After her assumption into heaven, Mary intercedes with God on mankind’s behalf, and like a mother accompanies her children in the Church. Sometimes she makes herself visible to those who are closest to her, as happened with the seven founders of the Order of the Servants of Mary. This apparition was portrayed by Alessandro Franchi in 1888, on the occasion of the founders’ canonization, in the canvas in the third chapel on the right. The Virgin Mary appears in a dream to the seven Holy Founders as they sleep, surrounded by a host of angels, holding out to them the habit of the order. Above and below the frame is the inscription: “Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars” (Proverbs 9:1), a clear reference to the Seven Holy Founders.
Two other paintings in the church depict apparitions of Our Lady to some members of the Servite order. In the fourth chapel on the left is a canvas painted in the seventeenth century by Francesco Curradi showing the vision of Saint Philip Benizi. The Virgin appears on a golden chariot drawn by a lamb and a lion, symbols of the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ, and shows the saint the habit of the Servites. On the left, among cherubs and angels, can be seen Saint Michael the Archangel with his sword and the scales for weighing souls at the Last Judgment. On the right, Saint Philip kneels in a contemplative pose; next to him are the book of the Scriptures, a lily symbolizing his chastity, and the papal tiara, referring to his renouncement of the papacy out of humility.
Finally, in the chapel next to this, Saint Giuliana Falconieri (1240-1341) and Saint Philip Neri, founders of the female order of the Servants of Mary and of the Oratorians respectively, adore the Virgin and Child who appear to them surrounded by angels. Saint Giuliana, wrapped in her characteristic dark cloak, shows on her habit the sign of the Host which, according to legend, miraculously disappeared from the breast of the dying woman, where it had been laid. The canvas was painted in the early eighteenth century by the Sienese painter Francesco Nasini.