample indulgences granted since, by Pope Innocent III.—(Du Brenil, Antiquites, lib. ii.)

27.
Institution of the order of Knights of Our Lady, in the year 1370, by Louis II., Duke of Bourbon.—(Andrew Favin, lib. viii., Histoire de Navarre, and Theatre, d'Honneur, lib. iii.)

28.
Our Lady of Pontoise, seven leagues from Paris. This image, which stands in the front of the church of the suburb of this town, towards Rouen, is celebrated for the. miracles which are wrought there—(Archives of the church.)

29.
Our Lady of Spire, in Germany. St. Bernard entering this church on the 29th of December 1146, was honorably received there by the canons, who conducted him to the choir, singing the "Salva Regina." At the close of the anthon, St. Bernard saluted the image of the Blessed Virgin in these terms: "O clemens, O pia, P dulcis Virgo Maria!" and it is said that she answered: "Salve Bernarde!" The words of this saint to the image are seen engraved in a circle on the pavement of the church, on the same spot where he pronounced them, and they have since been added to the "Salve Bernarde" which was composed in the year 1040, by Herman, surnamed Contractus, a Benedictine monk. — (Angelus Manrique, annals of the Cistercians, year 1146, c. 10, etc.)

30.
St. Mary's of Boulogne, in Picardy. This church was founded by the hermits of St. Augustine in the year 1159; it was pillaged by Henry VIII., King of England, in the year 1544, secularized and made a cathedral in the year 1559, according to Locrius.—(Gallia Christiana, t. iv.)

31.
About a hundred years before the birth of our Saviour, the image of Our Lady of Chartres, which the Druids had consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, who was to be a mother, raised to life the son of Geoffry, king or prince of Montlhery, who, having fallen into a well, had been found dead; out of gratitude for this favor, he made several presents to this image, as the history of this miracle attests, which is represented in the stained glass of the great church.—(Sebastien Rouillard, Parthen., c. iii.)