Our Lady of Mercy

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy, also known as Our Lady of Ransom. During th 13th century, Europe was praying to God for a remedy of the great evil of persecution especially by the Moors. The King of Aragon, James I and St. Peter Nolasco prayed to Our Lady of Montserrat for her intercession. Thus, she appeared to them and in appearance she carried two bags of coins for use in ransoming Christians by Moors. The order of Mercedarians have included this devotion as part of their fourth vow, which is called the blood vow, that is "remaining hostage for the redemption of captive Christians".

In my previous post on Our Lady of La Salette, I mentioned that this was the only marian apparition that bore fruit to a religious order. Well, I stand corrected because the order of Mercedarians is also an order established by St. Peter Nolasco after Mary appeared to him, the King of Aragon and St. Raymond Penyafort, with instructions to start a religious Order bearing the name of Her mercy.

Check out Recta Ratio's image of Our Lady of Ransom.