Having returned to Grosseto, three years after its move to Siena, the panel by Matteo di Giovanni depicting the Virgin of the Assumption, venerated by the Grossetos with the title of Our Lady of Graces.
This morning Don Franco Cencionidirector of the ecclesiastical cultural heritage office of the diocese of Grosseto and don Gian Paolo Marchetti, representing the Cathedral Chapter, they went to the headquarters of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape, in Siena, to collect the sacred image and bring it back to Grosseto, in view of the celebration of the solemn five-yearly festivals on May 5th.
The transfer to Siena took place on 16 June 2021 after that, in the previous weeks, the panel had been removed from the niche in the cathedral, wrapped in a protective cloth and kept in the bishop’s palace, where the crown that adorns the head of the Virgin of the Assumption, since the 1980s, after the previous crown was stolen by unknown persons. At the headquarters of the Superintendence, the sacred image was subjected to specific treatment, with the application of biocides to eliminate the presence of small molds (mild bacterial microflora). As for the transfer to Siena, so also for the return of the work to Grosseto the Episcopal Curia was able to make use of the precious collaboration of the staff of the provincial command of the Carabinieri of Grossetowhich ensured escort, traffic and safety services during the journey.
“We are deeply grateful to the Carabinieri, in the person of the provincial commander Colonel Sebastiano Arena, for the precious service they have ensured and for the way in which they have done it – comments Don Cencioni – It is, in fact, an image so dear to the devotion of many Grosseto people, as well as a work of sacred art which is among the most particular and refined of the 15th century Tuscan. Now we hand it back to the people of Maremma so that, by looking at it, they can learn from Mary the art of silence and custody in the heart of the grace that is Christ Jesus”.
Temporarily the panel was placed in the bishop’s palace, where the crown was repositioned and the panel placed in the protective case. Then on Saturday 27 April she will be solemnly welcomed into the cathedral with a ceremony that will begin at 5.30 pm with the reception of the sacred image in the cathedral churchyard by a representation of canons and the president of the Marian Congregation, Valeria Maggi. Once brought back to the cathedral, the Rosary will be prayed. Then at 6pm the pre-holiday Mass.
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A bit of history on the table of the Madonna delle Grazie
The oil painting by Matteo di Giovanni, originally part of a polyptych, has changed location several times within the cathedral. In the 1470s the work of Matteo di Giovanni arrived, in whose honor the sculptor Antonio Ghini was commissioned to create an altar to decorate the first wall of the left nave, in the immediate vicinity of the entrance. An arch that ends with a round glass window is still visible there today. Centuries later the image of the Madonna was moved to the opposite wall, at the beginning of the right nave. Finally in 1759 the sacred effigy was moved to where it still stands today. The altar was built in his honor in the transept. The chapel is a diocesan Marian sanctuary, as the Virgin of the Assumption, venerated with the title of Madonna delle Grazie, is the co-patron of the Church of Grosseto together with San Lorenzo. In the 1990s, the then parish priest of the cathedral, Don Roberto Nelli, had a votive lamp created, introducing the sign of the offering of oil which every year, in turn, is carried out by the 50 Parishes of the Diocese, so that a light always burns before the Madonna delle Grazie. And right in front of her, last year, for over 70 days after the outbreak of the lockdown, the Diocese prayed at midday, raising the supplication to the Virgin to implore the end of the pandemic and to ask for strength in faith.
Tags: Grosseto panel Madonna delle Grazie returned years restoration
