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Hymns for the feast of Mary, Mother of Good Counsel (26 April)

This is a selection of English-language hymns about and/or suitable for the feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

The list is in two parts:   free-use materials that can be freely used with no concerns about copyright (because they are in the public domain), and hymns that may still be copyright depending on the laws in your country.


About Our Lady of Good Counsel

Our Lady / Mother of Good Counsel is a Marian devotion that started in the 15th century.

The title ( in Latin, Mater boni consilii) was originally given to a small (40cm X 45cm) image of Mary and Jesus as a child, which is now in a 13th century Augustinian church at Genazzano, near Rome, in Italy.

Oral tradition is that the fresco (painting) was on a church wall in Scutari, Albania. During a conflict with Turkey1467, the sanctuary of the church was mostly destroyed, and the wall where the fresco had been was suddenly blank. The same year in Genazanno, during Vespers on the feast of Saint Mark, people suddenly heard beautiful music coming from a cloud above a church. The cloud descended on the church and hovered above the wall of an unfinished chapel. Church bells throughout the town started ringing. When the cloud eventually disappeared, the fresco of was on the chapel wall: it had escape the Turkish invasion and migrated to Italy. Following this, the fresco was named "Our Lady of Good Counsel" - after the church where it had come to rest.

Many miracles are believed to have occurred in the portrait’s presence.

Devotion to Our Lady of the Good Counsel grew among Pope and saints: Pope John XXIII prayed at the shrine for guidance before he called the Ecumenical Council which is know known as Vatican 2. Saints with particular devotion to her include Aloysius Gonzaga, Alphonsus Liguori and John Bosco.

She was added to the Litany of Loreto by Leo XIII, and the devotion spread throughout the world - although short list of hymns below suggests she is less-well-known among in English-speaking people. 

The feast day of the Mother of Good Counsel is April 26. She is the patron saint of Albania, the Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver, the Augustinian Province of Midwest US, and Parañaque City in the Philippines.