NOTICES AND COMMUNICATIONS

During the celebrations in the whole sacred area of the Sanctuary, including the area of the Crucifix and the external chapel, the utmost silence and respect are required from all; during the celebrations, video shooting, selfies and photographs are prohibited.
Any cut or potted flowers brought as a gift to the Sanctuary must be left exclusively in the appropriate spaces at the foot of the external crucifix.

SECRETARIAT OF THE SANCTUARY AND BOOKINGS OF VISITS AND / OR CELEBRATIONS
The secretariat of the Sanctuary (located next to the shop) is open only in the morning from Monday to Thursday, from 08:30 am to 12:30; and on Fridays from 2:00 pm to 06:00 pm.

* all visits or pilgrimages by organized groups, both on feast days and week days, must always be communicated and booked in good time at the Sanctuary secretariat; reservations must be made exclusively by e-mail to the following address: pellegrinaggi@rosamisticafontanelle.it

** The celebrations linked to the Pilgrimages (Eucharist, Liturgies, etc.), are only possible in the morning at the following times: 08:30; 09:30; 10:30; 11:30. In the afternoon, eventual pilgrimages, even if with spiritual guide and priest, can participate in the liturgies proper to the Sanctuary and the priests can concelebrate; other functions such as processions, rosaries, vigils, must always be agreed in time, at the time of booking. Any exception must be made exclusively with the Rector of the Sanctuary or with the Deputy Rector.

*** The person in charge of the Group (preferably a priest or a religious man or woman) must personally take responsibility to introduce to their pilgrims the rules of the liturgical life and the respect for and of the Sanctuary as described therein.

ACCESS TO THE POOL
Unless otherwise indicated by the dioceses on the subject, access to the pool from November 1, 2021 is possible every day from 8.30 am to 12:30 and from 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm. During Eucharistic celebrations or other Liturgies, and during the night, the pool remains closed.
The basin is closed 10 minutes before the start of each celebration at the Sanctuary and is reopened at the end of the celebrations.
Enter the pool barefoot, in silence or in silent personal prayer. It is always FORBIDDEN to take videos, selfies or photographs while accessing the basin.
Groups of pilgrims or large families are requested to observe the specific rules for access to the pool displayed there.
The water can only be drawn from the special fountains at the exit of the Sanctuary and not from the basin or the source inside the Sanctuary.

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
A priest is available from Monday to Saturday, one hour before the afternoon Holy Mass. On holidays, one or more priests are available from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 15:00 to 18:00 (in winter, the afternoon hours are from 15:00 to 16:00 on weekdays, Sunday from 15:00 to 17:00)

MASS INTENTIONS
In accordance with the practice of diocesan, national and international shrines, the proclamation of the names of the deceased faithful will be omitted from January 1, 2022 during the Eucharistic celebration, for which the celebration is in any case applied. The registration of intentions is only possible at the shop of the Sanctuary. The offer is free. The Sanctuary undertakes to celebrate the intentions entrusted to it within the year. The excess of offers for ecclesial charity and missionary purposes will be donated to priests or missionaries in difficulty.

SHOP OF THE SANCTUARY
The shop of the Sanctuary is open every day from 09:00 to 12:00 and from 14:30 to 17:30. It is closed on Monday morning.
Please note that the shop for sacred objects remains CLOSED during the celebrations.

Since some time we receive communications from Rosa Mystica devotees in different parts of the world regarding disciplinary actions by their Bishops on the devotion to Mary, Rosa Mystica, as well as letters of Her followers concerned about how such interventions are spread to other dioceses, sometimes inaccurately or partially, sometimes to the detriment of the genuine modalities and intentions with which the cult is experienced and practiced in Fontanelle.

We would therefore like to provide some important clarifications on the recognition and regulation of the Marian devotion in FONTANELLE di Montichiari in order to clear the doubts and reassure the hearts. It should be remembered that much of the information we give below are for a long time on the official website of the Foundation of worship and religion Rosa Mystica Fontanelle, in four languages (www.rosamisticafontanelle.it), and, on behalf of the Bishop of Brescia, we procure exactly the same information to Bishops and local Ordinaries when we are directly consulted for official clarifications.

1. Having taken notice of the contributions made by his predecessors, and the instructions given by the Holy See, as well as of the letter to the Bishop of Brescia by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on November 13, 2012 by a special Directory and published by decree on July 15, 2013, the Bishop of Brescia, has regulated the Marian cult in Fontanelle, to give adequate assistance to the pilgrims who come to this place from different parts of Italy and abroad. The cult was already allowed and regulated by Bishop Giulio Sanguineti with a previous directory of 2001 after some restrictive interventions by Bishop Foresti in 1984 and in 1997 and by Bishop Morstabilini in 1968.2. According to the indications of the current Directory, a Marian and baptismal worship are currently promoted in Fontanelle under the direct supervision of the diocesan Bishop, without referring to the apparitions, messages, or other phenomena of presumed supernatural nature related to the person of Miss Pierina Gilli. We recall that the Church refers to the alleged apparitions or other extraordinary phenomena in Fontanelle with the formula “non constat de supernaturalitate”, i.e. “It is not evident to be of supernatural origin”, thus manifesting a judgment of suspension and prudence of the Church, and therefore pending further verification of the phenomenon and doubts related to its complexity.3. As can be deduced from the letter of the Directory, the Bishop of Brescia does not demand from the faithful – neither in the past this was necessitated by the predecessors of the Bishop – to remove statues, icons, votive tablets or altars dedicated to Maria Rosa Mystica, nor in Fontanelle, in parish churches or in private chapels. The image of Mary with the three roses, which, to the best of our knowledge, was not present in the diocese or in Italy before the events of Montichiari, and is now widespread and revered around the world. In Fontanelle and in the Parish of Montichiari the statue of Maria Rosa Mystica has been exposed for many years. In addition, in the cult, the Loreto title of “Rosa Mystica” is valued as well as the devotional significance of the “Three Roses”, linked to “prayer – penance – sacrifice”, which represent the three traditional coordinates of Christian spirituality.4. The task of the Foundation of Worship and Religion Rosa Mystica Fontanelle, erected by the Bishop of Brescia in 2014, especially in light of the many fruits of conversion and of spiritual and physical healings that continually are reported to us, is also to continue with a serious work of study and investigation of the events in the Parish of Montichiari and in Fontanelle, and of the documentation regarding the historical and spiritual events of Pierina Gilli, the alleged seer who died in 1991, subject of a summary diocesan investigation back in 1947/48.This complex and renewed phase of study is currently conducted in the Diocese of Brescia, in close consultation and by an explicit assignment of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: recently a major integral part of the investigative material has been provided and is already in the possession of the same Congregation, a material that until now was not yet at the disposal of the Roman Tribunal of the Holy See. At the same time, through an independent initiative of the Cultural Association of Research and Study, Milan (Ares), data of the Diaries of the alleged seer were published, accompanied by other historically important sources and authoritative opinions, including the posthumous judgments of the biblicist, Mgr. Enrico Galbiati and mariologist, Fr. Stefano De Fiores. These contributions will usefully enrich a path that can give an account of the historical origin and the sources of such a major phenomenon of worship and devotion to Mary, which crosses since long the diocesan and national boundaries.

Mons. Marco Alba