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The Holy House of Loreto Anne Catherine Emmerich spoke about the angelic transportation of the house. She states: Has anyone ever visited Loreto who has not seen with his own eyes and heard with his own ears the I have often in vision witnessed the transporting of mighty works of God, and felt them in his soul?1 the Holy House to Loreto. For a long time, I could — St. Peter Canisius not believe it, and yet I continued to see it. I saw the Holy House borne over the sea by seven angels. It The holiest house in the world is in Italy. had no foundation, but there was under it a shining You read that right. It used to be in the Holy surface of light. On either side was something like a Land, but it moved. handle. Three angels carried it on one side and three on the other; the seventh hovered in front of it, a The family home of , Mary, and Joseph long train of light after him.2 is located in the town of Loreto, Italy. How did it Fascinating stuff! What Blessed Anne get there? Well, what you are about to read is Catherine did not observe in her visions, the true story of how the home of the Holy however, is that the angels first took the Holy Family in Nazareth was transported to Italy by House from Nazareth to the town of Trsat, an angels. The story is so fascinating that you are area in modern day Croatia. At the time, Croatia probably going to want to go to Loreto after was known as Illyria or Dalmatia. Why did the reading it. angels take it there? What was the point in According to historians, the home of the Holy moving it at all? Family remained in Nazareth for 13 centuries. The Holy House was moved in 1291. The Then, on May 10, 1291, it suddenly disappeared! reason for its transportation by angels out of All that remained of the house was the Nazareth became clear three years later. In foundation. The sudden disappearance of the 1294, the entire town of Nazareth was sacked by house was noticed by everyone in Nazareth, invading Muslims. If the Holy House had leaving the entire community completely remained in Nazareth, the Muslims would have baffled. For a person or group of persons to completely destroyed it. God anticipated the act remove it so quickly without anyone noticing of sacrilege and sent his holy angels to relocate was impossible. the house to another location. According to tradition, the Holy House was Throughout the centuries, God has used transported out of Nazareth by angels. In the people such as St. Helena to remove relics (holy reports of her mystical experiences, Blessed objects associated with Jesus, Mary, and the Anne Catherine Emmerich spoke about the i t ) f th H l L d d l t th t

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saints) from the Holy Land and relocate them to house to be moved several times before having it safer places. Saint John Henry Newman once placed in Loreto shows that it wasn’t being visited the Holy House and offered a very moved by man, but by God’s holy angels. insightful statement about its relocation. He Let’s take a closer look at all the miraculous wrote: transportations associated with the Holy House.

He who floated the Ark [of Noah] on the surges of a On May 10, 1291, the day the Holy House world-wide sea and enclosed in it all living things, disappeared from Nazareth, people in the who has hidden the terrestrial paradise, who said village of Trsat, Croatia, witnessed the sudden that faith might move mountains, who sustained thousands for forty years in a sterile wilderness, who appearance of a new house in the village. Not transported Elias and keeps him hidden till the end, one person in the village knew how it got there. could do this wonder also. And in matter of fact we Interestingly, the villagers observed that the see all other records of our Lord and his saints gathered up in the heart of Christendom from the four walls of the house were resting on the dirt. ends of the earth as paganism encroached on it (that The house had no foundation. is, his relics). Saint Augustine leaves Hippo, the After being in Croatia for three years, the prophet Samuel and St. Stephen leave , the crib in which our Lord lay leaves Bethlehem with house miraculously disappeared again on St. Jerome, the Cross is dug up, St. Athanasius goes December 10, 1294. No one in the village saw to Venice. In short, I feel no difficulty in believing the house leave. The only thing that was left at it.3 the spot where the house once stood was the But why did it go to Croatia first, though? outline of the house in the dirt. To this day, a Why didn’t the angels take it directly to Italy? monument marks the exact spot in Trsat, No one really knows the answer. Perhaps God Croatia, where the Holy House was located for wanted to bless the land of Croatia with the three years. presence of the Holy House before taking it to Where did the house go after Croatia? It was its final location. Jesus once healed a deaf man taken by angels across the Adriatic Sea to the in stages and not immediately. The angels’ town of Piceno, Italy. Incredibly, the same thing moving of the Holy House to several locations happened in the town of Piceno: Nobody before finally placing it in Loreto has the effect witnessed the house arrive, and nobody knew of supplying a multitude of witnesses to the where it had come from. The house remained in miraculous disappearance and reappearance of this location for eight months. It was only in the house. In other words, God allowing the Piceno for eight months because robbers began

