On December 10, the church commemorates Our Lady of Loreto, referring to the Holy House of Loreto, where Mary was born and the angel Gabriel appeared to her at the Annunciation. This feast may appear odd to honour a title for the Blessed Virgin Mary based on a house, but the title becomes more fitting when it falls in the season of Advent.
Tradition says that the Blessed Virgin Mary‘s true residence is a simple house in Loreto, Italy, which was initially in Nazareth. This house is quite small, with one room measuring 30 x 13 feet. It is made entirely of stones and mortar collected in Palestine and hand-chiseled in a similar way to the building that were there in Jesus’ day. It was also the residence of St. Anne and St. Joachim, Mary’s parents and this is the house where the Immaculate Conception occurred. Traditions also say that the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in this house, and that the incarnation occurred here. When the Holy Family came back to Nazareth from Egypt, they had lived here. It is said that Jesus stayed here until he was thirty, before he began his public ministry. This is also believed to be the place where St. Joseph passed away.
Thus, this house has been considered as a pilgrimage site since the time of the apostles. Constantine built a basilica around it in 313 AD. However, it was demolished by the Saracens in 1090, yet the Holy House remained intact. Another basilica was built in the twelfth century, but it was also destroyed by Muslims in 1263 during the Crusades. The Holy House was once again not destroyed. It is recorded that the Holy House vanished from Nazareth and again appeared in modern-day Croatia When the Christians were fully sent out of the Holy Land in 1291. It is said again angels moved it to Recanti, Italy was later relocated to its current position in Loreto, Italy.
There’s a another side to this story where it says records have been found in the Vatican archives in 1900 that provide an alternative account of the Holy House’s move. The records showed that the relic’s evacuation and transportation was arranged by a noble Byzantine family known as the Angeli, most likely by ship, to Croatia and then to Italy in 1291, just before the Crusaders left the Holy Land. The legend that angels brought the house from Nazareth may have originated from the name “Angeli,” which means “angels.” In addition there is an interesting statement from Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a mystic from the seventeenth century, who has said, “I have frequently in vision witnessed the transporting of the Holy House to Loreto.” I couldn’t believe it for a long time, but I kept seeing it. I saw seven angels carrying the Holy House across the sea and there was a bright surface of light beneath it, but it lacked a base.”
There are some scientific evidence that are worth taking a look at. Firstly, the mortar and stones used to build the walls are unique to the Nazareth and are not found anywhere in Italy. Secondly, the absence of cracks in the walls suggests that the structures were never disassembled and then reassembled. Thirdly, it would have been challenging to reconstruct the house to its original dimensions as the scale of the house precisely fits the foundation in Nazareth from where it is thought to have originated. Fourthly, it would have been difficult to move a house in the thirteenth century without first disassembling it, which makes idea of angels’ transportation possible. Fifth, the home has been located on a public road, which is still visible beneath the house’s foundation which raises the question as to why a house was rebuilt on a public road. Lastly, the fact that the house has such a strong legacy of devotion in Croatia and Italy, where it first arrived, implies that the house’s miraculous relocation actually happened.
The above reasons make us believe that the Holy House was transported by angels rather than the Crusaders physically moving it at the Angeli family’s request. Loreto became the final home for this Holy House. The home is located in a massive basilica. The exterior of the Holy House is coated with marble, while the interior has the original basic stone and mortar walls. An altar with the inscription “Hic Verbum Caro Factum Est” (“Here the Word was made flesh”) may be found on the east wall. Above the altar stands a statue of Our Lady of Loreto. The current statue is a reproduction of an ancient one made of Lebanon cedar, known as one of the “Black Madonnas” due to centuries of candle and incense burning. The original statue was destroyed by fire and replaced by another similar statue made from cedar from the Vatican in the 1920s.
One may deny the initial origin of the home, argue about the miraculous passage of the house to Loreto, or dislike the picture of the statue of Our Lady of Loreto, but this feast day is essential to all Catholics. The Feast of Our Lady of Loreto connects the Advent season to Christmas.
