On August 23rd, the day of the centenary of the birth of the Servant of God Natuzza Evolo, the church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Refuge of Souls, “will be elevated to the dignity of a sanctuary”. The announcement was made by the bishop of the diocese of Mileto-Nicotera-Tropea Monsignor Attilio Nostro, amidst the applause of the many faithful present, at the end of the Eucharistic celebration which took place in the churchyard of the “large and beautiful church”.
A long-awaited announcement that completes the journey of the place of worship, the result of an apparition of the Virgin Mary who on the afternoon of 17 January 1944 communicated to the then young Natuzza the great works that would be born in Paravati in the years to come, including the church, today a daily destination for hundreds of faithful. The apparition took place in a small and modest house in the current historic center of the town where the then young woman – already at the center for years of a series of extraordinary phenomena, such as the vision of the deceased, which in addition to the interest of the people had also resulting in her hospitalization in a mental hospital in Reggio Calabria – she had gone to live after her marriage with Pasquale Nicolace, a young local carpenter.
Read the complete article in the paper edition of Gazzetta del Sud – Calabria