A statue of Our Lady of Good Counsel in the Pope’s sacristy at Cibeles
In the Palacio de Correos, on the Plaza de Cibeles, next to the altar from which Pope Leo XIV will preside over the Corpus Christi Mass, a sacristy has been prepared especially for the occasion. It will hold the sacred objects used in the celebration and offer the Holy Father a space to vest before Mass and to return to at the end of the celebration.
We know that in this small space Pope Leo XIV will be able to contemplate and pray before a statue of Our Lady of Good Counsel, a very Augustinian Marian title to which the Pope is deeply devoted.
In fact, on the plane that brought him to Spain, the Holy Father was also accompanied by an image of the Mother of Good Counsel.
As for the sacristy, it was Fr. Alfonso Turienzo, OSA, Secretary of the Province of Saint John of Sahagún, who, at the request of the organizers of this particular event, set about choosing the right image.
In the end, the statue seen in the photo was chosen, so that it can stand in the temporary sacristy set up in the Plaza de Cibeles before and during the celebration.
For the community of Augustinian friars of the Parish of San Manuel y San Benito, where the statue normally stands (in the Provincial Secretariat of the Augustinian Province of Saint John of Sahagún), this decision has been a huge joy.
Fr. Alfonso explains that the image of Our Lady is usually a painted one, since the original is a fresco, “but we had this carved statue, and yesterday, the 5th, those in charge chose the statue, which will be inside the Palacio de Correos”.
The image, Fr. Alfonso stresses, represents the counsel Our Lady gives us: she is our companion on the way, our mother who always watches over us, cares for us and loves us”.
For this Augustinian friar it is a special statue: “she is the one who greets me every morning when I come into the office”. “Please take great care of her for me,” he told them when they took her away.