A brief history of the San Damiano site, taken from the 2022 brochure of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X.

San Damiano is a place of prayer and pilgrimage that has given many graces to the faithful of the Tradition. On September 29, 1961, Mamma Rosa was cured of a serious illness, which she attributed to Our Lady of the Roses. Although the apparitions were never recognized as such by the Church, San Damiano was a catalyst for many of the faithful who were attached to the traditional Mass, encouraging them to resist all the novelties introduced into the Church’s liturgy, such as the use of the vernacular or communion in the hand. Many of them returned from San Damiano full of enthusiasm, determined to find a place where Mass was celebrated according to the Tridentine rite. The estate of Ecône, on which Archbishop Lefebvre’s seminary was built, counts some of these pilgrims among its buyers. Others of these faithful favored the establishment of the Fraternity in South Africa. It should also be added that priestly or religious vocations have been fostered at San Damiano. In 2017, the Swiss District of the SSPX built a church there to encourage the prayer of pilgrims. It is part of the “Casa del Pellegrino San Pio X”, right next to the house of Mamma Rosa. To this day, the Rosary is prayed in Latin daily at San Damiano.