The Angels Came Down on Loreto

My week got better (chocolate, shopping, deep cleaning the house and cappuccinos always help), we decided to keep Bentley (the cat) for a while longer, and I finally got some time to blog about the last town we visited in Central Italy during the holiday break. Loreto, is a town on top of the rolling hills in the region of Marche, in the middle of Italy.

Sweet hills of Marche, minus the phone cords

This could easily be West Virginia

Legend has it that during the Crusades a team of angels went to the house where the Virgin Mary was born and got the news that she would be the mama to baby Jesus. Mary had been gone for a while but it was still a holy site. So these angels up rooted her house and flew it to the hills of Marche, depositing it intact on the hill where Loreto sits today. The Mary of Loreto is the saint for people traveling by air and aviators.

That is the kind of move I would have liked to have! No packing, no stress.

The other version is that the Muslims were blocking Jerusalem from access to the Christians during the Crusades around the 12th century. Holy sites were being threatened to be demolished, many were. Mary's house was in Turkey. Christian crusade soldiers fought to reach it in 1290, uprooted Mary's house and risked their lives for it first making a pit stop in Croatia, then in 1292 had it sailed across the Adriatic Sea protected by soldiers finally arriving in Italy and being preserved on this hill. The Basilica della Santa Casa (Sanctuary of the Holy House) was built around it, and around the cathedral the walled in town of Loreto was developed.

The walled in city of Loreto

Outside of the Basilica

Well, when we went to Loreto the first thing I noticed was this gigantic cathedral, as we entered it was decorated with intricate woodwork in the different wings. The most striking thing about the cathedral in Loreto was the number of Fransciscan priests that were there.

La Basilica della Santa Casa

Gorgeous woodwork in a prayer room

Apparently the Franscican order takes care of the cathedral, as they do for most historical sites and documents. In the center of the cathedral, behind the altar, was the little stone room that presumably belonged to Mary. This simple structure was without decorations, except for a few very faded paintings that were made during the crusades. No cameras were allowed in the room but visitors were allowed to pass through. Inside the room there was one statue in onyx of the virgin and child. Apparently, in Turkey and Istanbul, the Virgin Mary was often carved from black precious stones. I like to think she looked Ethiopean (that would mean she ate good too). There was a painting in my old office of an Ethiopean girl with a blue veil and she looked so sweet, just like I think Mary looked. Entering the room that day I felt the urge to cry. Granted, I get easily moved and teary eyed and come from a long heritage of easy weepers, but this room had some power that you could feel. Even if Mary never lived in there, thousands of people for centuries have entered and prayed for their deepest thoughts in that tiny little home the size of my bedroom, and the energy was there. Here is a picture of the little home that got it all started.

A very simple room except for the altar

It took me a while to remember the town's name but I remembered thanks to country singer Loretta Lynn, which is sort of fitting since she was famous for being the Coal Miners Daughter and the the home of Mary was super humble and the statue of Mary and Baby Jesus was like shiny coal.  In conclusion, thinking of Loretta and Loreto reminded me of the Appalachian Trail where I used to hike every summer. I think it would have been rather neat if angels had deposited something or another in the beautiful Smokey Blue Ridge Mountains and had a fantastic cathedral built there in the middle. I think it would look something like this  cathedral in Las Jajas, Columbia just suspended in the middle of the plush soft forest:

I would love to see this in the Smokey Mountains!