Today, 26
April, the Order’s own calendar commemorates the Feast of Our Lady of Good
Counsel. This devotion was granted by Pius VI on June 9, 1787 at the request of
the Prior General, Brother Vincenzo Maria Salerno. Brother Giovanni Battista
Orsenigo was a tireless advocate of this Feast
of Our Lady, and in 1871 he promoted the solemn celebration of the Feast Day.
For the occasion, he displayed a painting, blessed by Pius IX at a private
Audience, with which he was later photographed. During the Novena of Our Lady
of Good Counsel, Brother Orsenigo would end the chanting of the Loreto Litanies
with the invocation to Mater Boni Consilii, which was later officially incorporated
into the Loreto Litanies as a result of his advocacy by the Decree “Ex quo
Beatissima Virgo” of the Sacred
Congregation of Rites promulgated by Leo XIII on April 22, 1903.