Our Lady of the Guard (Nostra Signora della Guardia)

On August 29, 1490, the Virgin Mary appeared to Benedetto Pareto, a peasant from Livellato, on Mount Figogna above the Polcevera valley near Genoa, Italy. She asked him to build a chapel on the mountaintop. Doubting he could do it, he hesitated, until a fall from a tree left him badly injured; healed after a second visit from Mary, he obeyed.

The small chapel became the Sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Guardia, named for the lookout post that once stood on the summit. It is one of the most visited Marian shrines in northern Italy, and Genoese emigrants carried the devotion to the Americas.

On August 29 pilgrims climb Mount Figogna, many on foot through the night, for Masses at the sanctuary. Italian communities in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and the United States keep her feast with processions.

The medal shows Mary with the Child appearing to Benedetto Pareto among his sheep, a sign that she guards ordinary working people.