Leggenda della Madonna di Valverde
LuckyLisp - CC3.0
It is said that, in the first half of the 11th century, an era of great contrasts and bloody conflicts, an era in which Sicily was occupied by the Muslims fighting against the Normans, the apparition of the Virgin took place in the lands of Vallis Viridis (Valverde) a brigand, Dionysius, who converted radically changing his life.
Dionisio, known as the brigand of Vallis Viridis, is believed to have been a Ligurian soldier who remained in Sicily and dedicated himself to brigandage. One day Dionisio ambushed and threatened Edigio with a knife, a faithful devotee of the Madonna. But suddenly the prodigious event happens: Dionysius heard a voice inviting him to stop and he saw an extraordinary light and a woman of wonderful beauty. It was then that the brigand threw his knife to the ground and, kneeling in front of his victim, begged his forgiveness.
The Blessed Virgin appeared again to the brigand: she invited him to go to a priest to obtain forgiveness and to communicate to the inhabitants of Aci to go in procession until you reach the hill of Valverde. Once on the hill, a flock of cranes circled in the sky until they landed on the ground, indicating the place where the Sanctuary would later be built.
It was Dionysius who contributed, with the money collected in the various robberies, to the building of the Sanctuary.< br>After the conversion of Dionysius there was a succession of miracles. Once the temple was completed, an icon was missing that was the sign of the presence of the Mother of God in that chosen place. Thus in 1040, following the continuous and trusting prayer of the penitent Dionysius, the Mother of God appeared again and impressed her effigy on the bare pillar of the Church of the Sanctuary.
