Here is the story of how the Feast of Mater Admirabilis came to be:
In 1844, a generation after the Society of the Sacred Heart was founded, Pauline Perdrau, a young novice, took it upon herself to produce a fresco of the Virgin Mary on a wall in a recreational area of the Trinita dei Monti, a Sacred Heart school in Rome. Sister Perdrau chose to paint Mary as a young woman, sitting in the temple, clothed in a rose -colored dress. The fresco includes a lily at Mary's side representing her purity; a distaff and spindle, her love of work; a book, her dedication to study. Representations of Mater Admirabilis (Mother Most Admirable) can be found in all Sacred Heart schools.
The feast day celebrating our Blessed Mother is especially dear to Sacred Heart children. Mater Admirabilis is the name given to the statue of Our Lady which you will find in a place of honor in every Sacred Heart school. “Mater Admirabilis” is Latin, meaning “Mother Most Admirable.”
A Story of How Mater Admirabilis came to be...
In 1828, Pope Leo XII invited the Society of the Sacred Heart to found a community and school at the Trinità dei Monti, a monastery at the top of the Spanish Steps in Rome. For 300 years, the monastery had housed a community of Minims, an order founded by St. Francis of Paola in the 15th century. The Order of Minims had abandoned the property during the French Revolution, and by 1828 the buildings were in need of repair. A contingent of RSCJ went to Rome to put the property in order under an agreement with the French government, which owned the property and specified that only French nuns would occupy the site.
Sixteen years after Religious of the Sacred Heart came to live at the Trinità, a young French girl, Pauline Perdrau, was admitted as a postulant to the Society. A talented artist, she asked permission of the superior of the house, Mother Josephine de Coriolis, to paint a portrait of Our Lady on a wall of a corridor that led to the sisters’ cloister. However, Mother Coriolis was hesitant, because she knew the artist was unfamiliar with fresco painting techniques.
Pauline Perdrau persisted, praying to Mary for strength. She prevailed, and for months after receiving permission to begin, she devoted several hours a day to preparing the surface of the wall and painting her image of Mary.
When the painting was complete, the colors were thought to be too vivid. The fresco was covered with a protective cloth to give the paint time to dry. Days later, when the cloth was removed, the colors had softened to the shades of pink and blue and ivory that are so well known to visitors to Mater’s shrine today. To Pauline Perdrau, who later became a Religious of the Sacred Heart, the change was nothing less than a miracle.
Among the many stories associated with Pauline Perdrau’s painting of Our Lady is this one: In the fall of 1846, Pope Pius IX paid a visit to Trinità dei Monti and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the fresco of Mary. “Mater Admirabilis!” exclaimed the pope, giving the painting of Mary the title it bears today. -- From rscj.org
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