Our Lady of Loreto is the title of the statue of Virgin Mary found in the Holy House. Mary was born in this house, and it was here that the Annunciation occurred.

Tradition says that a band of angels scooped up the little house from the Holy Land, and transported it first to Tersato, Dalmatia in 1291, then Recanati, Italy in 1294, and finally to Loreto, Italy where it has been for centuries.

It was this flight that led to her patronage of people involved in aviation, and the long life of the house that has led to the patronage of builders, construction workers, etc. It is the first shrine of international renown, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and has been known as a Marian centre for centuries.

By the 1600s, a beautiful “Litany of Loreto”enumerating Mary’s biblically rich and theologically evocative titles became a popular Catholic devotion. In October 2019, Pope Francis went on pilgrimage to Loreto and announced that December 10 would henceforward be the Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto on the Church’s universal calendar. The formal decree instituting the change states that the new feast “will help all people, especially families, youth and religious to imitate the virtues of the perfect disciple of the Gospel, the Virgin Mother, who, in conceiving the head of the church also accepted us as her own.”

Popes have always held the Shrine of Loreto in special esteem, and it is under their direct authority and protection.

Other Saints of the Day
1. Pope Saint Gregory III
2. Saint Edmund Genins
3. Saint Eustace White
4. Saint Julia of Merida
5. Saint Peter Duong