Shrine of Loreto

The Holy House in the heart of the Marche

At the exact centre of the basilica, where great churches usually place the high altar, Loreto shelters a building older than everything else: a small rectangular construction about 9.5 metres by 4, made of stones and bricks foreign to the soil of the Marche.^[2] Tradition recognises in it the three walls of the Virgin's house in Nazareth — the fourth side being open, since at Nazareth it corresponded to the rock-cut grotto in front of which the house was built.^[3]

According to the Loreto account, this house was transported from Nazareth to Loreto at the end of the 13th century, after the fall of the last Latin states of the Holy Land — first to Tersatto (Trsat, in Croatia) in 1291, then to the hill of Loreto on the night of 9–10 December 1294. The details of this translation, the historical hypothesis of the Angeli family who are said to have brought the stones by sea, and the archaeological examination of the walls are set out in the article Our Lady of Loreto. What matters here is the consequence: around this relic, people wanted to build a church worthy of it.

"At Loreto, this altar stands in the basilica where the Holy House is enclosed, like a precious diamond, in a casing of white marble." — St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Story of a Soul, on her pilgrimage to Loreto (1887)^[4]

Why so great a basilica for three walls

The contrast is striking: a humble peasant house from Galilee, and around it one of the vastest basilicas of the Renaissance — 93 metres long, 60 wide, crowned with a dome and flanked by a bell tower over 75 metres high.^[5] This disproportion is no whim: it expresses a theological conviction. If these walls are truly those where "the Word became flesh", then no architecture is too beautiful to shelter them. The basilica is entirely a monstrance of stone: its sole reason for being is to display, protect, and honour the Santa Casa it enshrines.

The logic is the same as at St Peter's in Rome, where the immense basilica exists only to cover the apostle's tomb. At Loreto, the "tomb" is a house, and the casing is double: a sculpted marble revetment directly encloses the house, and the basilica envelops the whole. As we shall see, each of these two envelopes called upon the greatest artists of their time.

The beginnings: from Paul II to the first master builders

The house of Nazareth, at first sheltered by a simple lean-to, so quickly drew crowds that a true church had to be built. Work on the great basilica began around 1468-1469, on the initiative of the bishop of Recanati Niccolò dall'Aste, then under the patronage of Pope Paul II (1464-1471).^[6] The first design was entrusted to the Venetian Marino di Marco Cedrino; in 1471, a certain Iacopo Petruccio was appointed "mason and builder".^[7]

The building rose in successive campaigns, at the pace of pontificates. Giuliano da Maiano raised the octagonal drum meant to carry the dome and began the wall-walks; from 1487-1488 onward, the Tuscan Baccio Pontelli continued the brick flanks and completed the fortified galleries that give the shrine its fortress-like appearance.^[8] Popes succeeded one another as patrons — Sixtus IV, Julius II, Leo X, Clement VII — until the structure and the facade were completed in 1587 under Sixtus V.^[9]

The dome by Giuliano da Sangallo (1499-1500)

The crowning of the building is the work of Giuliano da Sangallo, one of the great Florentine architects of the Renaissance. His dome, raised in the style of Brunelleschi, was vaulted in only nine months, from September 1499 to 23 May 1500.^[10] With a diameter of about 22 metres, it long passed for the second-largest dome of the Renaissance after that of Florence Cathedral — a traditional ranking often repeated, which must be taken as approximate.^[11]

"And precisely here in Loreto, we have the opportunity to place ourselves at the school of Mary, of her who was proclaimed blessed because she believed (Lk 1:45)." — Benedict XVI, homily at Loreto, 4 October 2012^[12]

Inside, the vault was first adorned with frescoes by Cristoforo Roncalli, known as Pomarancio (1610-1615); badly deteriorated, they were replaced between 1890 and 1907 by the great decoration of Cesare Maccari, the Sienese painter, who unfolded there the Litany of Loreto, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the angelic hierarchy.^[13]

Bramante and the Apostolic Palace

Under Julius II (1503-1513), the shrine took on a new scale. In 1507, the pope removed Loreto from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Recanati and placed it under the direct authority of the Holy See.^[14] He called upon Donato Bramante, the architect of the new St Peter's, who consolidated the dome, designed the square and the Apostolic Palace bordering the shrine, and conceived the project for the marble casing of the Santa Casa (see below).^[15] It was under Julius II and his successors that Loreto ceased to be a mere regional place of devotion and became a papal undertaking, endowed with a palace, a garrison and its own administration.

