From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 10th - Translation of The Holy House of Loreto   
   (1291, 1294)   
      
   Towards the end of the thirteenth century, the terrible news reached Europe   
   that   
   the Holy Land was lost to the Christians, who during two centuries had been   
   able   
   to maintain the Latin kingdom there by virtue of their repeated Crusades.   
   But at   
   the time the Church was deploring this painful loss, a new joy was given   
   them:   
   the holy house of Nazareth-site of the birth of the Mother of God, of Her   
   early   
   education and of the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel of the wondrous news   
   of   
   the Incarnation of the Son of God-had been found, transported miraculously,   
   near   
   Tersatz in Dalmatia (Yugoslavia) on May 10th of the year 1291. Between   
   Tersatz   
   and nearby Fiume, the residents of the region beheld one morning an edifice,   
   in   
   a location where never had any been seen before. After the residents of the   
   region talked among themselves of the remarkable little house surmounted by   
   a   
   bell tower, and which stood without foundations on the bare ground,   
   describing   
   its altar, an ancient statue of Our Lady, and other religious objects which   
   their wondering eyes had seen within it, another surprise came to astound   
   them   
   once more.   
      
   Their bishop suddenly appeared in their midst, cured from a lingering   
   illness   
   which had kept him bedridden for several months. He had prayed to be able to   
   go   
   see the prodigy for himself, and the Mother of God had appeared to him,   
   saying,   
   in substance: "My son, you called Me; I am here to give you powerful   
   assistance   
   and reveal to you the secret you desire to know. The holy dwelling is the   
   very   
   house where I was born... It is there that when the announcement was brought   
   by   
   the Archangel Gabriel, I conceived the divine Child by the operation of the   
   Holy   
   Spirit. It is there that the Word was made flesh! After My decease, the   
   Apostles   
   consecrated this dwelling, illustrated by such elevated mysteries, and   
   sought   
   the honor of celebrating the August Sacrifice there. The altar is the very   
   one   
   which the Apostle Saint Peter placed there. The crucifix was introduced by   
   the   
   Apostles, and the cedar statue is My faithful image, made by the hand of the   
   Evangelist Saint Luke... Your sudden return to health from so long an   
   illness   
   will bear witness to this prodigy." Nicolas Frangipane, governor of the   
   territory of Ancona, was absent, but when the news was carried to him, he   
   returned from a war in order to verify its authenticity. He sent to   
   Nazareth, at   
   the eastern limits of the Mediterranean Sea, the bishop and three other   
   persons,   
   to examine the original site of the house. Indeed the house was no longer   
   there,   
   but its foundations remained and were found conformable in every detail of   
   dimension and substance, to the stones at the base of the house now in   
   Dalmatia.   
   The testimony of the delegates was drafted according to legal formalities,   
   and   
   confirmed by a solemn oath.   
      
   Then, after three years spent in Dalmatia, the house disappeared. Paul Della   
   Selva, a holy hermit of that period and of the region of Ancona, wrote:   
   "During   
   the night of December 10th, a light from heaven became visible to several   
   inhabitants of the shores of the Adriatic Sea, and a divine harmony woke   
   them   
   that they might contemplate a marvel exceeding all the forces of nature.   
   They   
   saw and contemplated a house, surrounded by heavenly splendor, transported   
   through the air." The angelic burden was brought to rest in a forest, where   
   again the local residents were able to contemplate the signal relics which   
   it   
   contained. The antique Greek crucifix mentioned by Our Lady was made of   
   wood,   
   and attached to it was a canvas on which the words Jesus of Nazareth, King   
   of   
   the Jews, were painted. The cedar statue of the Virgin had been painted   
   also;   
   she wore a red robe and a blue cloak and held the Infant Jesus in Her arms.   
   His   
   right hand was raised in blessing; His left hand held a globe, symbol of His   
   sovereign power.   
      
      
   The story was far from ended. The house moved again, after robbers began to   
   intercept pilgrims coming through the forest to visit the marvel. Twice more   
   it   
   rose from its place, the first time coming to rest on a private terrain,   
   which   
   became then a source of dispute between two brothers; and finally on a   
   hilltop   
   where a dusty and uneven public road became its permanent site. For   
   centuries   
   the people of Dalmatia came across the sea on pilgrimage, often crying out   
   to   
   Our Lady and Her House to come back to them! Finally in 1559, after one such   
   visit by 300 pilgrims, the Sovereign Pontiff had a hospice built at Loreto   
   for   
   families who preferred to remain near the house, rather than return to a   
   land   
   deprived of its sacred presence.   
      
   The reddish-black stones of the house are a sort entirely foreign to Italy;   
   the   
   mortar cementing them is again entirely different from the   
   volcanic-ash-based   
   substance used in that country. The residents of the region put up a heavy   
   brick   
   wall to support the house, which was exposed to the torrential rains and   
   winds   
   of the hilltop and was completely without foundation. But no sooner was that   
   wall completed, than they came back one morning to find it had moved away   
   from   
   the house, as if to express its reverence, to a distance which permitted a   
   small   
   child to walk around it with a torch in hand. The Author of the miracle   
   wanted   
   it to be well understood that He who had brought it without human   
   assistance,   
   was capable also of maintaining it there where He had placed it, without   
   human   
   concourse.   
      
   The episodes concerning the Translation of the Holy House, all duly   
   verified,   
   were consigned in documents borne to Rome to the Sovereign Pontiffs at   
   various   
   epochs. Pope Sixtus IV declared that the house was the property of the Holy   
   See,   
   and assigned duties to specified personnel named to be its custodians. Pope   
   Leo   
   X accorded the indulgence applicable to the visit of several churches of   
   Rome   
   also to a pilgrimage to Loreto. Eventually a magnificent basilica was built   
   around the house, which within the basilica was itself enhanced by a white   
   marble edicule. Pope Clement IX in 1667, placed the story of the House in   
   the   
   Roman Martyrology for the 10th of December under the title: At Loreto, in   
   the   
   territory of Ancona, translation of the Holy House of Mary, Mother of God,   
   in   
   which the Word was made flesh. Pope Benedict XIV, a prodigious scholar   
   before he   
   became Pope, established the identity of the house with that of Nazareth,   
   against its detractors, and later worked for the embellishment of the August   
   sanctuary. The feast of Our Lady of Loreto is observed in many provinces of   
   the   
   Church, inscribed in the Proper of their dioceses by their bishops.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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