Feast day: December 10
Our Lady of Loreto
Honors the Holy House of Loreto in Italy, venerated as the home of the Holy Family from Nazareth, and one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world.
Our Lady of Loreto is venerated at the great shrine in the town of Loreto, on the Adriatic coast of Italy, which enshrines what is honored as the 'Holy House' — by tradition the very home of the Holy Family at Nazareth, the house where Mary was born, where she received the angel's message at the Annunciation, and where the Word became flesh and the child Jesus grew up.
According to the celebrated legend, when the Holy Land fell from Christian hands at the end of the Crusades and the holy places were in danger of destruction, the house of Nazareth was carried away and brought to safety — borne, the pious story says, by the hands of angels — coming to rest at last, in 1294, on the hill at Loreto. There it was enclosed in a basilica and became one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world.
Whatever the means by which the venerable stones came to Italy, the shrine drew countless pilgrims, saints, and popes across the centuries, who came to pray within the walls said to have sheltered the hidden life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The litany of Mary's titles is itself often called the 'Litany of Loreto' from its use at the shrine.
Because of the legend of the house that flew through the air, Our Lady of Loreto was named the patron saint of aviators and air travelers, invoked by pilots and all who journey by air. Her feast on December 10 honors Mary in the intimacy of her home — the Mother of God in the ordinary house where the great mystery of the Incarnation quietly unfolded.
Because pious legend said angels carried the Holy House through the air to Italy, Our Lady of Loreto became the patron saint of aviators and air travelers.
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