On December 31 and January 1, the icon of the “Madonna who comes from the sea” was venerated in St. Peter’s Basilica.
According to Vatican News, in 1453, the year in which Constantinople fell to the Turks, the Marian image was placed on a merchant vessel that was shipwrecked off the coast of Salerno, Italy. The image, which washed ashore and was dug up by a bricklayer, has since been venerated in Salerno.