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 Jєωs, 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 docuмents 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.

Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud
et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14; Magnificat magazine, Vol. XXIX, no. 12,
December 1994, pp. 260-264 (Magnificat: Saint Jovite, 1994); La Sainte Maison de
la Sainte Vierge, by a priest of Montreal (Librairie Saint Joseph: Montreal,
1895).


This Version taken from:
http://magnificat.qc.ca/cal/engl/december.html


Quote:
Let us endeavor to show ourselves full of compassion towards the faulty and the
sinful.  If we do not show compassion and charity to these, we do not deserve to
have God show it towards us.
-St. Vincent de Paul

Bible Quote
1 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death
shall not touch them. 2 In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their
departure was taken for misery: 3 And their going away from us, for utter
destruction: but they are in peace.  (Wisdom 3:1-3)


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FATIMA PRAYERS

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee,
and I beg pardon for those who do not believe,
do not adore, do not trust and do not love Thee
 (3 times)

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
I adore Thee profoundly.
I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood,
Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in tabernacles
throughout the world, in reparation for the outrages,
sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended.
By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I beg the conversion of poor sinners.
O Most Holy Trinity, I adore Thee.  My God, my God,
I love Thee in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

O my Jesus, it is for love of Thee, in reparation for the
offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart
of Mary and for the conversion of poor sinners.

Amen.