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Piceno for eight months because robbers began At the site in Loreto, they took precise to steal from the pilgrims (many from Croatia) measurements of the house, noting every detail. who were coming to the Holy House. In August The envoys then traveled to Trsat, Croatia, to 1295, the house disappeared again. It the place where the house had rested, and took reappeared on a hill not far from the town of measurements of the marks left in the dirt by Piceno. However, the hill where the house was the house. Next, they traveled to Nazareth to placed was owned by two brothers, and they compare the measurements from Loreto and began to fight over ownership of the house. Trsat to the original foundation. Incredibly, at Unable to resolve their dispute, the brothers all three locations (Loreto, Croatia, and started to exploit the pilgrims for financial gain. Nazareth), the measurements were exactly the The Holy House only remained on their same! There were no discrepancies whatsoever. property for several months before it Everything matched perfectly. miraculously disappeared again! Centuries later, scientists conducted a Near the end of December 1295, the Holy chemical analysis of the stones of the walls of House was taken by angels a stone’s throw away the Holy House in Loreto. Chemical studies on from the previous location, far enough not to be the wood used for the ceiling of the Holy House on the property of the two brothers. This were done as well. Guess what they discovered? location is known as Loreto, the town where the The walls of the Holy House are made from house is located today. (The miracle of the Holy stones unique to the area of Nazareth, and the House being transported by angels four times is wood in the ceiling of the house comes from the the reason the has declared Our exact area of Nazareth! Even the mortar used Lady of Loreto the patron of aviation.) for the house was determined to be made of How do we know all this is true? Well, in material originating in the Holy Land. 1296, one year after the Holy House arrived in As a result of the studies, a larger church Loreto, the Catholic Church appointed 16 began to be built around the house to envoys to investigate everything. The envoys accommodate the many pilgrims arriving in visited Loreto, Croatia, and Nazareth, and Loreto. Further attesting to the truthfulness of conducted extensive studies in order to verify these miraculous events, pilgrims continued to the events. The envoys went to Loreto first. travel to Loreto from Trsat, Croatia, every year, At the site in Loreto, they took precise asking heaven to bring the Holy House back to

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asking heaven to bring the Holy House back to It is in reality the House of Nazareth that is Croatia. venerated at Loreto, that House dear to God by so many claims, built originally in Galilee, separated After the arrival of the Holy House in Loreto, from its foundations, and carried by Divine power Italy, in 1295, nearly 50 popes have affirmed its across the seas into Dalmatia first, and thence into miraculous transportation by angels, sometimes Italy — the blessed House where the most Holy Virgin, predestined from all eternity and perfectly referring to the transportation as the exempt from original sin, was conceived, was born, “translation” of the Holy House. In the 15th was brought up; where heaven’s messenger saluted century, two popes were miraculously cured at her as full of grace; where she became the mother of the only son of God.6 the Holy House. In the 16th century, a fortified — Blessed Pope Pius IX basilica was completed around the Holy House The Holy House is also where the Holy to protect it from Muslim attacks. Later, to Family lived in Nazareth. The house is often fortify the structure even more, the Holy House called the “Holy House of Mary,” but it also was encased in Carrara marble. deserves to be called the “Holy House of Nearly all of the popes after Pius II [one of the popes Joseph.” When and how St. Joseph came into from the 13th century who was miraculously healed] have spoken of its miraculous translation.4 possession of the house is not certain, but it — St. Alphonsus Liguori most likely occurred as a result of his marriage Why have God and the Church taken such to Mary. In fact, recent excavations near the measures to preserve this house? Because it is Basilica of the Annunciation offer clues as to the site of the Incarnation! Tradition holds that how Mary’s childhood home became the home Mary was born and raised in the Holy House, of the Holy Family. and that it was in that house that the Archangel When pilgrims travel to the Holy Land, they Gabriel appeared to the Virgin, and the Word usually journey to Nazareth to see the Basilica of became flesh. It is a house of supernatural the Annunciation (where the Holy House used wonders! to be and where the foundation of the chamber of the Incarnation remains). What many She [Mary] is said to have been born in the city of Nazareth itself, and, indeed, in the same chamber in pilgrims are completely unaware of is that very which, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, she close to the Basilica is the workshop of St. afterwards conceived at the Angel’s salutation.5 Joseph. — St. Jerome Tradition holds that when Joseph and Mary It is in reality the House of Nazareth that is i d b t b f th li d t th

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were married, but before they lived together, St. Aloysius Gonzaga Joseph lived and worked in his own house St. James of La Marca nearby. Once Mary and Joseph began to live together, they chose to live in Mary’s childhood St. Stanislaus Kostka home, and Joseph used the other house as his St. Francis de Sales workshop. This helps us to understand why St. St. Louis Guanella Joseph was not present when the angel came to St. Lawrence of Brindisi Mary at the Annunciation; he was not living with her at the time. St. Benedict Joseph Labre (He is The Holy House is a unique relic that called the “Saint of Loreto” hundreds, if not thousands, of saints have because he visited the Holy House visited. Prior to its being transported to Loreto, so frequently.) St. Francis of Assisi and St. Helena visited the St. Francis Caracciolo house in Nazareth. Since its mystical Blessed Anthony Grassi (He grew transportation to Loreto, countless saints have up near the Holy House. On one made a pilgrimage to Loreto to see it, including: occasion, while kneeling in prayer St. Ignatius of Loyola at the house, he was struck by St. Francis Xavier (He made a lightning. The lightning strike pilgrimage to Loreto before setting miraculously cured his life-long off on his missionary journey to acute pain from indigestion. As a India.) result of the healing, he vowed to visit the Holy House once a year St. Francis Borgia on pilgrimage.) St. Charles Borromeo St. Alphonsus Liguori (He once St. Peter Canisius (He defended stated that he “left his heart” in the truth of the Holy House Loreto.) against the Protestants who called St. Maximilian Kolbe it a legend.) St. Josemaría Escrivá (He visited St. Aloysius Gonzaga h l i d

