October 3 Madonna della Ghianda (Our Lady of the Fruit of the Oak), Mezzana Superiore, Somma Lombardo, Varese, Italy.

October 3 Madonna della Ghianda (Our Lady of the Fruit of the Oak), Mezzana Superiore, Somma Lombardo, Varese, Italy.

A deaf and mute shepherdess used to rest in the shade of an oak tree while watching the sheep of her father. One morning, as she was preparing to return home, she saw a light in a great oak tree. Among the branches she saw a lady dressed in blue. Then she was able to hear a soft voice telling her, "Go back to your village, call your father" .

The shepherdess raced home and told her amazed father. Father and daughter with a group of people who had heard the news, hastened to the oak, but the lady was no longer there. But the evidence of her presence was clear: the formerly deaf and mute shepherdess now could hear and speak.

This story spread, and Our Lady was invoked as Madonna della Ghianda, working many miracles. The graces and miracles of Santa Maria del Ghianda were rigorously investigated in an examination in 1570 requested by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo to resolve the doubts cast by the Protestants. Over 60 miracles were validated and documented.

Madonna della Ghianda is patroness of the deaf, people with hearing and speech impairments, and, since 1630, young husbands and families. Bishop Scipione Visconti bequethed funds for marriage dowries for poor young women who had none, and who had prayed to Our Lady of Ghianda for her aid.