ABSTRACT
“We receive Jesus from Mary, and we cannot know and love Jesus, unless we love and know His Mother, too,” writes Elvira in her diary, and almost every page reveals her filial tenderness towards the Blessed Virgin, so characteristic of the Italian people, which in her attained a degree far beyond the common. She was the darling child of the Blessed Virgin whom she loved unutterably. Full of confidence, she loved to call her “Mamma, my own darling Mamma.” She had recourse to her in all her needs, and in all her sorrows found solace in the heart of her heavenly Mother. Nothing grieved her so much as the thought that there were hearts in the world without love of Mary. Amongst them was one joined to her by an intimate friendship, a young English girl, whom she longed at any price to place in the arms of this tender Mother. “Once a week,” she writes, “I shall offer our Jesus the little good I can do during that day, and once a month I shall offer Holy Communion for poor G. Saturday is the day I shall consecrate to this object as it is the one in which we particularly honour the Blessed Virgin. G. does not love Mary. The poor Protestants, who know her not, have banished her from their hearts and churches, but the sweet Mother of Jesus will make herself known to her far-off daughter, so that she will come to understand that we receive Jesus through Mary.
