The double rainbow seen at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., turned out to be pointing to something rarer than the proverbial pot of gold: a woman’s faith and a worker’s integrity.

As a campus groundskeeper raked leaves at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes Nov. 9, he struck two bags of gold and silver coins. He immediately brought it to shrine director Bill Tronolone, who knew he had to contact the police to make sure the coins — worth $40,000 — weren’t stolen goods.

The university didn’t have far to go to reunite the life savings with its rightful owner.

Tronolone said Nov. 12 a woman approached him after Mass to ask him, “Did anybody find two bags of coins, my life savings?”

She had to go out of town on an emergency, had a safety deposit box, but knew only one place to trust the rare coins.

“The owner just wanted a safe place to keep her life savings, and in her thinking, ‘What better place than the grotto, right next to the statue of Mary?’” said Tronolone. She told him, “I have great love and trust and devotion in Mary. What better person to leave it with? She would never hurt me.”

Amazingly, she left the money in the open only 10 feet from where thousands of people sit, pray and light candles near our Blessed Mother’s statue at this grotto, built in 1875 by seminarians to honor Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes. Falling leaves covered the bags.

“It’s a miracle nobody saw these bags,” said Tronolone. The other miracle is what he and many others see as great lessons, even though some others thought the woman’s actions were “crazy.”

“It’s about faith and the devotion you have to God in a unique way,” explained Tronolone, pointing out a line in a recent Gospel where Jesus says to leave everything and follow him. “This is basically what this woman did with her life savings. She was putting her money where her faith is.”

The other part is about the integrity of the anonymous groundskeeper.

“Everybody,” the shrine director said, “did the right thing in a very wrong world.”

Linda Sherman, Mount St. Mary’s communications director, who was at the grotto with school officials at a photo shoot, said, “In this time, especially when the economy is down, it’s such a tremendous story of great faith — great faith in the Blessed Mother and in the protection of the Blessed Mother.”

She added, “It’s also very telling of the integrity of the man who found the coins and turned them in immediately.”

The university considers itself blessed to have this gentleman working here.

“This time of year, too, when we’re looking at our blessings, it restores our faith in humanity,” she said. “It gives us hope, and we sure can use a dose of that.”

“God really treats us well,” Sherman said. “He takes care of us in just the way we need to be taken care of.”

Especially when his Mother is involved.