Our Lady of Help (Busto Arsizio)

It is in the church of Santa Maria di Piazza, Busto Arsizio and it is attributed to Fabrizio De Magistris, designed in 1602, after the Madonna appeared during a plague outbreak in 1576.

[1] During the plague, a procession was organized to carry the statue of the Madonna venerated in the church of Santa Maria di Piazza through all the streets of the village.

[2] The devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to the saints resulted in the vow of the entire community, religious and civil, to go on an annual pilgrimage to the Madonna del Monte on St. George's Day, April 24, and to pay homage together to the body of the Beata Giuliana di Busto.

In Montevideo, Uruguay, in the neighborhood of Villa del Cerro, a statue of Our Lady of Help quite similar to the one in Busto Arsizio is venerated under the name of Santa Maria de la Ayuda.

[4] On May 11, 1930, a wooden statue of Our Lady of Help, made by Tyrolean sculptor Stuffeser, was crowned, also placed in the parish of Santa María de la Ayuda in Montevideo's Cerro neighborhood.