Our Lady of Providence

Our Lady of Providence or Our Lady of Divine Providence is a title of Mary (Mother of Jesus). Her feast day is celebrated on November 19.

The title of "Mary, Mother of Divine Providence" is often traced to her intervention at the wedding in Cana. Christ's first public miracle was occasioned in part by the intercession of his mother. She helped through her foresight and concern to avoid an embarrassing situation for the newlywed couple. Our Lady of Providence is sometimes also identified as Queen of the Home.

Devotion to Our Lady of Divine Providence originated in Italy, and spread to France and Spain. The devotion was brought to Puerto Rico in the early 1850s by the Servite Fathers. According tradition, Philip Benizi (1233 – 1285) prayed to Mary for help in providing food for his friars, and subsequently found several baskets of provisions left at the door of the convent. Our Lady of Providence was declared the patroness of Puerto Rico by Pope Paul VI on November 19, 1969. Her feast day is celebrated in many immigrant Puerto Rican communities.

Around 1580, the Italian painter Scipione Pulzone created a work titled "Mater Divinae Providentiae," which depicted the Blessed Mother cradling the Infant Jesus. Devotion to Mary, Mother of Divine Providence in the first house of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul (Barnabites) in Rome at San Carlo ai Catinari church began around year 1611, when one of the clerics traveled to Loreto to pray for assistance in finding the financial resources to complete the Church of San Carlo. Upon his return, they received the necessary assistance, and the Barnabites began to promote devotion to Our Lady of Providence.

Pulzone's painting was given to the Barnabites in 1663. It was placed on the altar of a chapel on the first floor of the Saint Charles rectory behind the main altar. In 1732, a copy of the painting was placed in a location adjacent to the main altar of the church of San Carlo ai Catinari in Rome, where it drew many faithful visitors.

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