Description: Print on cardboard; depicts the Virgin painted in half-bust, with her head tilted to her right and both arms covered by her garments. The painting had a gilded frame surrounded by rays. At the feet of the image, a copper plate bore the following inscription: *Spes nostra Mater Misericordie*. True portrait of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Hope, venerated in the church of the Conservatory of St. Bernard in Carignano, whose feast is celebrated on the last Sunday of May. Merellus sc.. It was placed on the central altar. Image: Painting
Original Location of the Sanctuary: Some crowns and necklaces were hung on the venerated image; the votive tablets (5 or 6) were hung at the back of the church. Notes on the Collection: Crowns, necklaces, and votive tablets (one of which is dated 1758): the latter primarily depict patients healed by the grace of the Virgin. Types of Ex-Votos: Inscribed tablets or plaques, Painted tablets, Jewelry items, Other
Some are mentioned in Angelo and Marcello Remondini, *I Santuari e le immagini…* (see bibliography), pp. 139–143.
The year in which the image of Our Lady of Hope was placed for veneration by the faithful is unknown; one ex-voto bears the date 1758. The church of St. Bernard, originally dedicated to Our Lady of Refuge, already existed in the 17th century and was dedicated to the Saint around 1695.
Tradition holds that the image originally belonged to a young woman from the adjacent Conservatory of St. Bernard, who always kept a lamp burning before it. To do this, she had oil brought from outside the Conservatory. The oil always seemed insufficient from one time to the next—the flame diminished but never went out. The church priest, when the lamp seemed on the verge of extinguishing, repeatedly locked the door of the room, reopening it only several days later when new oil arrived, yet the flame always remained lit.
Another tradition recounts that the ceiling of the room where the image was kept was once seen lower than before, yet miraculously did not collapse because a pole on which the Virgin’s image rested had held it up. It is also said that in 1800, the community of the Conservatory, starving due to wartime, turned to Friar Bartolomeo Parodi of the Minorites of the Convent of St. Mary of Peace, who, while visiting the community, prayed before the image of Mary. A few hours later, an animal laden with flour stopped in front of the Conservatory’s door, refusing to move further. The young man leading it had no choice but to deliver the flour to the nuns.
The origins of the Conservatory of St. Bernard in Carignano are unclear. In 1690, the Conservatory of Our Lady of Refuge, founded by Virginia Centurione Bracelli, moved from its original location, leaving it vacant: the Bernardine Sisters then settled there, changing the church’s dedication from Our Lady of Refuge to St. Bernard. The Bernardine Institute was under the protection of the Government, which established its statutes (1555; 1730) and appointed its Protectors. In 1957, by decree of the President of the Republic, the Bernardines merged their Institute with that of Our Lady of Refuge, and the charitable works of the two Conservatories were united under a single entity named the Conservatory of Our Lady and Daughters of St. Bernard. The Conservatory building and the small church, nearly reduced to ruins by bombings during the last war, were rebuilt in recent decades. Today, the St. Bernard kindergarten stands on the site.
Carignano, Genoa, Italy
