Chapel of Our Lady of Providence

123 Summer Street
Worcester, MA 01608

www.ourladyofprovidence.com

Located at Level 1 South of St. Vincent Hospital (across from the food court of the Atrium)

In the latter part of the sixteenth century, the Italian painter Scipione Pulzone or Il Gaetano (ca. 1542-1598) fashioned an image of the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus in her arms entitled Mater Divinae Providentiae. Decades later, the artist’s rendering came into the possession of the Barnabite Fathers who enshrined it in a corridor of the church of San Carlo ai Catinari in Rome. The image inspired such devotion that many Romans and those from the surrounding areas received enormous grace and blessings, as well as miracles were associated with the prayers poured out before Mary’s image. This devotion came to the United States when Monsignor A.J. Rawlinson saw a reproduction of the image of Mother of Divine Providence at Catholic University of America; and, subsequently, having gone to Rome for the Holy Year 1925, he researched its Roman origins and brought back copies of the painting. In that same year, the national shrine to Mary as Our Lady of Providence was canonically established in Indiana to encourage families to make Mary Queen of the Home. As Mother of Divine Providence, Mary is the supreme example of what it means to believe in God’s providence, to trust in the Father’s providential care, and to cooperate with Divine Providence when God’s action becomes manifest in our lives.