Our Lady of Confidence: The Story of “Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea”
A beloved image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, venerated at the Roman Seminary, gave rise to a beautiful Marian devotion: Our Lady of Confidence, or Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea — “My Mother, My Confidence.”
Its story begins with Clare Isabella Fornari, born in Rome on 25 June 1697. She entered religious life while still young and eventually became abbess of the Poor Clares of Saint Francis in Todi, Italy.
Sister Clare lived a life of extraordinary penance and endured severe spiritual trials. She also had a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and expressed this love through sacred pictures painted by her own hand.
The Image of Our Lady of Confidence
Until her death in 1744, Sister Clare kept with her an oval picture of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus. Many graces were attributed to the image, and devotion to it spread.
A copy eventually became associated with the Roman Seminary. There the Madonna became known under the title Madonna della Fiducia — Our Lady of Confidence.
The devotion was summed up in the simple invocation, “Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea” — “My Mother, My Confidence.”
The image remains closely associated with the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, where Our Lady of Confidence is honoured as patroness.
Our Lady of Confidence and the Cholera Epidemic
One of the most remarkable episodes associated with the devotion occurred during the cholera epidemic of 1837.
As the disease spread through Rome, the superiors and students of the Roman Seminary made a vow to Our Lady of Confidence, asking for her protection. According to the seminary’s own history, those included in the vow were spared.
In thanksgiving, a votive lamp was offered before the image, followed the next year by golden crowns for the Virgin and Child.
The devotion remained especially dear to generations of seminarians. During the First World War, seminarians sent to the front also wrote of favours they attributed to Our Lady’s intercession.
The heart of this devotion is wonderfully simple
At the heart of this devotion is something wonderfully simple: confidence in the Mother of God and, through her, confidence in Jesus Christ.
The words Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea can themselves become a prayer. When anxious, uncertain or burdened, we can turn to the Blessed Virgin as children turn instinctively to their mother: My Mother, my Confidence!
Just as the Apostle Saint Thomas exclaimed with confidence before the resurrected Redeemer “My Lord and my God,” so too should we turn to Our Lady with heartfelt confidence, saying those sweet words: “My Mother, my Confidence!”
Pope benedict said these significant words on his visit the seminary:
“It really is very beautiful and meaningful that you venerate the Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests, with the special title of Our Lady of Trust. It evokes a twofold meaning: the trust of the Seminarians who, with her help, set out on their journey in response to Christ who has called them, and the trust of the Church of Rome, especially that of her Bishop, which invokes the protection of Mary, the Mother of every vocation, upon this nursery-garden of priests.”
