In 1923 three children from Roccafiorita, Carmelo and Alessandro Occhino brothers and Filippo Occhino, their cousin, were at the San Pietro fair. Curiously, with eyes beaming with happiness, they saw a statuette of the Madonna and Child on a tent lying on the sand of the stream. They were spellbound. They wanted to buy it but they didn't have enough money. They resorted to their mother, Carmela Occhino, to get 5 lire each. It was hard for the poor woman to give her children half the price of a sheep sold but she did. The statue wrapped in a cloth was brought with great joy to Roccafiorita. And now what to do? The children built a newsstand in the wall of the Archpriest's house, the Madonna received homages and prayers from the pilgrims, who went to the Chain Sanctuary. After the Second World War broke out, Carmelo Occhino was recalled to the air force, becoming Sergeant Major. On a tragic day in 1942, during hard fighting he found himself surrounded by cross fires, with all the ardor of his faith he invoked: "Our Lady of Help, help me! “Immediately the bombing stopped. In 1943 he was stationed in Rome and in memory of his prodigious salvation, with the help of fellow fighters and friends, he had the statue of Our Lady of Help executed. Before sending it to Roccafiorita, he managed to have it transported to the Vatican, where he stayed 3 days. On March 2, 1943, Pope Pius XII stopped to contemplate the beautiful image and blessed it. And now the problem of shipping the statue arose. It was the most critical period of the war. Few and unsafe were the trains that traveled under the impending threat of strafing and bombing. Carmelo managed to send the statue in a box, on his own train which crossed the Strait of Messina unharmed and reached Santa Teresa di Riva. The Agrò river was in flood due to the rains and the box was diverted to Letojanni. Through Melia and Mongiuffi he should have reached Roccafiorita. But at the Mongiuffi crossroads it was already dark and it continued to rain. The horse that dragged the cart took the road to Gallodoro. The news of that arrival spread throughout the country and the parish priest Don Carmelo Ridolfi also learned about it. He could not resign himself to the idea that the Madonna blessed by the Pope was housed in a barn while there was the church. And so she was transferred to the parish house. The following day the bells rang. The church was full of faithful. The parish priest climbed into the pulpit and gave a speech so touching that it tearful tears for everyone present. The procession was ordered immediately after. The parish priest in the lead. Behind, the Simulacrum carried on the shoulder. And for the old difficult and tortuous path, reciting the Rosary he reached Roccafiorita. It was March 23, 1943. In the meantime Giuseppe Manuli, a veteran suffering from the Second World War, proposed that, once the war was over, the Madonna should be brought to Mount Kalfa. It was the year 1944. Before Manuli's proposal, there had been discussions about the location to choose for the new Sanctuary. Who wanted to rise in the Serro district, who at Serro Nugarese, who on the Rocca di San. Giovanni, who on Monte Kalfa. For this last choice there was the difficulty of the access road. The choice of Monte Kalfa prevailed, and Occhino Carmelo was Carmelo, Manuli Giuseppe was Carmelo, Saglimbeni Filippo was Domenico and Lombardo Carmelo was Giuseppe for the execution of the project. Efforts were made to trace the mule track, which is strictly passable. The war ended on April 29, 1945. The following May 24, sacred to Maria dell’Auto, the Madonna went up with a great competition of pilgrims from Roccafiorita, Limina, Gallodoro, Mongiuffi Melia and Antillo sul Monte. The Madonna was placed on a flattened rock, which was an altar, on which Don Carmelo Occhino celebrated Mass. Thus the Mountain received the chrism of sacredness. So if the Val di Chiodaro is the Holy Valley for the Madonna della Catena, the Rocca di Kalfa, since 1945 it is the Holy Mountain for the title of the Help. On the occasion of the first ascent of the Madonna on Mount Kalfa, some priests thought of Mary's ascent to Ain Karim, on the mountains of Judah: She set off in a hurry towards the mountain >>. In the meantime Carmelo Occhino writes to his brother Alessandro in the United States urging him to collect as much money as he can for the construction of the Shrine. And Alessandro gets to work, donating his valuable contribution and making a first collection between fellow citizens and friends. Thus he can send the first one hundred thousand lire. On Friday, August 25 of the same year, the Madonna was brought from the Parish to the Mountain. We left Roccafiorita at 8.30 am. At 10 there was the Shrine that was blessed and inaugurated by the Archpriest of Lìmina, Don Filippo Occhino, delegate for the occasion by the Archbishop's Curia of Messina.
