by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

There are a lot of things which you can only know by visiting Rome. The Churches, the catecombs, the streets, the archeological monuments, the libraries and museums and universities. Visiting Rome in person you get only a taste or sniff of the tremendous history of the Eternal City. But when you live here you come to know the context of everything alongside everything.

And some of it is amazing, but of most of it others have written about.

But here is a story which evokes the imagination and the hope of Catholics and shows us how important everything honest and upright Catholics do has an effect for the good which is beyond our every imagining.

This story begins in an elevator going down, on the morning of April 21, 2025, at Casa Santa Marta, at the Vatican. We all know what that refers to and of whom we are speaking.

But what no one but a few know is why all of that was perhaps a lot more amazing than you have heretofore imagined.

Being at Rome, I found myself right smack in the middle of the mystery of that day. Because, I heard of the death of Pope Francis not from the internet, not from the phone, not from the newspapers, but from a Catholic priest, preparing to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady in a tiny little shrine tucked away in the countryside outside of Rome.

The Wondrous Apparition and Miracle of Our Lady of Uliano

Our Lady of Ulilano is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared in A. D. 1242 to a woman, mother and wife in the most desperate of situations. You see, the woman and her husband had the joy to have a newborn son, and scheduled a large party to celebrate his baptism. But so many where the guests, because her husband was a wealthy landed man, that to attend to them, she had to place the baby in its crib, which was made with wood and had a cover to keep the baby warm and night while allowing air to enter through many holes.

Without the knowledge of the Mother, the guests however, used the covered crib as to pile their cloaks on top. And when it came time for the baptism, the Mother was horrified to find, that the immense mound of clothing had caused her child to suffocate to death.

This caused the entire celebration of joy to turn into a horrible moment of grief. The husband, Mr. Uliano, drove the guests out and then turned on his wife in a demonic rage, reproving her and then drawing his knife.

In a frenzy, the husband proceeded to cut off her hands and cut out her womb. As she was bleeding to death, he ordered a servant to carry her body to the countryside and dump it in a ravine, along with her baby boy, hanging from her neck.

After the servant had accomplished the deed, the woman still with the faintest signs of life called upon the Blessed Mother.

And in that moment of travesty and hopelessness, Our Lady appeared to her, holding the Child Jesus, and miraculously cured her, restoring her hands and womb and raising the baby boy back to life.

Such was the amazement of Mr. Uliano, upon seeing his wife return home alive and whole, with a living baby boy, that he immediately broke down in tears and begged her pardon and the forgiveness of God. Before everyone in the region, he confessed his sin publicly and with his wife and servant publicly testified for the rest of their lives to this wondrous intercession of Our Lady. Mr. Uliano also had a chapel built on the site.

To this day, in those hills outside of Rome, the Feast of Our Lady of Uliano is celebrated every year on the Monday after Easter. And since I had prior knowledge of this miracle I made it a point to be at the new Shrine, built on the hill opposite, on Easter Monday.

Thus it was, that on Monday, April 21, 2025, I heard of the liberation of the Church at the Shrine of Our Lady of Uliano, from the local pastor, who when he arrived immediately said to everyone, “Pope Francis is dead.”

Cardinal Mimmi

More than 50 years ago, the original shrine to Our Lady fell into total ruin, due to the erosion of the loose soils of that valley. And as the shrine began to decay, the local Bishop ordered that the canons of the Shrine move its most valuable Icon to the local Cathedral and celebrate each year a Mass there in Her honor. This stupendous 15th century Icon is one of the most beautiful of Our Lady, depicting Her being crowned Queen of Angels and Men by God the Father:

This altar is now the Altar of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and in the floor in front of this altar is the final resting place of Cardinal Marcello Mimmi, who passed from this life to his eternal reward on March 6, 1961, just as Vatican II was to be convened.

Evidently Cardinal Mimmi was very devoted to Our Lady of Uliano and to the Most Blessed Sacrament. Near his tomb is also a bronze bust of the Cardinal. He has been “praying” to our Lady of Uliano for all these 64 long years.

A Prayer granted?

Cardinal Mimmi (see bio here in English, here in Italian), as you can see from the PDF below, which on page 6 recounts his Episcopal Ministry at Crema, Italy, before he was promoted to the Archbishopric of Bari, and then to that of Naples, was a man of God who was, according to Prof. Luca Donarini, one who

…  si sente un operaio di Dio mandato nella vigna di Crema per occuparsi degli interessi di Dio e curare la santificazione e la salvezza delle anime, sia di quelle vicine del suo gregge sia di quelle degli «infedeli» attraverso lo spirito missionario; il nuovo vescovo, profondamente convinto che la promozione del culto divino e delle leggi di Dio possano costituire un «freno ai pericoli che senza di esse corre la civiltà»

Which in English is:

considered himself God’s worker send into the vineyard of Crema to busy himself with the affairs of God and promote the sanctification and salvation of souls, not only those who among his flock but also those “infidels” by means of a missionary spirit: the new Bishop, profoundly convinced that the promotion of the Divine Liturgy and the laws of God are able to constitute a “break on the dangers without which civilization itself would run a risk”.

I am the kind of Catholic who sees what is before my eyes. When I visited the Cathedral I saw the tomb of Cardinal Mimmi, and my eyes then looked up to see the Throne Tablernacle of Our Lord, waiting for us in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and raising my eyes further, I saw the icon of God the Father crowning Our Lady, that is giving Her authority over men and angels.

The place of the tomb of the Cardinal, who was made by Pius XII the Prefect of what we call today the Congregation of Bishops, is a sign of the deepest prayers of the heart.

Note Well: The duties of the Congregation of Bishops are to recommend promotions to the Holy Father and to remove bad bishops at his command.

The miracle wrought by Our Lady of Uliano is without a doubt also a sign from God; that Our Lady, just as She hears the cries of even one of Her adopted daughters, dismembered and mutilated, without a doubt will hear the cries of Holy Mother Church, afflicted by so many of Her enemies.

That prayer of Cardinal Mimmi began just as the Second Vatican Counsel was to begin. And that Intercession of Our Lady was wrought on Her feast day this year, when She delivered Holy Mother Church from the monstrosity of godlessness who was cutting off the Hands of the Church to heal sinners and disemboweling Her teachings to save mankind, not to mention killing Her children by suffocating them with error and heresy.

I am a Catholic from birth, and I let my imagination follow my faith to connect the dots. And I thank God for the 64 years of prayer of this Cardinal which has obtained such a great grace for the Church.

Cardinal Mimmi, as you can see from Catholic-Hierarchy.org also has a relationship with a famous Archbishop in our own days, because Mimmi ordained Francesco Colasunno a priest. Colasunno would go on to become a Cardinal, and he was the principal Consecrator of Archbishop Ian Pawel Lenga! — Being a Catholic, I think I now understand the sign Our Lady is giving us in our own day, as to who She has chosen to be the next  …. !