Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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DIVINE LOVE, OUR LADY OF

A Roman shrine on the Via Ardeatina. The sanctuary to Mary and her Divine Child was built in the mid-sixteenth century, but the image itself dates from the early fourteenth. Pilgrims and native Romans by the thousands prayed there as World War II tension mounted. Fearful for their treasured mural, the population had it removed thirteen miles away from the active fighting to the Church of St. Ignatius. Pope Pius XII had Rome placed under the special protection of Our Lady of Divine Love during the war, and when hostilities ceased he declared her to have been the real savior of Rome. After the war the image was replaced in its original sanctuary.