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There was a boy named Gabriele Mattei who lived in the place where Lenola is now at the beginning of the seventeenth century.  As the story goes, he was a bad, very mischievous and downright evil young man.  It was said that the devil was his companion and would whisper things in his ear that would spurn him to do harmful and hurtful things to his fellow townspeople.  It is said that he took a particular dislike towards another young boy in the village, and that with the devil’s urging, was planning on murdering the boy that very night, September 14, 1602.  So he waited by the pathway that the boy would take home that night, playing his guitar and planning his evil act. Suddenly the Virgin Mary appeared to him, and he was in such awe of this holy sight that he dropped his guitar, and fell to his knees. 

     The Virgin Mary overwhelmed him with her beauty and light, and cast the devil back down into the earth, never to taint the boy again. The boy humbly repented his every sin in front of the Virgin and transformed into a good, saintly boy.  He felt such regret at having planned and almost following through with murder that he would do anything to absolve his soul.  The Virgin charged him to build a church on that very site to promote peace ever after, and told him that he would be forgiven.  So on the next day, September 15^th, Gabriele Mattei started construction on the church "Il Santuario della Madonna del Colle", which has since that day been a church of holiness and forgiveness and pilgrimage.  A painter was commissioned to paint this scene of the appearance of the Virgin Mary, the casting away of the devil, and the humbling of Gabriele, and this fresco still adorns the church ceiling today.

     The dates of September 14 and 15 have been deemed holidays by the townspeople of Lenola, and are spent with family and friends, celebrating joy, forgiveness and tradition.  The year 2002 is a very special year and the celebration will be the biggest yet, with months of preparation, and weeks of celebration.  Food, festivities, procession and prayer will be in abundance this September in this small hill town of Southern Italy, and it is certain the Virgin Mary will be looking down and smiling upon Lenola and the humble and good-hearted tradition they have kept all these years.

Copyright 2002, Gira!, Inc.  All rights reserved.