Our Lady of Loreto

““What happened there my grandmother could never learn, but that the Duchess, in great haste, dressed herself with extraordinary splendor, powdering her hair with gold, painting her face and bosom, and covering herself with jewels till she shone like our Lady of Loreto [...]”[1]

Our Lady of Loreto is a title given to the Virgin Mary in conjunction with the Holy House of Loreto, the Basilica della Santa Casa. In this shrine of Marian pilgrimage, the Black Madonna carved from cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani) resides. Being traditionally lit with lamps, and thus emitting a warm golden light, the statue and shrine are associated with miracles.[2] Perhaps the Duchess was hoping for a miracle herself, that somehow the Duke would be moved by her shining beauty to remove the statue of her from the entrance of the crypt. However she glowed, it had no effect on him, and so her last effort to shine a light of hope into her dire situation failed.

In 1920 Pope Benedict XV declared the Madonna of Loreto patron saint of air travelers and pilots. The statue was commissioned after a fire in the Santa Casa in 1921 destroyed the original Madonna, and it was granted a Canonical Coronation in 1922 by Pope Pius XI. Our Lady of Loreto is commemorated on December 10.

[1] Wharton 1901, p. 16

[2] Thurstone 1912