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the Holy House seven times and on a woman in the Holy House of Loreto on July consecrated Opus Dei to Mary in 16, 1489:

Loreto.) I will not pass over a thing which I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. It happened that St. Pope John XXIII a French lady of some means and of gentle birth St. John Paul II named Antonia, who had long been possessed by evil spirits, was brought into the holy place by her Saint Thérèse of Lisieux visited the Holy husband that she might be delivered. Whilst a priest House in 1887 as she made her way to named Stephen, an exemplary man, was reading over her the usual exorcisms, one of the demons with her father. She wrote about her visit in her who boasted that he had been the instigator of the autobiography: massacre of all the Innocents, being asked to his confusion whether this had been the Immaculate I was indeed happy when on the way to Loreto. Our Virgin’s chamber, replied that it had been so indeed, Lady had chosen an ideal spot in which to place her but that he owned [confessed] it against his will, Holy House. Everything is poor, simple, and compelled by Mary to confess the truth. He primitive; the women still wear the graceful dress of moreover pointed to the places in the Holy House the country and have not, as in the large towns, where Gabriel, and where Mary, had each of them adopted the modern Paris fashions. I found Loreto been.8 enchanting. What shall I say of the Holy House? I was overwhelmed with emotion when I realized that The Holy House even has its own liturgical I was under the roof that had sheltered the Holy feast day. On April 12, 1916, Pope Benedict XV Family. I gazed on the same walls Our Lord had looked on. I trod the ground once moistened with issued a decree establishing December 10 as the the sweat of St. Joseph’ toil, and saw the little annual liturgical Feast of the Translation of the chamber of the Annunciation. I even put my rosary Holy House. To this day, the Feast of the into the little porringer used by the Divine Child. Translation of the Holy House is celebrated with How sweet these memories!7 great festivity every December 10 in Loreto. The Holy House is a powerful relic. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived, slept, ate, and prayed In that most blessed House took place the beginnings of man’s salvation by the great and there. It’s so powerful that the devil wants admirable mystery of God made man. Amid the nothing to do with it. Blessed Baptist Spagnoli poverty of this retired dwelling there lived those of Mantua (1447-1516), head of the Carmelite models of domestic life and harmony.9 — Pope Leo XIII Order from 1513-1516, and a priest very devoted Is it not by an unparalleled miracle that this Holy to the Holy House, offered the following House was brought over land and sea from Galilee eyewitness account of an exorcism performed into Italy? By a supreme act of benevolence on the

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part of the God of all mercy, it has been placed in our pontifical domain, where for so many centuries WONDER 8 it has become the object of the veneration of all the nations of the world and is resplendent with SILENT WITNESS incessant miracles.10 He [St. Joseph] is truly the saint who carried out his — Blessed Pope Pius IX duty in silence but with angelic fervor. The Holy House of Loreto is the dwelling in which — Blessed Gabriele Allegra the divine Word assumed human flesh, and which was translated by the ministry of angels. Its authenticity is proved by ancient monuments and A Miraculous Staircase in New Mexico unbroken tradition as by the testimony of Sovereign He [St. Joseph] took his [Jesus’] little hands and Pontiffs, the common consent of the faithful, and raising them to heaven he said: “Stars of heaven, the continual miracles which are there worked even behold the hands which created you; O Sun, behold 11 to the present day. the arm that drew you out of nothingness.”1 — Pope Benedict XIV — Blessed William Joseph Chaminade WONDER 8 Saint Joseph is the Guardian of Virgins. As a SILENT WITNESS good father, he looks after their needs. An He [St. Joseph] is truly the saint who carried out his example of his fatherly protection is evidenced duty in silence but with angelic fervor. in what he did for a group of religious sisters in — Blessed Gabriele Allegra New Mexico in 1878. In 1873, the Sisters of Loretto operated a A Miraculous Staircase in New Mexico girl’s academy in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The He [St. Joseph] took his [Jesus’] little hands and academy was very successful, so the sisters raising them to heaven he said: “Stars of heaven, wanted to build a new chapel. They hired a well- behold the hands which created you; O Sun, behold known architect to complete the task. The the arm that drew you out of nothingness.”1 — Blessed William Joseph Chaminade building project took five years to complete. However, once the chapel was finished, the Saint Joseph is the Guardian of Virgins. As a sisters realized that the chapel lacked a way to good father, he looks after their needs. An get to the upper choir loft without the use of a example of his fatherly protection is evidenced very long ladder; the choir loft was 20 feet above in what he did for a group of religious sisters in the main floor. Climbing such a ladder was very New Mexico in 1878. difficult for the sisters, who wore a floor-length

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