A fortress-shrine against the Turks

Loreto's military appearance is no mere decoration. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Adriatic coasts were threatened by Ottoman raids: the capture of Otranto in 1480, descents on Grottammare (1479) and Porto Recanati (1518).^[16] A wealthy shrine, filled with ex-votos and gold, set near the shore, was a tempting prey. The basilica was therefore surrounded with covered, projecting wall-walks — begun by Giuliano da Maiano, completed by Baccio Pontelli under Cardinal Girolamo Basso della Rovere — which still give it today its citadel silhouette.^[17] Leo X ordered new fortifications in 1518, and Sixtus V ringed the town with ramparts in 1586. These defences were, in fact, never attacked: the house-fortress watched over a treasure that no fleet ever came to seize.^[18]

The facade and the bronze doors

The facade in white Istrian stone, in the late Florentine Renaissance style, was raised in several stages from 1571 onward and completed in 1587 for Sixtus V.^[19] On the lintel of the great door runs a 16th-century Latin inscription summarising for the pilgrim the history of the Holy House.^[20]

Three monumental bronze doors, commissioned for the Jubilee of 1600 by the cardinal-rector Antonio Maria Gallo and cast at Recanati, close the facade: the central door is the work of Antonio Lombardo and his sons (1590-1611), the right-hand door of Antonio Calcagni, the left-hand door of Tiburzio Vergelli.^[21] Their panels recount, in relief, the history of salvation, from Creation to Redemption.

The bell tower by Vanvitelli

The bell tower, 75.6 metres high, was built from 1750 to 1754 by Luigi Vanvitelli, the great architect of the Royal Palace of Caserta.^[22] It houses a carillon of nine bells that rings out the Litany of Loreto. The largest, known as "la Loreta", was cast at the beginning of the 16th century and weighs several tons — sources differ on its exact date (1515 or 1516) and its weight.^[23]

The following table summarises the main stages of this construction spread over nearly three centuries.

Bramante's design (1509) and the commission of Julius II

The masterpiece of Loreto is neither the dome nor the façade: it is the marble casing that directly envelops the Holy House. To prevent pilgrims, in their fervour, from tearing fragments off the venerated walls, and to give the relic a setting worthy of it, Julius II commissioned Bramante, around 1509, to create a sculpted marble revetment.^[24] The architect conceived a sort of small ancient temple — an adorned podium, superimposed Corinthian columns, a projecting cornice — which entirely envelops the house of Nazareth like a stone reliquary.

Sansovino and the Renaissance sculptors

The execution of the reliefs was first entrusted in 1511 to Gian Cristoforo Romano, who died as early as 1512. It was Andrea Sansovino, summoned by Leo X in 1513, who became its master builder and worked on it until around 1526–1527.^[25] After him, a long succession of sculptors continued the work: Niccolò Tribolo, Raffaello da Montelupo, Francesco da Sangallo, then the Lombardo workshop, Antonio Calcagni, Giovanni Battista Della Porta. In total, nearly 600 m² of sculpture were produced over some seventy years.^[26]

"That did not suit us. It was in the diamond, and not in the casket, that we wished to receive the Bread of Angels." — Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Story of a Soul, on the communion she received in the Santa Casa^[27]

The scenes: Annunciation, Nativity, Translation

The sculpted programme of the casing recounts the life of the Virgin and the history of the Holy House. Most notable are the Annunciation — Sansovino's masterpiece, placed on the nave side — the Nativity, the Nativity of the Virgin, and the Translation of the Santa Casa carried by angels over the sea.^[28] Between the scenes, prophets and sibyls announce the coming of Christ. The pilgrim walking around the casing thus reads, sculpted in marble, the whole economy of salvation, from the promise to the Incarnation.

The sacristies: Signorelli and Melozzo da Forlì

Beyond the Santa Casa, the basilica is a museum of the Renaissance. Two sacristies adorned with major frescoes flank the apse: the sacristy of Saint John, decorated by Luca Signorelli in 1477–1480, and the sacristy of Saint Mark, painted by Melozzo da Forlì around 1477–1479.^[29] These two ensembles, predating the great basilica itself, are among the first monumental works of art gathered around the Holy House.

In the vaults of the nave, Signorelli also painted a series of medallions of prophets; on the pillars, Lorenzo Lotto added prophets and sibyls in grisaille in 1552.^[30] Lotto, one of the great Venetian painters of the 16th century, ended his life at Loreto as an oblate of the Santa Casa.

The Treasury Hall and Pomarancio

The Treasury Hall (Sala del Tesoro) houses one of the finest painted decorations in the sanctuary: the vault was covered with frescoes by Cristoforo Roncalli, known as Pomarancio, between 1605 and 1610.^[31] Scenes from the life of the Virgin, prophets and sibyls, the Assumption, the Translation of the Holy House and the Coronation unfold there. The hall preserved the countless ex-votos offered over the centuries by pilgrims, princes and kings — chalices, jewels, silver plaques — many of which were dispersed during the Napoleonic spoliations.

A statue blackened by the centuries

In the Holy House, on the altar, stands the venerated statue of the Black Madonna of Loreto (Madonna Nera), holding the Child.^[32] Her dark colour has nothing exotic about it: the medieval cedar-wood statue, placed there according to tradition at the beginning of the 14th century, blackened over the centuries under the smoke of oil lamps and candles. The devotion attached to this image, its coronations and its role in Marian piety are covered in the article Our Lady of Loreto.

The 1921 fire and the Pius XI statue

On 23 February 1921, a fire ravaged the Holy House and destroyed the medieval statue.^[33] Pius XI immediately ordered its replacement: the new Virgin was carved from a Lebanon cedar taken from the Vatican gardens, modelled by Enrico Quattrini and darkened by Leopoldo Celani, to preserve the appearance of the former image.^[34] The pope crowned it at St Peter's in Rome in 1922, then had it solemnly transported to Loreto, where it was placed on the altar of the Holy House on 8 October 1922.^[35] It is this statue that pilgrims venerate today.

From village to city: Sixtus V (1586)

The shrine made the town. Around the basilica there first grew a pilgrimage borough, which flourished as Loreto drew the whole of Europe. In 1586, Sixtus V fortified the settlement, granted it the privileges of a city and erected a diocese there by the bull Pro excellenti of 17 March 1586.^[36] Today, Loreto is a small town of about 13,000 inhabitants in the province of Ancona, perched some 127 metres above sea level on a ridge overlooking the Apennines on one side and the Adriatic on the other.^[37]

The Pontifical Delegation and the status of the shrine

Loreto has a singular canonical status. Since 1507, the Holy House has been directly subject to the Holy See; the basilica is the property of the Holy See.^[38] Over the centuries, this direct link was reorganised on several occasions.

"Thus, here in Loreto we find a house that makes us dwell, abide, and at the same time makes us journey onwards, reminding us that we are all pilgrims, that we must always be on the way towards another house, towards our definitive home, that of the Eternal City, the dwelling of God with redeemed humanity. (cf. Rev 21:3)." — Benedict XVI, homily at Loreto, 4 October 2012^[39]

The following table summarises the main stages in the juridical status of the shrine.

The shrine is today governed by a pontifical delegate, an archbishop-prelate, assisted by a board of administration whose members are appointed by the Secretariat of State.^[40] The office has been held since 2017 by Archbishop Fabio Dal Cin.^[41]

Capuchins and confessors of the nations

Because Loreto welcomes pilgrims from across Europe, the shrine was very early concerned with offering them confession in their own language. The Jesuits, who arrived in 1554, ran the Illyrian College there and provided multilingual confessors; the Capuchins (Capuchin Friars Minor), present since the end of the 16th century, were made sole custodians of the basilica by Pius XI in 1934.^[42] Still today, the Capuchin fraternity of Loreto brings together friars from many countries to staff the Penitentiary and welcome pilgrims in their own languages.^[43]

Loreto among the shrines of Christendom

For centuries, Loreto was, along with Rome and the Spain of Compostela, one of the great centres of Western pilgrimage. The roads of the Marche channelled walkers from all over Italy and from beyond the Alps towards the Santa Casa. Like climbing the steps of Rocamadour or the long road to Saint James, the walk to Loreto is an asceticism of the body placed at the service of the soul: one does not come merely to see a house, one comes to enter it on one's knees. Even today, the shrine receives several million visitors each year and ranks among Europe's foremost Marian shrines.^[44]

