The "Holy House" — Jesus' House Appears

1906

Legend of the Home of Mary and the Saviour

Let me first give the main outlines of the legend. At Nazareth was preserved with pious care the House of our Lady. The dwelling place in which she received the gracious message of the Incarnation, the lowly home which sheltered the Holy Family for so many years, was a very precious sanctuary. On May 10, 1291, a month after the taking of Tripoli and Ptolemais, this Holy House was carried by the hands of angels from Nazareth to a place in Dalmatia between Flume and Tersatz on the Adriatic shore.

It was a one roomed edifice, built of red square stones, fastened with cement, and bore proof of age and Oriental design. It stood without any foundation and had a wooden decorated ceiling. The walls were covered with frescoes; there was a door and a narrow window; inside there was an altar of stone, an ancient crucifix, a small cupboard, containing a few vessels of common use; a chimney and hearth, above which was a cedar statue of our Lady with the Holy Child in her arms. The pastor of the place learned in a vision that the building was the House of Our Lady; the stone altar that at which St. Peter celebrated mass, and the statue the work of St. Luke the Evangelist. In proof of the vision he was cured of a serious illness. A deputation of four responsible persons forthwith were sent to Nazareth to investigate the mystery, and there they found that the house was no longer to be found.

Measurement and other means taken proved that the house that had suddenly appeared in Dalmatia was indeed none other than that which had as suddenly left Palestine. Three years after, on December 10, 1294, the Holy House again disappeared, and under the pontificate of Celestine V. came to Recanati, a little town in the March of Ancona, when it fixed itself in a laurel grove belonging to a pious lady called Loreto. It was discovered by some shepherds and soon became recognized, and was henceforth a much frequented place of pilgrimage. Eight months afterward the house removed to a small hill, three miles from Recanati, to land belonging to two brothers, who, however, fell out shortly afterward over the division of wealth which began to flow to the new shrine.

To save strife between the brothers the house was suddenly lifted once more, and this time settled down, finally, in the midst of the public way, which, had to be diverted in consequence. Here, too, in the course of time a chapel was built, which gave way in time to the present basilica. The famous pilgrimage of Loreto goes on today. Popes, kings and princes have visited this shrine and left great gifts. Later on a festival with liturgical rites was instituted; and in time the feast of the translation of the Holy House was extended to many countries. — Fortnightly Review.