Hic Verbum Caro Factum Est

These days of Advent are truly Marian - marked particularly by Marian feasts, from the Immaculate Conception to Our Lady of Guadalupe.   Well, there is another day, one of my favourites: Our Lady of Loreto.  It is the title associated with Our Lady at the sanctuary of Loreto where the Holy House of Nazareth is preserved (La Santa Casa).

The home of the Our Lady in Nazareth was in two parts: one a grotto which remains in Nazareth and forms the heart of the Church of Our Lady there.  The other was a stone building which had been added to the grotto.  According to tradition, increasingly being supported by archaeological evidence, the house was an important centre of Christian worship in the Holy Land right from the early years.  When the Crusaders came they held the house in great veneration and built a great church over.  When the Muslims began to expel the Crusaders, in an effort to save as many relics as they could, the stone house was dismantled and taken to Europe. It was eventually reconstructed on a hill above the town of Ancona on the east coast of Italy, on a hill known for its laurels - hence the name of the sanctuary and city which grew up around the reconstructed house, Loreto.  The house is now preserved within a marble casing and is the heart of a great and beautiful basilica. 

For centuries it was believed that angels had taken the house up into the air and this feast day commemorates the house's arrival in Italy on the night of the 9th/10th December 1294.  According to the tradition the house was taken up miraculously in 1291 to save it from destruction.  It was brought by air to Tersatto, Dalmatia, in modern Croatia, where it remained for three years and became a pilgrimage site.  Then on the 9th December 1294 it was taken up again, to arrive in woods near Recanati, early on the 10th December.  The following year it was moved to the hill of laurels - Loreto.

There had been much debate over the story for centuries.  Modern historical and archaeological research has undermined the legend, but has confirmed the authenticity of the relic itself. While the story of the house's flight may not be true, this is the house of Mary, of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Spiritually there is so much to reflect on.  I had the joy of visiting the Holy House twice, and it is one of my favourite Marian shrines - it's a toss up between Fatima, Loreto and Medjugorje.   The Holy House resonates with the lives of Jesus and Mary: it can be said that those stones are silent witnesses to great events.  It is known as the House of the Annunication, and over the altar in the House are the words, taken from St John's Gospel and the Angelus (the prayer of Loreto): Hic Verbum Caro Factum Est - Here the Word Was Made Flesh - in prayer and meditation, that word "Here" is mindblowing when you realise you are actually there, within the actual walls.

Each time I have been in Loreto, Our Lady always had graces for me, and of course it is natural - you come as a guest into her home, and so she welcomes you - Our Lady is most hospitable.  I had the enjoy of offering Holy Mass twice on the altar in the House itself, and that was a tremendous privilege.  The Capuchins there are most welcoming.   

Loreto is a place I would like to bring pilgrims, though I haven't had an opportunity to do so......yet.  What do you think, Fraternity members, how about a pilgrimage to Loreto?