This lovely icon is a recent gift of the Russian Orthodox monastery of Lesna, in Provemont, France. It is in our choir on the table where we have the aspergillium for the Salve at Compline and where the gifts of bread and wine are placed for the nuns to bring up for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Today, April 5th, in the Roman calendar, would be the feast of our brother, St. Vincent Ferrer. In one of his sermons he speaks of how, by tradition, our Lord appeared first to our blessed Mother. There is an old custom, still kept by some monasteries, of a procession the morning of Easter. One group processes with a statue of the blessed Mother and the other group with a statue of Christ or with the paschal candle. They come from different places and meet together at the door of the choir. This procession recalls this tradition. In fact, the folks of St. Dominic's village of Caleruega, Spain continue this tradition as you can see by this video below. The meet at the entrance of the monastery of the Dominican nuns and then the two groups of men and women process into the village church. (Check out the high heels of the women carry the statue of the blessed Mother!)