May 13, in Palermo, Feast of Our Lady of Help, an Augustinian devotion. The Virgin beats the Devil with a stick

Already present in the East since the beginning of the 4th century, the devotion of the Theotokos took off in the 4th century in the Italian peninsula and spread throughout Europe and the entire Christian world.

The cult of the Virgin Mary of Help was established in Palermo in 1306, following the alleged apparition of the Virgin to the Augustinian father Nicola La Bruna. According to tradition, the monk, suffering from an incurable disease and now at the end of his life, was healed by the Madonna, who in exchange asked him to spread the news of the miracle and to invoke her with the name of Mother of Help. This was followed by two other apparitions, always in Palermo, and in one of which the virgin chased an infernal being from a child with a stick.

From that moment on, the Augustinians spread the cult of the Madonna of Help first in the kingdom of Sicily and then in the rest of Italy and in other European countries.

Full list of Augustinian feast days