Saint Who?
Saints Who Promoted Marian Devotion
Our Lady of Loreto
Feast: December 10
Inside the Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy, stand the three walls of a humble house, built of stone confirmed to have come from Palestine. The measurements of this little house match foundations found in Nazareth, and these three walls have long been accepted as the relics of the house of Mary, the site of the Annunciation, and the home of the Holy Family after their return from Egypt.
Scholars dispute how the house arrived in Italy. One old document of the Angeli family mentions as a dowry item “holy stones taken from the house of Our Lady.” But for years, December 10 had been celebrated locally as the feast of the “Translation of the Holy House of Mary,” recalling its supposed transport by angels in 1294. It is for this reason that Our Lady of Loreto is honored as the patroness of aviators.
A beloved pilgrimage site, the Holy House at Loretto is where one of the most significant Marian devotions, the Litany of Loreto, originated. In 2019, Pope Francis added the feast of Our Lady of Loreto to the general Roman calendar. As Cardinal Robert Sarah explained: “This celebration will help all people, especially families, youth, and religious, to imitate the virtues of that perfect disciple of the Gospel, the Virgin Mother.”
Mary, House of Gold and Cause of Our Joy,
help families to live in humility,
peace, generosity, and joy.
