This year in Cremona the traditional city pilgrimage on May 2nd to the Loreto Sanctuary at the parish church of Sant’Abbondio will have a particular meaning. It will not only officially mark the opening of the Marian month, but will inaugurate the 4th centenary of the Cremonese Holy House. Precisely on this occasion the pastoral letter “At the heart of our city” will be available. In the fourth centenary of the Lauretano Sanctuary in Cremona” written for the occasion by Bishop Antonio Napolioni.
The appointment is set for 9pm in the Cathedral: from here the procession with flambeaux will unfold and will travel along Piazza del Comune, Largo Boccaccino, Via Mercatello, Corso Mazzini, Corso Matteotti, Vicolo Lauretano and Piazza S. Abbondio. The Marian prayer will be led by Bishop Antonio Napolioni and will see the presence of the Cathedral Chapter and, together with their communities, the priests of pastoral area 3.
The parish priest Don Andrea Foglia will welcome the bishop and pilgrims in the church of Sant’Abbondio.
Once the prayer of the Rosary is concluded, the bishop will give the homily, then, while singing the Magnificat, accompanied by the priests present, he will go inside the sanctuary to pay homage to the Black Madonna.
At the end of the celebration all the faithful will also be able to access the Holy House and stop there in prayer and the pastoral letter dedicated to the Loreto Sanctuary will be distributed with the program of events that will accompany the next few months, until December. The small volume of pastoral lines has on the cover the statue of the crowned Virgin with the Child in the foreground, in the background a panoramic image of the city seen from the sky.
The history of the Loreto Sanctuary in Cremona dates back to the early 1600s. The Cremonese jurist and nobleman Giovan Pietro Ala, very devoted to the Black Madonna, visited the Loreto sanctuary every year. As he grew older he realized that the distance and the inconveniences of the journey would no longer allow him to go to Loreto, so he decided to build a copy of the house of Nazareth, preserved in Loreto, inside the cemetery of Sant’Abbondio , adjacent to the church of the same name. Two Theatine fathers went in person to Loreto to reproduce with drawings the exact measurements and features of the Holy House. The laying of the first stone dates back to 1 March 1624 when some historical sources report the excavation of the foundations and speak of the construction of the walls in full resemblance to the Holy House of Loreto. It took 36 days to complete, a relatively short time thanks to the favorable weather that accompanied the construction of the works.
That of Sant’Abbondio is one of the oldest copies of Mary’s house. Indeed, it was itself a model for other copies that spread throughout Italy and even abroad. In Pozzaglio, in the Cremona area, there was one under the custody of the Barnabites, but today no trace remains of it because it was demolished.
On 21 January 1625, at the request of Giovan Pietro Ala, the public decree was issued according to which the city was placed under the protection of the Most Holy Virgin of the Holy House. Since then, the people of Cremona have been going to the sanctuary which is located in the center of the city.
The statue of the Black Madonna was sculpted – the name of the author is not known – also in 1624. And since that date it has stood above the altar of the Holy House. It is known that in 1630 she was carried in procession to prevent the Manzonian plague from entering the city. Precisely because of this epidemic Giovan Petro Ala died and, by his will, was buried in the cemetery of Sant’Abbondio.
The Santa Casa and the Loreto Museum still preserve a precious collection of votive offerings today. There are around one hundred pieces, mostly dating back to the years immediately following the foundation of the Holy House. Mostly these are small pictures painted with the scene of the miracle. The authors are presumably people hosted in the Theatine residence. These are works of undoubted historical as well as religious value. (www.diocesidicremona.it)
The photo of the Holy House is by Antonio Leoni
