S.M. “della Salute.”  Our Lady of Health or Salvation.  Under this title pictures and churches have been dedicated after the cessation of a plague, or any other public calamity.[1]

[Footnote 1:  There is also somewhere in France a chapel dedicated to Notre Dame de la Haine.]

Other titles are derived from particular circumstances and accessories, as—­

S.M. “del Presepio,” Our Lady of the Cradle; generally a Nativity, or when she is adoring her Child.

S.M. “della Scodella”—­with the cup or porringer, where she is taking water from a fountain; generally a Riposo.

S.M. “dell’ Libro,” where she holds the Book of Wisdom.

S.M. “della Cintola,” Our Lady of the Girdle, where she is either giving the Girdle to St. Thomas, or where the Child holds it in his hand.

S.M. “della Lettera.”  Our Lady of the Letter.  This is the title given to Our Lady as protectress of the city of Messina.  According to the Sicilian legend, she honoured the people of Messina by writing a letter to them, dated from Jerusalem, “in the year of her Son, 42.”  In the effigies of the “Madonna della Lettera,” she holds this letter in her hand.

S.M. “della Rosa.”  Our Lady of the Rose.  A title given to several pictures, in which the rose, which is consecrated to her, is placed either in her hand, or in that of the Child.

S.M. “della Stella.”  Our Lady of the Star.  She wears the star as one of her attributes embroidered on her mantle.

S.M. “del Fiore.”  Our Lady of the Flower.  She has this title especially as protectress of Florence.

S.M. “della Spina.”  She holds in her hand the crown of thorns, and under this title is the protectress of Pisa.

S.M. “del Rosario.”  Our Lady of the Rosary, with the mystic string of beads.  I do not remember any instance of the Rosary placed in the hand of the Virgin or the Child till after the battle of Lepanto (1571), and the institution of the Festival of the Rosary, as an act of thanksgiving.  After this time pictures of the Madonna “del Rosario” abound, and may generally be found in the Dominican churches.  There is a famous example by Guido in the Bologna Gallery, and a very beautiful one by Murillo in the Dulwich Gallery.

S.M. “del Carmine.”  Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  She is protectress of the Order of the Carmelites, and is often represented holding in her hand small tablets, on which is the effigy of herself with the Child.

S.M. “de Belem.”  Our Lady of Bethlehem.  Under this title she is the patroness of the Jeronymites, principally in Spain and Portugal.