In the 1950’s, Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, the beloved son of Dona Lucilia, said:
“It is necessary, even more in these times, to have a special devotion to the solitude of Our Lady: she was alone at the foot of the Cross, with some of the holy women and, at one point, Saint John joined them. The entire world was against her, because the world was against her son. They despised her as the mother of a criminal; they persecuted her; they wanted to kill her. Despite all this, she remained standing all the time. And then, when Our Lord was buried, and she went to the Cenacle, she felt completely alone; she endured the torment of loneliness, which was one of the most terrible pains of Our Lady, incredible loneliness. And that’s how in these days, for us to be good, we must remain alone; because no one understands, no one approves, no one sympathizes, nobody wants us. When this happens, we should ask Our Lady of Solitude to grant us the courage be alone; because at this point in history, if we are not prepared to be alone, on many occasions we could lose our soul; so, the torment of loneliness becomes a necessary condition for salvation. We need the number of those of us who are isolated to become so great, that the isolated isolate those who are now the majority. We who are alone, need to be ever more numerous, must seek others who are isolated like us across the world, to unite together. And having done this we can say, ‘It was the glorious victory of the glorious legion of the isolated ones’. It is necessary not to lose sight of this.”
In response to these words, we started this website. We know that more than 60 years have passed since these words were pronounced, and the situation has not improved. On the contrary, it has worsened and continues to decline terribly. This could lead us to think, that there is no solution. It is in the midst of this uncertainty that we wish to shine a little light on these shadows. We desire to unite women from around the world who feel isolated, excluded or somehow feel that they should not be allowing the world to drag them along. We want them to find this place of refuge, this place of support in a community of other “isolated” women; and we hope that somehow through donalucilia.com, we help to realize Dr. Plinio’s desire: “We need the number of those of us who are isolated to become so great, that the isolated isolate those who are now the majority.”
That is the purpose of this website. Where could we find a better way, than by following Dona Lucilia’s steps, a lady who was isolated for much of her life, but despite this did not allow herself to be carried away by the pleasures of the world, in order to escape the loneliness. She was able to firmly confront the sufferings that she had to endure – the time of revolution, the time of decadence – and she knew how to say yes to that isolation as many times as necessary. Now you know – you are no longer alone and much less isolated, because we have a great example to follow: Dona Lucilia. Through the study of her book, she will be guiding us in how to face the moments of solitude; she will teach us to fight, to pray, how to dress, how to educate our children, how to be feminine. She will teach us to be truly Catholic ladies!
Please help us to fulfill Dr. Plinio’s desire. Invite your friends to visit donalucilia.com, so they, themselves, will not be isolated and so that they can, in turn, support other ladies around the world. Together, we can increase our devotion to Our Lady of Solitude and we will learn together from Dona Lucilia.
Why not gather a group of ladies to study Dona Lucilia and support one another to become “truly Catholic ladies” by taking part in the book study together. If you have questions you can write us at donaluciliawebsite@gmail.com.
