Positano, on the day of the Assumption, the tradition of the prayer of the 100 Crosses and 100 Ave Maria is renewed

Positano. Among the many traditions linked to the day on which the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary is celebrated we remember that of the prayer of the 100 Crosses and 100 Ave Maria whose origin is traced back to the Byzantine tradition of Terra d’Otranto. The prayer is very simple but very heartfelt and consists in repeating a sign of the Cross and a Hail Mary for each bead of the Rosary one hundred times.
A prayer that on the day of the Assumption unites the people of Positano who, in the intimacy of their homes or in the silence of the Mother Church, reciting with devotion the 100 Crosses and 100 Hail Marys. And the same religious practice on this solemn day is also repeated by many people from Positano who live far away and who in that moment unite with their hearts at the feet of their Heavenly Mother with this pious devotion.
The story of the recitation of the 100 Crosses and 100 Ave Maria in the vertical city is linked to a testimony of a miracle operated by the Madonna Assunta of Positano. According to an oral tradition, in 1933 a lady from Cilento had lost three daughters before they reached the fourth year of age. When her fourth daughter was born, the woman began to pray insistently that he would not die to her because he would not bear her pain. During one night it is said that in a dream a lady appeared to the woman with the typical clothes of a peasant woman who recommended her to have faith and to take the child to Positano, look for a certain Maria Assunta and place the child at her feet.
The woman wanted to listen to that premonitory dream and on 14 August she arrived in Positano and at the entrance of the church she found the parish priest of the time, Don Saverio, to whom she told the dream she had had and asked him if he knew this Maria Assunta. Don Saverio understood immediately and opened the door of the church. When the woman saw the image of Our Lady she burst into tears because he recognized her as the woman who had appeared to her in a dream. And, as she was asked, he placed the baby at her feet.
The same night the Madonna of Positano appeared to her in a dream and said to her: “For the grace you asked for and received, you must make 100 Crosses and say as many Hail Marys”. Hence the beautiful tradition of the 100 Crosses and 100 Ave Maria in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption.

Positano, today the first day of the Novena of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary