The Holy House of Loreto
The memorial of Lady of Loreto was put back into the universal calendar, on this day by Pope Francis in December, 2019, in those halcyonic months just before the tsunami of Covid-insanity hit the world. Today we celebrate the home where the Holy Family lived.
But why Loreto, on the shores of the Adriatic in Italy, when the Holy Family lived in the Holy Land, at Nazareth? The legend goes that the house of Joseph, Mary and Jesus was, by tradition, lifted away by angels in 1291, to save it from desecration by the Muslim hordes. The house was taken first to Dalmatia (now Croatia), then to several spots in Italy, before its current spot, within a marvelous marble sarcophagus by various Renaissance masters, which is in turn is within the majestic Basilica della Santa Casa. (As an aside, it was an exact replica of the Holy House that was built by apparently miraculous means in 1061 on the site of what is now Our Lady of Walsingham shrine in England).
The ‘Santa Casa’ (Holy House) itself is a small stone structure, with three sides (the fourth side, which, by the way, matches the other three perfectly, is still in Nazareth). Inside are a statue and icon of the Virgin, with the former purportedly by Saint Luke himself.
There is much evidence that this may well be the very house of the Incarnation – the most earth-shattering event ever. Perhaps, however, it was not flown to its present location by angels, but rather moved around stone by stone by a family named ‘Angelos’ or ‘Angeli’ . (The stones have markings on them that may have signified to workers where they were to be placed). But one never knows, and we should not limit the power and miracles of God. After all, as the Angel said to Mary, with God nothing will be impossible.
Pope Saint John Paul II, in a 1993 letter on the Holy House, remarked on its importance:
The Holy House of Loreto is not only a “relic”, but also a precious and true “icon”. It is an “icon” not of abstract truths, but of an event and a mystery: the Incarnation of the Word…
It is not just a doctrine concerning the union between the divine and the human, but rather an event that happened at a precise point in time and space, as the words of the Apostle marvellously bring to light: “When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of woman”. Mary is that Woman.
May this Shrine of Loreto – as John XXIII said – be always a window opening onto the whole world, re-echoing those hidden voices which make known the sanctification of souls, families and peoples”.
There is another connection with Saint Joseph, in the strange and wonderful story in 1878 of the ‘Staircase of Loreto‘ in Santa Fe – The chapel named after the shrine had a choir loft, 22 feet up, but with no practical way to get there. The Sisters prayed a novena to Saint Joseph, at the end of which a mysterious man showed up, built a spiral staircase to the loft, without nails, perfectly constructed in a way that still baffles experts. The carpenter left without a trace – well, besides his marvelous, and perhaps miraculous, carpentry skills:
It is after Loreto that we name the Litany dedicated to Our Lady, with her various titles – to which the Popes have added other titles over time, including Pope Paul VI (Mother of the Church); John Paul II (Queen of the Family); and three new additions more recently Pope Francis (Mother of Mercy, Mother of Hope, Mother of Migrants).
The primary purpose of the Litany is to increase our devotion to the Mother of God, to seek her maternal intercession in all our needs. Of course, we have the Rosary as well, along with numerous other Marian devotions and prayers. We know not what gifts we might receive from such a munificent benefactor, who seeks all our good, and then some. As Our Lady of Guadalupe, whom we celebrate two days hence, would say to Juan Diego, ‘Am I not your mother?’.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→