The Messina earthquake of 1908 enters the scene not through an account of its destruction but through a religious claim: Carolina presents the earthquake as a time when the Virgin’s protection of Messina was demonstrated by numerous miracles. The disaster thus becomes part of the story’s devotional argument about a painting and the power attributed to it.

The Earthquake as a Recalled Event

Carolina places the earthquake two years before the chapel visit. The narrative supplies no description of the quake itself, its physical damage, or its victims; its significance here comes from how it is remembered and interpreted in the present.

The Madonna of the Letter and the Claim of Protection

Carolina identifies the painting as the Madonna of the Letter, depicting the Virgin about to deliver a holy message asking her Divine Son to protect the people of Messina. She says that this protection was granted and points to the many miracles during the earthquake as proof. Her account connects the image’s sacred subject to a specific disaster, making the quake evidence within her appeal rather than an independently narrated demonstration of supernatural intervention.