The Virgin’s first miracle began with a ‘mishap’: during the time when Siena was under Spanish domination a drunken soldier shot his harquebus from a window at the sacred image, shattering the lower part where the figure of Christ rested on Mary’s knees in the typical pose of the Lamentation known as the Pietà. Her face and head remained intact, while the harquebus blew up in the soldier’s face, killing him immediately. After this event, new graces were noted in the city, like the one granted to Stefano d’Agnolo, known as Sarteano, who had rented Caterina Scala’s little house when she was widowed and had moved to Rome; Our Lady not only appeared to him more than once, but also restored his sight when he went blind in his old age. Pietro Vernale and his wife Maddalena, who were both sick, also regained their health. No one believed the reports of these events except some prostitutes in the neighborhood who began to venerate the image, lighting lamps in front of it and bringing flowers. Among these unbelievers was a prostitute named Giulia di Orazio who, the evening of July 1st, laughed at and insulted the people who were decorating the image for a simple neighborhood party the next day. Repenting, she prayed to the Virgin to be healed from an incurable disease, and on July 2nd, the Feast of the Visitation, finding that she was well, she exhorted everyone to . . .