We discuss the history and theological significance of the Holy House of Loreto. Pope Francis, in 2019, extended this feast to the universal Church expressing a desire that all the faithful should know of this great miracle and this house of Nazareth - therefore, following the wish of the Holy Father, we preach this sermon on this most important shrine.
For pictures of the city of Loreto and of the Holy House and the Basilica, see this link [here]!
Listen online [here]!
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16th Century
inscription on the eastern façade of the Basilica of Loreto: "Christian pilgrim you have before your
eyes the Holy House of Loreto, venerable throughout the world on account of the
Divine mysteries accomplished in it and the glorious miracles herein wrought.
It is here that most holy Mary, Mother of God, was born; here that she was saluted
by the Angel, here that the eternal Word of God was made Flesh. Angels conveyed
this House from Palestine to the town Tersato in Illyria in the year of
salvation 1291 in the pontificate of Nicholas IV. Three years later, in the
beginning of the pontificate of Boniface VIII, it was carried again by the
ministry of angels and placed in a wood near this hill, in the vicinity of
Recanati, in the March of Ancona; where having changed its station thrice in
the course of a year, at length, by the will of God, it took up its permanent
position on this spot three hundred years ago [now, of course, more than 700
years]. Ever since that time, both the extraordinary nature of the event having
called forth the admiring wonder of the neighbouring people and the fame of the
miracles wrought in this sanctuary having spread far and wide, this Holy House,
whose walls do not rest on any foundation and yet remain solid and uninjured
after so many centuries, has been held in reverence by all nations."
List of the saints who have visited Loreto (up to 1960)
