After celebrating Mass at the National Shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré, in Québec (Canada), Pope Francis stopped for a moment to greet and hug the guests of a reception center and present them with a painting of the Virgin Mary on 28 July.
The Holy See Press Office reported that “on the way back from the National Shrine of Saint Anne de Beaupré, Pope Francis stopped to meet the guests of the Fraternité St Alphonse reception and spirituality center.”
“Welcomed in the garden of the center by the permanent guests and those who regularly frequent the center, a total of about 50 people, including the elderly, people suffering from various addictions and HIV/AIDS patients, and by the director responsible, Father André Morency, the Pope spoke informally with them, listening to their stories and collecting their prayers,” the Vatican reported.
Then, the Pontiff presented them with an icon of the Most Holy Lady of Jerusalem. It is a box of modern manufacture.
This image of the Virgin Mary is “very popular among pilgrims to the Holy Land,” the Vatican said, noting that the original icon is in the Church of the Assumption of Mary, whose feast day is August 15.
The Holy See explained that inside this church is the empty tomb where, according to tradition, “the apostles met to lay down the purest body of the Mother of God after the ‘dormition'”.
On the history of the image, he pointed out that its elaboration is attributed to the evangelist Saint Luke, “who would have made it fifteen years after the ascension of Our Lord.”