The story of Mater Admirabilis

By Barbara Walsh

In 1844, a young French girl called Pauline Perdrau, entered the Society of the Sacred Heart at the Trinita Dei Monti, the School of the Sacred Heart at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome. She was a gifted artist and had always wanted to try her hand at fresco painting. Her particular desire was to paint Our Lady, not in the traditional blue, but in rosy pink, as a model for young girls on the threshold of life. When Pauline was young and objected to learning to spin, her old nurse used to say to her “Come, let’s go to the temple and see how the Madonna spins while she thinks about God”.

This was the image that came back to her when her Superior finally gave in to her request to paint the Madonna in the arched niche in a long corridor at the Trinita. For six weeks, she worked on a scaffold and little girls from the Junior School handed brushes and rainwater to her for mixing the colours. At last the picture was finished but alas! The colours were too bright and harsh and the effect was most disappointing. The Sisters were very sympathetic and understanding and suggested that a curtain be hung over it, which was done.

Some weeks later, the curtain was removed and to everyone’s amazement, a miraculous change seemed to have taken place. The colours had softened and now there was radiance about the young Mary, perhaps fifteen years old, sitting alone in a colonnade of the temple; the dawn was breaking behind her over a landscape of hills and a winding river. Her spindle was beside her together with an open book upon her work basket and a lily in a blue vase. There was an atmosphere of hushed recollection about the slight figure in the rosy gown, the severe white mantle and the veil that failed to hide a golden curl.

For some time, she was called the Madonna of the Lily; then one day, Mother Makryna, a nun who was staying at the Trinita after her escape from a Russian prison, was praying in front of the picture. She was saying the Litany of Loreto and when she came to the words “Mater Admirabilis”, she heard a voice repeat them three times; after this, the Madonna was always known by that name, meaning “Most Admirable Mother”. It was arranged that the picture should be blessed on 2 February 1846, but when all was ready the priest who was to do it, suddenly refused, saying it was reserved for someone else to do. He was unable to explain this feeling but on 20 October of the same year, the Pope, then Pius IX, came to the Trinita for the first time. When he saw the Madonna, he cried out “She is admirable”! The picture made a special appeal to him and he, himself, blessed the fresco of the Madonnina, or little Madonna. He confirmed the name of "Mater Admirabilis” and granted a special feast in her honour to be kept on 20 October.

A few days later, a Missionary priest who had lost his voice, was praying at the shrine, as he had been advised to ask for his cure through the intercession of the Madonna. After a Novena of Masses, his voice was restored and the children at the Trinita listened awe-struck as his clear tones rang out. This was the first of many miracles obtained through the intercession of Mater Admirabilis and he left the slate on which he had previously written all his communications, as a “thank you” beside the picture. These are called “ex-voto” offerings and today, the walls are literally covered with them.

Now, in every Convent or School of the Sacred Heart throughout the world is found a copy of the picture of Mater Admirabilis, and for the students in those schools, she is their very own Madonna, a model of peace and serenity in their daily lives and a mother who guides their way to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Prayer to Mater Admirabilis on her Feast-day – 20 October

Under the pressure of over activity which at times consumes us, disturbs us, or scatters our energies in doing what is visible and accidental, let us come to our "Mater".

She is the Mother of the Invisible, and the Mother of the Essential.

Let us ask her to detach us, to free us from all that is not important, to lead us on, and fix our gaze upon the Invisible which her own eyes look upon: the Invisible Presence, the Invisible Life; the Invisible Action: the Invisible Love, all those things which are eternal values in us and the great realities of faith.

May She keep us throughout our busy and over-crowded days in the radiance of things that are not seen and firm as if we beheld them Invisible.

In the midst of non-essentials, which invite and often distract us, we run the risk of encumbering our beings and confusing our values. May She give us the right understanding of the Essential and a hunger for it.

One thing alone is necessary - the will of God and the work of His love.

May Mater give us the singleness of vision so that we, too, may see the Invisible and Essential in all.

Marie-Therese de Lescure, rscj
Ninth Superior General
Society of the Sacred Heart