Our Lady of Loreto

Our Lady of Loreto honors the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title associated with the Holy House venerated at Loreto in the Marche region of Italy. According to a cherished tradition, the modest stone dwelling enshrined there is the very house of Nazareth in which Mary was born, received the message of the angel at the Annunciation, and lived with Jesus and Joseph, brought from the Holy Land to Italy at the end of the thirteenth century and preserved as one of the most beloved of Marian sanctuaries.

Whether carried by the hands of angels, as the poetic tradition holds, or, as historians suggest, by a noble family named Angeli, the little house became a great center of pilgrimage, drawing saints, popes, and countless of the faithful to venerate the hidden years of the Holy Family. Because it recalls the home of the Incarnation, Our Lady of Loreto is invoked as patroness of air travelers and aviators, and her observance is kept on 10 December.