A multitude of saints at the Santa Casa

Few shrines can boast such a list of saintly pilgrims: the Lauretan tradition counts more than two hundred of them.^[45] Among them came Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Francis de Sales, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, and Saint Gianna Beretta Molla.^[46]

Among them, the pilgrimage of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, in November 1887, has remained famous. The young Carmelite obtained, with her sister Céline, the grace of receiving Communion inside the Holy House itself:

"Straight away, that devoted priest asked for two small hosts, which he placed on his paten, and you can imagine, dear Mother, the unspeakable happiness of that Communion! Words are powerless to express it. What will it be, then, when we receive Communion eternally in the dwelling of the King of Heaven?" — Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Story of a Soul^[47]

Other figures, though not saints, marked the history of the shrine: Michel de Montaigne came on pilgrimage in 1581 and left a silver ex-voto there; René Descartes vowed, after the three dreams of November 1619, a pilgrimage of thanksgiving to Our Lady of Loreto.^[48]

Patroness of aviators

The singularity of Loreto — a house which tradition says crossed the skies — earned it an unexpected patronage in the twentieth century. By a pontifical brief of 24 March 1920, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed the Virgin of Loreto "Aeronautarum Patrona", patroness of aviators and of all who travel through the air.^[49] The logic was clear: she whose house had, according to popular piety, flown from Nazareth to the Marche was the natural choice to watch over men who rise into the sky. The pope even approved a formula for the blessing of aeroplanes.^[50]

The feast of Our Lady of Loreto is set on 10 December, the traditional anniversary of the Holy House's arrival. In 2019, Pope Francis inscribed it as an optional memorial in the General Roman Calendar.^[51] For the centenary of the patronage of aviators, he also granted a Lauretan jubilee year, opened on 8 December 2019 and, owing to the pandemic, extended until 10 December 2021.^[52]

The pilgrim popes of Loreto

Few shrines have seen so many popes pass through. The most memorable of these pilgrimages was that of John XXIII, on 4 October 1962, a week before the opening of the Second Vatican Council: on the threshold of the Council, the pope came to Loreto and Assisi as a pilgrim, to entrust the Council to the Virgin of Loreto and to Saint Francis of Assisi and to invoke the grace of the Holy Spirit. It was the first journey of a pope outside Rome since the time of Pius IX, and the first time a pontiff had travelled by rail.^[53]

The following table summarises the great papal pilgrimages of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The gesture of Francis, on 25 March 2019 — the solemnity of the Annunciation — is particularly eloquent: it was in the house which tradition holds to be that of the Annunciation that he signed the apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit, addressed to the young people of the whole world at the close of the 2018 synod.^[55]

What makes Loreto spiritually unique is not a tomb or a miraculous image, but a space: a house one enters. The pilgrim does not merely gaze at a relic from afar; he crosses the threshold of the Holy House, as one enters someone's home. There, beneath the stones which tradition says are those of Nazareth, he stands at the very place where, according to the faith of the Church, "the Word became flesh" — not in an abstraction, but in a house, a family life, a hidden labour.

That is why Loreto was very early understood as the school of Nazareth: the school of the hidden life, of obedience and of Mary's fiat. This spiritual dimension — the lesson of Nazareth, the shrine of families, the prayer of abandonment — is developed in the article Our Lady of Loreto. But the monument itself already preaches it: by setting a humble peasant dwelling within a palace of marble, Loreto proclaims that holiness dwells first not in grandeurs, but in the everyday life of a home offered to God.

• Our Lady of Loreto — the Marian devotion proper to Loreto: the Holy House as a relic, the account of the translation, the Angeli hypothesis, the examination of the stones, the Litany of Loreto and the spirituality of Nazareth.
• Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome — the other great shrine built to enshrine a major relic (the tomb of Saint Peter).
• Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre — the Holy Land shrines which guard, near neighbouring Nazareth, the memory of the Incarnation and the Redemption.
• Shrine of Compostela and Shrine of Rocamadour — two other great pilgrimages of medieval Christendom, for comparing the traditions of walking to a shrine.