The Holy House is the relic that makes Loreto (AN) the destination of pilgrimages from all over the world.
But what is it all about?
It is the front part of the grotto of Nazareth, where the Virgin Mary is said to have been born and lived until the moment of the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel.
According to tradition, it was flown by angels from Nazareth to Tarsetto in 1291, when the Crusaders were expelled from Palestine.
Unfortunately, the pilgrims who frequented the area were often thieves, so 3 years later the angels set out again, transporting the house to Le Marche.
Initially they deposited the relic near Ancona.
The Holy House remained here for 9 months, until the angels lifted it up again to take it near Porto Recanati: However, it was too close to the sea and exposed to the dangers of Saracen raids.
On the night of December 09-10, 1294, the angels therefore decided to transport her to the top of a hill on the road between Recanati and the port, laying her on laurus nobilis[1]: this is how the sacred shrine arrived in Loreto.
There is no doubt that the relic is authentic, although it was probably not transported by air but by sea. The three walls of the Holy House match perfectly with the perimeter of the Grotto of Nazareth and what remains of Mary’s house.
The stones with which it is built do not come from the Recanatese area, but belong to the building tradition of Palestine at the time of Christ.
Documents and archaeological excavations also seem to confirm the hypothesis that the walls of the Holy House were transported to Loreto on a ship at the initiative of the noble Angeli family, which ruled Epirus: a recently discovered document from 1294 would attest that Nicephorus Angeli, despot of Epirus, in giving his daughter in marriage to Philip of Taranto, son of the King of Naples Charles II of Anjou, gave her a dowry of goods including “the holy stones taken from the House of Our Lady the Virgin Mother of God.”
In any case, the arrival of the Holy House in Loreto soon made headlines and the first pilgrims began to arrive to visit her seeking graces and blessings or sick people praying for healing.
They rightly felt the need to protect her: initially they elevated the relic, covering it with a vault, then surrounded it with porticoes and a small church, and finally the present Basilica of Loreto was built.
Work to realize structure began in 1469 and many artists took part: Donato Bramante designed the marble facing that guards the Holy House and Sansovino was in charge of its realization, giving rise to one of the most important monumental sculptural complexes of the Italian Renaissance; Giuliano da Sangallo created the Brunelleschian-style dome and Donato Bramante worked on various modifications and consolidations; Pomarancio first and Cesare Maccari later frescoed the dome and various artists of the 16th and 17th centuries decorated the nine apsidal chapels surrounding the Holy Sacellum.
Work ended in 1587 with the construction of the Late Renaissance style facade.
The elegant Baroque-style bell tower is instead due to Luigi Vanvitelli, the same author of the Royal Palace of Caserta.
The tower, about 75 meters high, has five levels and houses a concert of as many as nine bells: the largest is known as the Loreta bell and is rung for major occasions, such as the Pope’s visit to the city.
[1]Latin nomenclature of laurel.
This is where the name Loreto comes from.
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