History of School Name

The story of Our Lady of Good Counsel originates from an Albanian image called Our Lady of Shkodra (Good Counsel), and an Italian image from Genazzano, a small town 30 miles southeast of Rome. The legend of the Albanian image dates to the 15th century when the Ottoman Turks were advancing across parts of Europe. The last stronghold of Albania was Shkodra, the site of a church with a beautiful painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel. Although the Turks eventually conquered Albania, the image was associated with many instances of protection. Albanian Catholics celebrate two feast days in honor of Our Lady of Good Counsel, one on April 26 and one on the third Sunday of October.

Miraculous events have also been associated with the Italian image, which is probably a 14th century Umbrian work (one from acient Italy). On April 25, 1467, the population of Genazzano was celebrating a festival in honor of St. Mark's Day when a beautiful painting of Our Lady of Good Counsel suddenly appeared on top of unfinished wall of the church. Many people heard about the image and crowded into the town to view it. From April 27 until August 14, 1467, 171 miracles occurred. There are numerous records of many other healings, conversions and extraordinary occurrences related to this image.

The story how our school recieved its name concerns an 8 by 10 picture of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which was given to Barbara, our school administrator by a friend in 1994. The friend told Barbara that she felt an incentive to give her this particular picture and that she would need it in the future. Although Barbara had no idea what this meant, she framed the picture and hung it in their home schoolroom. A couple of years later the idea of starting a Catholic homeschool kept occurring to Barbara, but she dismissed it each time it arose.

Finally, in the winter of 1997, Barbara accepted this call. She discussed it with her husband who agreed to support her in this endeavor, and began the work of setting up the school. At some point during that time, she remembered the picture her friend had given her and the conversation they had shared. She knew at once the school was to be named after Our Lady of Good Counsel. Hence, we too share in a small way the special graces associated with the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

A version of this image can be seen on the top of all pages of this site.