MOTHERS OF LU

The Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Society was born from a deep conviction that Jesus Christ is truly present — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — within the Holy Eucharist, and that the Church will only be renewed when souls return to Him with reverence, adoration, and love.

In a world that has grown noisy, distracted, and spiritually restless, this apostolate seeks to draw souls back to the sacred heart of the Catholic faith: Jesus truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Under the maternal guidance of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament — the first tabernacle, the Mother who carried the Eucharistic Lord within her womb — this mission desires to encourage:

• Eucharistic adoration

• reverence within churches

• prayer for priests and vocations

• holy families

• reparation for indifference toward Our Lord

• and a renewed awareness of the sacred presence of God among us.

At the heart of this vision is a belief shared by many saints throughout history: where Jesus Christ is adored, the Church is renewed.

This truth is beautifully reflected in the remarkable story of the Mothers of Lu — a hidden group of Catholic mothers from a small Italian village whose Eucharistic devotion transformed an entire community and raised up an extraordinary number of priests and religious vocations.

Their story reveals the immense spiritual power of ordinary faithful souls gathered before the Blessed Sacrament in prayer, sacrifice, and surrender to God.

The Story of the Mothers of Lu

In the late 1800s, within the small village of Lu in northern Italy, a group of Catholic mothers began gathering faithfully before the Blessed Sacrament to pray specifically for priestly and religious vocations.

Their parish priest, Monsignor Alessandro Canora, encouraged them to unite their prayers, sacrifices, Holy Communions, and acts of Eucharistic adoration for this intention. These women were not famous mystics or theologians. They were ordinary wives and mothers who possessed a profound faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ within the Holy Eucharist.

Every Tuesday they gathered for Eucharistic adoration. On the first Sunday of every month they received Holy Communion with the intention that God would raise up holy priests and religious from among their children and their village.

The mothers prayed together with great faith:

"O God, grant that at least one of our sons may become a priest or religious brother, and one of our daughters a religious sister. We ourselves want to live as good Christians, and to guide our children always to do what is right, so that we may receive the grace, O God, to be allowed to give Thee a holy priest, brother, or sister! Amen."

(Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be)

These women truly meant what they prayed. They surrendered their children entirely to God if He should call them to religious life or the priesthood.

And Heaven answered.

From this tiny village came an astonishing number of vocations:

• 152 priests

• 171 nuns
  from more than 40 different religious congregations.

Entire families produced multiple vocations. The most well-known was the Rinaldi family, where five sons became priests and two daughters became religious sisters. One of these sons later became Blessed Philip Rinaldi.

The village itself became spiritually transformed. The faith of the mothers and families created an atmosphere where children could hear and respond to the voice of God.

One saying from the mothers of Lu captured the spirit of their surrender:

“The Lord gave us our children, and if He calls them, we cannot refuse Him.”

The Eucharistic Heart of Lu

The story of Lu was not simply about vocations. It was about Eucharistic faith.

These mothers understood something that many in the modern world have forgotten:
the renewal of the Church begins before the Blessed Sacrament.

Their strength came from:

• adoration

• silence

• sacrifice

• Holy Communion

• prayer within the family

• reverence toward God

• and trust in the will of Christ.

They believed that Jesus was truly there.

Not symbolically.
Not metaphorically.
But truly present.

And because they believed this, they organised their lives around Him.

Their hidden prayers became spiritually fruitful for generations.

How This Relates to the Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Society

The spirit of the Mothers of Lu reflects the very heart of the Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Society.

Like the mothers of Lu, this apostolate seeks to place Jesus Christ back at the centre through:

• Eucharistic adoration

• reverence within churches

• prayer for priests and vocations

• Marian devotion

• reparation

• holy families

• and a restoration of awe before the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.

The title Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament beautifully connects to this mission.

Mary was the first tabernacle.
She carried Jesus within her womb.
She teaches souls how to adore Him with humility, silence, purity, and love.

Just as the mothers of Lu spiritually entrusted their children and families to Christ through the Eucharist, this apostolate desires to help form a new generation of Eucharistic souls:

• priests rooted in holiness

• families centred on Christ

• women devoted to spiritual motherhood

• men strengthened in faith

• and children raised with reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.

The Mothers of Lu show that hidden prayer can transform entire communities.

They reveal that ordinary Catholic families, united around the Eucharist, can become instruments of extraordinary renewal within the Church.

Their story is a reminder that true renewal will not come through worldliness, entertainment, or compromise, but through a return to Jesus Christ truly present in the Holy Eucharist.